Happy holidays everyone! :D

C - Christmas

"Psst! Daniel!"

Daniel gave a grunt and rolled over onto his stomach. He opened one eye to see who dared to interrupt his sleep so early; his younger brother, Johnny, was standing there in his Batman pyjamas and grinning wildly with his unruly hair sticking up in odd directions.

"What?" Daniel managed, shutting his eye and giving a yawn. "It's early, Johnny, go back to-"

"But Santa came!" Johnny cried excitedly, climbing up onto his older brother's bed and jumping on it excitedly. "He came, and he left me a stocking, and it has candy and toys and my own pair of binoculars so that I can go exploring, and-"

"And it's early. Go back to bed."

Johnny gave a sad frown. "But...it's Christmas. I wanna see if Santa left anything under the tree."

Thank God he remembered that Johnny still believed in Santa Claus, because he would have otherwise snapped at him and yelled that Santa didn't exist. "Hmm...well, maybe Santa is on the roof now and he knows that you're awake so he won't go downstairs to leave the other presents. Go back to bed and he might leave some more."

But, of course, little brothers were relentless: Johnny gave a whine and shook his brother awake. "But Daniel! He came! Did he come to you? Did he leave a stocking by your bed too? Can I look?"

"No, you can't," Daniel muttered loudly, opening his eyes and glaring at the younger boy. "Look, Johnny, if you don't go back to sleep then I'll tell Mom and Dad. And then Santa won't come next year, 'cause you're being naughty by waking me up."

He could immediately tell that he'd upset his younger brother; Johnny stopped shaking Daniel and sat back on his haunches, bottom lip trembling with fright. "Will he really not come because I woke you up today?" He asked weakly, looking as though he was about to burst into tears.

"No, of course not," Daniel amended quickly, sitting up so that he could look at his younger brother properly. "I was just kidding and stuff, so that you'd let me sleep some more. He'll come next year if you're good, though."

Johnny let out a huge gasp of relief. "Yay! I was really scared for a minute..."

I could see that.

"So, how long until we can go downstairs and open presents?" The red-head pestered. "I'm so excited, did you know that?"

"I guessed it pretty easy."

Johnny just grinned even more, bouncing on the spot like the small child he was. "I can't wait to see what Santa left me! What do you think he got me? Oh! Do you think he got me that backpack from the mall that I wanted?"

"It's...definitely a possibility," Daniel managed, lying back down and shutting his eyes in the hope of getting some sleep. "Look, it's great that you're excited and all, but could you go back to bed? Just for another hour or so? Hell, you don't even need to sleep - just sit quietly and look through your stocking."

Johnny gave a small frown but nodded and slipped off of his older brother's bed. Daniel could briefly hear the sound of the younger boy going through his stocking from across the room, gasping in pleased surprise when he saw something he liked - which was basically everything, judging by how often he made these noises.

Huh, he's not too bad I guess, Daniel thought as he slipped into sleep. He, himself, had done exactly what Johnny had just done when he was younger - he'd done it to Matt and James several years running.

But I'm not telling Johnny that - let him grow up thinking he's the only excited one.

When Johnny heard, he was - for lack of better words - astounded by the news.

"Hold on," He said, still shocked. "You...you don't have Christmas?"

Mavis rolled her eyes slightly. "No, it's not like that! We just...we do things differently-"

"We don't have Christmas," Dracula stated. "We have Hanukah, Johnny."

Johnny looked between his girlfriend and her father, waiting for one of them to laugh and say it was all a big joke to mess with him. "But...but that means that you're Jewish, right?"

"Exactly," Dracula agreed, somewhat relieved that Johnny was understanding.

"But how are you Jewish? I mean, you're monsters so...so I dunno how religion or anything works..." Johnny scratched his head, clearly confused. "So...you're Jewish and monsters?"

Dracula leaned closer to his daughter. "You know, he is not very bright at times, Mavy."

Mavis smiled good-naturedly. "Johnny, it's not really that big a deal. We don't celebrate Christmas - instead, we celebrate Hanukah."

"Yeah, but how did you become Jewish?" The human reiterated. "I thought that you didn't leave the hotel - well, not often - so how do you know about different religions and stuff?"

