—Cole POV—
Waking up the day before Christmas, I went down to make my usual cup of coffee and have an egg sandwich. Having taken the day off from everything since I had gifts to wrap, the kids were off, and I wanted to spend family time with everyone I intended to take it easy today. Looking over the photos I took of Eri and Kota's Christmas Play as I sipped on my coffee, I was happy to spend my first Christmas with all my family.
'I hope they like the presents I got them.', I thought thinking of all the gifts I bought the children and my wives, 'By the end of this I will have a black belt in gift wrapping.'
Hearing Eri come running down the stairs, she poked her head into the kitchen looking for something. Watching her run around the first floor, eventually she came into the kitchen with a confused look on her face. Asking her what she was looking for, she told me that she wanted to see if we had a fireplace anywhere.
"A fireplace?", I questioned, "Why do we need a fireplace?"
"Sandy Claws comes down the chimney to give presents, but we don't have one…is he going to come here if we don't have one?", she asked with a worried look.
Remembering that part of the Santa Claus story, I quickly came up with an answer to comfort her.
"Of course he will, Santa has magic powers like me. He can make his own chimney to get inside.", I assured her, "Once he leaves he will make the chimney disappear."
Remembering that Santa had magical powers, she was momentarily relieved till she remembered something else. Rubbing her hands together nervously, Eri requested something of me.
"Can…can we decorate a tree together, and make cookies for Sandy Claws?", she requested, "I haven't done that before, and I…I want to do those things this year."
Recalling the fact that she had never had a normal Christmas before, I understood why she was requesting this now. Wanting to make this the best Christmas ever for her, I knew we had to do this and I already had a plan for it.
"Absolutely Eri, we can decorate a tree and the house, bake cookies for Santa, and even watch some Christmas movies together.", I told her with a smile, "Before we can do any of that though, your mothers need to be woken up. Can you please wake them up?"
"Okay!", she shouted running back up the stairs.
Stumbling down the stairs fifteen minutes later, my wives glared at me in frustration. Having decided to sleep in today, they were none too happy to be woken up at the usual time. Apologizing to them, I told them what Eri's request was and told them that we needed to get move soon to get it all completed in a day. Grabbing cups of coffee to wake themselves up, we sat around the table to discuss the details.
"So what all is entailed with completing this request?", Gearnia inquired, "We gotta make stuff for the tree, right? Based on the decorations they had at the play…I don't think we have enough time to make all the ornaments."
"You buy most of it, but I think making a few handmade decorations would be a great idea. We can make it a tradition to make a few with the children every year.", I said before remembering who I was talking to, "They need to be simple, you don't have to fire up the forge to make them…"
"Pssh…killjoy!", she spat crossing her arms in frustration, "Steel and Iron will last much longer than paper and wood!"
Interjecting herself before Gearnia went on a tangent about the benefits of making the items out of metal, Vivian wanted to get back on track.
"What's the first thing we need to do?", Vivian asked.
"We need to get a tree, and since we have fifteen-foot ceilings in the living room I want a big tree.", I said to my family, "That will give us plenty of room to hang ornaments."
Looking at one another, Fuyumi and Shino weren't so sure we could get a big tree.
"You do realize the average tree here is like four feet right?", Mirko responded, "We don't usually have big Chrismas trees here because of the small amount of land we have for farms like that. Besides which…the only big things in Japan are Robots, Kaiju, and certain other things."
Giving me a playful wink, I cracked a grin of approval. Knowing exactly what she meant, that gift would be unwrapped tonight after everything was done. Steering the conversation away from depravity, I cleared my throat before speaking.
"We will go to the US to get a tree, there are several tree farms where you can buy massive trees.", I stated, "There is one, in particular, I want to go to that has sledding, snowball fights, great hot chocolate, and a fun ride out to the trees."
Agreeing to check it out, the family ate their breakfast and got dressed for the cold. Once the children were bundled up snugly, I teleported us there instantly.
—Christmas Tree Farm—
Arriving at the tree farm, Eri and Kota were immediately enamored by the sites and sounds. Watching tractors pulling trailers of families around the property, we saw people dressed up like Santa, Santa's Elves, and many other seasonal entities. Jumping around with excitement, both of them were eager to get going. Watching a group of people heading for the slopes, both of the children immediately knew what needed to happen first.
"Can we go sledding first?", Kota pleaded, "I really want to go sledding, I haven't ever done it before!"
"Kota…I don't know…", Shino said worried about his safety.
"Of course you can.", I told him with an approving nod, "Do you want to try sledding to Eri?"
"Yeah!!", she proclaimed running over to the rental booth.
