Hojoon loved Christmas. He loved the lights and the snow and the cold nights snuggled up in a warm blanket with a hot chocolate. But over the past few years Christmas had become more stressful than anything. 

"Daddy! Me and Joo finished our letter to Santa!"

Hojoon smiled to himself, he had set the boys down to write out their Christmas lists and naturally, the twins had done theirs together. 

"Let me see, then." Jiho climbed into his lap, spreading out eight pages of paper. 

"Okay, so. We want a bike, each, and a TV for our room and a new Nintendo DS and lots of games and toys and an iPhone an-"

"An iPhone? Jiho, you're four."

Jiho whipped around to glare at his father, strands of shoulder length black hair falling over his eyes as he did so. "Daddy, don't interrupt. It's rude."

Hojoon raised his eyebrows, stifling a laugh as Jiho went back to reeling off his and Byungjoo's list. 

"And I want lots of new clothes too Daddy, but, I don't want Santa to bring them because I know he won't get what I like, I want him to give me money so then you and me can go shopping cause you always buy me the best clothes."

Hojoon smiled to himself, Jiho definitely got his fashion sense from him and not his Appa. 

"Listen, baby, that's a lot of stuff, you're going to have to cut it down to things you really want." Hojoon hated having to deny his kid's stuff, especially considering it was Jiho and Byungjoo's first Christmas with a proper family. He wanted to spoil the twins, but having eleven kids didn't make that easy. 

"What? Why?" Jiho pouted. "It's Christmas, I want all this stuff." He crossed his arms stubbornly.

"Because, sweetie, Santa can't carry everything at once. And if he brings you all of this, then your brothers won't be able to get any presents."

Jiho's mouth fell open, looking back to the living room where his brothers were writing out their own lists. 

"They won't get any presents?! Daddy, that's not fair! Why would Santa do that?"

Sometimes he hated all the lies he had to make up with the whole 'Santa' thing, but he couldn't ruin it for them. 

"His sleigh can only fit so much in, and if he brings you and Byungjoo everything on your list then he won't be able to fit any of their presents in."

Jiho's eyes widened, he could never do that to his brothers. He gathered the paper back up in his arms. "Then I just wanna go clothes shopping with you, Daddy, I don't need anything else."

❄ ❅ ❉

"How many reindeer does Santa have?"

Sangdo paused his TV show to look at his husband with an eyebrow quirked. "Nine. Why?"

Hojoon groaned, head falling back against the sofa. "That's so inconvenient, why can't he have eleven?"

Sangdo tilted his head, again asking Hojoon why he was asking such an obscure question. 

"So, I was thinking we do a personalised Christmas card this year."

Sangdo blinked. "Who are we, the Kardashians?"

Hojoon looked off to the right, considering it for a second. He did watch way too much of that show...maybe that's where he got the idea from. 

"Don't you think it would just be the cutest thing? Our family's complete now, I wanna show off how adorable all our babies are!" Hojoon whined, head resting on Sangdo's chest as he pouted up at the younger. "We could have a photoshoot and everything it would be so sweet."

"Really? A photoshoot?" Sangdo's eyebrow rose even higher as he reminded his husband of what had happened last time they organised a family photoshoot. Hansol and Hyosang had argued the whole way through, each wanting to be at the very front. The arguing had resulted in Yoonchul getting frustrated, running out of the house and taking refuge behind a bush in a garden a few houses down which he knew a friendly cat lived at. It took almost thirty minutes for them to find him, Hojoon on the verge of a panic attack when the then four-year-old emerged with a kitten in his arms, asking if he could take it home. And that was before the addition of the twins, who both loved to be centre of attention. 

Hojoon whined again. "We'll just put them all at the front, it'll be fine." He threw his arms around Sangdo's shoulders, half-manoeuvring himself into the brunettes lap. "Pleaaaase."

Sangdo sighed. Sometimes Hojoon could be needier than all their kids combined. 

"I dunno, Joon, it sounds like a disaster waiting to happen."

"But I've found us all the cutest matching Christmas jumpers!"

"Then why were you asking about reindeer?"

Hojoon's pout deepened. "Cause I wanted to put antlers on them and get little jumpers with all the reindeer's names on and you could be Santa and I'll be a slightly ty elf and we would all look so soooo cute."

Sangdo chuckled lowly as the image popped into his head. Hojoon was right, they would look incredibly cute. "They'd all just argue over who got to be Rudolph."

Hojoon scrunched his nose up, he hadn't even thought about that. There was no way the boys were going to let one of their brothers be the most popular reindeer; the star of the show. 

"We could just dress them all up as Rudolph to avoid any arguments. Little antlers and little red noses on all of them?"

Hojoon's eyes sparkled at the idea. "Oh my god!" He crawled fully into Sangdo's lap, straddling the younger as he kissed his husband deeply. "They're gonna look so ing adorable! Does this mean we can do it? We can send it out to all our friends and family! Oh my god all the moms at school are gonna be so jealous they didn't think of this. Ugh, Yu Sangdo, I love you."

