It's been a long time since Christmas has meant something to Stanley but with Ezraphel's presence turning even mundane days to something special he knew Christmas wouldn't just be another day he was forced to acknowledge only because everyone else made a big deal out of it. And you know what? Stanley could admit that the anticipation of this particular holiday got him in his feelings a bit and he made the decision to ease up on the reigns and be a little more lenient with Ezraphel for the duration of the month.
What this meant was that he would essentially be more receptive to her ideas and even if it's little outside the scope of reason won't kick up a fuss beyond ensuring that it wouldn't blow up in their faces. Now the important part about all this was that he didn't actually tell or even deliberately hint at this being the case. There's being kind and then there's being stupid because Ezraphel was the type to extract a mile if you give her an inch.
Unfortunately it didn't take her very long to catch on to the deliberate leeway he has been giving her. He could almost identify all the times where she was testing the limits of what he would let her get away with and found him pliable. It all started after they came back from getting the tree and with decorations delivered. Ezraphel had opted to immediately take them to, in her own words, add a personal touch to them. He didn't ask too many questions instead trusting her not to go and get them ousted.
Then he woke up in the very next morning to find that she had transformed the entirety of the house's interior into a Christmas themed décor showcase. It had copies of the stuff they bought online but most of the decorations looked custom for lack of a better word. There were the Christmas themed drapes, sheets, carpet and…lewd ornaments. If he wasn't already used to lewdness in general he would have been more put off by the Mamono spin on some of the Christmas paraphernalia.
As it was he was only vaguely annoyed by the sudden change and only because she didn't give him a heads up about it. He didn't think she would go this hard with the decorating but that was his mistake and he had no one to blame but himself because of course she would be literal when she said she was going to decorate the whole house.
The annoyance only grew when he woke up another morning took a shower and ventured into the walk in closet. He ignored the garish decorations on his way to his clothes only to find Ezraphel had made another change without his permission or consent. This time she switched out his regular wardrobe for one that was more holiday appropriate. What this meant was different variations of red, white and green clothing most of which often had some writing or image (or both) plastered on it.
How was she able to do this?
Well in the pursuit of finding a hobby for the Lilim that didn't revolve around him they discovered she had an aptitude and passion for fashion design. In an effort to nurture this he had bought her some materials for her to work with. After she befriended Amelia the woman was so impressed with her work that she decided to invest in it. As someone who was business savvy Stanley questioned the decision but the result spoke for itself.
The clothes themselves weren't necessarily bad in terms of quality and didn't look bad to his eyes. Take that as you will since it was coming from someone who was a fashion neophyte. Also pay no attention to the fact that the designer of said clothes was his girlfriend/wife because he can be impartial in these situations. For instance while he can objectively say that the clothes are high quality he can never wear a freaking red sweater with a stitched on image of himself cosplaying as Santa Clause with the words Bad Santa written under it and not feel absolutely livid.
He's pretty sure Amelia had a hand in creating some of the more embarrassing taglines knowing he was going to be wearing them. His vengeance will be slow to come but swift in execution, she will never see it coming and when it does happen it will strike true and have lasting impact on her life.
Moving on, there weren't strictly any major changes to the status quo following these changes. There were a few events of note to happen though such as Ezraphel getting a lot of social mileage from their neighbors thanks to the exterior decorations. After he found out the extent of her relationship with the DHC it's as if some box had been opened and now more often than not Ezraphel was dealing with either them or other people in general.
Ezraphel wasn't the only one in the household who suddenly found themselves busy. For all that Stanley seemed to resolve himself to staying indoors and 'turtling up' whenever Christmas rolls around the truth is that he actually kept himself busy. Much like the real world the online space gets a bump in traffic that not even he could ignore. His reasoning being that if he was going to suffer through this mostly corporatized holiday he might as well profit from it.
As such Christmas was the only time where he felt obligated to actively do livestreams. And if you think he's having a good time there then prepare to have that bubble burst. The reason for his bad time this time around was due to the internet super sleuths and his no-life terminally online haters managing to find out that not only was he the guy who went viral for basically pulling off Arkham Batman in that airsoft arena but that he also had a girlfriend in Ezraphel thanks to that picture Amelia took of him and Ezraphel.
Fucking Amelia strikes again being a pain in his ass.
No he's dealing with delusional weirdos who pegged him as an incel icon making noise about his 'betrayal' and another group decrying the whole thing using every excuse from photoshop to Ezraphel being a family member or escort/gold digger and it's all so fucking annoying, predictable but annoying nonetheless.
It wasn't anything new at this point but rather than ignore it as he'd done in the past he decided to address the shenanigans. He might have gone a bit too far though as not only did he confirm live that he was the 'airsoft batman' but that he also had a girlfriend and even revealed that he was getting his life sorted out. Hell to illustrate a joke about how having a girlfriend changed him as a man as part of a joke he went ahead and showed off some of the changes to his body without showing his face of course.
