With the sound of her alarm, Jessica woke up to start her day. She noticed that there was no arm circling her waist anymore, which only means that her husband's up earlier than her. Again. It's very rare for her to wake up earlier than him, but at least she wakes up earlier than before, back when they didn't have kids running around. She immediately turned the alarm off and went to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth before combing her hair and heading out of the room. She first went to the kitchen as her instinct told her that she'll find her husband there and she was right.

"Just a few more and I'm done." Donghae talked to himself and raised his fist happily because he was almost done with breakfast.

"Need help with anything?"

He turned around and saw his wife leaning on the doorway with a smile on her face. "Nope, I'm good!" He greeted her with a smile and took a few steps closer to her.

Jessica moved from her spot and took tiny steps towards her husband and she felt him pull her closer to him, closing the gap between them with his arms wrapped around her waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled at him. 

"Good morning, Mrs. Lee."

"Good morning to you, too, Mr. Lee. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." He leaned closer to her and gave her a morning kiss, which she returned. The kiss was sweet and they swore they wanted more, until Jessica pulled away.

"That pancake's gonna burn soon. It needs your attention right now."

"So? I'll eat that one. My wife's more important. Can I have one m-" Donghae tried to close the gap between them again, but his wife stopped him.

"Trust me, honey, I also want more, but I gotta go check on our little rascals."

"Alright, alright. Just wanna tell you that your cheeks are pink."

Jessica's reflexes never changed and her hand found its way to her husband's arm to hit him. It wasn't her fault that her husband still gets her everytime. "Sorry, honey. Shouldn't have done that because it's Christmas." She kissed the spot that she hit and patted it twice before smiling at him.

"You're forgiven. Do you even think I can stay mad at you?" He chuckled before giving her a peck on the lips. "Go check on the kiddos." He walked his wife out of the kitchen and kissed her hair before going back to his kitchen duties. When Donghae checked the pancake, he stared at it for a minute before blowing on it and trying to taste it. The sides were already black and the center already showed a very dark shade of brown. As soon as he placed a piece of the burnt pancake on his tongue, he immediately spitted it out. "Sorry for leaving you unattended, but you gotta go." He threw the whole pancake and washed his hands before cooking another one. "Now I gotta make six again."

Jessica knocked on the door of her daughters' room before she entered. "Girls, t-" she noticed that there was no one on the beds and the television was switched off. She looked over behind the door and heard the water running from the bathroom. She knocked on the bathroom door before sliding it to the side to let check on her girls.

"Mommy!" Her youngest daughter screamed through the glass upon seeing their matriarch, which made her walk closer to the glass that separated the shower from the rest of the bathroom.

Alison looked to her left and saw her mom standing beside her. "Morning, mom." She smiled at her mother before she felt her face being pulled and squished by her mom for a kiss. "You're gonna break my neck!"

"Sorry, sweetie." She gave her daughter another kiss on the cheek and chuckled. "Merry Christmas!"

"Yep. Merry Christmas, mother." The teenager flashed a thin smile before sighing. She went back to helping her baby sister rinse before wiping her with a towel and wrapping her.

 "Thanks, Ali!" Sabrina was all smiles after her big sister bathed her and gave her sister a hug, which her sister gladly returned and even made the little girl earn a kiss on her cheek.

"There's our baby!" Jessica bent to the little girl's level and hugged her as tight as she could, trying to keep her from feeling cold after getting out of the shower.

"Mommy, I'm already in first grade. I'm a big girl now."

"Sorry about that, big girl. Your big sis gave you a bath? You must be happy."

The little girl nodded her head while she wrapped her arms around her mom's neck. "Merry Christmas, mommy!"

"Merry Christmas, baby." She kissed her daughter's cheek and hugged her tight.

"Let's get you dressed up now, Bri." She took her sister's hand after she let go of the hug.

"See you guys at the breakfast table. I'm gonna go check on the boys." She hugged her eldest daughter and showered her with kisses. "Thanks for giving your sister a bath, Ali."

"No problem, mother."

She smiled at her eldest daughter before heading out to the boys' room. Just like what she did with the girls's room, she knocked before letting herself inside. "Someone's excited for today."

Spencer saw their mother walk through the door and immediately jumped off the bed to greet her. "Hey, mom!"

