It was the morning of December 25th, 1970. Precisely, 5:00 AM.
"Mario! Wake up!"
"Whaaaaaat…" Mario groaned.
"It's Christmas! Remember? Come on!" his green pajama-wearing brother said.
Luigi dragged Mario over to the living room, but when Mario saw the beauty, he stopped.
The tree was glowing brightly, illuminating the room in yellow light. The almost-dawn light combined with the tree's lights made for a beautiful sight, hiding any and all stains on the walls. On the center table of the living room, the cookies that his mother had a bite in every one of them, the milk half-full. The presents under the tree, however minimal they were, were shining brightly with the reflected light.
"Nothing is as beautiful as this!" Luigi told Mario.
Mario paused for a second to think. "Nah, I don't think anything could, either."
The morning of December 25th, 1985. Precisely, 5:00 AM.
"Mario! Wake up!"
"Luigi, you're 25! Stop trying to wake me up," Mario half-joked.
"It's not that! The princess is coming over!"
A jab of fear struck Mario. "What?!"
"She's so grateful you saved her two months ago. She called 30 minutes ago and asked to come over!"
"B-but we aren't ready!"
"I know. Come on, bro, let's clean up!"
The two cleaned up as fast as they could. The table was cleaned, the floor was picked up, clothes were put on, and chairs were set. As Mario was taking out Luigi's sweet potato casserole (he was quite the avid cooker), the doorbell rung.
Mario opened the door to see the princess in her standard pink attire.
"Merry Christmas, Princess Toadstool."
"Please, call me Peach," she returned. "Merry Christmas to you, Mario."
The princess stepped in the house. However, she turned around for a second. "Oh, also, I brought a friend over."
An orange-clothed woman stepped in. "Hi, I'm Daisy!" she said, in a rather opposing fashion to Peach's calm voice.
"This is Princess Daisy of Sarasaland. She's been my friend ever since we were kids."
"Um… hello, Princess Daisy," Mario greeted.
"It's fine if you just call me Daisy."
"Well, then, nice to meet you, Daisy."
Mario pulled another chair up to accommodate Daisy.
"I'm sorry, I had no idea either of you were coming," Mario told them, "so I didn't get you two presents."
"That's fine. It's my gift to you that matters the most to me."
She handed Mario a red sweater. It seemed handmade, with a white M emblazoned on it. Mario tried it on, and it fit perfectly.
"What-"
"Princesses are taught from a very young age to sew clothes, and how to tell a person's measurements without actually measuring them."
"Thank you, Peach."
Suddenly, Luigi walked out of his room. "Okay, I'm rea…" His voice traveled off when he saw Daisy. "Well, hello there," he said in his most manly voice. Peach and Mario started to laugh.
The morning of December 25th, 2007. Precisely, 5:00 AM.
Mario was already up. Even then, he missed having Luigi there with him, in the adjacent room. Ever since his adventure in space that destroyed and remade the universe (he was, other than Rosalina, the only one who remembered), Luigi had his own house, in another block away. They still saw each other, though not as often. However, to Luigi, it had been like that since they were 20.
Mario stared out the window, looking at the snow-filled landscape. Unfortunately, Luigi was set to arrive at 8:00, but Mario had cleaned the house an hour ago. What was there to do?
Watch TV? Nope, there was only Christmas shows on. Mario didn't particularly like those shows.
Read a book? Mario didn't feel like it very much. Plus, he wasn't much of a book reader.
He thought about playing Mario Kart DS, but who would he play it with? It was no fun to play with the bots.
He looked at the presents under the tree. One for Peach, one for Daisy, one for Luigi, one for Toad, one for—
The doorbell rung. Probably just some traveling businessman trying to sell me a quick Christmas related item. He opened the door.
"Hey, bro! I decided to come early this year! How are you?"
The morning of December 25th, 2021.
A new cookbook for Luigi.
A scarf for Peach.
A flower necklace—made out of daisies—for Daisy.
A package of banana-flavored candy for Donkey Kong.
Fruit—his favorite!—for Yoshi.
Cologne for Wario.
A tennis racket for Waluigi.
A new wand for Rosalina.
A package of Super Mushrooms for Toad.
A pink bow for Toadette.
A new hat for Cappy to turn into.
A new backpack for Captain Toad.
And—yes, another—handbag for Pauline.
Mario had met so many friends over the years, and he credited that to adventuring in different places, from the Mushroom Kingdom's plains to the Metro Kingdom's city, and everywhere in between. And, as another Christmas came and went, he was reminded of the time they had all shared together. He was grateful for—
"Now let's play some Mario Party!" someone, presumably Daisy, yelled, echoing across the house.
—that. Yeah, that was definitely what he was going to say.
Merry Christmas, everyone! I meant to release this earlier, but it failed. Lol. It's here now, thank goodness!
I wanted to create a heartfelt story of four of the Christmases Mario and Luigi have experienced. I hope you liked it!