A/N: Ho Ho-oh! And I've had a few grammar lessons from J.K. herself. Well, okay, her books, but same thing!

24th of December

Ash woke up the next morning earlier than we would have liked, and tried to go back to sleep, but that become a lot harder after someone jumped on him.

"Come on, Ash, or you wont get to help decorate the tree!" he heard Misty's voice say, sounding fifty times its normal volume.

"Urgh, I don't wanna go to school Mom!" Ash grumbled, still half asleep, which he would be for the next half a second, before saying "Wait, did you say Christmas tree!", and immediately getting up to join Misty, his Mom, Pikachu, and even Mr. Mime.

Everyone had fun putting up the tree; when they got to the tinsel Ash and Misty started a tinsel fight, chucking it to each other, all though Mr. Mime seemed to be the only one who got covered in any, Pikachu electrocuted everyone again when some foil from a tree chocolate touched his cheek, and finally, when it came to putting the angel on the tree, Misty did the honours, and Ash looked up at her and smiled, until she noticed him watching, at which point he blushed and left to go to the Kitchen for breakfast that Mr. Mime had made, as Mrs. Ketchum smiled a knowing smile.

"Sorry, Ash, but it turns out that we haven't got any camp beds so you're gonna have to sleep in the living room again, okay?" she said as she and Misty came to join him.

"What! But Mom, I'm not aloud to see Santa!" Ash cried, with his mouth full. Mrs. Ketchum however, just laughed.

"Oh Ash, you don't seriously still believe in Santa, do you? Ok, tell you what, I'll have Mimey move the tree into the hall."

"Ok, then" Ash said, still slightly grumpy though.

"Um, excuse me, I gotta go get something from upstairs, I'll be back in a minute," Misty said, and left without a reply.

When Ash was done, he left the kitchen, whistling "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and saw, oddly, Misty just staring off into space at the foot of the stairs. He approached, planning on going up to his room and making sure Misty hadn't "Girled it up". However, Misty stopped him.

"Ash!" she yelled suddenly.

"Wh-what?" he asked, slightly scared. After he had answered however, she blushed deeply and said very quietly, so that Ash barely heard her "Um, we-we're under mistletoe."

"Huh! No way!" he cried, as he looked up, and saw that she was right; the dreaded plant was dangling away above their heads, then blushed, and looked around, trying to find some way out of the embarrassing situation, then, thankfully, spotted something perfect through the window.

"Hey, look! Its snowing!" he said, and pointed out the window, to where it was indeed snowing. The two of them quickly ran upstairs to get wrapped up, Misty completely forgetting the mistletoe over her love of snow.

Ash, Misty and Pikachu spent a few hours enjoying things such as building snowmen/pokemon, making snow angels, and then Ash and Misty had a hotly contested snowball fight, which Ash eventually let her win, but immediately regretted it for the gloating.

"Ha-ha! All hail snow queen Misty! Defeater of the weakling, Ash Ketchum!"

"Yeah, yeah, alright, you had your fun. Anyway-" he said, looking at his watch. "I gotta go, I'm going to town, I've got some - stuff - to do," he said, with shifty eyes. Fortunately, Misty didn't notice.

"Okay! Hold on, I'll come with you! I've got some shopping to do as well!" she said excitedly.

"Uh-uh. Okay. But, um, I gotta do some stuff on my own too," he said, shiftily again.

"Okay…"

Half an hour later, Ash, Misty and Pikachu who had decided to join them, had barely stepped into town, before Misty dragged them off into the nearest girly shop.

"Ooh! Ash! Look at these!" she cried, directing him to a clothes rack with tons of dresses on.

"Wow," Ash said sarcastically. "Yeah, that's the greatest thing I've ever seen. Can we go now! Seriously Mist', I've got some - stuff - to do," he said, going shifty again, due to his dislike of the word "shopping".

"In a minute Ash, in a minute. Oh, wow! Come on Ash, you gotta look at this!" she squealed, but more seriously than with anything else.

"What is it!" Ash said exasperatedly. When he saw what it was however, he knew she was truly serious about it.

"Isn't it just adorable!" she said, not taking her eyes of it.

Ash couldn't tell what it was made from(A/N: Mainly because I wouldn't know!), but it was a carved Tentacruel on a fine, golden string. He could tell by the look in Misty's eyes that she truly wanted it, and knew what to get her for Christmas now. Although he honestly couldn't tell how many people would want a Tentacruel dangling round their necks.

"Oh! Is that the time!" Misty said suddenly, having checked her watch. "Hey, look, sorry Ash, but I gotta go, I'll catch you later! Bye, Pikachu!" she said, and with that, left. Ash, thanking his good luck, picked up the necklace, and hurried to the counter.

"Hello, can I help you?" a cheerful woman dressed as an elf behind the counter asked.

"Um, yeah, how much is this?" he asked holding up the necklace.

"Its…$14.99, you're in luck, its on sale!" she told him with a smile, and Ash put his hand into his pocket to see how much money he had. It would cost him everything last penny he had(except his last one), but it was worth it. For her.

Present for your girlfriend?" she asked, smiling again.

"What! No! She's just a friend!" he told her.

"Right…" she said with a knowing look in her eye, similar to Mrs. Ketchum's.

"Do you think she'll like it, Pikachu?" Ash asked, as they was walking balk through the snow twenty minutes later, having had it gift wrapped, when the worst thing that could have happened, happened.

"BLIZZARD!" he heard people shrieking, as he tried to continue, praying that Misty was alright. But the storm was getting worse by the second, and eventually, he was knocked off his feet by it.

"PIKACHU!" the pokemon cried out to Ash, as he and the present were being swept away by the storm.

"PIKACHU!" Ash cried back, and only by jumping did he manage to catch it.

"That was close," Ash sighed, as Pikachu was safe, and it climbed into Ash's jacket, but it still gave another cry of "Pika!", and pointed upwards. Ash, seeing where Pikachu was pointing, gave his own cry of "NO!", as the perfect, once in a lifetime present was still flying upwards, and it was already way to far out of his reach. After ten minutes, when the storm was starting to die down, he admitted defeat, as the necklace was way out sight, sighed, and turned to go back home.

A/N: Oh dear! What'll Ash do now? With all the shops closed, no money anyway, and no time left, how's he gonna get Misty's present? And I've practically re-written this whole chapter to make it - different. I wont say anymore here, you'll just have to keep reading! And this might end up being a whole chapter longer than I thought it would be…