Oh my god you guys. I am so sorry for how ridiculously long this has taken. I don't really have an excuse - winter break was awesome and it was sooo nice to relax after all the drama lately. Plus, graduating was a lot of fun (yep! I just got my Bachelor's degree!) Then I came back to school and am jumping right into my Master's degree, and I can tell already that it's going to be crazy. I just got lazy with this fic and didn't have many ideas for a chapter until Christmas rolled around. And even then, as you can tell, it took a while to actually getting around to writing it.

So, as you've probably guessed, this is a holiday-themed chapter. It's set during the first Christmas Gru and Lucy share as a couple. Gru takes a look at what the holidays mean to him, and how much it's changed over the past few years. I hope yall like it! Review, please!

Gru had never been one for the holidays. Holidays meant family gatherings, and family gatherings meant awkward dinners with relatives he'd never even heard of while his mom made a pastime out of embarrassing him.

After a childhood full of this torment, Gru decided that he would avoid all holidays like the plague. It only got worse when he earned his title as a villain. After all, villains can't be seen gallivanting around, handing out presents to loved ones and being nice to people. It just wasn't done.

So, roughly three decades later, Gru still vehemently avoided things like Easter, Thanksgiving and – worst of all – Christmas.

Oh, he hated Christmas. The music, the decoration, the holiday spirit – all of it was awful. It made people so obnoxiously happy. He wouldn't call himself a total Grinch, but every winter, without fail, his house would be the only one on the block that wasn't lit up with all manner of colorful, blinking Christmas lights. He never had a Christmas tree, he never gave presents and he never sent out cards. Every December 25th was just a normal day for Felonius Gru.

Granted, he'd never really had a Christmas before – when he and his mom emigrated from Russia, they never entirely assimilated into the culture. So what was a big deal in America simply wasn't a big deal to them. Whenever he asked his mom why the other kids got presents in the winter and he didn't, she told him that their family just didn't celebrate the holidays, and never would.

Of course, now that he had three daughters and a wife, things were a bit different.

In the living room stood a giant, twelve foot Christmas tree and a plethora of colorfully wrapped presents underneath. In the kitchen, there were racks of freshly baked Christmas cookies in various shapes, some of which included unicorns, bombs and dead guys. Lights decorated the house inside and out with strings of cheerfully blinking reds, blues, whites and greens. Five little stockings lined the fireplace mantle. There was even a fresh blanket of snow outside, as if the weather decided it would get into the holiday spirit too.

By the end of December, all of the shopping, cooking and decorating had left Gru absolutely exhausted. But it would all be worth it, he knew, when he saw the girls' sleepy, delighted smiles on Christmas morning. He worked hard every year to give his girls a wonderful Christmas ever since he adopted them. In a way, Gru was trying to make up for the childhood that Miss Hattie had stolen from them for all those years in the orphanage. He wanted them to have everything he didn't growing up – hope, happiness, cuddling up warm next to a fireplace with family and full of love.

This year though, he didn't have to do all the work himself. This time, he had Lucy. It was their first Christmas together as a married couple, and their first as a real, whole family. Lucy, of course, was ecstatic, and took joy in every aspect of the preparation. During the last two weeks leading up to Christmas, Gru found sprigs of mistletoe hung in various place throughout the house. She was there to tackle him with a hug and a kiss every time.

The time flew by, Christmas Eve arrived, and before Gru even knew it, the girls were putting out the cookies and milk for Santa. They insisted on leaving a thank-you letter for the gifts as well, their signatures scrawled messily along the bottom. The happy family piled onto the sofa, where Gru read The Night Before Christmas as a special bedtime story. Then, each yawning kitten was ushered off to bed with promises that Santa would be there soon, but wouldn't come until they were asleep.

Gru had a nagging suspicion that Margo was old enough that she didn't believe in Santa anymore, but pretended for her sisters. Inwardly, he was very proud of her, just like he was when Agnes pretended he was a fairy princess for the other children at her birthday party.

He and Lucy tucked them in with goodnight kisses before heading to bed themselves. They barely managed to pull the covers up before dropping off into a tired, contented sleep.

It was still dark in their bedroom, the world soft and quiet, when he first heard the door creak open, followed by stifled giggles and little feet padding across the carpet. Gru shifted, shutting his eyes tighter and trying to delve back into his dream. It couldn't be morning already. It felt like he closed his eyes only five minutes ago.

The feet came closer until they paused at his bedside. "Mom? Dad?," came the small whisper. "Mom, Dad, wake up, it's Christmas!"

He groaned, shoving his face farther into the pillow. A little hand pushed at his shoulder and Agnes spoke again, this time a bit louder. "Daddy! Wake up, Santa came!" A small smile pulled at the corner of his mouth, despite his efforts. Agnes saw and shoved at him insistently. "Come on, I know you're awake! Come see the presents he left!"

Gru felt Lucy move beside him, sitting up slightly against the headboard. "Hey kiddos," she said warmly, sleep still in her voice. "Is it Christmas morning already?" Agnes cheered, clambering up the bed and over Gru to get to her, jumping happily into her lap. Lucy scooped her up effortlessly into a hug.

"It's Christmas, it's Christmas, it's Christmas!" Agnes chanted.

"So, did Santa come last night?"

Edith climbed up the bed too, squeezing in the small space between her two parents. "Yeah, and he left like a mountain of presents!" she exclaimed, tugging her ever-present hat more firmly down on her head. "It's totally awesome! I think I got a skateboard!"

Margo soon joined them, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bed between Gru and Lucy's legs. She didn't say anything, but a blissful smile crossed her face as she watched her sisters. Gru finally sat up with a yawn, giving up on any semblance of sleep at this point. Not like he would want to miss any of this anyway. "Good morneeng keettens," he said. "Merry Chreestmas."

Agnes perked up, jumping from her mother's lap to her father's, grabbing around his neck for a hug. "Merry Christmas!" Edith laughed and followed suit, tackling Gru around the middle and knocking him over.

"Dog pile!" Lucy cheered, only too happy to join in on the fun, pulling Margo along with her. Gru groaned, all the air knocked out of him in a big whoosh.

"Ack!" he exclaimed with great dramatics. "You gurls are crusheeng me! I - I theenk I see a bright light at the end of a tunnel. Goodbye, goodbye cruel wurld!"

"Dad!" Agnes complained, pushing her tiny foot into the side of his face. "You can't die, we still have to open presents!"

He laughed, reaching up and wrapping his arms as best he could around his family and squeezing them in a hug. "Fine, fine. Let's go see what Santa brought us."

So maybe his back hurt and his muscles were sore. Maybe he didn't get nearly as much sleep as he wanted. And maybe his house was far louder than he would've usually preferred at this hour. But as Christmas morning unfolded and he sat on the sofa with Lucy snuggled up to his side, watching the girls squeal and laugh as they opened their gifts, he couldn't think of any better way to spend the holiday.

So, this chapter was a bit shorter than the others, but that's okay. I mainly just wanted to get a little look into what the holidays are like for the Gru family. Nothing serious, just warm and cute.

I hope yall liked it! Thanks for reading, and review, please!