She wrapped her arms around him for a hug and he hugged her back. She slightly pulled away from the hug and made her youngest son look at him. "Spence, what did I say about jumping on the bed?"

"Sorry, mom. I was just jumping so I won't get cold easily."

She found his reason funny and kissed his hair. "Merry Christmas, baby!"

"Mom! I'm already 10 years old! I'm not a baby anymore!"

"Fine, fine. Let me rephrase that for you. Merry Christmas, big guy!"

"You nailed that one. Merry Christmas, mom." His greeting sure sounded like a kid who is asked to do force labor with the addition of a fake smile.

She only swallowed just looked around the room. "Where's your big brother?"

"Still in the shower."

"Alright, see you guys at the breakfast table." She exited their room and went back to the kitchen and found her husband still cooking breakfast. She gave him a back hug before asking him. "You sure you don't need any help?"

"I promise, I'm all good. Why don't you shower right now since I'm still gonna cook the bacon after three more pancakes?"

"Oh, gosh. You're right. So I can fix my hair later after eating breakfast." Jessica leaned her head on his back and sighed.

Donghae nodded before looking over at her wife whose arms were still around him. He turned around to face her and held her arms in place. He wrapped her in a long tight hug before kissing her hair. He knows what's on her mind even if she won't speak of it. "I know what's going on in your head."

"It's bothering you, too, honey. I know it."

He only sighed as he let his chin rest on her hair. "There's nothing we could do. They don't celebrate Christmas here and his secretary already said that he doesn't want to move the meeting."

They let go of the hug at the same and looked at each other's eyes. He gave his wife a small smile as he caressed her cheek and she smiled in the same manner. After all these years of marriage, they could communicate without the use of words.

"That pancake will burn."

He looked over to his shoulder and saw the pancake on the pan. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before flipping the pancake. At least the other side didn't burn this time, thanks to his wife who reminded him. "That was close." He said to himself.

Based on her husband's actions, she guessed that the pancake earlier was badly burnt. To make sure that she was right, she looked over at the trash can when she saw that the pancakes on the plate were perfect. She chuckled upon seeing the burnt pancake before shaking her head. "I'm gonna go take a shower now." She wrapped her arms around his waist, which made him lean down to for his lips to meet hers. After receiving a kiss from her husband, she walked back to their room and got her clothes ready before going to the bathroom.

Spencer went to the living room and sat on the couch. A few moments later, Sabrina went out of the girls' room and sat beside her brother. "Hey there, big bro. Merry Christmas!"

"Aww, thanks, baby Bri. Merry Christmas." He greeted her back with a lesser amount of excitement in his voice before giving his younger sister a hug.

She hugged him back with her eyebrows furrowed at the center. "I'm not a baby anymore." She was the first one to break the hug and looked at her brother. "Why do you seem like you're not excited at all?"

Before answering her question, he used his two fingers to smoothen her eyebrows back in place. "I am excited. I just exercised in the room before I went here so I'm tired and you do know that you're the family's baby."

Donghae heard his kids' conversation and sighed. Spencer was lying, he thought. If his guess was correct, only their youngest daughter is excited for today. He only shook his head raised his eyebrows as he talked to himself mentally.

Spencer got the remote that was placed below the television that was mounted on the wall. "Let's just watch TV while waiting for everyone. I'm starting to smell stuff. Mom's probably in the shower and dad's either getting ready in the room, or he's asleep."

He went out of the kitchen and saw his son whose arm was raised, ready to switch the TV on, while his daughter sat beside her brother. "Who said that I was asleep?"

The siblings looked behind them when they heard their dad's voice and saw him standing outside of the kitchen doorway.

"Daddy!"

His daughter was running to him, while his son walked behind her. He bent down to his little girl's level and opened his arms for a hug.

Sabrina wrapped her arms around her father's neck and she felt him hug her tight and her dad also gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Seems like our little baby's excited today!" He smiled at her and pinched her nose.

"Daddy, I'm a big girl now. I'm in first grade, remember?" Sabrina pouted as she looked at her father.

"But you're still our baby." He pinched her cheeks and gave her a kiss in the forehead. "Merry Christmas, baby Bri!"