Hojoon's lips crashed down on the brunettes again, before he was even able to get a word in edgeways. He loved when Hojoon got excited over stuff like this, eyes falling shut as he hummed contentedly, Hojoon's tongue running across his bottom lip, asking for an entrance. Sangdo obliged, jaw dropping to let Hojoon in, a low moan rumbling in his throats as their tongues glided against one another. Hojoon's fingers found their way to his hair, nails gently scraping against his scalp as he explored Sangdo's mouth. They parted, breathless, Hojoon pressing another fleeting kiss to his husband's lips as he rested his forehead against Sangdo's. 

"Maybe I'll buy an extra ty elf costume for your eyes only."

❄ ❅ ❉

"Who wants to bake Christmas cookies?"

Hojoon was met with a number of squeals as his sons swarmed around him in the kitchen, knowing that would get them excited. He had lay out bowls of ingredients he had already measured out to save on time. Taeyang may be his little maths genius, but he really couldn't be dealing with a seven-year-old trying to measure out flour. 

"Byungjoo! Stop eating all the mixture, there'll be none left to bake."

"But it tastes so good." Byungjoo pouted, batter off his fingers. 

"Dad, you should have just let me do this, the kids are just getting in the way."

Hojoon smiled down at Sehyuk, he always took their baking days very seriously; swatting away his brothers hands from the mixture when they tried to add more chocolate, shouting at Hyunho when he inevitably starts a food fight. 

Hojoon took charge of rolling out the dough, not trusting any of his kids to not hit one of his brothers with the rolling pin. He gave each of them a different shaped cutter to press into the dough, which, in hindsight was a terrible idea as it made them extra competitive to see who could make the most cookies. He had to take Yoonchul's polar bear away from him before he used the entire sheet of dough without Sanggyun getting the chance to place even one star. And a crying Sanggyun would only result in an angry Dongsung. 

He placed the trays with enough cookies to feed a normal sized family for a month in the ovens, getting the boys to help him tidy up after. He never managed to get the kitchen sparkling, hoping their cleaner wouldn't shout at him again like last time he let the boys bake. 

"Daddy are they ready yet?" Hansol whined impatiently, reaching up on his tiptoes to try and look on the bench at the cooling cookies. "They smell so good, I'm hungry!"

"Just a couple more minutes, baby, the icing will run everywhere if we put it on while they're still hot." He ruffled the five-year-olds hair as he set about laying out the decorations, mentally preparing himself for the free for all as soon as he placed the blank cookies back on the table. He was praying it wouldn't end up in tears for once. Trying to get eleven boys to share wasn't the easiest of tasks. 

"Okay, everyone sit down." The boys scrambled to their seats, wide grins on their faces as Hojoon brought them each a plate of cookies to decorate. "Please, please, no fighting."

"Daddy, I don't even wanna decorate mine I just wanna eat them." Hyunho lay his head down on the table, playing with a reindeer cookie as if it was a figurine. 

"They're not all for you sweetie, you can have one at snack time."

"One?!" The six-year-old whined. "Why can't I have them all?"

"Hyunho, you'll get sick if you eat all those cookies at once. Plus, they're not very healthy; they'll ruin your teeth."

"My teeth are gonna fall out anyway so who cares." He stuck his fingers in his mouth to show off the bottom front tooth that was starting to wobble. 

"You can leave them undecorated if you want, baby, but there's no way I'm letting you eat an entire plate of cookies. You'll have no room for dinner and I'm making your favourite."

Hyunho's eyes lit up. "Turkey dinosaurs?!" He screeched, hands clapping together. 

Hojoon rolled his eyes. He would much rather his kids eat real, home cooked food, and they did most of the time, but they insisted turkey tasted better when it was Tyrannosaurus Rex shaped. 

"Yes, turkey dinosaurs and waffles."

"Okay, Daddy, I promise I'll just have one!"

Hojoon rolled his eyes again, wishing all their disagreements could be solved as easily. Maybe he should always bribe them with turkey dinosaurs. Actually no, with the amount of arguments that went on in this house they'd all be obese by the time they were nine. 

He smiled to himself as the boys laughed among themselves, pulling out his phone to send Sangdo a video of their kids sprinkling chocolate chips and edible glitter onto colourful icing. None of them were exactly pieces of art, and he dreaded to think how much sugar was in each biscuit, but they all looked so happy he couldn't help but smile. 

He hated that Sangdo had to work right up until Christmas, the younger missed out so many memories with the boys having over a week off before the big day. He had to plan so many activities to keep them entertained alone, wishing his husband could be there to enjoy watching their babies get excited in the run up to Santa coming. But he knew Sangdo had to work so much so they could spoil the kids on Christmas Day, it would break both of their hearts if they couldn't afford to get them loads of presents. 

His smile widened as Sangdo messaged him back with a bunch of heart-eyes emoji's. 

"Appa wants you all to make a special cookie just for him when he gets home. He likes penguins the most so let's see who can make him the best penguin, okay?"

❄ ❅ ❉

"Appa! Daddy! It's snowing!"

Sangdo groaned as a body flopped on top of him, waking him to get up. 

"Byungjoo, it's six in the morning, go back to bed."

"But Appa!" The four-year-old whined nudging his parents. "It's snowing, let's go play."

Hojoon rolled over to face his son. "Baby, it's dark. Go back to sleep and we can play when it's light out."

He could just about make out Byungjoo's pout in the dark. 

