Author's Note: MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! Alternatively, Happy Hanukah or Joyous Kwanzaa! I don't care! And if you aren't religious, then Happy Holidays! Lindsey here with an Avengers Christmas special! FYI, I'm disregarding the events of Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 for the purpose of this story, so it's kind of an AU. I hope you enjoy! This story will be updated daily until the end of December!

So, This is Christmas

Thor had been living in Avengers tower for a few months now. He had found Earth customs a bit odd, but enjoyable (for the most part) and interesting to learn about. However, nothing could prepare him for the morning when he awoke to the sound of the most heinous caterwauling imaginable. Thinking one of his teammates was being tortured, he called Mjolnir to him and ran into the living room, wearing only a white t-shirt and flannel pajama bottoms.

What he found left him speechless: Tony was running around the living room, putting up strange (to Thor) decorations and belting out "The Twelve Days of Christmas" at the top of his lungs. Tony's singing had apparently awoken the rest of the tower as well, because it wasn't long before the rest of the team, bleary-eyed and grouchy, filed into the living room to see what was making all the noise.

Natasha, Clint, and Bruce all grumbled and started heading back to their rooms—after all, who woke up at the ungodly hour of seven o'clock on a Saturday—to try and catch a couple more hours of sleep. Thor simply looked around, hoping for an explanation, and finding none. Steve, on the other hand, was ecstatic. His face lit up with the biggest grin, and he quickly darted forward to help Tony with the decorating. He even joined in the singing, his perfectly in tune voice helping to somewhat lessen the blow of Tony's wailing.

Finally, the God of Thunder could wait no longer. "Captain, Stark, while I am happy to see you are enjoying yourselves, I must ask: What is the meaning of these strange decorations and your…singing?"

Steve beamed over at Thor as he carefully hung an ornament from the tree. "It's almost Christmas, Thor! The best time of the year!"

"The most wonderful time of the year!" Tony corrected, quickly changing tunes to start singing that very song. Steve rolled his eyes in amusement before ushering Thor into the kitchen to explain.

"Christmas is the time of year where we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Son of God and the Savior of man," he explained. "Over the years, it's developed into a gift-giving family-oriented holiday, but that's how it started. It's a time of year to spend time with family and friends, give gifts, and just show how much you care."

Thor nodded, but he did look a bit confused. "Do the people of Earth not do this all year?"

Steve shrugged. "Well, they should, but it's emphasized around Christmas. Something in the air…it's just the feel of the season, I supposed." He suddenly snapped his fingers and dashed into his room. When he came out, he was carrying a small box. "I want you to take a look at these." Inside the box were various Christmas movies, all made at different times.

He pulled out the top one, labeled The Nativity Story. "This one is the one you should watch first. It doesn't matter what order you watch the rest in, but this one conveys the true meaning and spirit behind Christmas. It's easy enough to understand."

Several hours later, Thor had watched not only The Nativity Story, but also Christmas Vacation, The Santa Clause 1, 2, and 3, and was just finishing up How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the animated version). Each movie had struck a chord with him, and he now believed that he had enough of an understanding of Christmas to participate in the holiday. The movie about the Grinch, however, had been intriguing. He looked at the clock; it was 2:00 in the afternoon. He decided to watch just one more movie since he could still hear Tony decorating in the tower. After some consideration, he popped in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

As he watched how young Rudolph was rejected and tormented by his fellows simply because of a slight difference, his thoughts drifted to another child who was treated wrongly because he was different.

Loki, he thought. The other children had never truly accepted Loki; they had only tolerated his presence because Thor insisted that his brother be included.

Steve's words from earlier echoed in his mind. It's a time of year to spend time with family and friends, give gifts, and just show how much you cared. With that in mind, Thor changed into his Asgardian armor, hefted Mjolnir, and exited out onto the balcony attached to his room. He made no verbal signal; the Thunderer simply looked up at the heavens and nodded. The Bifröst swept him away in a column of rainbow light.