I always put my chapters up as soon as I write them (Though this one has been sitting on my computer so I could write Kado's introduction in the last chapter) which is why I'm putting up a Christmas themed chapter up before Halloween.

I guess I was in a Christmasy mood (I'm one of those people who hums Christmas carols in the summer), so I wrote this.

Oh, if you are a believer in Santa Clause, please do not read this and continue on with your wonderful life believing in magic and happiness.

"That's my ornament."

"No, the snowman with the funny hat is mine."

"No, yours is the one with the scarf."

"No, it's not."

"We can do this all day, but in the end I'll still be right."

"Ringo, stop being stubborn and give me the ornament."

"Oh Anzu, I'm not being stubborn, I'm being right."

"Ringo-"

"Sissy! I want that one!"

"Momo, not now, I'm proving my superiority over Anzu."

"But I want that one!"

Ino closed her eyes and tried to remember why she had ever thought that three children had been a good idea. Really, it was all Hinata and Naruto's fault. If they hadn't made having five kids look easy all of this would have never happened, she could have just gotten a fish and lived her life in peace and quiet.

But no, she had wanted to experience the joys of motherhood.

"Ringo! Anzu! Does it really matter whose ornament it is? Just put it on the tree and no one will know who put it on there."

"Mom, we'll know. We'll always know who put it on there and it will be without us having settled this argument. Then the ornament will always be tainted, and we don't want that, do we?"

Ino narrowed her eyes at her oldest. "Put it on the tree."

"Mom-"

"On. The. Tree. Now." Ringo, figuring that they could just continue the fight later since she'd be right whatever time it was, hung the ornament on one of the branches.

"Now, was that really so hard?"

"Mommy! Mommy! I want that one!" Momo cried, scampering over to tug on her mother's skirt and point to one of the ornaments on the table. Ino glanced at the hand crafted glass flower ornament that she hadn't even taken out of the box yet, saving it for a time when her children weren't such vicious little hellions, and shook her head.

"Sorry Honey, but that one is too delicate for you. Why don't you keep hanging up the ones we laid out for you?" Momo stuck her lip out and pouted, blinking her wide brown and tear filled eyes at her mother.

"But it's pretty."

Ino sighed and hung a little bit more tinsel on the tree. "I know, but you can't." The three year old glared at her mother before throwing her head back and howling, angry tears streaking down her cheeks. "But I want THAT ONE!"

"Ringo, that one is mine too!"

"No, it's not. And what do you mean 'too'?"

"That the other one was mine, just like this one is."

"It's cute how you're trying to be right, but you're wrong."

"Ringo!"

Ino swore she heard something snap as she threw back her head and shouted over the tearful screeches and battle cries. "CHOJI!"

The large man came to the archway of the living room where the tree was being set up and blinked as he took in the chaos. "...Yes?" He asked hesitantly, not wanting to innocently wander in and step on a landmine.

Ino pointed to her husband accusingly. "You. You're half responsible for these things, so come in here and take care of it."

Choji came into the room and walked past the two eldest and arguing children, instead picking up Momo in favor of getting rid of her painfully high pitched cries and getting that much closer to blessed silence.

"Hey, what's the sad face for Muffin?" He asked, giving the small girl one of the potato chips from his bag. She sniffled and took it, looking up at her father tearfully.

"Mommy won't let me hang ornaments." Ino huffed out a breath in protest but Choji focused on the girl instead.

"Oh?"

She nodded and pointed to the one she wanted. "I want to hang that one but she won't let me because she's mean." Choji looked at her.

"No, she just doesn't want it to break. If you dropped it and it broke she'd be sad, and you know that it's really bad when Mom gets sad because you get sad too, and no one ever wants to see you sad. So, why don't we just leave that one alone?" The girl nodded, her little brown curls bobbing. "Okay." She said, resting her head against his shoulder so she could nibble on the chip he had given her.

Ino pressed her lips together and watched as Choji turned to their other children. "Hey, what's this about?" Ringo turned to her father and stomped her foot, holding the ornament up to show it to him.

"This! I know that the sledding bear is mine, but Anzu keeps insisting that it's hers! And she's wrong."

"Check the bottom of the box." The two girls blinked at him.