"Fine." He huffed, arms folded. Hojoon smiled to himself, letting his eyes fall shut as Byungjoo began to manoeuvre on top of them. He was usually so stubborn. 

He was already close to falling back asleep when a small body slid under the covers next to him. 

"...Byungjoo?"

"I'm sleeping here so I can make sure you get up and play with me. Night, Daddy." 

With that Byungjoo rolled over to snuggle into Sangdo, the dark haired man chuckling softly at his son as he wrapped an arm around him. 

Three hours later Byungjoo was up again. This time bouncing on their bed. 

"It's morning! Get up! I wanna play!"

Hojoon threw his arms over his eyes dramatically. He was really hoping to get a lie in this weekend. He should have known that was too much to ask for. 

"Fine," Hojoon gave in, knowing he wasn't going to get to go back to sleep any time soon, "let's go get ready."

The four-year-old ran back to his room, screaming, which in turn woke the rest of his brothers up. Hojoon reminded them all to wrap up warm, stuffing the younger kids into fluffy jumpers as Byungjoo impatiently bounced bedside him. 

He told each of them to go out their wellies on as he dug out their hats and gloves from last winter. It had been pretty mild up until now. 

"Okay," Hojoon stood in front of the sliding glass doors that led out into their back garden, teasing the boys as their eyes widened and mouth gaped at the blanket of snow that covered the usually green grass, "you guys ready?"

The boys cheered and clapped, eager to get outside, all bundled up in numerous layers. 

Hojoon smiled to himself, sliding the door open to unveil the winter wonderland that waited for them outside. He was rewarded with a chorus of excited squeals as the eleven boys rushed past him to play in the powdery, white snow. He was glad that they had broken up from school, trudging through all this snow of a morning to get them there on time would have been hell. He still had war-like flashbacks of Jiho screaming as Yoonchul slipped on a patch of ice and split his head open last year. 

"Daddy, look! Me and Sangwonnie made snow angels!" Hyosang ran over to him, pointing to where Sangwon was still struggling to get up from his laid down position due to all of the layers he was wearing, his puffy coat making it difficult for the three-year-old to stand up. 

Sehyuk ran in front of him, scoffing as he tried to steal his father's attention. "That's lame; me and Dongsung are making the biggest snowman ever! Look Dad, that's just the body!" He bounced excitedly, pointing over at Dongsung who was pushing a rather large ball of snow around the garden, Sanggyun trying to help by patting handfuls of snow onto the body of the snowman as he was too small to be able to push it around. 

"Whatever, our snow angels are better."

"Nuh-uh." Sehyuk folded his arms across his chest, stubbornly. "Our snowman's going to last til Christmas, or maybe even forever! Your snow angels won't!"

Hojoon let his kids argue between themselves, sometimes it was easier than trying to reason with them, but he kept a watch over them to make sure it didn't get too heated as he watched the rest of his kids frolic in the snow. 

He felt a pair of strong arms wrap around his waist from behind, smiling as Sangdo passed him a warm cup of tea, snuggling back into the younger's chest. 

"They're so cute." Sangdo mused, rocking his husband from side to side gently as his eyes fell on the scene of eleven out of the twelve most important people in his life played together in the snow. 

Hojoon hummed in agreement, head resting back against Sangdo's shoulder as he took a sip from the tea, smiling as the hot liquid warmed him through. 

"Dongsung! What the ?!"

Hojoon almost dropped his tea as a screeching came from the left hand side of their back garden where Hyosang was squaring up to his older brother, Sangwon in tears beside them. 

"Did he just-?"

Hojoon groaned. That was probably his fault. 

"Hyosang! Don't use that word!"

"But, Daddy, look! He ruined our snow angels." Hyosang pouted, pointing to the ground where the snow angels formerly were, a trail running through them from where Dongsung had rolled his giant snowball through. That would explain Sangwon's tears. 

"Dongsung, you have the entire garden to make your snowman in, why did you have to use the part where Hyosang and Sangwon were playing?"

"They can make more dumb snow angels somewhere else." Dongsung replied, sticking his tongue out at Hyosang as the younger six-year-old fumed beside Hojoon. 

"Hey! That's enough." Sangdo's appeared behind Hojoon, arms folded firmly across his chest. "If you can't play nice together you'll have to go back inside."

Dongsung whined, objecting. 

"Apologise to your brothers, you made Sangwonnie cry." Sangdo added, reaching down to cradle their youngest who instantly nuzzled into his father's neck. 

"Fine." Dongsung pouted. "Sorry, Sangwonnie."

"S'okay." The toddler sniffled, tiny gloved hand fisted in his father's jumper. 

Hyosang cleared his throat, still glaring at his older brother. 

Dongsung sighed dramatically. "Sorry to you too, Hyosang. Can I go back to making my snowman now?"

"Only if I can help." Hyosang grinned smugly, clearly bored of snow angels now anyway. 

"Only if you promise not to say that word again." Sangdo glowered at the doe eyed six-year-old. 

"I promise. Sorry, Appa."

"Okay good, but play nice, I don't want any more arguments or everyone will be going back inside. You hear me?"

Dongsung and Hyosang nodded furiously, not wanting to ruin the snow for all of their brothers. 

"Do you wanna go play too, baby?" Sangdo bounced Sangwon in his arms, trying to cheer the toddler up as he shook his head with a pout.

