Joonmyeon breathed out deeply as he stared at the huge pile of presents he had just finished wrapping. Having so many children, all of whom were curious and hard to distract had made each Christmas more and more of a challenge as one by one they became old enough to anticipate the big day. Hiding Christmas presents and finding the time to wrap them was the biggest hurdle, feeding his giant brood was the second.

Yifan stumbled through the door just as he started to wonder were his husband was.

“I couldn’t find the right sauce until the third shop,” was the only explanation he got. Joonmyun had realised half an hour before the shops closed that he hadn’t got any of the particular brand of tomato sauce that Chanyeol demanded he served with every meal. The boy had refused to eat for 2 days when they had both tried to break him of the habit.

“Let’s run through the list one more time.” Joonmyun said as Yifan collapsed next to him in a pile.

“Soccer ball for Minseok, goal posts for Luhan, they will probably spend half the day outside once its unwrapped so that’s them sorted. Yixing got the keyboard he was been eying on the condition that he paid attention in school, which he did. I haven’t had one phonecall about him wandering off in a daze this term. Baekhyun got a limited edition Taeyeon signed SNSD album – seriously I worry about him sometimes, should we really be encouraging this behaviour?”

“Yifan now is not the time to worry about our son’s fanboying.”

“He’s eight though. No eight year old should be that obsessed with a girl gr-” Yifan changed the subject at the glare from his husband, “Jongdae got a karaoke machine, which I think we are going to regret.”

“It was the only thing he’s been talking about for the past 3 months. And the twins can then shut themselves in the basement when they are moody at us.”

Yifan carried on down the list, “Chanyeol got his junior science kit. The one that goes with the magazine he’s been buying every month.” Neither mentioned Chanyeol’s habit of collecting creepy crawlies and small animals. Tao had cried for 2 hours when he had found a grass snake in his underwear drawer. Now the boy refused to get dressed without one of his parents there. Another hassle that both parents accepted as part of the morning routine, even though it had taken them forever to get Tao over his separation anxiety in the first place.

“Kyungsoo…” Yifan smiled at the thought of their quietest child. It had been difficult to think of a present for him, he never asked for anything and was stoic most of the time it had been a cause of concern for Joonmyun but Yifan had recognised his own reticence in the small boy.

“He’s getting the rucksack and matching school kit that he mentioned oh-so-briefly back in September.” Joonmyun sighed. He wasn’t happy with this present, he wished he could think of a better one but the tiny boy was so unassuming. Maybe in a few years when he was older and had a hobby he would be easier to buy something for.

“Tao is getting around plushy and matching Kungfu Panda bedset.” Yifan laughed as he recalled having to play the films on loop when Tao was younger to get him to do anything. He would barely detach himself from his parents and would only be left if the movie was playing and he was sufficiently distracted.

They both looked at the toy car they had bought for their youngest twins. It was difficult to buy for small children, especially when they already had too many toys passed down from their older brothers. The youngest were a mixture of adorable and mischief. Both knew that they would probably be the most difficult out of all their children. The signs had started to emerge early and they were both well practised by now at being able to catch them.

They smiled at each other as they thought how this would be Jongin and Sehun’s first Christmas actually aware of the holidays. The previous 2 years they had been too young to appreciate what was happening but this year the whole family was excited.

“Do you ever regret it?” Joonmyun asked as Yifan looked at the flashing lights on the Christmas tree.

“Regret what?”

“Falling in love with me and having this crazy large family?”

Yifan looked curiously at his spouse.

“I worry sometimes…”

“About what?”

“That you think this was all a mistake.”

Yifan laughed softly as he stared at his lover, his partner, his best friend, his better half, his husband. The perfect person that was made just for him. “Never. I could never regret our life because it may not have been the dream I had when we first got together but it’s my dream now. You, the kids, this house… everything is just the way I want it to be. I love you so much, you silly man. How could you ever worry about that?” Joonmyun snuggled into his partner’s arms as he rested in the calmness before the craziness that would be tomorrow morning.