"What?"

"The box. Last year when you two had this same argument your mother and I wrote the names of who they belonged to on the bottom of the box." They blinked again and picked up the box, Anzu looking back up and grinning in triumph.

"Told you!" Ringo shrugged, not really caring all that much if she was wrong, only if she was right.

"Oh, and look at this, the snowman is mine! I do believe that this means that I told you."

Ino rubbed her temples. "Boys. Boys would have been so much easier." She muttered when Choji had joined her after setting Momo down so that she could keep on hanging her ornaments on the bottom of the tree.

"Oh? Do you want a boy now?" He asked, slipping his arm around Ino's shoulders and pressing a kiss to her forehead. Ino chuckled, poking him in his stomach. "Don't even think about trying it, Bub."

"What do you mean you don't believe in Santa?!"

Asuma looked up at Maria from his seat on the living room floor and shrugged, wanting to laugh at how sweetly ridiculous the woman looked with the red Santa hat on her head. "We just don't. Dad has always told us that he wasn't real." Kyoko nodded and Maria childishly stomped her foot, turning to said man.

"You! How could you?"

"How could I what?"

"Take away Santa! I mean, without Santa all of this is kind of moot, isn't it?" She said, motioning to the decorated tree and the stockings hung on the windowsill.

"Isn't Christmas supposed to be about giving and being grateful for what you get and not about a bearded and jolly fat man in a red velvet outfit?" He asked, smirking when Maria stomped her foot again.

"Yes, but when you're a kid everything is so much more magical when you believe Santa will come down the chimney to give you the presents, not your parents."

"Why? Usually breaking and entering isn't something you would celebrate." Kyoko said. Maria glared at Shikamaru and pointed at him accusingly.

"See what you've done? You've practically ruined their childhood by taking all the magic out of their lives! You've probably taken away the Tooth Fairy and the Easter bunny too!"

Maria sighed and stomped out of the room, coming back in with a bag filled with presents, angrily dropping it beside the tree. "There! No reason to hide them now since the joy of Christmas has been ruined." She said, flopping back on the couch and crossing her arms as she stared away from the group, pouting.

Asuma sighed and walked up to her, figuring it would all go better if she stopped pouting before she fixed their dinner. "Maria, isn't it better to know that the people that gave you the presents loved you enough to get them for you instead of all of those feelings going towards some imaginary man? That way when you get and give the presents it's like you're sharing your feelings with each other."

Maria blinked at the boy before reaching out and dragging him to her in a big hug. "Oh! Maybe you're not ruined! After all, that might have been the sweetest argument I've heard from you!" She said, pressing a noisy kiss to the boy's cheek and making him blush.

"Mommy, where does Santa live?" Mino asked, watching his mother intently with his clear white eyes as she finished icing the first batch of cookies she had fixed.

"At the top of the world in the North Pole." She said, smiling down at the boy sweetly as she went to go pull the second batch out of the oven, placing them on the cooling rack.

"Isn't he cold?" Mino asked, remembering that the top of the world was ice. Hinata giggled at the serious look on the boy's face.

"No, he always wears his coat, so he's perfectly warm. Aren't you warm when you wear your coat?" Mino nodded, accepting his mother's explanation and the cookie she held out to him.

He nibbled on it as he followed her into the living room where the rest of the family was, the multicolored lights on the Christmas tree flashing as the fire burned, the shiny wrapping paper on the presents reflecting the glow they cast.

Kori was lying on her stomach on the couch and reading a book -most probably a steamy romance with rakish princes or dashing pirates what with the phase the sixteen year old was going through currently- her thick blonde hair tumbling free down past her shoulders. The twins sat together on the floor in front of the coffee table with some papers and a scroll their father had reluctantly allowed them to borrow laid out on the table. Leo was sitting beside Naruto, the two of them probably talking about some ninjutsu or some fight Naruto had been in in the past.

Hinata smiled at the group and sat the cookies down, the twins' heads snapping up when they heard it. Yuka fidgeted and snatched a cookie.

"Mooooom, when can we open a present?" She wined, just as she did every year, and just as she did every year Hinata looked at the mantle and at the clock even though she already knew the answer.