"Judaism has been around for a very long time, Johnny," The Count stated, somewhat surprised that Johnny of all people didn't know this information - after all, he had travelled the world, so it seemed odd that he hadn't picked up certain things such as this. "We monsters aren't savages, you know; we do take part in religion too. In our case, our family has been Jewish for generations - it's simply passed down."

"Does it bother you?" Mavis asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, of course not!" Johnny answered quickly. "Judaism is...it's cool, I guess. I mean, I'm not really a religious person, but religion is...cool."

Smooth.

"So...hold on... You don't give or get Christmas presents?" The red-head questioned, somewhat disturbed by this fact. "Really? You don't do Christmas trees or mistletoe or tinsel-"

"Oh, the witches put those things up," Mavis interrupted, nodding. "It's for all of the guests in the hotel who do celebrate it. Plus, it livens the corridors up quite a bit."

"But you don't-"

The vampire girl shook her head. "No. We don't get 'Christmas presents'; but we sometimes give nice things to my uncles and aunts, just to be in the spirit of the holiday." She sent him a wide smile, clearly not seeing an issue. "It's not too bad, you know; we light a candle as the Sun rises - the humans do the opposite - and there's eight candles-"

"I know how Hanukkah works," Johnny laughed, putting an arm around her; at the look Dracula gave him, he immediately withdrew his arm. "So...so you guys don't want Christmas presents or anything?"

"That won't be necessary, Johnny," Dracula answered.

Mavis, however, didn't seem to share this sentiment. "Well, I guess it might be kind of nice to see how other people celebrate holidays," She admitted quietly, much to her father's surprise. "I mean, you don't have to get me a present or anything, but I'd still like to see how you celebrate this 'Christmas' holiday."

The human grinned in an excited way. "Awesome! So, what are we waiting for? Let's go put up some decs!"

"So, what's the tree for?"

Johnny opened his mouth to answer only to shut it again and tilt his head to the side thoughtfully. "Huh. I don't know. I always thought it was pretty though...oh, and it's for Santa Claus to leave gifts under!"

Mavis raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"Santa!" The red-head repeated, surprised that she didn't know about him. "You know...a great jolly fat dude in a red coat and white beard? He drives a sleigh with reindeer and delivers presents in one night?"

The look on his girlfriend's face showed that she thought he was absolutely nuts.

"He's not actually real," Johnny said quickly. "It's just fun to pretend; people do it all the time, mainly for kids. It's kinda bringing magic into the holiday, I guess...I'll stop talking about Santa Claus now."

Mavis gave a giggle, shaking her head at how amusing he was trying to explain things. "And what's the point of the star at the top? Is that just to make it look pretty or...what?"

"I think it's to do with Jesus," Johnny answered, only to receive another weird look. "Well, in Christianity - that's a different religion - we celebrate Christmas 'cause it's meant to be, like, Jesus' birthday. There's a story about his birth and stuff, and at the end there's these three wise men who bring gifts, and there's an angel in the sky watching over him...oh, yeah! To get to him, all the shepherds and stuff had to follow this star, so that's probably why we have the star."

"This is just about the weirdest holiday ever," Mavis muttered, going through the box of decorations they had dug out of the storage unit in the hotel. A lot of this was rather strange to her, but she supposed she could see the attraction in it...

She started pulling objects out of the box as her boyfriend concentrated on draping lights on the tree they had created in the lobby. She pulled something out of the cardboard box and stared at it while twirling it in her hands.

"What's this?"

Johnny looked and his face immediately broke into a grin. "That, Mavis, is mistletoe. See, pass it here..." Mavis did so and followed after him as he ran down to the lobby to a doorway leading to another corridor somewhere. "Look, you stick this up here," He said, showing her and managing to get it to hang from the top of the door frame. "And then if two people walk under it, they have to kiss."

Mavis looked up at it before realizing that she and Johnny were both under it. She sent him a smile. "So, does this mean I get to kiss you?"

Johnny gave a sly smile. "Yeah, definitely. It's the rules."

They wrapped their arms around each other, allowing their kiss to deepen.

Now, this was one tradition that Mavis definitely liked.