"Merry Christmas, daddy!" She gave her father a kiss on the cheek before letting go of the hug, allowing her father to stand up. She ran back to the couch and sat there comfortably before switching the TV on. She was happy that Winnie the Pooh's currently playing on Disney Channel.

"Spencer," he said with a smile and opened his arms for a hug.

Spencer went to his father's embrace and hugged him back.

"Merry Christmas, buddy!" He bent lower to give his son a kiss on the forehead.

"Merry Christmas, dad." He flashed a thin smile before he broke the hug with his father the same time he did.

He ruffled his son's hair before asking him. "I overheard you telling Bri that you exercised in the room before going out that's why you got tired. What, you were jumping on the bed?"

"Yeah, dad. How'd you know?"

"Because jumping a lot can really drain you out." He chuckled before ruffling his son's hair again.

He fixed his hair that was "ruined" by his dad twice. "So you're really cooking?"

He nodded to answer his son's question. "You thought you were hallucinating, right?" 

"Yeah. I'm gonna go watch TV."

"Alright, I'll finish these up." He went back inside the kitchen to start with another batch of bacon.

Sabrina stood up and looked outside through the huge glass window of their suite in the hotel that was owned by their family. She looked up when she saw another figure standing beside her. She smiled upon seeing who it was and hugged the person beside her. "Merry Christmas, Austin!"

He smiled upon seeing his youngest sibling. "Hey there, big girl. Merry Christmas." He sat to meet his sister's level and wrapped his arms around his little sister. "Are you excited later?"

She nodded her head excitedly and smiled. "I'm excited to see Hogwarts!"

"Really? Didn't we go there before back in the States?"

"We did, but of course it's different now because I'm a big girl now. Austin, we won't be able to eat at The Great Dining Hall, right?"

He nodded as an answer. "They only do that at The Warner Bros. Studios. It's alright, we'll be able to eat there again." He smiled at his little sister for reassurance.

"Hey guys, Merry Christmas." Alison went to the living area to join her siblings.

"Yep, it's a Merry Christmas indeed." Spencer greeted her.

She hugged his brother who was still watching alone and kissed him on the cheek.

Austin and Sabrina went back to the couch  at the sight of their sister there. "Merry Christmas, Als." Austin pulled his phone out from his pocket and said that they should take a group picture.

"Everyone's gonna act happy, okay?"

Austin gave his twin a weird look before looking back at his phone and smiled.

"Post it, bro. Add a great caption, like, 'it's the most wonderful time of the year.'"

"Pft. Yeah, right." Alison said sarcastically.

"You guys, just think of it this way. At least we've got each other." The eldest of the siblings tried to look at the bright side.

"Food's ready!"

"Just in time," the twins said in unison.

"You kids eat an apple." Jessica gave each of her kids an apple from the fruit basket.

"I'll peel the oranges after everyone's done with the pancakes." Donghae ate a piece of his pancake and looked at their kids.

The family's eating the breakfast that was prepared by their patriarch at the dining area.

"Sorry we weren't able to celebrate at midnight."

"It's alright, dad. We understand." The twins answered in unison again. They both flashed a thin smile and their mom observed their reactions.

She looked at her husband and her eyes showed worry and sadness. Her eyebrows made her feelings obvious. Though her husband showed no expression, his eyes were sad and seemed like the they were apologizing.

When everyone was done with their pancakes, Donghae started peeling the oranges for his kids.

"You kids eat the orange first before eating the apple," Jessica reminded them. She stood up to get a kitchen knife to slice the apples for her kids. The least they can do right now is to serve their kids before they go to a meeting with a potential investor. 

Yes, it's Christmas, but it is not celebrated in Japan and it is not even declared as a holiday.  For their country, everyone still goes to work when it's Christmas because it's just a normal day. The kids requested that they celebrate Christmas in Universal Studios and their parents granted it, but the only problem was that only the four of them would go. They tried to talk to the man personally to have the meeting moved, but his assistant won't allow them to, saying that it's his only day available to meet them.

The kids went back to their respective rooms and got themselves ready again a few moments before leaving. Jessica was in their room, fixing her hair and getting her make up done while Donghae was getting dressed up. She only blow dried her hair to just make it curved inward. Her make up was light because wearing tons of makeup is not just her thing. She gave herself one last look in the mirror before sitting on the bed.