"In twenty minutes at six just like we said earlier. You can wait that long to open a single present, can't you?" Yuka sighed and flopped back, groaning as if the thought of waiting physically pained her.

Leo dashed over to grab a couple of the cookies and ended up fighting with Yuka over the last bell shaped one with green icing, ignoring the halfhearted protests that came from Yuki. Mino sat quietly in the space Kori had made for him on the couch and watched them, finishing his cookie but not wanting to get another, remembering his mother's warnings about too may sweets and cavities.

Hinata sat in Leo's vacated seat and rested her head on Naruto's shoulder.

Sometimes it amazed her that they had actually been married for nearly seventeen years and that they had five beautiful and rowdy children. But she'd look in his eyes or he'd touch her in that surprisingly gentle way of his and she'd be filled with the knowledge that yes, this was her family, and with just that knowledge she became just so undeniably happy.

Naruto threaded their fingers together and watched their children with her. "We should stop them." Hinata murmured as the argument between the two children escalated so that they were now standing and shouting at each other. It wasn't that the shouting bothered her -each of the children other than Mino shouted at times, something they got from their easily aggravated father- it was just that it didn't really seem right that they should be fighting on Christmas eve.

"Nah, they do this every year. Why break tradition?" Hinata turned her head to smile up at him, giggling a little.

"It's a strange tradition. Really, we should be upset that they're arguing. Most parents would be." He grinned back at her, unbothered by the fact. "Not really, it's not like they're actually fighting, just some sibling argument. It's not something to get worried about."

Though he wouldn't be tell his wife that Yuka had just thrown a cookie at Leo's head, trusting Yuki to get it before she turned around and saw it.

After all, it was Christmas Eve.

"Sakura-chan."

"Yes Pakkun, what is it?"

"Kakashi can't find the serving platter."

"I told him that it was in the china cabinet." She said as she pulled the ham out of the oven and checked on the green beans. Pakkun sighed. "Yes, but he can't find it." She slammed the lid to the pot down forcefully, making the little dog jump.

"Go in there," She gritted out in a low and threateningly sweet voice, "And make him look again. Please." The dog was quick to do her bidding, fearing her and whatever wrath disobeying her would evoke.

Sakura put the potatoes in a bowl and then added the milk and cheese, setting the mixer up just as Kakashi came in. "Sakura, that platter you want isn't in there." She calmly sat the mixer down and wiped her hands off on the hand cloth that was tucked into her waist as she stepped out of the kitchen and went up to the china cabinet.

"Do you mean," She said as she opened the bottom door and pulled out the platter. "This?"

Kakashi's open eye widened when she forcefully shoved the platter into his stomach as she passed him, going back into the kitchen to continue on with fixing Christmas dinner. He followed her in and watched as she started mashing the potatoes.

"You know," He started, ignoring the furious and painful lashing her eyes were currently giving him, "You said on the cabinet, not in." Sakura narrowed her eyes at the man and raised the speed of the blender, silently and viciously killing him with her eyes.

"Hey Mom," Karin said as she walked in, carrying Pakkun in her arms. "When are we going to eat? The ninken are getting impatient."

"They," She said as she dropped the pan of rolls on the counter, slamming the oven door shut, "Can wait." Karin nodded and scratched Pakkun on the top of his head absently, unphased by her mother's short attitude. She walked out of the kitchen and ignored the look her father sent her, leaving the man to his fate.

"Sakura-chan," He said as he edged a little closer, not really all that sure what she was going to do with that knife. "Really now, all of this over-"

"Mom, I'm hungry. When are we going to eat?" Jiro interrupted, ignoring the warning signals his sister was sending him from across the room, hidden from their mother's sight. Sakura turned slowly, pointing her knife at the pink haired boy threateningly, eyes flaming and daring him to even try and say another word. He easily turned on his heel, making his way out of the room and away from his currently homicidal mother.

The two children watched as their father tried to make peace with the woman, her waving the knife and him dodging to wrap an arm around her waist and whisper in her ear. There were a few moments of silence before Sakura relaxed in his hold and playfully shoved him away, finishing the diner preparations.

