If there's something good about your house being buried under snow, it's that the light doesn't wake you up in the morning.

"Kristoff? Good morning…"

"Anna?"

"Wrong sister."

Elsa laughed softly and pinched my cheek.

"Expecting someone else, perhaps?"

I squirmed in bed as my brain finished activating and sat up suddenly realizing what had just happened.

"Elsa! Uh… Good morning. How do you feel?"

"Hungry."

"That's good. Right away I get up and prepare something for you."

"You? Why?"

"Because I'm in charge of cooking."

"Since when?"

"Since your sister won't let me tidy up or clean up."

"So, you've been cooking all this time?"

"Yeah. Is that a problem?"

"It might be to you."

"I don't mind cooking."

"I know, but your cooking is good."

"I still don't see the problem."

"Anna is not gonna let you go."

At the time, I saw it as even less troublesome, but I wasn't about to let Elsa find out.

"C'mon, stop talking nonsense. I'm coming right away"

"Yeah…"

Elsa slowly sat down next to me on the bed and began to play with my hair.

"You know you're not good at lying, right?"

"I don't need to lie."

"So, are you going to tell me how it was with Anna?"

"Good."

"Very good?"

"Just normal."

"I knew it! You are crazy about her!"

"The fever has affected you. Go eat and see if you regain common sense."

"Say what you want, I'm not blind."

"Get out of here!" I said playfully pushing her out of the bed.

That evil blonde got up laughing, went to the door of "my" room, and, just before closing, winked at me making me blush even harder and left leaving a trail of laughter.

"Shit…"

I shook my head, not daring to believe what Elsa had found so obvious. It had been a little over twenty-four hours since I had met Anna; I couldn't be in love with her. However, there was something that I didn't doubt, if I was not in love with her, I would be soon if I didn't get out of there quickly.

I looked out the window thinking about raising the shutters to see if the snow was melting allowing me to flee that house before getting into unrequited love. I was confident in my possibilities and abilities on a practical level, but I was aware that on an emotional level I was a mess. Even if it were true that she liked my company, it wouldn't take her long to realize that I am boring, excessively cautious, extremely home-loving, and that I don't dare to believe that someone is going to really love me. Nobody would want to be with someone like that. But no matter how advisable it seemed to flee, I soon realized that I hadn't even remembered to lower the shutters the night before. The darkness was of a completely natural origin.

"Looks like I'm not going to get out of here before Christmas…"

"You wanna go?"

"Anna!"

True that it was their house, but either of them could knock on the door before entering.

"Yes, I mean, no, I just… was looking at the snow."

"Yeah… it keeps snowing. I don't think it'll melt in a few days. It's like magic, isn't it?"

"Like a curse?"

"Like a Christmas miracle."

Anna approached me and gave me a new kiss on the cheek.

"Good Morning. I was coming over to see if you want a piece of the promised pie."

"You need to ask?"

"What I thought. See you in the kitchen, then."

And as she came, she left, leaving me frozen again on the spot and yet warm and comforted inside.

The day went by calmly. Thank God, Elsa gave up trying to get the colors out of me while Anna was in front of us, and instead of that, she spent the day staring with envy at everything we put into our mouths.

"Why do I have to eat roasted apples while you guys load your plates with Christmas delicacies?"

"Because a pair of shoes full of vomit is enough. We don't want to be next," I replied mockingly.

"Shoes?" Anna asked. "Who have you thrown up on their shoes?"

"Ah… I don't know. It was a boy who approached me the other night."

"A fan? A suitor?"

"I don't know and I don't care. His shoes have paid the price for harassing people. You should have seen Kristoff's face. It told it all."

"It always does."

"Excuse me? We were messing with Elsa, leave me alone for a bit."

"Yeah, I don't think so. It's easier to mess with you," the two answered in chorus.

"Very nice. Well, with your permission, I'm going to peel potatoes."

"Okay, thank you again, Kristoff," Elsa said recovering her host tone. "I'm gonna take a rest for a while in my room."

"Well, I'm going to go to the art room for a while. If you want something, give me a shout."

Anna ran out while humming something from another century and Elsa gave me a pitying smile as she shrugged. It seems that her plan to leave us alone hadn't gone as she expected.