"Wanna stay with Appa." Sangwon nuzzled back into Sangdo's neck. Sangwon had always been extra clingy when it came to the brunette; it was almost as if he knew Sangdo was his biological father. 

Hojoon smiled softly at the two of them, nodding as Sangdo silently asked if he could take their youngest back inside. Sangwon was just as playful as his brothers, but there were times where he wanted one of his father's undivided attention. He got that with Hojoon most weekdays; the blonde was a little worried how Sangwon would cope when he started school properly. 

He was pulled from his thoughts as a ball of snow hit him in the chest, followed by a number of suppressed giggles. He raised an eyebrow, turning to the ten remaining boys in the garden, who had all seemed to cease their activities, staring wide eyed at their father. 

"Daddy, it was Hansol!" Byungjoo blurted out, earning a betrayed look from his older brother. 

"Oh really?" Hojoon tried to hide the playful tone of his voice as he approached the five-year-old, who was kicking at the snow sheepishly, afraid of getting told off. "That wasn't very nice Hansollie." He paused kneeling down in the snow so he was eye level with his son. "But all snowball fights have to start somehow, right?"

Hojoon picked up a handful of snow, ruffling it into Hansol's hair, causing the small boy to squeal. 

"Daddy! That's cold!" He giggled as some of the snow fell down his back, squirming to get it out. 

"Snowball fight!" Hyunho shouted from across the garden, taking refuge behind the now-abandoned snowman's body before any of his brothers could as he hurled a lump of snow at his father. 

"Oh, you did not just-" Hojoon created his own ammo, throwing it back at his son who ducked behind the snowman, narrowly missing being hit. 

It didn't take the rest of the boys long to catch on, all laughing excitedly as they ganged up on their father, balls of snow being thrown at him from all angles. Hojoon tried his best to fire some back, but with ten against one, he didn't have much luck. 

"This isn't fair!" The blonde whined as another icy shot hit him in the arm. "Someone come join my team!"

"Nah, Daddy, we're gonna win!" Jiho giggled, throwing his own snowball, only for it to land a few feet in front of him, not even close to where Hojoon was. 

"Yeah! You always want us to work together, so we are and we're gonna beat you!" Yoonchul beamed from where he had taken refuge behind the snowman with Hyunho. 

"Yeah, Daddy! Gonna beat you!" Sanggyun joined him, clapping his mittened hands together even though he wasn't quite sure what was going on, caught up in the excitement of it all. 

"My own kids out to get me." Hojoon fake sobbed. "None of you want to be on my side?" He scanned his eyes over the sea of shaking heads against the white backdrop, pausing on Taeyang as his lips curled up. "Not even you, Taeyanggie? My oldest baby?" Hojoon out on his best, most adorable pout to try and tug at his son's heartstrings. 

Taeyang seemed to consider it for a moment before stepping forward. 

"Okay, Daddy." He beamed, snow crunching under his boots as he made his way over to his father. "I'll be on your side."

Hojoon smiled back, surprised it actually worked, holding his arms out to hug the small brunette, heart warming as Taeyang's smile widened the closer he got. 

"Just kidding!" The seven-year-old lunged at him, scrubbing a handful of snow he had hidden behind his back into Hojoon's hair. "That's for Hansollie!"

The rest of the boys cheered at their brother as Hojoon gaped, shaking the snow from his hair as ice cold droplets began to sink into his scalp. He laughed under his breath at the look of pride on Taeyang's face as he grabbed the boy in a bear hug, falling onto his side with Taeyang in his arms, his eldest giggling and shouting for help from his brothers. 

Hojoon screamed in a not-so-manly fashion as the remaining nine boy’s dogpiled on top of him, coming to Taeyang's aid; snow in hand. 

"Oh my god! Boys!" He just about managed to make out through laughter and startled yelps as his son's ganged up on him, covering this father in snow and climbing on top of him. The family rolled around in the snow, Hojoon being tackled by yet another boy just as he had managed to wrestle one off. 

Why, why did he choose to have eleven boys? He was sure eleven girls wouldn't treat him like this. But he wouldn't replace the love and laughter that rang through the air with anything. Having eleven boys may end in rough housing more often than not, but as long as it didn't get too out of hand, he'd be lying if he said he didn't love it. 

"Okay!" He held his arms up on surrender, breathing heavily. "Time out. Daddy gives up. You win." His clothes were soaked by this point, he was pretty sure if he didn't give up now, not only would he get sick, but all the kids would too. Plus, he was getting out of breath. Not that he would ever admit he was getting old. 

The boys squealed with delight, bouncing on the spot and high fiving over their victory. 

"Come on, inside before we all get sick. Someone go ask Appa nicely if he'll make us all a hot chocolate as we change our clothes."

The boys ran back inside, Hojoon shouting after them to take their boots off before they got in the house, not wanting any of them to slip on a wet floor. 

He picked himself up, groaning slightly as moving caused more snow to fall down the back of his jumper. 

Sangdo laughed raucously at the sight of his husband as the elder entered the kitchen. "Wow, you look..."

"Don't even say anything." Hojoon knew he looked a mess. His hair was dripping wet, clothes sodden and dishevelled, face bright red from the cold. "I need a shower."