Having the family pick out the sleds they wanted at the rental booth, Mirko and I ended up grabbing snowboards as we wanted a bit more of a thrill. Paying the clerk before walking over to where the slopes were, we got in the short line and waited for our turn. Having picked the standard wood and steel sleds that my grandparents would have used in their childhood, everyone was eager to see how they performed.
"So how big is this hill?", Apple inquired as she heard people racing down the hill, "Sounds like it's a pretty long run."
"A few hundred feet and the slope itself is pretty steep so you will be going pretty fast by the time you reach the bottom.", I told her with a smile, "From what I hear you will easily hit 20mph here."
"Are the babies going to be safe?", Fuyumi asked their mothers.
"Of course they will, we have been through worse with them.", Sapphire laughed with a proud smile, "These child carriers are ones that Cole made especially for the children. He made them when he found out we were pregnant, they were made so the children could be with us without tying up our arms and could protect them should we ever be attacked by his enemies."
Assuring Fuyumi that the children would be absolutely safe, I told her that the carriers were stress tested so that I knew even a castle falling on them wouldn't harm the babies. Sir Boltan and the other father-in-laws thought I was being overprotective of our children, but that was just silly…I could never be overprotective of my children. It wasn't like I had a book of scenarios for dealing with troublesome boys that wanted to get with my daughters…I wasn't that bad.
"Next…", the employee at the top of the slope said before seeing my wives, "Oh wow!! Hello ladies, can I help you get onto your sleds?"
"Ahem…", I growled as I glared at him, "Keep your hands to yourself, or I will cut them off and shove them where the Sun doesn't shine."
Recognizing my face from the news, the young man immediately stopped flirting with my wives and instead helped get Eri and Kota situated on their sleds. Helping situate my wives on their sleds myself, they all looked down the hill and realized how steep it was. Watching Sith form a naughty smile on her face, she clearly had a naughty idea in mind. Whispering to the women that whoever made it down first got first dibs on me tonight, all of them became motivated to win.
"We have a couple of rules here…please no shoving, no pushing, and no trying to crash into-", the employee started to say before Vivian took off down the hill before he could finish.
"I will win this!", Vivian proclaimed, "See you suckers later!"
"Get back here you cheater!", Mirko and Sapphire spat.
"You stole my idea!!", Sith shouted in anger, "How dare you!"
"Let's go!!", Silva howled with excitement.
Rushing after Vivian one by one my wives flew down the slope leaving Eri, Kota, and me at the top alone. Watching them start lobbing crudely made snowballs at each other as they went down, I watched Darla get clocked in the face and fall off her sled. Doing several flips when she hit the snow, she leaped back onto her still-moving sled and threw one back at Sapphire.
"Nice try bitch, I am not going down!", Darla hissed.
"Darn, can't blame me for trying!", Sapphire said throwing one at Eve next.
Seeing the projectile coming at her, Eve leaned back and watched it fly past her. Smacking Alpha in the face, she swerved and crashed into Repune causing them both to fall off their sleds. Watching them roll down the slope together, they laughed at each other as they did so. While they rolled down the hill, the others continued fighting amongst themselves.
"Sir…I hate to be a bother, but your wives are being a bit too-", the man started to say as I slipped a few hundreds into his front pocket.
"I don't know what you are talking about.", I said with a perplexed look, "The sleds must be broken, right?"
Glancing at the money in his pocket and then back at me, he understood what I was saying.
"You are completely right, we should have those sleds examined.", he agreed, "I apologize for this."
"It's alright, these things happen.", I stated.
Telling us to have fun, he turned around and pretended we weren't there anymore. Giving Eri and Kota a push to get going, they flew down the hill laughing and giggling all the way. Following after them on my snowboard, I quickly flew past them and caught up to my wives who were at full speed now.
"Haha, we should have done this years ago!", Ryuko shouted as she lay on her stomach, "Why don't we have this in Japan?"
"We do, but getting into those places is almost impossible.", Mirko said grinding across a log, "I have been trying for years to get into a Ski Resort, but I never manage to get a reservation…they are booked two years out right now!"
"Seriously!?", Elouise gasped, "That is ridiculous!"
Stopping their fighting now that we were reaching the bottom, some of them started to realize something very important.
"I hate to ask this now, but…how do we stop them?", Tomoko questioned as the end of the run came into view.
"Just pull back on the rope, just don't do it hard because you'll-", I started to tell her before she yanked on it.
Watching the sled dig into the snow, front first, Tomoko and several others went airborne as they were sent flying. Laughing at their stupid decision, Gearnia and Clover thought the scene was hilarious. Seeing the women flailing around in the air, the two of them fell off their sleds laughing their asses off.
Using magic to increase my speed, I caught them one by one before they hit the ground. Putting them back on their feet, they ran back up the slope to get their partially buried sleds with embarrassed expressions. Watching Eri and Kota come to a stop at the bottom a few minutes later, both of them were still laughing with glee. Handing our sleds to the employee at the bottom, she looked at us like we were insane…which I admitted was too far off. Having gotten that out of our system now, it was time to complete our main objective here.
