"I don't know what got into her, but the fox came out swinging this morning. Who starts a conversation like that at six thirty in the morning?" – Kristi while confiding in Kurt.

Kurt wondered what he did to deserve everything he had in his life. On one hand he was an abomination according to many people but on the other he now had two amazing women who loved him dearly. While he was an anti-social hermit due to circumstance, he had gotten lucky with his career in the Order which let him live on his own terms…mostly. He had been cursed with lycanthropy only for it to turn into his greatest strength and likely so much more.

It was in this consideration that he wondered why he was having to be a part of a very intense conversation about to turn argument. He looked between both Kristi and Val as they argued then noticed Anna giving him a very questioning look, which he could only return with a shrug.

"THREE? That is way to many." Kristi argued. "I think we are pushing it with two." Her tail lashed behind her, thumping against the couch and knocking it askew despite Kurt and Anna sitting on it.

Val crossed her arms and looked up at the taller dragoness, somehow keeping an imperious look about her. "We can handle three. It's not like we don't know each other well enough already."

"But we barely know Anna and she has only been here for a few days." Kristi rebutted and took a step closer to loom over Val, using her extra few inches of height to her advantage.

Not backing down, Val dug in her heels. "Well, I think it's a nice way to welcome her to the team."

"Calling it a 'nice welcome' is understating things." Kristi huffed. "She hasn't even agreed to any of it yet."

Both women then looked to Anna who did her best to hide behind Kurt's shoulder. Naturally that made them focus on him instead. "Tell us what you think." Kristi demanded as her green eyes locked onto him.

Kurt didn't answer right away, instead frowning in concentration as he put his elven mental capabilities to good use. How he answered would determine a lot about how his relationship progressed from that point on. After a few seconds he looked up, finally ready with his opinion.

"We'll do two gifts for Christmas." He said and watched as the muscles in Kristi's jaw tensed and Val threw her hands in the air in frustration. "But!" He had to raise his voice as they both began to talk, and he needed to finish his statement.

He continued after they both looked at him. "But we do one serious gift and one fun gift." That seemed to get their attention. "So, I will get each of you a serious, heartfelt gift and each of you something fun or just silly." He looked around and even made eye contact with Anna as she had stopped trying to impersonate his shadow.

Val's face went through several expressions until she spoke after a very long pause. "Fine." She huffed. Her pout suddenly turned into a brief flicker of a smile before a placid, expressionless face replaced it.

"Budget!" Kristi suddenly shouted after having seen the look on her girlfriend's face.

"Shit." Murmured Val, caught in the act.

Kurt thought for a second. His first thought being that it was far too early to be talking about this. His second thought was a little more practical. "How about the five hundred dollar ballpark for both. It doesn't have to be that much but absolutely no more." He was generous with that, knowing they likely could each add a zero to the number and not bat an eye.

A small squeak cued him in on something and he turned to Anna. "You are of course exempt from participating but if you do want to do something, I will personally cover it until your first pay day with the Order."

That seemed to make her feel a little better and she nodded sharply. "I will pay you back then."

"Or whenever you can. Also, seriously don't feel obligated to participate." He reminded her.

"Yeah, this is just a holiday here on Earth, if it's not your thing then don't worry." Val said.

Anna looked unsure of what to do and decided she needed more information. "What is this holiday about?"

That was the wrong question since she got three different answers varying from a historical perspective to a modern cultural tradition with the religious connotations lightly glossed over. In the end Kurt gave an abridged history while Val shared the more modern take and new traditions. Kristi just chipped in with what she had seen in movies and what she wanted to do. The explanation took them through breakfast, and it was only as they were cleaning up that the tale was finished.

"So, it's a holiday to give gifts and celebrate while generally being cheerful?" Anna asked, summarizing what she learned.

"For adults, yes." Kurt confirmed. He decided not to get into the dynamic of children at Christmas since it didn't apply. He also left out the various charity organizations such as the Yuletide Corps of which he personally donated to. That was a worldwide organization that used actual magic to keep the spirit of Santa happy.

