Sunlight shone through the stained glass windows into the castle on the Land of Departure, reflecting off of the ornaments and tinsel that decorated a magnificent pine tree that was erected in the audience chamber. Several gift-wrapped boxes sat under the tree, enough for a large group of people. Fourteen stockings were hooked onto the railing on one side of the chamber, each colored and embroidered to indicate whose it was. There were also two smaller stockings for Jiminy Cricket and Chirithy. A large stellated crystal of Orichalcum was mounted on top of the tree as the star.

The castle's clock tower bell rang, echoing throughout the castle to announce the morning. Smaller bells chimed in tune with classic carols. Each of the castle's occupants woke up, some with the aid of Chirithy, who bounced on top of the late sleepers until they were finally up. Ventus was the first one down to the chamber, still the physically-youngest and most evidently childish-at-heart. He was joined by: Sora and Kairi; Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, with Jiminy tagging along in Mickey's pocket; Aqua and Terra; Roxas and Xion; Riku and Naminé; and Lea and Isa.

"Morning, guys," Lea said, yawning. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas!" everyone replied.

"Jeez, Ven. You think your Chirithy could bounce any harder?" Lea complained. "It felt like he was this close to breaking my ribs."

Chirithy appeared in Ventus' arms in a puff of smoke. "If you'd rather skip opening presents, then I won't bother waking you up next time," he remarked. Ventus laughed while Isa chuckled.

"Well, since we're all down here, why don't we see what Santa put in our stockings?" Aqua suggested.

Everyone scrambled to their stockings and took out the gifts that were stuffed inside. They all had candy and (with the exception of Goofy and Jiminy) chocolate; there was a Santa hat and a jingle bell sash for everyone; the Keyblade wielders all got a new Keychain that would give their Keyblades a holiday-themed form; everyone had a chibi plush doll that looked like them; Jiminy's stocking had a brand new umbrella, while Chirithy's included a festive cape and Lux pouch. They looked up and said "Thanks, Santa," sure that the jolly man in red could hear them.

Next, Aqua passed presents around to everyone. Sora's gift from Riku was a digital watch that would sync up to the time zones of each world. Sora and Kairi traded gifts, Sora giving Kairi a Crystal Regalia + bracelet and Kairi giving Sora a Cosmic Belt. Sora gifted Donald a new hockey stick and Goofy a new tackle box. Mickey gave Riku a new jacket. Terra gifted Ventus a Nintendo Switch. Roxas gave each of his friends a Struggle Bat and accompanying gear. Naminé gave everyone a scrapbook filled with her drawings of each of them. Kairi gave Naminé a new set of colored pencils; Riku gave her a new satchel for her drawing tablet and utensils; Sora gave her a new expansion pack for her tabletop RPG (Tidus had introduced it to her at school, and she turned out to be a surprisingly good DM). Lea gave Isa a tea set. Isa gave Xion a fantasy romance novel. Mickey gave Jiminy a new journal while Sora gave him a new scrapbook. The Keyblade wielders as well as Donald received a book on magic spells and lore from Merlin. Every human-sized person received a GummiPad from Ienzo. Donald received a Junior Woodchucks craft from his nephews and a first aid kit from Webby Vanderquack, the latter of which made Sora and Goofy laugh out loud. Leon sent them all Christmas sweaters. Sora found a gift from Ariel that contained a music box.

They sorted their gifts and disposed of the wrapping paper, then put on their sweaters, sashes, and Santa hats (and Chirithy's Christmas cape and pouch). Sora held his Gummiphone on a selfie stick and took a group photo in front of the Christmas tree, then they all took separate pictures.

"You met Santa?" Ventus asked, amazed, as the group sat around the dining room table eating their breakfast of omelettes, French Toast, and home fries.

"Yeah. We first went there when I was fifteen," Sora recounted. "First we'd gone to Halloween Town, then saw Jack Skellington preparing for Christmas instead of Halloween. He then led us to Christmas Town to meet Santa."

"Sora got scolded," Donald teased.

"Really? I would have thought you would have a permanent spot on the Nice List," Terra remarked.

Sora chuckled awkwardly. "Well, he brought up the one time I told everyone that I didn't believe in Santa Claus," he admitted sheepishly.

"WHAT?!" Ventus and Xion blurted. Aqua gasped, similarly shocked.

"It was Riku's fault in the first place," Sora grumbled. Riku and Kairi laughed.

"So there's a Halloween Town and a Christmas Town? I think I would like to visit those places someday," Aqua said.

"Maybe we'll take you to visit next year," Goofy suggested.

"Great idea," Roxas said.

"I don't suppose you had Christmas when you were in the Organization," Riku remarked.

"Well, we got a day off once a year," Isa explained. "That was on the twenty-fifth of December, aligned with Twilight Town's calendar. I addressed this fact when I noticed it, and Xemnas permitted a single day with no mission. I suppose that his intention of giving us a break on Christmas Day was to remind us of what we lacked in order to give us further encouragement to complete Kingdom Hearts."

Everyone fell silent as they processed that statement, reflecting on the true purpose of the Organization that Xemnas/Xehanort had intended. Donald crossed his arms and sank back into his chair. "Humbug," he muttered.

"You could say that again," Roxas agreed.

They found more cheerful topics to discuss for the rest of breakfast and for much of the morning, including: how Terra, Ventus and Aqua celebrated Christmas before the Mark of Mastery exam (the tactful way in which Riku described the turning point); how Christmas was celebrated on Destiny Islands, in Daybreak Town (for Ventus and Chirithy to answer), and (mostly for the benefit of Kairi and her still-hazy memories) in Radiant Garden; and what everyone's favorite Christmas songs were.

"Hey, guys!" Lea called, getting everyone's attention. He pointed out the window. "You see all this snow outside? I'd say it looks perfect for a snowball fight."

Sora, Riku and Roxas grinned. "You're on!" Sora said. They all put on coats, gloves, and boots and ran outside. There was four inches of snow on the ground, a shining white blanket that covered the mountain islands. Snow also covered the roof and window sills of the castle. As soon as he was outside, Sora did a backflip and pushed himself off of the wall, launching himself across the forecourt. He packed together a snowball on landing and spun around to throw it at Riku, who was making a snowball of his own to retaliate.

Everyone spread out, going all in on the attack. They each sometimes focused on one adversary in particular, and other times briefly grouped up to gang up on someone. They all ran around to dodge snowballs and attack from different angles. Sora, Riku, Roxas, Aqua, and Ventus leapt through the air and ran up and down the side of the castle to take the snowball fight to the skies, leaving the others to watch from the ground and laugh as their friends glided and airstepped all over the place and snowballs arced through the air (although Donald regretted this when a stray(?) snowball dropped down and hit him square in the face). Everyone on the ground got back into the action when Naminé, who up to that point had simply sat on the steps in front of the door and watched, threw a snowball at Terra from behind.

When they were all tired from the snowball fight, they stumbled back inside, laughing, and took off their outdoor clothing. As they passed through the foyer, Kairi caught Sora by the hand and stopped him, then pointed up to show him that they were standing under the mistletoe. They laughed and then kissed. "Merry Christmas," they said to each other. After seeing this, the other couples decided to follow their example, and Riku and Naminé, Roxas and Xion, Aqua and Terra, and Lea and Isa shared their own kisses under the mistletoe.

The gang was truly glad to be together on the day that was all about sharing the light in their hearts. It truly was the most wonderful time of the year.