"Aw, Joonie." Sangdo opened his arms to wrap them around his husband, stalling as he changed his mind. Hojoon was soaked through, that probably wasn't a great idea. He opted for leaving a soft kiss on the blonde's forehead instead. "Quick, go get out of those clothes before you catch a cold."

Hojoon's lips quirked up, whispering close to the younger to ensure any prying ears wouldn't be able to hear. "I'd rather you peel them off me." His breath was hot against Sangdo's ear, sending chills up the brunette’s spine before he pulled back. 

"Sorry, baby, but you're the one that told the boys I'd make them hot chocolate, so," he turned back to the stove where he was heating a large pan of milk, smiling over his shoulder at the pouting blonde, "guess you'll have to undress yourself."

❄ ❅ ❉

Decorating the house was always...fun. Sangdo took Sehyuk and Hyunho out to find a tree, while Hojoon stayed home with the rest of the kids, beginning to decorate. He had no idea how, but no matter how carefully he wrapped the lights up, every single set managed to get tangled despite them not moving for twelve whole months. 

"Dongsung, please don't tie your brother up with tinsel." Hojoon sighed. Trying to sort the boxes out before Sangdo got home was easier said than done when he had nine inquisitive boys pulling everything out of them. 

"Daddy, what's this?" Hyosang asked, head titled as he held a sparkly purple thing in his hand. 

"Ah-ah, don't touch that, it's very fragile." Hojoon gently took the hand-blown glass bauble from his son's hands. "This is the very first decoration me and your Appa bought after we got married. We got it on our honeymoon."

Hyosang's eyes lit up at the word married. "That's so cute! Where did you go again?"

Hojoon inwardly rolled his eyes; he didn't know how many times he had told Hyosang about their honeymoon. "We went to Santorini, baby. It's in Greece." He pointed to the name written on the bauble, which had a night view of the island painted on it. 

"Can you take us one day? It looks so pretty!" Hojoon chuckled under his breath at the idea of taking eleven excitable boys on a five hour plane journey, getting them to school was enough of a task. 

"We'll see, Hyosanggie."

"Daddy, look, Sangwonnie's an angel!" Hansol tugged at his sleeve, motioning towards his brother whose head he had wrapped gold tinsel around. "He can go on top of the tree!"

The three-year-old seemed completely unphased by what his brother had done to him as he played with some plush reindeer. 

"We're home!" The door opened, letting in a cold gust of air from outside as Sehyuk and Hyunho ran indoors, followed by their father with a huge Christmas tree. 

The boys squealed excitedly, gathering around their Appa, desperate to see the tree properly. Hojoon called them all into the foyer to watch from afar since Sangdo needed to use a knife to cut the netting off, and manoeuvring an 8ft tree into its stand with eleven kids running about sounded like a disaster. 

Sangdo dusted off his hands, staring up at the tree with pride.

"What do you think, kids?"

A chorus of 'it's so big!' and 'it looks good, Appa!' sung out behind him as the boys clapped their hands and jumped up and down. 

"It's too big." Hojoon crossed his arms, eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Every year you get one that's too big."

Sangdo sighed. "We have high ceilings; it would look weird if we got a small one."

"But look at it." Hojoon pointed to the top of the tree. "How is the star gonna fit on?" The very top branch of the tree was bent over against the ceiling, trying to fit into their living room. 

Sangdo shrugged. "I'll just cut that bit off. It'll be fine."

Hojoon rolled his eyes, leaving his husband to it as he started to get the decorations that the boys were too small to put on ready. 

This was always the most stressful part; trying to dress the tree with lights and tinsel as the boys whined impatiently for their turn. Hojoon would never admit it out loud, but he wished he could just do it all himself. He was a Christmas tree perfectionist and it would kill him a little inside every time the boys put a gold bauble next to another gold bauble instead of spacing them out. He'd always stay up an extra hour after they went to bed fixing it. 

"Okay, kids, you ready to put your decorations on?" He smiled as the boys ran over to him from where they were sat in the foyer, where it was safe while their fathers did the hard work. 

Sangdo and Hojoon had gotten each of them hand painted baubles with their names on to hang on the tree, and the boys loved them. It made them feel like they really were a family, which had taken a long time for a lot of them. 

The twins looked a little lost, however, this being their first year with the couple. 

"Here, these are your own special decorations to hang on the tree." Sangdo knelt down, passing each of them a bauble, the boys' eyes widening as they realised it had their names on. 

"Appa! I wanna put mine high, can you lift me up?"

"Wait Appa I do too! I want mine next to Joo's"

Sangdo smiled at his twins, taking one of them in each arm over to the tree to hang their decorations.

This led to cries from the other boys wanting their decorations on the higher branches too. Hojoon shook his head softly as Sangdo had to pick them all up, each boy wanting to go higher than his brother. 

The family set about hanging their decorations on the tree, which ended up being very bottom heavy much to Hojoon's dismay. Sangdo hung the boy's stockings on the fireplace, and the wall around it considering their fireplace was nowhere big enough for eleven stockings. 

Hansol clapped with glee when the room was finished, spinning around to admire all the decorations. "It looks so pretty!"

"We have the best tree in the street!"

"I dunno...Daddy; I think it needs more tinsel."