"It's a fun season filled with friends, family, food and decorations!" Val said while doing her squinty smile with a head tilt.

Anna looked around the house. "What decorations?"

That one questioned wiped the smile off Val's face. She looked at Kurt with an expression of shock and horror as she realized what was missing. "DECORATIONS!" She yelled, making Kristi fumble a plate and having to dive after it to save it from the floor.

Kurt winced as he was grabbed by both arms and pulled towards his kitsune lover. "We need a-a-a tree! And lights! And and…" She trailed off, looking to Kristi for help.

Kristi, who had only just regained her footing, scowled at Val. "Ornaments?" She offered.

"ORNAMENTS!" Val agreed and let Kurt go as she scampered out of the kitchen toward the bedroom. "Get your shit and let's go, we have a lot-" THUMP "-to do!" She yelled while sliding into the bathroom door and rebounding into their room.

Kurt shared a look with Kristi and they both winced as another thump could be heard. He turned to Anna a moment later. "She isn't normally like this." He promised.

"Yeah, I think this is her first actual Christmas and she has kinda built it up in her head." Kristi confirmed.

Anna just nodded and continued to put away the silverware without comment. A minute later and they were finishing up as Val came stumbling back down the hall in an odd state of undress.

She was wearing jeans, but they hadn't been pulled up all the way, exposing more than a little of her panties. Only one sock was on, despite her not having shifted to having human feet and still on digitigrade furry fox feet. Then came the sweater she was trying to put on by forcing her head through one of the arm holes.

While Kristi pulled out a phone to take pictures, Kurt took pity on her and moved closer, catching her as she almost tripped on a stool. "Hang on, you are all mixed up." He said and helped pull her head out of the sweater sleeve and get it lined up.

"Gah, thanks." Val said then looked around, noticing the three of them still in pajamas. "Why aren't you dressed? We gotta go!"

Kurt sighed, placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. "Val, sweetheart. It's seven thirty in the morning… on a Saturday… in November."

"Yeah, so?"

"The hardware store doesn't even open until nine and they only put out the decorations last week." Kurt explained in his most patient tone. "Besides, we haven't even done Thanksgiving yet."

"What's Thanksgiving?" Anna asked.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Kristi perked up. "Is that the one with the food?"

Kurt nodded. "Yup, that's the big thing. It's also got similar themes of family and general appreciation of them. It's seen as the kick-off for the whole holiday season with black Friday right after and going through new year's."

"Well… I guess we have some time then." Val said while blushing a little. Kurt and Kristi could feel her embarrassment through the pendants but just let it be. It wasn't fair to take advantage of her excitement.

The other sane residents of the Rosk household went about their morning routine in a much more sedate and reasonable fashion. After half an hour, they were ready and decided to make a quick pit stop at Captains for a little check-in and to get a second round of coffee.

After checking in on the coffee shop and placing some orders to go, they made their way across town to the hardware store to browse the holiday décor. They didn't even have to go inside to get a look at the most iconic of the decorations.

"TREES! Trees-trees-trees." Val said while slapping Kurt on the arm and pointing.

"Ow-ow, jeez Val, shit. I see them." Kurt said while trying to fend off the overly excited kitsune and drive at the same time. He would end up blaming her for not parking very well and being more than a little crooked in the parking space.

He hadn't even put the car in park before she was out the door, not bothering to close it behind her. Kristi sighed and closed both her door and Val's while shaking her head at their girlfriend's antics. Anna seemed utterly perplexed and voiced her confusion as she and Kurt climbed out of the car.

"Is she always like this? Really excitable I mean." She asked while pulling her hood up to protect her from the lightly falling snow. She grabbed onto his sleeve as they began walking, nearly looping her arm through his while huddling against him to stay out of the wind.

Kurt thought for a moment and figured out the trend he had noticed. "I think she gets really excited about new things that she had read about or seen in movies but hasn't experienced." He paused while navigating them around a larger puddle of slush and brown water. "It is even more exciting if it's a big cultural thing like a holiday where people really get into 'the spirit' of the season. Pretty much anything that has been heavily romanticized in media."

