Disclaimer: Supernatural and its characters are the property of Eric Kripke. Sadly, I do not own any of these guys.

A/N: Hello, everyone, and Merry Christmas in advance! This is my present to all of you - 25 ficlets, 1 per day until Christmas. There will be Destiel/Sabriel in a lot of the chapters but there won't be anything explicitly sexual (just kissing and general mushy fluff.) Anyway, I've rambled enough. Enjoy, and have a very Supernatural Christmas!

It was about nine o'clock in the morning when Sam wandered into the main room of the bunker, still rubbing sleep out of his eyes as he sat down at the table and opened the book on demon exorcisms he had been reading the night before. He had meant to finish the current chapter last night but had finally had to give up when he started nodding off and risked falling asleep and drooling all over the pages instead.

Sam had always been more of a morning person than Dean and even Castiel, but he was still recovering from the effects of the trials; even though his health had improved dramatically, he still tired easily and slept late. As a result, Dean, Cas, and Kevin were often already absent by the time he woke up, having made breakfast and left some for him before heading deeper into the bunker to explore some of the many nooks and crannies they still hadn't found a purpose for.

So when he heard the front door slam open and saw Castiel practically fall through the doorway, Sam was more than a little surprised. He hurriedly got up and strode to Cas's side, worried that something was wrong. Cas was adjusting relatively well to being human since the angels fell, but some parts of it still confused him, and Sam hoped he hadn't forgotten where the stairs were again and fallen down them like he had last week. To his relief, Castiel appeared to be fine, aside from a little shivering and the bright pink color of his nose and cheeks. In fact, he looked a lot happier than Sam had seen him in a while, his eyes bright as he grinned at the younger Winchester and slipped his winter coat – a gift from Dean and Sam – off so he could hang it up near the door.

"Cas? What's going on?" Sam asked, a little suspicious about what could be making the ex-angel so happy without Dean or Kevin being anywhere in sight.

"It's snowing, Sam," Castiel replied with a small smile, looking for all the world like a very innocent, excited child – which, Sam supposed, he kind of was.

"Well, it is December, Cas," Sam replied calmly as he looked out the open door. Sure enough, large white flakes were falling slowly to the ground outside, already beginning to stick together and cover the ground in a dusting of powdered ice. He shut the door and grimaced in distaste at the white fluff, holding back an eye-roll when he noticed that Cas was completely unaware of the large number of snowflakes that were steadily melting into his hair. The angel had probably been around tons of snow in his innumerable years of existence, but when it came to experiencing it as a human he had no idea what to do.

"I like snow," the ex-angel declared even as he began to shiver slightly without his coat. "But it's… very, very cold."

"I'll bet. One of the best things to have after being outside in the winter is hot cocoa."

"Hot cocoa? Is that an edible substance?"

Sam resisted the urge to laugh, reminding himself that Cas had only recently begun having to eat and drink, so of course he wouldn't know what hot cocoa was.

"It's a hot drink made out of cocoa powder and milk. It's sweet, and it's pretty much a winter tradition all across the country."

"Cocoa is chocolate, yes? Like what you and Dean suggested I try a few weeks ago?" He licked his lips, remembering how good the bar of "milk chocolate" had tasted and finally understanding why Gabriel had eaten so much candy while he masqueraded as the Trickster.

"Yeah, pretty much. You wanna try some and see if you like it?"

"If it isn't too much trouble…"

"Nah, it's fine. I was thinking about making some for myself before you came in, so I'll just make a double batch."

Sam made his way toward the kitchen with Cas at his heels. The angel-turned-human stood back and watched while Sam gathered two mugs, cocoa powder, sugar, and milk and placed them all next to the electric kettle Dean had bought a few months ago.

"Watch carefully, Cas, so you can do this yourself," Sam instructed, and Castiel snapped to attention and stood beside Sam while he began pouring milk into the kettle. "You want enough to be able to fill both mugs almost to the top. That's about three-quarters of a cup per person. I can tell by looking, but if you need to measure it out there are measuring cups in the cabinet above the kettle." When the kettle was full enough, he placed it on a heating plate and flipped a switch on the side downward. "When it's hot, this switch will flip up and stop glowing red. You with me so far?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Alright. Next you take one tablespoon of the cocoa powder and two tablespoons of sugar and mix them together in each of the mugs." Sam demonstrated with his own mug, then let Cas measure out the cocoa and sugar for his. "Some people don't add sugar, but it's a little bitter that way. You can experiment and see what you like next time you make it."

"I had no idea there were so many ways to make boiled milk with cocoa," Castiel said quietly, his face taking on its very common expression of puzzlement. "This is more complex than I had thought."

"There are lots of ways to make everything, Cas. It's not that hard; usually it's just about adding more of what you like and less of what you don't."

As soon as Sam finished talking, the switch on the kettle flipped up with a quiet click, and he quickly picked it up and poured the hot milk into their mugs until they were almost brimming over. He stirred them and handed one to Cas, who took a hesitant sip and immediately began staring at it like it was the eighth wonder of the world – his usual response to finding a new food he liked.

"It's very good," he said gratefully, following Sam back into the main room and sitting down at the table with the warm mug cradled between his hands.

"Thanks. It's easy to make, too, and some people add things like whipped cream or marshmallows to the top to sweeten it more. I like it plain, though, so that's how I made yours too." He didn't mention that he liked it plain because he still wasn't able to eat extremely rich or sugary foods without getting sick – that was something only Dean knew. He liked this version just fine, though, and he was content to sip at it slowly as he thumbed through the book of exorcisms again. Cas had found a book on different methods of putting ghosts to rest, and before long the two of them fell into a peaceful silence, their eyelids drooping sleepily as the hot cocoa warmed them up from the inside out.

Two hours later, when he came inside carrying several heavy boxes of Christmas lights, Dean nearly dropped them as he spotted Sam and Cas snoring face-down on their books, chocolate moustaches on their lips and empty mugs clutched in their hands. He snapped a quick picture on his phone and let them keep sleeping. This one was definitely getting sent to Kevin.