"Appa! Take a picture of me with the tree!"

"Wait, me too! I want one too!"

Sangdo rolled his eyes, ushering all the kids to get into one spot so they could pose in front of the tree. 

"Okay, guys, big smiles!"

They all beamed back at their father, eyes twinkling along with the lights that dressed the tree. 

"Maybe we should use this as our Christmas card." Sangdo smiled to himself, showing Hojoon the picture of the most eleven precious boys either of them had ever set eyes on. 

Hojoon pouted. It was an adorable picture. "I've already bought eleven sets of antlers, though."

❄ ❅ ❉

"Appa! Come play outside with us!"

Sangdo's eyes widened as he realised Dongsung was coming up the stairs, racing to shut the door so his son couldn't get in their room. 

"Appa! Let me in!"

"We're busy, Dongsunggie, go play with Uncle Hyeontae and Uncle Jiwon." Sangdo had called his older brothers to come watch the kids so he and Hojoon could have some alone time. 

However, his idea of alone time was different to his husbands. 

"Are you and Daddy kissing again? That's gross." Sangdo laughed under his breath as he heard his son run downstairs. 

"I ing wish."

Sangdo rolled his eyes at his husband settling back down on the bed next to him. 

"You know, Sangdo, when you said we were gonna have a few hours to ourselves, this isn't exactly what I had in mind." Hojoon glowered, ripping off a long length of sellotape. 

"Sorry, baby, but we have to get this done." Sangdo tried to reason with his husband, cutting through a sheet of brightly coloured paper. "Or would you rather the kids have nothing to unwrap on Christmas Day?"

Hojoon scoffed. "I'd rather you were unwrapping me right ing now."

"Hojoon." Sangdo warned. "Maybe if we work fast we'll have some spare time before Jiwon and Hyeontae have to leave."

The blonde perked up at that, steaming through a number of presents in just a couple of minutes. 

Sangdo laughed at his husband, he loved that the elder still wanted him after all this time. 

❄ ❅ ❉

Hojoon was excited. Okay, he was more than excited. His knees were bouncing so much Sangwon was starting to get fussy in his lap. 

"Are you sure the camera's fully charged?"

"For the fourteenth time, yes. Stop stressing." Sangdo rolled his eyes at his husband. Hojoon got far too excited about seeing his kids on stage. The elder was pretty sure most of them were going to be stars in one way or another. 

Hojoon silently screamed into Sangwon's dark hair as the lights went down, nudging Sangdo to get the camera ready. Hojoon wasn't even religious but he really, really loved nativity plays. But, probably only because his kids were always in them. 

Dongsung stepped onto the stage with another boy and tears pricked at the back of his eyes almost instantly. The six-year-old spotted his parents in the crowd, giving them a little wave. 

"Our story begins in a town called Nazareth..."

Hojoon stifled a whimper as his son began speaking. Dongsung has been so happy when he landed the part of co-narrator; he had his parents running lines with him for weeks. Hojoon couldn't believe how much the boy could remember for his age. 

"Daddy, are you crying?" Sangwon not-so-subtly asked his father as he turned in the blonde's arms, earning a few soft giggles from the people around them. 

"No, baby, I'm fine. Watch your brothers." Hojoon pointed to the stage as Hyunho came out as Joseph, wiping the free-falling tears from his cheeks. Sangwon's eyes lit up as he recognised the elder. 

The story continued, each of their children appearing at one point or another in costume, each actively searching for their fathers in the sea of parents. Hojoon was past the point of trying to hold back the tears, he was so proud of all of them. Some of his kids didn't get speaking parts, but they still managed to shine. At least in his eyes. 

The play came to a close, Hojoon's eyes sparkling every time one of his kids saw him in the audience, forgetting their role to smile and wave at him. The entire cast crowded onto the stage to sing a Christmas carol. Hojoon bit down on his bottom lip to stifle an audible cry, worried he'd ruin the video Sangdo was making. The video he planned on watching as soon as they got back home. 

Sangdo turned to smile at him, laughing softly as he noticed how damp his husband's face was, attempting to thumb away some of the droplets rolling down his round cheeks. The focused the camera on Hojoon, lips quirking up as he thought about showing the kids the video of how emotional their father got when they were older. The blonde's eyebrows furrowed as he noticed, swatting the camera away so the attention was back on the stage. 

A soft smile graced his lips as he realised his son's had all managed to gravitate towards one another as they sang; Hansol clinging to Hyosang’s arm, Jiho and Byungjoo's hands clasped firmly together, a protective arm wrapped around Sanggyun's shoulder from Dongsung. He couldn't wait until next Christmas when Sangwon was up there with them. All eleven of his boys singing on stage together. His heart melted at the idea. 

"We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas..."

He pressed a soft kiss to Sangwon's hair as the toddler tried to join in with the singing from his place in Hojoon's lap, despite not really knowing the words, his hands clapping along with the rhythm as he giggled with excitement. 

"I think our Sangwonnie's gonna be a little singer just like his Appa." Hojoon whispered, leaning over to his husband. Sangdo had always had a beautiful singing voice; it still gave him butterflies even after all these years when they younger would serenade him. 

He could just about make out a light blush spreading across Sangdo's cheeks in the dim lighting. "You're not so bad yourself, Hojoonie."