They watched as Val disappeared into the section of the parking lot that had been dedicated to trees while Kristi followed after her, at a much more reasonable pace. The poor teens who were working the lot looked very confused at why they had customers before even Thanksgiving.

"Well, I think it's kinda endearing." Anna said as they also approached the entrance. "Its nice to see people so excited. Even you seem to be in a cheerful mood." She commented offhandedly before adding on to her statement. "That is not something I am used to seeing from lycans."

Before Kurt could ask about that, Val popped out from around a large Douglas Fir, if the tag was to be believed, and grabbed his hand. "Kurt-kurt-kurt-kurt, look!" She pointed to the center of the lot where the taller trees were stood up.

"Look at what?" To him, it just looked like a bunch of ten-foot-tall trees.

Val dragged him forward to where Kristi was appraising one of the conifers. "How tall is your ceiling?" She asked while continuing to pull him around a particularly nice specimen.

Thinking quick, Kurt had to assume she was actually asking if it would fit. "Where do you want to set it up?"

"I was thinking by the window. We can move the chair and end table to the other side of the couch and there should be plenty of space. If not, we can put a chair in Anna's room to make it fit." Val confirmed his suspicion.

"Well, it's open rafter there so you should have over ten feet when you take into account that it has to be spaced from the wall." Kurt went to pull out his tape measurer from his ring but noticed that Anna was still clutching his arm. Apparently, Val had dragged both of them along when she took his other hand.

Seeing that he was trying to do something, Anna quickly let go with a muttered 'sorry' but didn't back away as he summoned his tape. He started to give one end to Val before coming to his senses and giving it to Kristi instead as she was significantly saner at that moment. They measured the width of the branches and found that it would fit rather nicely in the spot Val was thinking of with plenty of room to spare.

"Yeah, that will fit." Kurt said after they were done. "Going to need a lot of lights to string this beast, though."

"So, can we get it?" Val asked with a pleading expression only seen on Disney characters.

Glancing to Kristi, Kurt confirmed that she also liked the tree before giving his answer. "Sure, let's ask if they can bundle it for us and I will get it on the car."

Val clapped a hand on either side of his face and pulled him down into a kiss. "Love you." She said before skipping off with the tag from the tree in one hand and her wallet in the other.

Kristi stepped up, taking his other arm and leaning into him. "Hmm. She is super cute when she is excited." She commented as they watched Val flag down a salesman.

"I just like the way her butt looks in those legging while hopping around." Anna murmured under her breath. She apparently didn't know that she was talking aloud or that both Kurt and Kristi could hear her. She got the message when both of them turned to look at her with surprised expressions.

Instantly, Anna went beet red and looked away while muttering to herself even more. "Stupid-stupid-stupid. Shit, why did I say that out loud…" Her words then devolved into another language, and she began breathing heavily while keeping her back turned.

Kristi went over and placed a hand on her shoulder, leaning down to talk to the shorter woman. "Hey, it's ok. We say dumb stuff all the time, and you aren't going to hear us disagree that Val has a great ass." She said and eventually got her to calm down just as Val came back.

"What's going on?" Val asked while a couple of the teens carried the tree over to get wrapped up.

"Nothing." Kurt answered. "Ready to go inside and get the lights and al…" He never got a chance to finish the sentence because Val was suddenly gone, and he barely caught a glimpse of her through the trees as she ran to the door.

"Thanks." Anna said with a little sniffle. She had recovered from the perceived social faux pas quickly with Kristi's reassurance.

Kurt nodded. "No problem. She isn't the only one who can distract people by suddenly changing the topic." He said to Kristi, and she laughed as she realized that was one of Val's favorite strategies when she got cornered in a conversation.

*****

A couple of hours later saw Kurt pushing a shopping cart out to the car while Kristi dragged Val along behind them. He was surprised that she had been able to fill a shopping cart with boxes of lights and ornaments but was also thankful that she hadn't been interested in the inflatable lawn ornaments. Naturally, said fox was not going silently.