Donghae who is now wearing a suit instead of a sweatshirt and pajama pants looked at his wife who was sitting on the bed. Her coat and her bag was beside her and she looked gorgeous as ever, but she wore a sad face. He couldn't ask her what's wrong because he knows exactly was was wrong and for him, everything was. He feels really bad that they couldn't spend Christmas as a family this year. They were not even able to celebrate on the midnight of the 24th because they all had to go to bed early. They wanted their kids to have a great time in Universal Studios and decided to sleep early and they also wanted to spend time with them in the morning because they know that they'll be seeing each other when they pick them up from the theme park.

Jessica stood up and helped her husband with his tie. "There." She flashed a thin smile.

"Thanks, babe." He smiled at her and turned around when she asked him to. She helped him wear his suit and took a good look at him when he turned back around to face her.

"You look handsome. You always do."

"And you look gorgeous as always."

She hugged him let herself rest on him. He could feel how heavy her wife felt. Her shoulders were slumped, her head felt heavy, and she heaved a sigh. It's typical for Jessica to do this when she's tired or sad because she gets strength from her husband and as a husband, that's really Donghae's role. He needs to be the rock for the family, and most especially for her.

"Don't cry. The kids are gonna know." He sighed before giving her an embrace in the tightest way possible and kissed her hair. "Let's go. They're in the living area and we gotta talk to them first."

She nodded her head and let go of the hug. Her husband handed her coat and her bag to her and held hands with him as they walked out of the room.

Their children were on the couch, laughing at a joke that Spencer told them to make themselves feel light. A few moments earlier, Austin even joked that if only Sabrina could share her vibe and divide it to her older siblings, but the innocent child couldn't read what they meant.

"There's mom and dad!" Spencer stood up when he saw their parents exit their room.

"Now, we can go." Alison said and stood up with the rest of her siblings.

"Wait, your mom and I need to talk you guys first."

The children sat back down and the parents sat on the huge wooden table in front of them.

"As you know, your dad and I are going to a meeting today we won't be able to join you, kids, in USJ."

The twins nodded and their two younger siblings listened.

"Don't turn your phones off, okay? Your mom and I will check on you every moment that we can get." Donghae asked his wallet from his wife, which was placed inside her bag and gave the twins additional cash. "Austin, Ali, you two will hold Bri's and Spencer's money. All of you gets the same amount of money."

The twins divided the money and separated the money of their younger sibling from theirs in a different section in their bag.

"Always keep your belongings safe. Don't leave your bag open. You know that you two are carrying such amount of money. Your dad and I will fetch you guys later and try to go there earlier so we can still spend Christmas with you."

"Spence, Bri, don't go anywhere without Austin or Ali with you."

The younger kids nodded as they carefully listened to their dad's final instruction.

"And if anything happens, just call me or dad, okay?"

The three kids who own a phone nodded.

"You kids check if you have everything you need."

With their father's instruction, the twins checked their bags if they have their phones and their power banks with the chords in their bag, money, ear muffs, gloves, a subway map and the hotel key card.

"We're good to go?"

The kids nodded to answer their mother before everyone stood up. Donghae helped his wife with her coat and she thanked him afterwards. Jessica asked each of them if what the kids were wearing was warm enough and worried if they needed a few more layers, until the twins said that they made sure that everyone was wearing four layers.

The two adults were listening to their kids' conversation and smiled at how excited they were as they planned. If only they could go with them, they thought. Both parents were just quiet until they all went down of the vehicle to bring the kids to the entrance and buy tickets for them and repeated their reminders. They had their family picture taken at the entrance and everyone were all smiled. The three older kids were now feeling excited and it seemed like the sadness they felt was already pushed at the back of their minds.

"Don't turn your p-"

"Yes mom, we got it," Alison had to cut her off.

"We'll see all of you later."

"Yes, dad." The four of them answered in unison this time and the gloomy faces that they showed their parents earlier were now gone. Each of them gave each of their parents a hug before they go.

"Good luck!" Austin said with a smile on his face.

"We're sure he's gonna invest because of you two!" Alison's face was really bright compared to how it was earlier.

"Thanks, kiddos." Donghae thanked his kids and him and his wife wished the kids to have fun. Hand in hand, they walked away the same time that their kids did.

Author's note: I had to cut it into two parts because it's freaking long