Hi lovely readers,

Thank you so much for the lovely reviews on the last chapter. I know I say it every time but I love writing and the fact you guys still enjoy what I'm putting out there means the world. The fact you have enabled me to write 80 of these is beyond me! 80! Thank you SO SO much!

This prompt was requested by a guest a while ago so again apologies for taking so long to write and get this posted. As it was requested a while ago, it has a Christmas holiday theme. Thank you so much for requesting this was so cute to write and I really hope it was what you were after.

Hope you all enjoy.

Quietly, Sheldon closed the front door behind him, not moving until he had heard the gentle click of the lock. It had just left 10pm and he knew that everyone in the house would be sound asleep, the last thing he wanted was to wake anyone, especially the children.

As he stepped out of their little porch and into the hallway, he was surprised to see the kitchen light on. Carefully padding down the hall, he popped his head round the kitchen doorway to see Amy with her back to him. She was in her pyjamas, wrapped up in her fluffy, white robe. She turned instantly, almost as if she could sense his presence.

"Hi" she smiled, he loved her smile, it still made him feel all giddy inside.

"Hello" he reciprocated the smile.

"I'm just making tea, do you want one?" she asked. She could feel Sheldon behind her and before she knew it she felt his arms snake around her waist and his head rest upon her shoulder. Sheldon was never a particularly physical person so Amy welcomed any opportunity where he showed her this. "Oh my god, you're freezing" she felt her body jolt as she felt the coldness of his skin.

"I know"

"Have you been drinking?" Amy turned in his arms to face him when she smelt the very faint traces of alcohol on his breath.

"I just had the one" Sheldon was never a massive drinker, Amy could count on one hand the amount of times she had seen him actually drunk. "Raj bought over four beers" he explained.

Even though they were all grown men, all husbands and some fathers, they still indulged in their boys night. With working life and family life sometimes getting in the way, they made sure to have just one night a month together, eating take out, playing games and now apparently a few drinks too.

"You're not mad are you?" Sheldon asked, his lips formed into a pout and Amy instantly saw where their six year old daughter got it from.

"No, of course I'm not" she wriggled out of his grasp and waved her hand, dismissing his question. "You're allowed to have a drink and have fun with your friends, I really don't mind" she turned and continued to make her tea, she suddenly felt cold without Sheldon's arms wrapped around her. "You might want to grab a water though, I know what you're like, even after just one you'll be complaining all day tomorrow that you're thirsty."

"Yes, okay, I guess you're right" he made his way over to the fridge and suddenly noticed two little notes stuck to it with the colourful magnets. "What are these?" Sheldon thought out loud before opening the fridge.

"It's Emily and Arthur's letter to Santa" Amy explained, holding the mug of tea in her grasp, warming her hands up. "Emily was desperate to work on in it after school and of course Arthur followed suit" she smiled, their little boy was in absolute awe of his big sister. Of course she knew as they got older things would change but she hoped they would always love each other as much as they both did right now.

"Does Arthur really want a guitar?" he asked amused by his little three year old. He couldn't imagine him with a guitar, surely the item would be bigger than him.

"Yeah, I think that might have been Emily's influence. You know what she's like, totally took over and did it all for him" Amy smiled. They really had been incredibly cute, sitting up at the kitchen paper with their paper and pencils. Emily trying her hardest to write down every present she could think of with a few questionable spellings before taking charge of her little brothers letter too. "Can we go to bed now?" she asked through a yawn.

"Sure" Sheldon nodded with his water bottle safely in his hand.

—

Sheldon was awake yet he kept his eyes closed, he could hear the gentle padding of their feet on the floor, the sound of their shallow breaths, the whispers as they spoke to one another and the gentle pull of the duvet as they both tried to join their parents in bed.

He let out a groan when he felt a weight fall on top of him, he couldn't quite work out if it was Emily or Arthur but either way there was no denying he was definitely awake now.

"Em, what's the time?" he groaned, as he peeled open his eyes, he knew it was still dark and with the child who had recent fallen on him now deciding to sit on his back, he couldn't really move.

"It's 6 o clock" her voice was far too cheery for this time in the morning. "You said we could wake you up at 6 o clock" Emily told him in her usual matter of fact tone.

"I know, I know" Sheldon groaned. "Just let me wake up a little" he felt the weight from his back disappear and before he knew two little hands landed on his face Arthur tried to open his eyes for him. "I'm good Arthur, I'm good" Sheldon told him, opening his eyes wide and moving the little hands away.

Shuffling up in bed, he glanced across at his wife. How on earth was she sleeping through this? Arthur was now sandwiched between them and Emily was perched at the bottom of the bed, it was hardly peaceful. It then crossed his mind that maybe Amy wasn't sleeping through this at all, maybe she was just pretending, doing exactly what he had been trying to get away with.