Much to Dracula's confusion, over the next few nights he started to find his daughter and her boyfriend running around various parts of the hotel, both of their arms full of decorations and lights, as they helped the witches decorate the hotel for Christmas. The Count wasn't sure if he was bemused by his daughter's efforts to understand this holiday or if he should have been worried that she might start celebrating Christmas instead of Hanukkah.

No, don't be absurd, he told himself. She's been raised celebrating Hanukkah, and that's not going to change just because Johnny celebrates something else.

The breaking point had been late one night when he'd been relaxing with Wayne, Frank, Griffin and Murray in the bar; they'd been having casual conversations, just catching up on what each of them had been up to since they'd last been together.

"So, what about you, Drac?" Frank asked after taking a rather large swig of his beer. "Been up to much?"

The vampire shrugged. "Oh, you know...running the hotel, sorting out guests...the boring stuff."

Griffin gave a snort from his right side. "Admit it, buddy: you're lonely, now that Mavis is gone all the time travelling."

"Uhh...it's rather quiet."

All of his friends gave loud chuckles at this and he smiled good-naturedly. "I saw Mavis and Johnny putting up decorations earlier," Wayne said suddenly, remembering it on the spot. "The pups were running around the place, tearing down tapestries, and I saw Mavis and Johnny hanging up tinsel."

"Hanging up decorations?" Murray asked, raising a sandy eyebrow. "Hold on, Drac: don't you guys celebrate a different thing?"

"We do," Dracula said, nodding his head and taking a sip of his drink - water, of course, because drinking on the job was not at all professional in his opinion. "She is just helping put the decorations up - Johnny is...uhh...one of those people who loves Christmas."

Griffin made a noise of agreement. "Who doesn't? Well, besides you, I guess."

As the vampire sent a glare his way, Frank gave a chortle. "It's weird," He muttered, downing the rest of his drink before speaking again. "When they have kids, what do you think they'll celebrate?"

Dracula almost - almost - dropped his glass out of shock and his mouth fell open.

"Are you okay?" Wayne questioned, noticing the state his friend was in. "You've gone paler than usual."

Dracula turned to Frank, still in a frozen state of shock, and blinked. "Kids? What kids?"

"Oh, I was just saying," The flesh-golem covered hurriedly, not wanting to get on his friend's bad side. "I mean, it's probably decades away but...you know. They're a couple and they've zinged, so they'll probably get married someday and settle down, right?"

"And why wouldn't they celebrate Hanukkah?" Dracula asked sharply, giving him a small glare.

Murray immediately gave to his friend's defence. "Drac, he was just wondering...they probably will..."

"They'll probably celebrate both," Griffin agreed, glasses shaking as he nodded his head. "They'll do your holiday, and then Johnny's one. See? No big deal!"

Dracula, honestly, didn't know what to think on that subject: the thought of his daughter being married and having children was foreign and slightly odd to him. It made him feel quite old and he quickly shook the thought out of his head.

As for the holiday they'd take part in - well, he was trying his best not to think about having grandchildren just yet, considering how young he was (far too young to be a Grandpa of all things).

Johnny was woken up that evening by the sound of his children whooping from their bedrooms, clearly having woken up and found their stockings.

"Mavy?" He murmured, rolling on his side and curling an arm around her; her stomach was extremely round and plump, thanks to the fact that she was now eight and a half months pregnant with their third baby. "You awake?"

"I've been awake for an hour," Mavis snorted, putting an arm around him as well. "This baby clearly didn't want me to sleep in tonight...they probably just want lots of food."

The bedroom door burst open, and suddenly there were two young children on the bed, bouncing up and down and jabbering excitedly with various presents in their arms.

"Look!" Jack exclaimed, holding up an object. "I got that book I've always wanted, see? And I got a notebook so that I could write down my thoughts about books too..."

"And, look!" Lucy announced, also holding up different objects. "I have a new necklace and new bracelets - and they're exactly the way I wanted them to be, like I told the witches back at the hotel!"

Johnny sat up, grinning at the amazed looks on their faces. "That's awesome! Can I see?" The two children passed him the objects and watched as he examined them, smiling and nodding with every object he looked at. "Oh, you guys were right! These are great!"

"It's like magic!" Lucy stated happily, and Jack nodded furiously. "Do you think we've got presents downstairs too? Did Santa really leave them?"