Karin sighed and looked at her brother. "It's scary to think that this is what we come from, isn't it?" He nodded and turned to go and do anything other than watch the scene in front of him.

"Mama, Papa, I'm going to stay up to see Santa tonight!" Rin declared, having decided this as she played with her mashed potatoes. Neji sighed and sat down his fork, lacing his fingers together on the table. "Rin, you're six now so it's probably about time you should know-" He stopped as the sudden pain of Tenten digging her nails violently into his thigh -a few inches too close for comfort- registered.

"Know what, Papa?" Rin asked, blinking her wide and innocent white eyes at him. Tenten smiled easily at the girl and continued Neji's sentence as if she weren't silently threatening to do something very violent to the man sitting beside her, though her version was a bit altered from what he was going to say.

"Know that it's about time! I was sitting up for Santa when I was three, what's taken you so long?" Rin gaped at her, amazed at the thought of her mother not only being three but also waiting up for Santa.

"Did you ever see him? Does he wear red like in the pictures? Does he rhyme like in the book? Are the reindeer really cute?" Rin gasped as she thought of the most important question.

"Does Rudolph's red nose really glow bright so he can guide the sleigh at night?"

Tenten grinned at the girl, digging into her husband's leg just a little more when he opened his mouth to protest. "I never caught him, but I'm sure you can if you can stay up. But you can only stay up if you finish your dinner." Rin's eyes went wide at the thought of doing something her mother never had and she began to eat with vigor, jumping out of her seat when she was done so that she could get prepared for the night ahead of her.

Tenten waited until the girl had raced out of the room before she released Neji's leg. He glared at her as he rubbed it, happy that she had at least showed some restraint and hadn't broken skin. "What was that for?" Tenten crossed her arms and leaned back, an eyebrow lifting in disbelief. "That's what I should be asking you."

"What?"

"Listen, I know all your hopes and dreams were sucked from your soul and castrated in front of you when you were a child by your clan, but I'm not going to let you do it to our daughter."

"If she stays up we won't be able to sneak the presents in there."

"Oh please, she's not even going to make it an hour."

Neji pinched the bridge of his nose and tried think of the reason why he had even thought to start this whole thing. "Fine." He grumbled, "She gets Santa."

"And the tooth fairy." He opened his mouth but then closed it again. "Fine." She smiled at him and slipped her hand over his thigh again, though this time to rub the still sore wounds she had given him.

"Poor thing, did I hurt you?" He glared, insulted that she thought he would think that something like that had hurt. "Because, if I had, I suppose I could kiss it better." He blinked, taking in her teasing and promising smile and the way her fingers were moving.

"Oh?" She nodded.

"Yes. But you know the awful aim I have. I might just miss and end up just a bit North." She said, her fingers starting to head in the direction her words had taken. He opened his mouth to reply when Rin called out from the other room, asking for hot chocolate. "Coming!" Tenten called, getting up and going to the kitchen, leaving Neji in a very distressed state.

Later that night he watched as Rin made a little nest on the couch in front of the tree, her eyes focused determinedly on the task before her. Tenten walked in and nodded to the book in the girl's hands, one of the girl's personal favorites "The Night Before Christmas"

"Do you want me to read that to you?" The girl shook her head and gripped it tightly to her chest. "No! I'll fall asleep!" Tenten nodded and bent to kiss the top of her head.

"Okay, good night, Sweet. Make sure to tell me what Santa was like tomorrow morning, alright?" The girl nodded and stared determinedly at the clock, just waiting for Santa to show up so she could surprise him.

But sure enough, just as Tenten had promised, she nodded off before the clock chimed eight and Neji and Tenten were stealthily slipping presents under the tree and into her stocking, using all their ninja stealth abilities so they wouldn't wake the child and destroy her pleasant dreams.

After they were done and had slipped a blanket over Rin, Tenten poked her elbow into Neji's ribs. "I told you, didn't I?" He simply nodded, waiting for his wife's gloating to be over with. Grinning she grabbed his hand and dragged him towards their room. "Come on," She said, sending him a look over her shoulder. "It's time for your Christmas present."

"Merry Christmas Kado-Kun!" Misaki and Lee cried, the sheer joy and Christmas spirit radiating off the two making the boy want to shield himself from the brightness.

