It was a snowy winter night in the Mushroom Kingdom, and inside Mario and Luigi's former Toad Town house was one of the human residents of the city, Patrick Bernstein. Patrick was currently sitting by the lit fireplace, dressed in a brown knit sweater, brown wool pants and brown wool socks as he took a sip from his mug of hot chocolate. It was around Christmas time, and Patrick was feeling a bit melancholic. It has been almost a year since he had arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom and started a new life there. Usually around Christmas time, he would go to his parents' house to celebrate Christmas with his family, but since he was stuck in the Mushroom Kingdom with no way to return to the real world, he was unable to celebrate Christmas with his family, and it made Patrick feel a bit melancholic.
"Man, what I wouldn't give to be able to celebrate Christmas with someone special this year..." Patrick remarked before he could hear someone putting mail inside his mailbox outside his house.
"Mail call!" Parakarry exclaimed as he took off into the snowy winter night again. Patrick proceeded to put down his mug of hot chocolate, put on a pair of snow boots and went outside to get his mail, then quickly heading back inside and sat back down by the lit fireplace, taking another sip of his hot chocolate, then proceeded to check his mail.
"Ooh, I got a letter from Princess Peach! I wonder what she sent me..." Patrick said to himself before he proceeded to read Princess Peach's letter out loud. ""Dear Patrick, after our romantic time together during Valentine's Day and Halloween, I'd like to invite you to Christmas dinner at my castle on Christmas Evening. Be sure to put on a suit and some nice shoes, and then come over to my castle on Christmas Evening. The Christmas dinner will be served around 6 PM. – Yours truly, Princess Peach Toadstool""
"Well, I can't turn down an offer from the princess to come celebrate Christmas with her. It's not like I have any other things to do during Christmas anyway. Let's see if I have any nice suits and shoes in my closet for the Christmas dinner..." Patrick said to himself before he proceeded to head over to his wardrobe to check for any suits he could wear to Princess Peach's Christmas dinner.
About a few days later, on Christmas Evening, Patrick proceeded to make his way up to Princess Peach's castle dressed in a black tuxedo with a black bowtie and black oxford shoes. The castle guards noticed Patrick approaching and gave him a smile.
"Ah, Mr. Bernstein! Just on time! Christmas Dinner is about to be served, so head right on in!" One of the guards told Patrick as him and his colleague let him inside. Patrick soon entered the castle where he was greeted by Toadsworth, who was dressed in a navy blue three-piece suit with a red tie and black dress shoes.
"Ah, Mr. Bernstein! I'm so glad you could make it! Princess Peach asked me to lead you to the dining hall! The rest of the guests are waiting there for Princess Peach's arrival as well! She will be with us shortly!" Toadsworth informed Patrick as he began to lead him towards the dining hall.
"Thank you, Mr. Toadsworth. I appreciate the hospitality." Patrick replied to the elderly Toad with a smile as they proceeded to head into the dining hall, where all of Princess Peach's seven Mushroom Retainers were seated at the dining table.
"Anytime, Mr. Bernstein! Your seat is right here!" Toadsworth replied with a smile of his own as Patrick proceeded to take his seat at the dining table, with Toadsworth doing the same thing. A little while after that, Princess Peach proceeded to enter the room, dressed in a fancy black dress with a black dress shirt, black gloves and black pumps, and the princess gave everyone in the room a smile.
"Welcome, everyone! I'm so glad you could make it for tonight's Christmas dinner!" Princess Peach greeted her guests as she took her seat at the head of the table, near where Patrick was sitting. The princess soon turned her attention to Patrick and gave him a smile.
"Hello, Patrick. You look nice." Princess Peach told Patrick with a smile, complimenting his suit.
"Thank you, Princess Peach. You look rather nice yourself." Patrick replied with a smile of his own, complimenting the princess' dress as well.
"Why, thank you, Patrick. Now if you would all be so kind as to wait a little longer, dinner will be here shortly." Princess Peach then informed everyone, and like she said, the chefs soon came into the room with a rather impressive feast: Roasted turkey, spaghetti, cake, pancakes, all the delicious stuff you would expect to see at a Christmas feast. Patrick looked impressed by this, and watched as the chefs put the feast down on the table.
"Wow! Now that's a Christmas feast!" Patrick remarked.
Princess Peach giggled a little bit at that. "Well, yeah. That's to be expected from a royal Christmas dinner. Enjoy to your heart's content, Patrick." She told her fellow human with a kind smile. Patrick smiled back and nodded as he began to put food on his plate and began to eat, with Princess Peach, Toadsworth and the Mushroom Retainers doing the same thing. Eventually, dinner was finished, and while the Mushroom Retainers were chatting amongst themselves in the hallway, Patrick was with Princess Peach in her room, sitting by the lit fireplace.
"You know, Princess Peach...I'm grateful to have been invited to your Christmas dinner tonight." Patrick told the princess.
"Oh? How so?" Princess Peach asked curiously.
"Well, usually around Christmas, I would go to my parents' house to celebrate Christmas with my family, but since I'm stuck in the Mushroom Kingdom with seemingly no way home, I had nowhere to go during Christmas. So I'm very grateful to have been invited to your Christmas dinner tonight, because I wouldn't have anything else to do on Christmas Eve if it wasn't for that invitation." Patrick explained to her.
Princess Peach frowned upon hearing that. "I"m really sorry that you were unable to celebrate Christmas with your family this year, Patrick..." She told the human male.
"It's okay, Princess Peach. It wasn't your fault. I'm just happy to be able to celebrate Christmas with at least someone in this new world. When I first arrived to this world around the beginning of the year, I never would've thought I would be spending Valentine's Day, Halloween and Christmas with such a pretty princess as yourself, and look where we are now. I'm probably the luckiest man in the whole Mushroom Kingdom to be able to do such a thing." Patrick told the princess with a smile.
Princess Peach proceeded to blush a bit at Patrick calling her pretty. "You really think I'm pretty...?" She asked him
Patrick smiled and nodded. "I really think you are, Princess Peach. I can see why you and Mario were romantically involved with each other for all these years." He replied.
Princess Peach smiled at that. "Thank you, Patrick..." She replied back before leaning forward and kissing Patrick on the cheek, causing him to blush and smile. "You know...Perhaps this could be the beginning of something beautiful..." The princess added as she looked outside, seeing the snow coming down.
"Yeah...Yeah, it could be..." Patrick agreed with a smile as he also looked outside.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Holidays to all people of alike! Spend the holidays however you like, as long as you do it safely! Hopefully we'll be able to share even more love in Fanfiction in 2022! Until next time! :D – Alexneushoorn