"Come onnnnn. Just a few ornaments." She was whining.

Anna came out after them, pushing another full cart with garland, figurines and other décor. "Is all this really necessary?"

"Nope." Kurt answered. "But now I understand husbands that complain about decorating a lot more." He had once worked with a lot of older married men who got rather touchy about this holiday and their wives spending habits.

Not giving up, Val tried to bargain. "Wait, I just wanted to get that little red truck with the tree in the back. The ceramic one would look nice on the table."

Kristi tightened her already iron-hard grip. "You already bought three 'little red trucks'. One for the mantle that doesn't exist, another for the porch to show neighbors we don't have, and the third one is the same little ceramic one you are describing."

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh' is right." Kristi said. They had reached the car, and it looked like Kristi was debating handcuffing Val before tossing her into it. "Come on, it's your decorations, you put it all in your ring." She said while Kurt went to get the tree.

He had to make it look a little like he struggled with it, even going to far as to have Anna grab one end and 'help'. He then made a show of tying it onto the roof with twine before driving off. Half a block later, he pulled off into a residential street and stowed the tree in his ring when nobody was around to see it.

He had done a little experimenting with his storage ring and found out what the secondary factor was in regard to storing items. By using a few cardboard boxes of various sizes, he had come up with a limit of around twenty-five inches in diameter. It was likely a little more but that was the only size he had that really fit.

Essentially any item he wanted to store had to fit through a twenty-five-inch-wide hole and could be any length. Well, it could be at least up to ten feet long after this latest test. Like all dimensional storage items, there was an aperture between the subdimension and the real world that had a limit regardless of it not being visible.

If he was being honest with himself, Kurt wasn't exactly comfortable with the knowledge that there was a two-foot-wide wormhole floating around somewhere in his vicinity. There wasn't anything he could really do about it, and it also didn't seem to actually harm anything as far as he could tell.

After bundling up the twine and climbing back into the car, he checked the time. "Ok, so. We have about four hours before D&D. I promised to meet with Frank before the game and we still need groceries and dinner before that. Suggestions?"

Val spoke up first. "Sandwich shop off of second street."

"The one with the meatball sub?" Kristi asked while shuddering a little.

"Yes, but this time I am trying a gyro." The kitsune said primly. "I have moved on and wish to sample other flavors."

Kurt and Kristi shared a quick glance. "I did want to try the Reuben." She said.

"Yeah, the soup is also pretty good." He agreed before looking in the mirror. "Anna, are you good with soup or sandwich?" He asked.

"Uhh…Sure?"

That was confirmation enough for him and he pulled back out onto the road, headed for the supermarket then an early dinner. There wasn't really anything else they needed to do in town, and it felt like a waste to drive home only to turn around and drive back into town after only a little while. This would let them get everything done and over with, even if they had to sit and wait for a while.

Grocery shopping actually took longer than expected. The extra time was only partly from Anna wanting to try some new foods and mostly because Val found an entire shelf of holiday treats that she 'had to have'. She also found some additional decoration and Kristi stayed to make sure she didn't go too crazy with more stuff.

It ended up being a divide and conquer shopping trip where Kurt and Anna went to get the food while Kristi kept Val out of trouble. That being said, it was a much more expensive trip than normal since they were feeding not only a fourth person but also Val's Christmas addiction.

After nearly two hours, they finally managed to make it to dinner with only half a grocery cart's worth of scented candles, wrapping paper, decorative hand towels and various seasonal snacks added to Val's ring. Anna seemed to be greatly interested in peppermint flavors while Kristi had actually found gingerbread to her liking.

Kurt just smiled and happily munched on whatever the girls handed him while they drove to the sandwich shop. He even felt himself catching the holiday spirit a little too when Val suddenly produced matching Santa hats for all of them. He just figured that it wouldn't hurt to indulge a little if everyone was happy and that was all he really wanted at the moment, a little extra happiness.

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