Okay so, Minjeong has a little bit of an honest confession to make.

Maybe… Just maybe… She’s not the biggest fan of Christmas.

Please, hold your judgement for just a moment and consider it from her perspective. The holiday itself? It’s pretty nice. Minjeong is no Grinch, she sees the allure of happy Christmas music, bright lights and all the lovely festivities.

But the timing? For her, it’s pretty awful. Being born on the 1st of January, Christmas and New Year's Day take precedence over her own birthday. It’s kind of like having an anniversary around Valentine's Day where there’s an overlap in celebrations. It might just be a small thing, but Minjeong is used to having all her Christmas gifts also be her Birthday gifts and vice versa, so it can feel like she’s getting the short end of the stick every year. Scammed essentially. 

Not only that, but during the holidays, when she was younger, all her friends would go home to their families so she could never have a party to celebrate. She was always jealous of all her friends who were born a little later in the new year and how they could throw swimming parties with ice cream cake, or really just anyone who could blow out the candles with their friends singing them a song. So yeah, it might be a little silly, but Christmas is just alright in her eyes.

But Minjeong’s lukewarm feelings towards the holiday were not going to stop her from giving Karina the best first Christmas ever. 

When the first of December rolls around, Minjeong is eager to set up some Christmas decorations around the house, but once she finds her decorations in storage, she realises that they’re in poor condition after being shoved in a box for so many years, especially since a lot of them were hand-me-downs from her family home and haven’t even been used since she moved to her apartment complex.

“Karina!” Minjeong calls out as she kneels over the box of Christmas decorations. 

A few moments later, Karina can be heard walking over. Minjeong turns her head to see the demon dressed up in a tall chef’s hat and a pristine white apron to match, causing her to break out into a smile before she turns back towards the old decorations. 

Karina crouches down and plants her head on her shoulder. Minjeong smiles as she gently Karina’s cheek, turning her head so she can kiss the other one.

“Let’s go Christmas shopping today. We need to decorate the house.”

Karina found it fascinating how humans always put up pretty things during specific times of the year or during special occasions. Things like balloons during birthdays, and spooky bats and pumpkins around Halloween, but even though she found it interesting, she didn’t really understand the point of it if she was being honest.

“Are Christmas decorations things like those green plants and red hats?” 

Minjeong can’t help but giggle slightly at the question, even though the demon was being quite serious. Karina doesn’t really know what's so funny but seeing Minjeong laugh makes her smile too, so the two of them are crouched down just looking like fools sickeningly in love.  

Minjeong turns over and simply boops Karina’s nose, causing her to blink slowly. “Yes baby, things like those green plants and red hats. There’s also shiny tinsel, twinkling fairy lights and a huge Christmas tree that has all these ornaments on them, and a big star at the top. We need to buy all that stuff.”

“Okay, no problem. But first, could I interest you in some breakfast?”

Minjeong nods in reply and accepts Karina’s outstretched hand as she pulls her into a standing position. Together, with their hands intertwined, they skip over to the kitchen island. 

It’s just a simple meal; some grilled fish, rice, soup and some other side dishes, but it's hearty and makes Minjeong feel warm on the inside. She makes sure to kiss the cook as a thank you.

The shop itself is pretty easy. Karina may have gotten distracted a few times by the plushies from time to time, but Minjeong was sure to keep them on task, and by the time afternoon rolled around, a majority of the shopping was already finished. They’re about to make their way out of the shop when Minjeong stops dead in her tracks. 

Minjeong rolls her eyes when she notices that Karina has stopped to look at some soft toys again. 

“Karina, baby, please. I really can’t deal with any more of these; they're already taking up so much of the bed.”

The demon furrows her eyebrows, but rather than looking angry, she sports this ridiculous pout that makes her look nothing short of devastated. “But Minjeeeoonngggg-” The ten thousand, repeat, TEN THOUSAND (10,000) year old demon starts to whine.  

“Wait Minjeong I promise. I promise these are the last ones.”

“We can’t,” Minjeong replies, standing firm.

Karina is whining now, swaying her body from side to side. She turns towards a wall and looks up before closing her eyes, her chin now resting on it as she continues to sulk.

“But they’re so cute.” She says childishly, her voice all cutesy and pouty. Minjeong doesn’t want her to know that it’s one of her major weaknesses. 

“No. And that’s fi-”

Before Minjeong can finish her sentence, plush animals are shoved into her arms. They’re a little small but goddamn it. They are really cute. 

In her hands, she holds the cutest black cat and brown dog, and if that wasn’t bad enough, they had stupid removable magnetic Santa hats, so it was basically a crime not to take them. Minjeong doesn’t find the strength to say anything. 