"Of course he did," Johnny scoffed, trying to appear as though such a thing as Santa not leaving the presents was ridiculous. "Who else would have left them?"

Jack sent his sister a small glare. "She's only asking, 'cause her friend told her that Santa doesn't exist...but he does, right, Mom? Dad?"

Both Mavis and Johnny nodded in agreement and sent the two to put their stocking presents away so that they could all go downstairs to see what was under the tree.

"You know," Mavis said, pulling on an oversized jumper over her pyjamas to keep herself warm; it barely fit over her baby bump now. "I'm actually kinda worried about that friend Lu has - saying stuff about Santa not existing."

Johnny sent her a look, clearly agreeing. "Well...not everyone does Christmas, remember? And, besides, apparently her friend has...you know...issues with her family."

The couple put that thought out of their minds as they headed downstairs with their children and into the sitting room where the tree was.

Lucy's mouth fell open in shock and Jack blinked, reaching up to rub his eyes to check that he wasn't dreaming.

"WOAH!" The two of them chorused, rooted to the spot as they took in the amount of presents under the tree.

"Well, what you guys waiting for?" Johnny chuckled. "Go ahead, start opening!"

Lucy and Jack ran at the pile, pulling random presents and checking the tags to see who they were for and who they were from. Meanwhile, Johnny pulled a chair over to Mavis and sat her down on it. She gave him a small smile of thanks, rubbing her aching belly with her hands and watching their children.

"Being pregnant on Christmas must suck," The red-head guessed and she gave a small laugh. "I guess I should say sorry, but...I'm not really."

"Well, it's only another few weeks," Mavis sighed, moving one of her hands to rub at her back. "As much as I love feeling them kicking, they're just so heavy to carry around all the time..."

"Oh my God!" Lucy cried, holding up a dress and stumbling towards Mavis to give her a hug. "Mom, this is the one that I wanted; remember, I told you that I wanted a black one so that I looked like you? And that it had to have a belt to go with it, so I'd look cool? Now I will!"

Jack gave a gasp in pleasant surprise. "He didn't...Dad, you told Santa to get me the entire Harry Potter series?"

"I knew you wanted to read them," Johnny stated, shrugging and unable to keep the grin off of his face. "And, hey, what would have been the point in just getting the first one?"

Jack grinned as well and flew across the room to thank his father.

One would wonder how Johnny and Mavis had managed to get presents over the years - it wasn't too difficult, to be honest. Clothes and jewellery could often be made skilfully by the witches working at the hotel, and they certainly had no qualms in making these objects. Otherwise, however, Johnny had managed to keep in contact with a few of his remaining human relatives; this was lucky, since they could send gifts over from America if need be.

One of Johnny's favourite parts about Christmas had - of course - been opening presents with the family. When he was younger, it was purely because of the excitement of getting presents that he had really wanted...now it was getting to see his own children so excited and happy when opening their presents on Christmas (once he would have said 'Christmas Morning', but he supposed it was really 'Christmas Night' in their case).

As Johnny looked over his family, he couldn't help but feel kind of content in a warm and woozy way; he was getting to watch his kids enjoy their Christmas every year, getting to watch his family come together for the holiday and enjoy themselves... That year, he guessed, was special. Okay, so because Mavis was heavily pregnant she was mainly forced down to sit down and watch from the side-lines, but there was something about seeing that they were going to have another baby soon that made him enjoy that Christmas even more.

To think: next year, we'll have three kids to buy stuff for.

This feeling and these thoughts were worth much more than all the Christmas presents in the entire world.

Gah, cheesy I know, but gosh... IT'S CHRISTMAS!

Okay, some of you MAY be wondering about the Hanukkah thing: I kinda did that on a whim. In an interview with Drac, Mavis, Johnny (it was an animated featurette or something), Dracula said about Mavis having a "bat-mitzvah" - I'm guessing that "bat-mitzvah" is similar to a "bah mitzvah", which is when a Jewish person comes to the age of 13 (I think. I'm not Jewish, so I have no idea). Plus, I thought it'd be fun to see Johnny showing Mavis about Christmas traditions, so...it's all good :)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, guys!