Reason to Celebrate: Merry Christmas! Don't worry, I'll get to all requests, but I wanted to put up a little Christmas one shot for you guys. I'm so very grateful to have all of you guys reading and reviewing and favoriting my stories, and I wouldn't have gotten this far without all of you! I love you guys!

Project K: Should I be worried?

Finnjr63: Nope. Unless I specify otherwise in the author's notes, everything in this fanfiction is a one shot.

King of France: Honestly I'm not sure if this is sarcasm or not, so I'm going to take it as such. But just a future note for you, don't leave a review like this on a chapter without clarifying whether or not you're joking. It makes the author feel like shit.

Guest: Cause it's fun! Lol don't worry, this is a fluffy chapter

HaLoReAcHgIrl: I will absolutely give that one a shot (though I don't know about the lion idea; that was a pretty sexually tense scene haha)

I don't own Star vs. the Forces of Evil. Thank you guys so much, you have made this my most reviewed and most followed story (oddly enough, a one-shot beat it out for most favorites. Go figure lol)

GENERAL POV

"So wait, why do humans celebrate this holiday?" Star asked, tilting her head and watching Marco lean away from his step ladder to string lights up on the roof of the house. "And are you sure you don't want me to just do a spell and get those up for you?"

Marco chuckled and shook his head, managing to latch the lights onto the command hook that his parents left up throughout the year. "No, I've got it," he assured the girl. "It's more fun to do it by yourself."

He slid down the ladder with ease, leaning against it and grinning cheekily at Star. Snowflakes pattered down around them, which was slightly unusual for the warmer environment that they lived in, but with the weird weather that they had been having, Marco welcomed the snow with open arms. "Come on, give it a try. Dad should have the tree just about set up now."

Star bit her lip, tugging on the end of her scarf. Her cheeks were pink from the cold, it was starting to get dark out, and Marco was shivering just a bit, so she finally agreed and followed the Mexican-American inside.

Mrs. Diaz took one look at them and bustled them into the kitchen, where she handed each teenager a mug of hot chocolate and helped them remove their damp clothing. "Don't go getting sick the week before Christmas," Angie teased, nudging her son under the chin with a curled pointer finger. "We don't want a repeat of Christmas of 2011."

Marco grimaced and sipped at his beverage, gesturing Star into the living room and vanishing before she could question what exactly had happened in 2011 to make Marco look sick to his stomach.

"Marco, Star!" Mr. Diaz cried in delight, standing up from where he had been screwing the tree into the base. "You're just in time! I have the lights on, all that's left to do is put the ornaments and star on top!"

Star yelped a bit. "You're putting me on top of the tree?" she asked incredulously.

Marco laughed and wrapped a quick arm around her. "No, dummy, it's a glass star that we put on top every year."

Mr. Diaz held it up for her to see and Star relaxed, smiling at Marco sheepishly. He just grinned good naturedly and picked up a Tupperware box full of ornaments, handing one over to Star and grabbing another for himself. "Come on," he said, nodding to the tree. "I'll show you how it's done."

They were quiet while they hung the bulbs and homemade ornaments, Christmas music droning softly in the background and Mr. and Mrs. Diaz sitting silently on the couch and watching the teens methodically place everything on the branches.

Star studied every ornament, dropping bulbs onto branches gently and cracking a smile every time she came across an obviously handmade ornament with Marco's signature in the corner. Marco glanced over at her every now and again, giving her warm smiles that made the atmosphere in the room ever so much brighter.

It was only when Star's hand hit the bottom of the empty box that she realized they had gotten all the ornaments on the tree, and she turned to find Marco standing behind her with the star in his hands. He held it out with a smile and nodded at her.

"Why don't you put the star on top, Star?"

She took it from him slowly, a blush creeping up her cheeks, and she turned back to the tree to find that it was just a bit too tall for her to reach the top. "How do I-?"

Marco cut her off by stepping up in front of her, a grin on his face as he knelt and gestured to his back. With a giggle, the princess clambered onto him, piggyback style, and gripped at his shoulders as he stood up and leveled her eyesight with the top of the tree.

She settled the star perfectly on top and looked down to find Marco grinning up at her. Star smiled and leaned her chin against the top of his head, looking up in time to see Mrs. Diaz snap a picture of the two of them together.

"Mom!" Marco groaned, laughing.

He helped Star down and they turned to study the tree, glimmering cheerfully in the slowly darkening house. "You never did explain," Star said softly. "Why do humans celebrate Christmas?"

Marco tilted his head thoughtfully, and a moment later reached out to grab Star's hand with his own, squeezing it gently between his fingers. "Some people celebrate it for religious reasons," he explained with a shrug. "Some, because they don't celebrate the other holidays and they want to celebrate something."

"I take it you don't do it for those reasons," Star guessed, glancing sideways at him.

Marco smiled and looked over his shoulder at his parents, both curled up and watching the kids quietly, and then he turned his gaze on Star. "No," he agreed.

He pulled her into a quick hug, resting his chin on top of her head and shutting his eyes.

"We celebrate it because it's the time of year where we get to be around the people we love the most."

Well I have a cavity now. I was listening to "Forbidden Friendship" from the HTTYD soundtrack, so that's probably why this turned out ridiculously cutesy.

Pssst I am currently in the middle of writing an original story called "Little Magic." It's being posted on my Tumblr, my Fictionpress account, and my Inkitt account. My tumblr is the same as my fanfiction name, pftones3482, and my Fictionpress and Inkitt are both TakingOverMidnight. It would be the greatest Christmas present for me if you guys could go take a look at it and let me know what you think.

Merry Christmas, Happy belated Hanukkah, happy Kwanza, and any other holiday you might celebrate! Have a wonderful holiday, you guys!