"Alright, on to getting the tree!", I told them.
Returning to the Main Building at the top of the hill, I grabbed a handsaw off the wall and got us in line for the next ride out to the trees. Looking at the saw in my hand, Eri was curious why I had it.
"Why do you need that?", she asked me, "My friends never said you need a saw to get a tree."
"It's a bit different here and in Japan, at this farm, we cut down our own here. That means the ones that don't get picked continue to get bigger.", I told her.
"Oh okay!", she said accepting that answer, "We have to get the bestest tree here!"
Leaving the family in line, I went ahead and got everyone hot chocolate as it was pretty cold out. Handing them out as we waited, it wasn't long before the next tractor pulled up. Getting in the trailer, we took our seats and enjoyed the view as we pulled away from the building. Seeing all the different shaped and colored trees we could pick from, Eri was overwhelmed by all the options. Turning to me for advice, she asked which type I thought we should get.
"I like Balsam Fir, they smell the nicest out of all the trees.", I stated with a grin, "We will have the Christmas smell all over the house for a few weeks."
"Are they pretty?", she inquired focused on appearance only.
"I think so, we will decorate whatever tree we get making it into the prettiest tree possible.", I reminded her.
"Okay, let's get a Balsee Fur!", she said unable to say the word right.
Smiling at her, I felt proud to be the father of such an adorable child. It didn't matter that we weren't related by blood, as far as I was concerned Eri had always been my daughter from the beginning.
Getting off at the patch of Balsam Fir trees, everyone was shocked to see how big some of the trees were. Some of the ones for sale were pushing forty feet tall which made the women wonder who would buy such a big tree and how they would decorate them. Refocusing them on our goal here, I told them to pick out a tree that would fit our living room nicely. Before I could suggest we stick together for this, everyone ran in separate directions to begin their search.
'Now I remember why I stopped going to these places, I am having flashbacks to before becoming a Hero.', I thought recalling how my grandmother and grandfather forced me to pick out a Christmas tree every year with them, 'Looking back on it, I enjoyed spending time with them…it was just I hated spending hours out in the cold looking for a tree. What was worse was when I'd pick a tree, they'd say it didn't look good, and then return hours later and hearing them say it was perfect…that was the worst part of the ordeal.'
Going to look at the trees myself, I barely got to steps forward before being called out to by my family.
"Cole, I found one!!", Celestial shouted.
"Over here!!", Ryuko called, "This one is perfect!"
"Daddy, I found the bestest tree!!", Eri proclaimed waving me over.
"So it begins…", I muttered going to Eri first, 'Reliving the good old days…yay.'
Spending the next few hours wandering the Balsam Fir patch with the family, we eventually settled on a twelve-foot tree with a nice wide base. Wanting to help me cut it down, Eri and Kota held the tree for me while I used the saw. Using my telekinesis to help them, since the tree weighed more than both of them, once the tree was cut my wives helped them lower it to the ground safely.
"We have a Christmas Tree!!", Eri celebrated as she jumped up and down, "Sandy Claws is going to leave us lots of presents!!"
"Yeah!", Kota agreed with a smile, "I get to have a Family Christmas again too!"
Hearing him say that, Shino ran over and gave him a big hug. Even though he was happy about having a Family Christmas, he wasn't thrilled about getting such affection from one of his mothers quite yet. Squirming around trying to free himself from her embrace, Kota looked at me for help. Shaking my head at him, I wasn't about to break up this happy sight much to his disappointment.
Picking the tree up, we got on the next trailer that passed by and headed to the checkout. After paying for our tree, our group headed to several stores afterward to get decorations, crafting materials, and baking supplies to use this evening. Once we had everything we wanted to use, we headed home for the day.
—Cole's Home—
Leaving the children with their mothers, I got the tree situated in our living room. Using a large tree stand to hold it in place, I made sure that no one could accidentally knock it over. Once I was satisfied that it was secure, I filled the base with water and then started weaving the lights through the tree. Removing the empty bird's nests that I found in the tree, I made sure we wouldn't have any unwelcome guests as I continued wrapping the tree.
"Dad…are you going to make decorations with us?", Kota asked finding me at the top of the tree with the lights.
"Yeah, I will be there in a few minutes. I am just finishing up here", I assured him.
Making sure I had a plug at the top of the tree, when I finished, I tested the lights out before walking into the dining room. Taking a seat between Yesenia and Kota, I started making a gold star out of popsicle sticks, glue, and golden glitter. Once my ornament was assembled, I set it aside to dry and got to work prepping the cookies for baking.
"What kind of cookies did you get?", Mirko asked as she watched me put them on trays.