It ended up garnering a lot of positive reactions which came as a surprise since he was certain his audience was filled with only a bunch of toxic assholes at this point. But no there was a not insignificant amount of people congratulating him for not only scoring an actual girlfriend but getting his life back together. Apparently a lot of people thought he was spiraling and was just silently watching and hoping for a positive change and felt vindicated.
It was the most positive livestreaming experience of his career and appropriately timed all things considering. As cool as things were he was under no illusion that some of his antics could be considered stolen valor since he didn't work at all for this transformation nor did he feel obligated to 'earn' it via his audience. At least that's what he told himself as he arranged multiple Christmas giveaways for his audience.
Meanwhile time moved on until eventually Christmas day rolled around and in preparation for this Ezraphel basically forced him to adhere to a proper sleep schedule. She even went so far as to lull him to sleep before the midnight mark with careful application of TLC and milk that was uh, straight from the tap, so to speak. It was fucking embarrassing but not as much as the fact that he enjoyed it and he could only imagine what that woman had in store for him on Christmas day.
So imagine his surprise when he woke up on the morning in question only to realize that nothing had changed. He was alone in bed which was only a bit disappointing but not necessarily anything new. Rare are the times when he woke up alone but they happened if only because it meant Ezraphel had something planned that she wanted to surprise him with and thus left him alone.
As for what those surprises entail…
Stanley looked around the room, stretching his senses to see if he felt anything off. He felt nothing that he wasn't already familiar with given how extensive the changes Ezraphel made to the bedroom was. As for the bedroom itself it remained unchanged from the night before.
"Hmm…" he hummed to himself while getting out of bed.
Rather than go outside to further investigate he decided to take his time by going through a morning ritual he only did on occasion nowadays. He showered, took a shit, brushed his teeth and shaved the beginnings of a beard before getting to the walk in closet. He ignored the gaudy Christmas decorations with practiced ease while making his way to the wardrobe.
Two minutes later and he was dressed in plain white shorts and a green sweater with hearts, snowmen, trees and reindeers patterned horizontally across the front and sleeves as well as a 'MERRY XMAS' around the stomach area. He left his room noting that nothing has changed beyond what was already changed for the holidays.
By the time he reached the stairs the familiar scent of a well cooked meal reached his nose. In what could only be a Pavlovian response his stomach growled and his mouth watered in anticipation. The thought had him scowling as he briefly thought about such a 'weakness' before ultimately (and hesitantly) forcing himself to move on and not think about it.
He arrived in the dining area to find the table already covered in an assortment of breakfast items, all Christmas themed of course. Ezraphel loved cooking and she loved trying out new recipes or generally experimenting with an old formula and the holidays were a perfect excuse to do just that. Stanley didn't think there were that many Christmas styled foods but what did he know right?
Even now looking at the spread before him he could only wonder how she could come up with this stuff. Then, as if summoned by his thoughts Ezraphel entered the room with a bright smile on her face and a cheery "good morning Stanley" on her lips.
"Hey" he responded distractedly as his eyes took in what she was wearing.
You could call it a sexy Santa outfit but in actuality it was just a regular if a touch risqué outfit that just became way sexier due to Ezraphel's frame and overall sex appeal.
Once she placed the latest meal on the table she flounced over to him with clear intentions. He glanced upwards to find a mistletoe floating above him and rolled his eyes. He didn't even have time to sigh before he found himself getting glomped.
"Merry Christmas!"
*SMOOCH*
Ten seconds later and she ended their brief makeout session.
"Merry Christmas" came his less enthusiastic but just as sincere reply as he shook himself out of his slight daze.
Ezraphel didn't seem to mind his grumbling merely giggling before directing him to his seat.
"So what's all this?" he asked looking at the spread.
"I decided to go all out for this special day and made all your favorites!"
"I can see that" he commented.
The breakfast she laid out before him could be considered the culmination of Ezraphel's culinary experimentation with Christmas themed foods she had been doing for the past couple of weeks. He noted that the particular items themselves happened to be the ones he reacted the most positively to. A feat in of itself since he liked all of Ezraphel's cooking and never gave anything beyond generic (yet sincere) complements towards.
Even still Ezraphel went on to reintroduce him to said dishes as a proud chef would to an esteemed guest. It's all stuff he's heard before but he still paid rapt attention even if he didn't really show it with how his eyes are purposefully lidded to give a facsimile of boredom with her antics. It's all theatrics though because contrary to belief Stanley has never dismissed or ignored Ezraphel when she goes into her long spiels.
He waited until after she finished doing her thing before filling up his plate and digging in. They ate in relative silence though there was an air of anticipation with Ezraphel fidgeting in barely contained silence. He already knew why and while he could play the oblivious game he decided not to because even he was curious.
"So" he began with a casual tone "presents?"
"PRESENTS!"
She then teleported away along with the dirty dishes and he could hear the shuffle of plates from the kitchen. Stanley couldn't help but roll his eyes good naturedly at the child-like display that reminded him of earliest Christmas he could remember. He immediately dismissed those thoughts and the complicated feelings that accompanied them before making his way to his office.