He leaned in to press a tender kiss to the elder's cheek, Hojoon laughing under his breath as his arms tightened around Sangwon, relishing in the warmth of his family. 

"Ew! Appa stop that's gross!"

Hojoon and Sangdo both flushed as a couple of people around them chuckled softly as Sangwon scowled at his parents. 

Their youngest had definitely been spending too much time with Dongsung. 

❄ ❅ ❉

"I saw him!" Sehyuk panted, closing the door behind him as he jumped on Taeyang's bed. "Santa! I saw him!"

Taeyang gaped at his brother, he wasn't even sure he believed in Santa anymore, so many kids in his class said he wasn't real, but if Sehyuk had seen him then he must be. "What was he like?"

Sehyuk twisted his nose up, "I only saw him from the side, but he was big and fat and had a white beard and it looked really fluffy!" Sehyuk replied excitedly, edging closer to the elder before his smile dropped. "But, Tae, he was kissing Dad."

Taeyang's jaw dropped. "Santa was kissing Daddy?!" He shrieked, Sehyuk's hand clamping over his mouth to silence him. 

"Shhhh! He's still downstairs!"

"But what about Appa?" Taeyang whined, thinking about their parents. He thought they were in love. They're married, that means they have to be together forever, right? "We need to go down and stop this; Santa can't steal Daddy away from Appa!"

Taeyang stood, determined. There was no way he was going to let anyone take his Daddy away, not even Santa. 

"Wait Tae!" Sehyuk jumped in front of him before he could open the door. "What if we make Santa angry and we don't get any presents? What if none of us get any?!" Sehyuk fretted, eyes wide as his brother thought it over. 

"Keeping Daddy and Appa together is more important, Sehyuk. We don't need presents but we need to save our family!" Taeyang thought of his younger brothers, how upset they would be if their parents broke up. Way more upset than if they woke up to no presents. 

"You're right," Sehyuk nodded, arms folding across his chest, "we can't let Santa steal our Dad away."

The two oldest children tiptoed downstairs, hoping their Appa wasn't home yet. They had to stop this before he got back and saw their Daddy with Santa Claus. Taeyang's breath hitched as he saw Santa wrap his arms tighter around Hojoon's waist through the slats in the banister, the blonde straddling the bearded man's lap. 

"I've been a very, very naughty boy this year, Mr. Claus." Hojoon whispered close to the wispy white hair of the other man. 

Santa chuckled lowly. "I guess you'll have to do something extra nice for me now to make up for it then." Hojoon tried to suppress a yelp as the man beneath him bucked his hips up, his hardness obvious under the red fur of his outfit. Hojoon leaned down to catch the man in a sloppy kiss, beard getting in the way as their lips clashed together. 

"Mmm, San-"

"Daddy!" Their eldest cried, catching the attention of the men in the living room as he and Sehyuk ran the rest of the way down the stairs. Hojoon promptly jumped out of Santa lap, face flushed, as two young boys marched over to their Daddy and Mr. Claus, eyes narrowed. "Daddy, you can't leave Appa for Santa!"

Sehyuk nodded, agreeing. "I know Santa has lots of toys and his reindeers fly but Appa is better than him!"

"Yeah, Santa, stop kissing our Daddy!" Taeyang yelled up at the red-suited man. "I don't care if you don't give us presents we won't let you ruin our family!"

Sehyuk nodded again, more furiously this time as he glared up at Santa Claus. The two young boys were fuming. They couldn't believe Santa would try to do this, they thought he was meant to be a nice, jolly man that spread Christmas cheer, not a homewrecker. 

Their jaws dropped as Hojoon laughed. 

"You two are the cutest!" Hojoon leant down to pinch his eldest son's cheeks, beaming at how selfless they were. He couldn't believe his kids would sacrifice getting presents on Christmas Day just to keep their parents happy. 

"Dad, this isn't funny!" Sehyuk squirmed as his father gushed over how adorable he was. 

Hojoon sighed, sitting back up and grabbing onto Santa's beard. Taeyang and Sehyuk gaped as the blonde pulled the beard clean off Santa's face. 

"Appa?!" Sehyuk gasped. "You're Santa?" His eyes widened. His father was Santa? The Santa Claus? 

Taeyang didn't have quite the same reaction, arms crossing in front of his chest. "I knew Santa wasn't real!" 

Hojoon and Sangdo panicked, they didn't want the illusion of Santa to be ruined for their kids just yet; Taeyang and Sehyuk were only seven, they hoped they'd get at least another Christmas before they stopped believing. 

"No, no, I'm just dressed up as Santa. We thought it would be fun for you guys, of course he's real."

Taeyang's mouth formed a small 'o' as he understood what his father was saying. 

"So we still get presents?" Sehyuk asked meekly as Sangdo laughed. 

"Of course, baby, you cared more about our family than you did getting toys, you deserve so many presents! We're gonna have to tell the real Santa how good you two have been!" He smiled brightly, pulling the two giggling boys into a tight hug. 

Hojoon knelt back down so he was the boys’ level. "We're gonna go get your brothers and surprise them, so you can't let them know it's Appa dressed up as Santa. You're both big boys now so we're trusting you to keep this a secret, okay?"