"Shall we head downstairs?" he whispered, if Amy was asleep, the last thing he wanted to do was wake her and he could sense that soon the children would get louder. Without really waiting for a response, he scooped up Arthur and with Emily towing behind they left the bedroom and headed down the stairs.

"Daddy, are we seeing auntie Penny today?" Emily asked as she followed close behind him.

"You are, yes"

"Yes" she cheered clapping her hands together. "You know she's my best friend, mumma thinks she's her best friend but really she's mine" Emily explained excitedly as she walked into the kitchen, with Arthur's feet now firmly on the ground both of them took seats at the table.

"Is that true?" Sheldon couldn't help but smile, she really was everything to him. Emily and Penny's relationship had always been pretty special, Emily absolutely adored her and looked up to her so much. Equally, Penny felt the same way, having a son herself she loved any opportunity to have a bit of girly time with Emily.

"Yep" she nodded very certain of herself.

"And Lucas is my best friend too dad" Arthur chimed in.

It was an unbeknown tradition to the children that every year in the build up to Christmas, Penny and Leonard would take care of Emily and Arthur for the day whilst Amy and Sheldon did their Christmas shopping. They of course returned the favour and had Lucas for them when their time came.

Days without the children were rare and although family and friends were on hand whenever they needed them, Sheldon was actually looking forward to spending the day alone with Amy, just the two of them together, he couldn't remember the last time that had happened.

—

With just a few weeks to go until Christmas, it was fair to say the stores were packed full of people. Strangers standing next to each other, shoulder to shoulder, and far too close for Sheldon's liking. Every year he forgot just how much he hated doing this and every year it amazed him that stores like this existed. Stores where aisle after aisle was stock piled with toys, the shelves so high they almost touched the ceiling, a child's dream and a parents nightmare.

"Do you think she'll like this?" Amy asked, holding up a fairy jigsaw puzzle. "It was on her list" Amy added. It had been her intention to bring along their Christmas lists but in the craziness of getting the kids out of the door and making sure they had everything for their day, the lists had been forgotten and we're still very much on their refrigerator.

"Sure" Sheldon nodded, Emily loved anything sparkly and that's exactly what this puzzle was. He wondered if that was the only reason it was on her list, he couldn't recall the last time he had seen her complete one. "Are we getting the guitar for Arthur?" he asked.

"Yeah, I was thinking so, what do you think?" Amy asked. "Obviously just a toy one" she quickly clarified. Arthur was an easy child to buy for, at three years old he was completely satisfied with dinosaur's , books, trains and lego. In many ways, he was just like his father.

"Yeah" Sheldon smiled, although he loved the influence he had on his sons interests, it actually thrilled him more than he ever thought it would to know that he had interests of his own and if right now that was a guitar, then so be it. "He'll love it" he wasn't entirely sure they'd love the noise but it would be worth it to see his little face light up. "What else for Em?" he asked, unlike her brother, he found Emily so hard to buy for.

"She wants a phone" Amy laughed, as she scooted round a few people in the store. Sheldon was grateful for the little quiet spot that they had been able to find. It was a welcome escape. "Did you see that on her list?"

"She's absolutely not getting one of those" he wasn't an overly strict parent but he did draw the line here. It terrified him how quickly she was growing up if he could stop time, he definitely would. "Not until she's at least twenty."

"I'm not sure she'll wait until she's twenty" Amy smiled and gently placed a hand on his arm. She always knew he would be an amazing father but seeing him being fiercely protective of their daughter made her heart melt. Even if he was being a little over the top.

As they slowly moved round the store, Sheldon could tell Amy was distracted. He had already asked her what she was looking for twice and had been completely ignored. He had learnt his place, to follow her round the store and carry whatever she threw his way.

"Amy, what are you looking for?" third time lucky, right.

"I'm looking for a squishmallow" she finally answered

"What the hell is a squishmallow?"

—

Amy had always been a huge fan of the holidays, even when she was a child herself Christmas was her absolute favourite time of year. This had only been heightened since the birth of her children, Christmas with children really was something incredibly magaical.

The excitement that had filled their house this evening was so adorable it made her want to shed a few tears. Santa was coming tonight and Emily and Arthur were beside each other with excitement so much so that it had taken hours to get them settled.

Their fresh pyjamas were on, they had laid out the milk and cookies by the tree and after a bedtime story and the promise that Santa would have been by the morning, they finally drifted off to sleep.

"Are you absolutely sure they're asleep?" Sheldon whispered.

"I'm almost one hundred sure" Amy answered as they crept up the stairs ready to bring down the wrapped gifts they had been hiding, ready for this very moment. "If one of them wakes up, we'll just tell them it might be Santa" Amy explained already having an answer ready for her little ones.

They were both sure they'd never been quieter, as they crept slowly down the stairs with handfuls of gifts all ready for the morning.

Thank you so much for reading. As always reviews are always welcome and so appreciated. I love hearing your thoughts.

Stay safe

Lots of love