"Sugar Cookies…except for Luna, Evelyn, Isola, and you, I got you Carrot Cake Cookies.", I remarked.
"I knew there was a reason I agreed to be with you.", she laughed with approval.
"Really, I thought it was something else?", I said with a smirk.
Giving me a surprised look, the four women motioned for me to tone it down in front of the children. Looking at us with confusion, Eri asked what I meant by that. Unable to give them a good excuse, I stepped in for them.
"I thought it was because I make good food and coffee.", I chuckled, "Isn't that right?"
"Of course…", Luna agreed with a nod.
Getting the cookies in the oven, I helped everyone finish up their ornaments and got our mess cleaned up. Using magic to finish up the drying process, we took them out to the living room and began decorating the tree. Levitating people to the higher parts of the tree, we made sure that ornaments covered the tree nicely and that we had no barren spots. Having Eri put on the tree topper once we were done, I plugged in the lights to reveal our hard work. Hearing the gasps of amazement from my family, it appeared our hard work paid off.
"It's so pretty!!", Eri shouted as she danced around the tree with excitement, "We got the bestest tree ever!! Sandy Claws won't miss our house now!!"
"I have a request now, let's take a family photo together.", I said motioning to the camera I bought especially for this.
Agreeing to it, we all got into place around the tree for the photo. Smiling as the camera started its countdown, we all shouted cheese when it hit one. Snapping several photos of us, I walked over to take a look at the photos. Seeing the brilliant smiles of my family look back at me, I was content with the images it took. Last year at this time I never thought that a day like this would come, but I was glad to be wrong about it.
"Eri, thank you for suggesting all of this.", I told her with a warm smile, "To be honest, this is the first Christmas I have gotten to celebrate with all of my family too. I have to say, it was well worth the wait to have all of you here."
Responding with their own happy smiles, my family told me that they were delighted to be here too. Hearing the kitchen time for cookies go off, we piled into the kitchen to start decorating them. Once we had enough for Santa, we decided to eat the rest as we decorated them. Getting icing on our faces from eating the cookies, all of us enjoyed laughing at one another with icing smeared on our faces.
"So what is next on the docket?", Purlin asked washing the icing off her face, "You said something about movies right?"
"Yes, there are several Christmas movies I remember from my past life that I want to share with all of you. Before anyone asks, they were never made here so you will be the first to see them in this world.", I told them.
Interested in what they might be, we all got situated on the sofa so I could broadcast the movies from my memories. Putting on Frosty the Snowman, Christmas without Santa Claus, and Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer my family was taken in by the movies. Having never seen anything like it before, everyone was drawn in by the musical numbers and the claymation animation style. Watching all three movies to the end, Eri looked over at me and asked if there were more movies like that.
"Of course, my grandparents made me watch many movies like this growing up so I have plenty to share with you.", I told her, "Unfortunately though you will have to watch them later, it's time for bed."
Since it was bedtime for the infants and children, we got them washed up and tucked into bed in a hurry. Reading them a Christmas storybook, I read the book up till Eri and Kota were sound asleep. Silently closing the door behind me I almost ran into Tomoko who was waiting for me outside.
"We are wrapping presents in the room, can you do yours downstairs? All of us don't want to ruin your presents.", she told me.
"Of course, do you need any wrapping paper or tape?", I inquired opting not to read her mind to see what I got.
"No, we got everything we need.", she assured me, "One of us will text you when it's okay for you to come in."
Going down to the living room, I began wrapping presents for my family in silence. As I wrapped presents, I slapped a label on them and slid them neatly under the tree trying to fill out the bottom nicely. Unfortunately…I had gone a bit overboard buying gifts so by the time I finished the pile was five feet out from the base of the tree. Realizing that I may have bought too much, I shrugged my shoulders and got over it pretty quickly as all of them were worth it. Flipping on the television, I watched a murder mystery for a bit before Ryuko texted me saying I was good to come up.
Turning off the television, I headed upstairs after making it look like Santa came by eating the cookies and leaving snowy bootprints across the first floor. Opening the door to our room, I was greeted by quite an amazing view. Finding my wives naked and wrapped up like Christmas presents, I quickly closed the door behind me and put up a silencing barrier so the children wouldn't hear us.
"Merry…Christmas…", Tomoko said beet red with embarrassment.
"What do you think?", Mirko inquired with a smirk, "Ready to unwrap your gifts?"
"Oh, I think that tent in his pants means he is.", Celestial stated with a pleased smile, "We have been waiting patiently for you to claim them, but tonight we break that agreement. You are still good to handle all of us, right?"
Taking my shirt off with a big smile, I assured her that I was more than ready. Flicking the lights off and putting on some candles, my wives and I got busy making love together for the first time in a very long time.