Taeyang and Sehyuk's eyes lit up, being the oldest of their kids Hojoon knew how much they loved being treated like little adults, they loved getting more responsibilities than their younger brothers. 

"We won't tell them, Daddy, we promise."

"They're gonna be so excited when they think Santa's here." Taeyang bounced on the spot. "I'm gonna go get Hansollie!"

The two of them ran back upstairs, Hojoon breathing a sigh of relief that they hadn't gone too far before the kids walked in on them. 

"I guess you'll have to make your way back onto the nice list later on." Sangdo winked, pulling his beard up in preparation for the kids running down to see Santa Claus. 

❄ ❅ ❉

"It's Christmas!"

Hojoon and Sangdo were woken by Hansol’s shrill voice as the five-year-old clambered onto their bed. It didn't take long for the rest of the boys to join him in waking up their parents, each running into the room, stocking in hand. It was a pain trying to sneak eleven stockings onto the foot of their kids' bed without any of the waking up, but it was worth it to hear their excited gasps in the morning, thinking Santa Claus had been in their room. 

"Come on then, let’s see what Santa brought you." Hojoon beamed, settling Sanggyun in his lap as he helped the toddler open his gifts. 

The boys' smiles grew with every present they unwrapped, even though their stockings were just full with small, toys and chocolates they didn't even ask for. Sangdo sighed at the pile of wrapping paper that was left on their bed; he'd deal with that later. 

"Are you ready to go downstairs?"

The boys cheered, zealously jumping down from the bed to rush downstairs behind their father. 

"Santa's been!" Jiho shouted, hands clapping together as his eyes fell on a pair of snowy footprints on the doormat, already too hyper to realise that the footprints were actually made from washing powder and not snow. 

The boys ran into the living room, jaws dropping at the piles of presents around the tree. Sangdo and Hojoon would save all year to be able to afford as many presents as possible for the boys, not wanting them to miss out on having an amazing Christmas like all of their friends just because they had so many siblings. They felt that the boys deserved to be spoilt due to a lot of them having such bad starts in life. 

"Appa! Look at all the presents! Which ones are mine?" Yoonchul screamed, darting around the living room to try and figure out which of the wrapped boxes belonged to him. 

"Santa wrapped each of your presents in different coloured paper, try and find your name and which ones are yours." Having so many kids it could get confusing trying to remember what they had bought for who, especially once the presents were wrapped. They had learnt from years of confusion and wasting name tags it was easier to colour co-ordinate the gifts. 

Sangdo and Hojoon watched as the boys tore into the colourful paper, screaming thank you's and smiling widely as they recognised the toys from their Christmas list. Nothing made them happier than when their boys were happy, they had even decided they didn't need to buy each other expensive gifts anymore, preferring to spend as much as they could on their children. 

"Are you all happy with what you got?" Hojoon was swamped with bear hugs as the boys thanked their fathers, more than pleased with the gifts they had received. 

"Can we start playing?" Hyunho asked, ready to rip open a remote control car he had been asking for for months. 

"Not yet, I have one more surprise."

Hojoon turned to his husband, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to remember what Sangdo was talking about. He couldn't remember having anything else planned. 

"Yu Hojoon," Sangdo looked the blonde straight in the eye, giving the elder butterflies, even after all these years. He got down on one knee, causing Hojoon's breath to hitch as his mind flashed back to Sangdo's proposal over eleven years ago. "Will you marry me?"

Hojoon's eyes widened as Sangdo popped open a small box, a gold ring with a solitaire diamond nestled in red velvet sat inside. He tilted his head, confused. "We're already married."

"Then will you marry me again? It's our ten year anniversary next year, I think we should renew our vows so the kids can be involved."

Hyosang screamed excitedly. He had always wanted to go to a wedding, especially his fathers'. "Daddy please say yes!"

"Say yes, Daddy!"

"We wanna see you guys get married!"

"Please, Daddy, say yes!"

The boys crowded around their father, pulling at his t-shirt and sweat pants as they whined for him to say yes. They knew how much their parents loved each other, and they were dying to see them say their vows. 

He looked back at his husband, who was staring up at him with hopeful eyes before his gaze fell to the ring. It was gorgeous. They had never bothered with engagement rings the first time Sangdo proposed, Hojoon had always insisted he didn't need one, that he would rather put the money towards the wedding or their honeymoon. 

"Well? Will you marry me? Again?" 

"Of course I will!" Hojoon cried as the boys cheered around them, cooing as Sangdo got to his feet to catch his husband in a deep kiss, arms wrapped around the blonde's smaller frame. 

Hojoon's cheeks hurt from smiling as Sangdo slid the ring on his finger; it looked so perfect nestled against his gold wedding band. Hojoon had no idea how he had gotten so lucky when it came to Sangdo, the younger was everything he could have hoped for in a partner. He was an amazing husband and an even better father, and Hojoon loved everything about him. 

Hojoon let his eyes flutter shut against Sangdo's neck as the brunette looped his arms back around Hojoon's waist, drawing him into a tight hug. Hojoon revelled in the warmth of his husband, of his family as the kids cuddled into their father’s legs, feeling left out. 

"I love you." He whispered against Sangdo's skin, quiet enough so only his husband would be able to hear. 

"I love you too, baby. Always."