Christmas was never a special holiday for Soojin. In fact, neither was any other holiday. Her family wasn't the festive type. In her house, on Christmas, there were no ornaments nor string lights because there was no tree to hang them on and there weren't any presents because there was no tree to put them under. There was no special dinner full of special dishes nor were there any relatives that came over and squished into their humble-sized house to share a large celebratory meal. As far as the Seo family was concerned, December 25th was just another ordinary day. 

It wasn't sad. It was just how it was in her family. They simply weren't the festive type.

This is why Soojin was very disoriented the first time Shuhua invited her to spend Christmas with her family. 

They arrived at the Yeh family's log cabin on Christmas Eve after an absurd amount of delays and layovers during the—what was supposed to be a nonstop—flight caused by the heavy relentless snowfall and the sheer abundance of people who were going home for the holidays. The couple should've known better than to book a flight so close to the 25th, but somehow the warmth of the cabin managed to erase all of Soojin's frustration. Or perhaps it was the inviting aroma of peppermint hot chocolate that wafted graciously in the air. After all, in Soojin's opinion—which was the correct opinion—mint and chocolate make for a superb combination. 

Regardless of what the cause of her sudden lift of spirits was, the house was the antithesis of what Soojin was accustomed to seeing on Christmas.

There was a large conifer tree, in the shape of a cone that was suspiciously too-perfect, standing proudly in the middle of their living room, ornate with an obnoxiously extensive collection of ornaments. There were clear ornaments that housed silver glitter inside them mimicking the view of snowfall from a fogged-up window. There were glitter-coated ornaments that mirrored patterns one would expect to see on an ugly—cute if on Shuhua—Christmas sweater. There were ornaments in the shape of reindeer and candy canes crafted skillfully out of plush wool and yarn. There were even ornaments made out of cardstock and colored with old-fashioned Crayola markers, which Soojin assumed were the ones that Shuhua was referring to when she was talking about the ones she made more than a decade ago during elementary school. And last but certainly not least, there were stacks of presents wrapped and tucked away underneath the brilliantly lit tree, patiently waiting to be opened on Christmas day.

The glow and glimmer of the individual decorations sprinkled across the dark green pine needles and the presents that rested beneath them were reinforced and amplified by the warm hue of the flames that engulfed the logs crackling in the fireplace. It truly was a sight to behold and Soojin had no idea what to make of it all. She felt as if she were plucked from reality and dropped into a stock image of what Christmas should look like and she stuck out like a sore unfestive thumb just like her presents did as she added them underneath the tree. The wrapping paper she used, albeit very festive with its cute little red-hat-clad penguin pattern, was wrinkled and crinkled from the many, many times she attempted to crease the paper so that it would wrap around the gift boxes flawlessly. Unfortunately, the only flawless part of the gifts were the bows she stuck on top and that was because all she needed to do was—you guessed it—stick them on top. Thank god for premade bows and their convenient adhesive undersides. Anyway, the point was, her presents looked as if they had been wrapped by a toddler, and the expertly wrapped presents that surrounded hers magnified their extremely evident and very-much present flaws. 

But she guessed, it would be more spirited to say, it's the thought that counts. Though she wasn't the best person to ask, Shuhua was. So, she got a second opinion.

"Your presents look like crap," her girlfriend laughed once she saw Soojin reveal them from her travel bag in all of their crumpled glory. "But it's really cute that you tried, babe. I'm sure they'll love it." 

Despite her gift-wrapping skills (or lack thereof), she was rewarded with a handful of kisses for her effort, so she took those as concrete forms of confirmation that it was indeed, the thought that counts and decided that maybe she could be warming up to the idea of becoming a Christmas person.

After settling in and getting a much-needed good night's rest, it was now Christmas day and Soojin swore it was the most chaotic thing she has ever witnessed. If Shuhua was loud, Shuhua with her family was even louder. And Shuhua with her family on Christmas day? There are not enough words in her lexicon that would be able to accurately portray the commotion that took place in this house. Just like how there is also no sound scientific explanation that would explain the phenomenon that was the strength of that cabin's four walls. The magnitude of the volume this family produces should have caused its collapse ages ago. 

Their day was filled to the brim—and then some—with a jam-packed list of activities to accomplish. From gingerbread house building competitions to Christmas carol home concerts and mountains of good food sandwiched i