To be honest, peeling a mountain of potatoes in the most absolute solitude was not the plan that most seduced me to spend the afternoon of Christmas Eve, but, I owed them the effort and Anna seemed enthusiastic about that dinner, so I put all the good humor I could into it.

A couple of hours later, I had four different dipping sauces and two big platters of extra crunchy fries ready.

"Isn't this the most exquisite smell in the world?"

Anna appeared behind me admiring my work and giving me a micro infarct.

"I don't think so, but it's not bad."

"Seriously, what can smell better than this?"

"The wet field, vanilla, machine coffee…"

"Do you like vanilla? My shampoo is vanilla!"

"I know."

'And this is how the world ends, isn't it? How can I be so bigmouth?'

Anna's cheeks flushed fiercely at my unintentional statement about her sweet, intoxicating scent, and my slotted spoon fell to the floor.

"The bathroom! I've seen it while taking a shower! That's it!"

"Okay… Take it easy, I wasn't thinking of anything weird."

Obviously, she lied just as badly as I did.

"Is nobody thinking of picking that up off the floor?"

"Elsa!" we both exclaimed all at once.

"What were you two doing? Why so much shock?"

'My heart is not prepared for the stress of living in this house.'

"Shampoo! We were talking about shampoo! What is yours, Elsa?" I blurted out as awkwardly as possible as I picked up the slotted spoon.

"Uh… I don't know, something like 'winter cool' or something like that."

"And what does that smell like?"

"I don't know… it smells nice. What shampoo do you use at home?"

"A pine one," Anna answered, picking up a potato from the platter and putting it in her mouth without noticing the perplexity on her sister's face and mine.

"How do you know that?" Elsa asked saying aloud what I didn't dare to articulate.

"Errr… He smells like that. Even after showering here, he still smells like pine. It's like he's living in one…"

"I hadn't realized," Elsa commented, giving me that malicious smirk again.

"Nor did you need to. Let's set the table before the potatoes get cold."

The sisters looked at each other and laughed knowingly. Then they took me, fire and ice, each one by one hand, and led me into the living room.

"Welcome to your first Christmas at the Arendelle's house."

The light in the living room was off, and it was the fireplace accompanied by a few chandeliers that were responsible for lighting it. In the flickering orange light, an elegant table fit for kings awaited our arrival. The fine glasses, the thousands of cutlery that I neither knew nor had any intention of using, the napkins arranged in the shape of a snowman, the centerpieces loaded with dried cones, pine needles, and golden balls…

"And we are going to have potatoes for dinner?! Really?!"

"That will be you, lucky guys," Elsa said. "I have purée and pear for dinner…"

"Come on, take a seat!" exclaimed Anna pushing us towards the table. "This is going to be the best Christmas Eve ever!"

And it certainly was. The laughter, the shabby but delicious food, the surprisingly nice company… It was the first time I felt something like that; it was the first time that Christmas felt like Christmas…

"To our first Christmas together," Elsa said raising her very healthy goblet of grape juice.

Anna raised hers too, toasted with her sister, and leaned her glass toward me with a sweet smile.

"The first ones, but not the last."

That magical night, I went to bed later than Anna and Elsa.

After the huge beating that Elsa gave us at Monopoly, Anna went exhausted to bed leaving me with the unspeakable desire for her good night kiss and Elsa followed her. There wasn't much I could do to get a present for them in there, so I went into the kitchen and did the one thing I knew they both would like: chocolate.

I melted a tablet of what, to make matters worse, was their chocolate, and poured it into the snowflake-shaped mold that Anna used for her experiments. Later, while the chocolate was slowly cooling, I opened and repelled some almonds. When the time was finally right, I carefully embedded the almonds in the chocolate, writing a brief 'Thank you' with them.

Then, I wrapped it in aluminum foil, left a note on it, and placed it under the tree where I was surprised to discover a couple of envelopes with my name on them. Later, I washed the pots, tidied up everything I had messed up, and went to bed missing my pajamas but eager to get up a few hours later to celebrate what would be my first real Christmas Day.

However, that moment, never came.