"Ah, yeah. Thanks."

Misaki grinned and picked up a wrapped box from beside her, handing it to him. "Here!"

He blinked down at the vivid and grinning reindeer printed on the paper, not knowing if her should tell the two that this was his first actual Christmas or not. Sure, the orphanage had handed out donated presents but most of those were little tops or crayons and pencils, gifts without thought or feeling.

Hiding how much this actually meant beneath his his usual mask of indifference he tore the wrapping paper off and lifted the lid of the box off, staring in shock at what was in it. Whatever it was.

Misaki clapped her hands together and beamed at his dumbstruck expression. "It took me forever to find just the right one for you, but when I saw this I just knew it was perfect!" Kado just kept blinking at it and she frowned, unsure. "Oh, do you not like it?"

It was a thick sweater with the most horrid green and purple stripes going horizontally and yellow zigzag things slashing through them vertically. Misaki's smile faded and she went to take the box from him. "Ah, sorry. I'm sure I have the receipt around here somewhere. We can take it back and get you something different."

She was giving him an out and Kado knew that he should take it and get rid of the disgusting thing. But something made him grip the box tightly and keep her from taking it from him. He looked up into her eyes and found himself saying, "No."

At his resistance Misaki's happiness returned so that she was physically radiating it, "You like it?"

No, he didn't. It was horrible and ugly and if he took it that meant that he'd actually have to wear it someday to keep her happy. But looking up into her face he was utterly defeated. "Yeah. It's great." She gasped and clasped her hands in front of her, practically bouncing from the sheer joy that filled her.

"That's wonderful! Oh, and we have more presents!" She said as she picked up a few more boxes and bags, passing them to the boy, eager to see his face light up with joy at the presents she and Lee had picked for him.

The first box he opened had a wallet, "Because you're always keeping your money in your shoe!" And he just barely kept himself from laughing out loud, but she just looked so proud that he couldn't tell her he had a reason for keeping his money where it was.

Then there were shirts and pants, though none as horrid as the sweater, and even an acceptable pair of boots. A watch was in one of the bags along with a note book and some pens, and in the final bag was the latest and biggest game console on the market, one that every kid had hoped to get for Christmas but had no hope of since the waiting list was so long. Kado blinked in awe and touched the box reverently.

"How...?"

"Oh, I heard that this was a big thing with boys your age and I have a friend who was able to get me one. You can leave it here since there probably isn't a TV you can play it on at The Home." Kado looked up at the two of them and reached down beside him wordlessly to pick up a crinkled brown paper bag and thrust it at them.

"Here. They didn't have any wrapping paper and... Here."

He turned his face away so they wouldn't see how embarrassed he was, wincing when Misaki gasped. "Kado-kun... It's..."

He looked down at the little misshapen turtle figurines both of them were holding, Lee's covered with glass of different shades of green and orange and Misaki's covered with a different array of rainbow hues. "I made them in the art room with clay and decorated them with bits of glass and beads I found. I knew that you guys like turtles and I know they're not much but-" He was suddenly stopped by Misaki wrapping her arms around him in a hug and Lee joining in just a few seconds later, both of them tearfully telling him that they loved the little trinkets.

He resigned himself to the tearful hug and sighed, wearily patting the pair on their backs.

I actually used some of my families old traditions for this (not the fighting, we were never allowed to fight. If we started fighting our mother would stop us and we'd get a spanking)

We'd always be allowed to open one present on Christmas eve (usually it was a board game for all of us to play together before we went to bed)

We'd have a big Christmas dinner (Mashed potatoes, honey ham, green beans, rolls).

We'd always hang the ornaments and end up having an argument about which one belonged to each of us, which always ended with our mom yelling at us and us getting punished (my dad never came in to help the situation, he was usually at work or on his computer)

We never stayed up for Santa though. Our parents sat up and yelled at us if we stepped out of our rooms.

Oh, and Santa never put presents under the tree, he was the one who filled our stockings.

I wish you all happiness and joyful dreams filled with sugarplums dancing through your heads (the sugarplum part, for those who are not familiar, is a line from The Night Before Christmas, not me being my crazy self)

I'm going to go eat waffles now.