Author's Note: This is not to be taken too seriously, just something fun I'm doing mostly for myself over Christmas Break. Bonus points if you find all the easter eggs from the different versions/specials I incorporate!

Chapter 1: Christmas Eve Morning

Christmas with family is a blessing, even if it doesn't seem like it at first.

This particular Christmas Eve morning, Splinter awoke early, as was his habit, stretched, and rose from his pallet on the floor. His feet shuffled across the floor toward his mantle where his brush and some of his most precious pictures were displayed.

Splinter took good care of his fur, especially now that his bones ached more than they used to, and so he didn't have many knots to untangle. However, having one's body completely covered in fur still made brushing it out take a while. While he brushed, he let his eyes wander over the pictures and his mind wandered back to the years when they were taken.

It was a work of providence that had led him to a working camera all those years ago, and since there was so little film left in it, he had used it sparingly. Because of his careful usage, he did manage to get a picture of each of his sons in their childhood: Leonardo training with his swords for the first time, Raphael sleeping on the couch curled up with his pet turtle, Donatello, beaming, with the first toaster he ever fixed, and Michelangelo, absolutely covered in flour, as he placed the first batch of cookies he ever made himself on a plate.

This last photo was the only Christmas picture he had of any of his sons; Michelangelo had been so excited to bake cookies for Santa. He was always the most excited by the season. Splinter felt a twinge of regret that he never could give his sons the kind of Christmas he had always wanted to give them. Instead, he had had to improvise gifts for them and ensure that leading up to Christmas, he made sure to give lots of talks about realistic expectations and the blessing of giving rather than receiving.

His children, bless them, were always understanding and if they ever were disappointed by the meager findings under their second-hand, artificial Christmas tree, then they made sure to keep it hidden from him. He was so proud of them; their selflessness, strength, bravery, and good-heartedness. It lifted his heart to know that as soon as he stepped out of his room, he would be able to spend another wonderful Christmas Eve with the four best creatures in existence.

Then he heard a series of loud crashes and yelling coming from the living area.

He sighed, turned around, lit his meditation candles, and sat in the lotus pose as he breathed deeply.

They may be wonderful, but his sons were still teenagers. He needed to prepare.

The commotion that Splinter overheard had started innocently enough.

Mikey had gotten up (somewhat) early, and had been busy decorating the lair for Christmas. The previous night they had gone out with April and Casey to find a real Christmas tree, which was sitting in a place of honor next to the television wall. Mikey insisted that they save decorating the tree for last and was stringing strands of garland, setting up candles, and finding, as he said, the "perfect place" to display the various handmade and refurbished Christmas decorations that they had gathered over the years.

He was also singing.

Loudly.

"DECK THE HALLS WITH BOUTS OF HOLLY!" he crooned at the top of his voice.

"That's 'boughs,' Mikey," Donnie corrected without looking up from his current project. In the spirit of Christmas, he had emerged from his lab to work on his contraption at the kitchen table, where he could make his snarky comments and add to the sense of togetherness that the season was due.

Michelangelo, however, either could not hear his brother's comment or did not care.

"FA LA LA LALA, LA LA LA LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Donnie winced as the last note made several attempts to find a pitch and never succeeded.

It was about this time that Raphael emerged from his room, glowering at all creation.

"SHUT UP MICHELANGELO!"

Finally, Mikey stopped and looked up to where his brother was standing at the top of the stairs. His eyes narrowed, but then he shrugged.

"Sorry, Raphie," he said, and went back to decorating.

Raph shifted from one foot to the other as his brain struggled to process the calm response.

"Why're ya bein' so nice?" he demanded.

"It's almost Christmas! I can be nice one time a year, you know," Mikey stuck out his tongue at Raph.

His older brother grunted and started lumbering down the stairs.

"Whatever."

As soon as he got downstairs, he grabbed his box of cereal, fixed himself a bowl and sat down next to Donnie, who shifted his tech ever so slightly away from his anger-prone brother.

"Besides," Mikey continued as Raph sat down, coming over to where the box of decorations was sitting on the table. As he moved closer to them, Donnie ever-so-slightly adjusted his position so that his techno-whatsit was better protected. As Mikey reached them, he leaned in right next to Raph's head.

"TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY!"

Before he had even finished the line, Raphael jumped up and tackled his brother as Donnie, in one smooth motion, almost as if he had already planned out his escape route, gathered his invention up and headed to the living room.

As he walked into the living room, Leonardo flew past him, out of the dojo and toward his younger brothers.

"Morning, Leo," Donnie greeted. He did not get a reply.

"Break it up, you guys!" Leo yelled at the two rough-housing turtles. "It's almost Christmas! Just stop it already!"

He got in between them and, thankfully, they both reined themselves in as soon as they were separated.

They were breathing heavily as Leo instructed them, "Just go back to whatever you were doing, please. Let's have some peace, at least until after Christmas. If you two can manage it, anyway."

Mikey looked down and grinned sheepishly at Leo's sarcastic rebuke.

Raph growled. "Why don't you just shut up, Fearless?" He pushed past his brother and sat down in front of the TV, but didn't seem keen on actually fighting with either of his brothers anymore.

Leo rolled his eyes and then took a look around.

"Nice job, Mikey," he said. Mikey grinned at him and then flung his arm around the oldest.

"Well I'm not finished yet, dude! You should help me!"

"Oh, uh…" Leo tried desperately to think of an excuse why he couldn't get involved in this particular endeavour, but came up short, especially when Donnie teamed up against him.

"Go on, Leo," the purple-banded turtle encouraged, "You'll have loads of fun."

He grinned up at his big brother who shot him a sharp look.

"Traitor," he mouthed as Mikey dragged him off to discuss what the prime placement for a particularly rusty piece of metal with a painted Christmas picture on it would be.

Several hours later, Leo and Mikey had finally gotten to putting ornaments on the tree.

"You two should really help out with this," Mikey berated his two seated brothers. "Get involved with something Christmas-y!"

"I am doin' somethin' Christmas-y" Raph told him from the couch as he watched Die Hard. On the screen, the body of Tony was being delivered to Hans. "See? There's a Santa hat. Christmas-y."

Mikey rolled his eyes as Leo exchanged grins with his immediate-younger brother.

"Come on, Donnie, you can help us!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I will, I will, just let me finish up with this real quick," he told them.

"You've been working on that thing all day," Leo commented, "What is it anyway?"

Donnie finally looked up at them.

"It's a new robo-buddy! It'll help us with all kinds of things around the lair. Cleaning, simple repair jobs, you know, that kind of thing." He went right back to tinkering with the thing as Leo nudged Mikey in the arm.

"I don't think we're going to get much help out of him for this."

"We could ask Splinter! He's been in his room most of the day, anyway, he needs the social interaction!"

At his words, though, Leonardo froze, his hand hovering just next to a branch with an angel ornament dangling from his fingers. Mikey stopped at his brother's expression and asked hesitantly,

"What's up, dude?"

"I forgot," Leo whispered. Mikey could barely hear him but then Leo dropped his ornament, grabbed Mikey by the shoulders, and spoke with his eyes nearly popping out of his head.

"Mikey, I completely forgot to get Splinter a Christmas present! I was going to go get one this morning, but then I got… side-tracked and now it's almost Christmas!"

His tone was practically screaming "Help me!" but Mikey had no help to give.

"Oh man, I forgot, too! Guys!" He turned to his two other brothers, glancing at Splinter's door, praying it didn't open just then.

"Please tell me one of you got Splinter something for Christmas!"

Raph averted his gaze as he hummed noncommittally and Donnie put his screwdriver down and scrunched his face in thought.

"I don't think I did," the smart turtle said, turning away from his project for the first time that day.

"What time is it?" Leo demanded.

"7 o'clock," Donnie quickly informed him.

"Okay. We should have time to go out, get him something awesome, and get back here before Christmas morning."

"But dude," Mikey interrupted, "Splinter always wants to watch It's a Wonderful Life with us on Christmas Eve. It's, like, a Christmas tradition!"

Leo scratched his chin in thought.

"Okay. We'll stay until after he goes to bed after the movie. Then, we'll head out. But to make up for the time, everybody be brainstorming ideas during the movie so we'll have some ideas when we head topside. Sound good?"

The other turtles nodded their agreement.

"Okay. We have a plan- we gotta get a gift for Splinter!"