“You’re thinking about it.” Karina starts with a grin, teasing. Minjeong shoots her a glare.

“You think they’re just too cute.” She continues, wiggling her hands in front of her like she’s casting a spell while Minjeong fights back a smile. 

With a dramatic eye roll and a heavy sigh, she finally relents and places the toys into the basket.

“Yay!” The demon cheers as she clings on for a side hug. 

“This is the last one. No more.”

Karina nods as she clings to Minjeong’s arm. “Yes, yes. Of course.”

For some reason, neither of them believe the statement. 

Minjeong never knew how sickening domestic it would be just hanging up decorations. But it's something about how Karina carries her on her shoulders as she hangs up fairy lights, maybe it’s how their embroidered stockings look so perfect next to each other on the fireplace, or how the two of them work together to turn a plain pine tree into the perfect Christmas centrepiece, but she knows for damn sure that she could get used to this. 

“Wait wait, one more thing!” Karina reaches into the bag and pulls out the two stuffed animals, holding them both in one hand as she drags Minjeong towards the fireplace. Right above the stockings, she places down the two toys.

“Perfect.”

Minjeong smiles. 

“Okay, I can accept this if it means they won’t be on our bed.”

She turns to her eyes to see Karina’s, looking at the animals with so much affection. She feels almost silly that she was so reluctant to buy them, especially if they made her this happy. (But one could suppose that Minjeong needed to have some form of self-control, otherwise, nothing would be stopping Karina from becoming a spoiled brat.)

(Not like she isn’t anyway.)

“You know this black cat kind of looks like you.” 

“You think so?” Karina turns towards Minjeong and makes two v-shapes with her fingers, placing them inverted on top of her head to make some cat ears. “You think I’m cute?”

“Yeah,” Minjeong says with a dazed smile, before she registers what the demon said. “Wait- no. Not cute. Silly! You look silly like the cat. Look at the way it’s sticking out its tongue.”

Karina’s smile turns into a displeased pout again. “Well if the cat is silly then that dog is goofy!” She says, crossing her arms. 

“Do you think I look like a dog?” Minjeong mirrors Karina, crossing her arms too. 

Karina’s faux pout melts away and a soft smile forms again. She reaches over to uncross Minjeong’s arms before pulling her into a gentle hug. 

“I think you’re a puppy.”

Minjeong reciprocates, hugging Karina back a little tighter. They just hug for a moment in their shared space, now adorned with twinkling lights and the cosy and warm atmosphere that Christmas brings. 

When it ends, Minjeong walks back towards the decorations. “I have one more change.” She turns the toys ninety degrees and pushes them towards each other like they’re kissing. 

“There, now it’s perfect.”

Karina grins, but has a final devious change to make for herself. She places the cat on top of the dog and puts them in a… precarious position to put it nicely. 

“Karina!” Minjeong screams as she hits her on the shoulder. 

“What!” The demon feigns innocence, how ironic. “Would you prefer this?” She continues to tease, reorganising them so that the dog is on top. “Oh! Is that why they call it doggy style?”

“Karina!!!! You! Are! Impossible!” Minjeong yells as she continues to smack the demon. Using her hips, she boinks Karina out of the way so that can place the plushies facing each other again. No more funny business. 

When Minjeong turns around she’s caged in between strong arms, trapped between her silly demon and the fireplace. She’s very lucky it’s not being used at the moment because otherwise her toesy woseys would be as red and hot as her face at the moment. 

Karina leans forward, gently tilting Minjeong’s face up to meet a soft kiss. The cosy atmosphere grows warmer till it's hot, and the softness slowly melts away in the heat. Soon Karina is lifting Minjeong and carrying her away, and Minjeong’s lips are far too occupied to protest, not like she would anyway.

In a brief break between kisses, a low voice simply murmurs. “I do believe it is time for my recharge. I’m not waiting till boxing day to unwrap my present” 

𓆩♡𓆪

It’s the middle of December and Minjeong decides it's the perfect time to go ice-skating. It’s late enough so that it still feels like Christmas, and it’s still early enough so all the nasty destruction-causing gremlins (she believes one would call them, school children) were still yet to be released. 

Dressed in big, puffy jackets and woolly gloves, the couple make their way to the nearest ice rink just outside the mall. Karina almost falls right on her the second she stands up after wearing the moulded blue plastic skates, finding it difficult to balance on the thin metal blades. Minjeong comes to her rescue and stabilises her, holding her arm tightly. 

“Baby, we aren’t even on the ice yet and you’re already a total disaster!” She