A/N: Things begin to heat up here as the dinner brings out some new mentions and points of intrest. Enjoy.

7: The Lords and Ladies

"Sleigh…"

Applause was interspersed between Raiha and Dad while I just stood there slack jawed. All 5 doing a choral show of their favorite Holiday melodies. Nino somehow was the most stunning with her sly rendition of Jim Careys grinch and his tune but now at least we can appreciate more of their unsung talents.

"Well color me impressed…"

The quints smiled at the adoration provided by my family.

"We knew you'd come around…" The 5 as one unison voice was a rarity for anyone but me, but they did know how to impress. While they dispersed Ichika grabbed me away for a private word nearby the bathroom.

"Ok, not living that down…" The mental tone of facepalm was something I never assumed she was capable of.

"That embarrassing…"

"Well Mom always loved to hear us sing when we were younger, not having much we wanted to show her what we were grateful for having."

From what Itsuki sometimes mentions to me whenever she stops by our place it did make her reminisce about those moments, before their mom and new dad got together and gave them a leg up in the world.

"At least you had your nice Holiday traditions, our budget situation really limited us to a simple family meal and that was it, what few gifts we did get were simple and from the heart."

That made her well up with emotion, but our nonchalant attitude was broken with Raiha and Miku popping by the door.

"And the food is ready…" They ran back while Ichika smiled again ready for this night to truly begin.

"Well Futaro, shall we get this party started…"

She led me to their main dining table all decked out in Christmas colors and holiday themed silverware. While turkey was center and fixings were abound all I kept thinking was how do they manage to go above and beyond entertaining others when its just them and their dad and not people like us.

"Now, shall we…"

Dad was eager but of course as we sat, we did the obvious first.

"Thanks for the food…"

The bulk of that dinner I would not remember besides one odd moment where Nino would soak a roll in cranberry sauce before eating it. We kept it simple and Dad surprisingly connected answering details about what our family would usually do for nights like this. I've got to hand it to him, not only charming around the quints but gave them some helpful advice on school and future endeavors they wanted to peruse.

"Teaching now that is a good ideal, we need a lot more of, Futaro should use his talents to make things better."

Istuki chuckled while I just looked on at Ichika twittling her fingers by the glass of cider she had.

"Yotsuba did you have any other plans for New Years?" Raiha and her were already thinking ahead and I just wanted to get through tonight as they were knee deep in planning mode.

25 Minutes Later.

"Don't worry, this I got…" For once I decided to save them the trouble of housework and clean things up. But Itsuki stopped me in my tracks.

"Hold up Uesugi, everyone in advance of the gift exchange Id like to have Raiha present hers."

My sister joined her side while opening up a snowman themed bowl showing the most warm and steamy fresh made cookies anyone could ever imagine.

"As I had Itsuki I gifted her our mom's family recipe for coconut lime chip macaroons."

The applause was instant, and the hand grabs were quicker as we each bit into them. The murmurs of approval were instant but all I kept thinking was how did Itsuki do something on the same level as Mom and Raiha.

"Wow…"

Ichika then bellowed for her attention.

"Ok, since Raiha got us started let's move this into the space by the tree."

And now the wrapping paper will begin to fly.

A/N: 4 to go as we split up the drummers and the pipers for the gift exchange with Chapter 8: The Pipers Part 1: As Always Subscribe for more.