�It was Christmas Eve. The fireplace glowed and gave off a warm vibe, as the sparkly ornaments and ribbons on the Christmas tree twinkled. The tree trimming was clearly the work of Kurt Hummel, who insisted on decking all the halls and rooms in the Hummel-Hudson home marvelously with holiday decor. Except for Finn's room, Kurt didn't dare enter his room. It was kind of like a huge bomb made of dirty socks went off in there.

But anyways, the New Directions were lounging around the living room, smiling and laughing while sipping hot chocolate and munching on Carol's famous homemade cookies.

�"Dude, these cookies are dope." Puck held a cookie up in the air and bit a chunk off of it.�

�Him and Finn were sitting on the carpet beside the Christmas tree, with Rachel nestled in Finn's arms. (She had insisted on coming, regardless
of the fact that she doesn't even celebrate Christmas). Santana and Brittany sat with Quinn in the middle of the room on the carpet, and
Tina and Mike were side by side on the chaise off to the side of the small, open room. Mercedes was on the other side of the room to Mike
and Tina, on the couch with Rory. Artie sat in his wheelchair beside the couch, talking to Rory. Blaine and Kurt sat comfortably on the
armchair at the front of the room, facing the living room.

�The vibe was relaxing, and this definitely was several notches down on the wild meter compared to some of their other parties. But that was a good thing.

�Puck closed his eyes and in an exaggerated way, slowly chewed and savored the cookie. Finn smiled and reached for his own cookie off the
red platter. He held it up towards the remainings of Puck's cookie.

�"Preach, man. Cheers to an awesome Christmas!" Puck and Finn gave a toast with their cookies, making Puck's half-cookie break into pieces on the carpet.�

�"Dammit!" Puck cried out. He began to scrape his cookie pieces off the carpet as the rest of the New Directions were giving a cheers with their drinks.�

�Kurt perked up from the other side of the living room, rising from Blaine's arms.�

�"Puckerman! Do not stain that carpet or I swear to god I will murder
you!" Kurt snapped as he jumped off of Blaine's lap and headed towards the kitchen in search of a vacuum.�

�Santana raised her eyebrows and turned away from the conversation between all of the girls.�

�"I hardly think a stained carpet is the main problemo in this house. I'm just wondering why Hummel hasn't made Pillsbury Dough Turd over here a diet plan or whatever yet. Just sayin'." Santana stated in her I-just-dissed-you voice.�
She smiled, clearly proud of what she had said.

�Santana and Finn still hadn't made up after Finn confronted her on being a lesbian back in November. It had struck quite a chord, and when Santana wasn't completely avoiding everybody, she was quickly insulting Finn as she passed him in the hallways at school.�

�Brittany had convinced her to come tonight, and Santana had refrained from lashing out at Finn until now.

�Finn's eyes widened a little, and he tilted his head.

�"Oh yea Santana? You're the one who's been out in hiding for almost a month now. You're just so scared about the fact that-"

�Santana cut him off and stood up. She held up a hand.�

�"Look, I've just about had enough of us being crazy bitches to each other! I-" Her voice was a shriek, but then she stopped. She burried her face in her hands and started sobbing uncontrollably. Brittany took her arm and sat her down again, hugging her and resting her head against
Santana's shoulder.

�Kurt had just come back with a vacuum, but when he saw the look everyone was giving him, he carefully placed it behind the armchair and crept back into Blaine's arms.

�Finn looked around the room awkwardly before deciding something. He couldn't have just made Santana cry again, couldn't he? But what she said back, wasn't even an insult...

�"I-" Finn stuttered, held his hand out and shifted uncomfortably, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."�

�It was clear Finn wanted to continue, but was at a loss of words. So Mercedes picked up from where he left off.

�"Santana, we all love you here. You don't have to cry! Through all the ups and downs, we've always been there for each other! We accept you for who you are, and don't think for a second that we'll all love you less because of who you choose to love." Mercedes got a little bit of a diva tone in her voice towards the end of her little speech, but nobody minded at the moment.

Tina smiled and nodded in agreement. "Mercedes is right, we're all a family here."

Everyone else agreed.

"Amen to that," Puck stated as he smiled and sat up straighter.�

Santana raised her head a little bit and tried to think about what everyone was saying to her.�

"You guys, seriously think that? Even Cabbage Patch -er- Finn?" Santana said softly. She sounded unsure and still had a bitter look on her face.

Finn nodded slowly. "Yea. I mean that."

Brittany smiled at Santana hopefully, and Santana smiled back a little.�

"For once Finn, you've said something that actually makes sense. I was being a big, bitchy, coward. I am a lesbian, whether anyone likes it or not."�

She raised an eyebrow defensively, showing that she was going to destroy anyone that got in her way.�

Everyone smiled widely, happy that Santana had finally set her feelings straight.�

"Confession time!" Mike called out into the room.�

Everyone laughed loudly.

"Nothing leaves this room you guys, alright?" Finn confirmed with his friends, serious but with a smile.

"Of course. We can all trust each other." Artie agreed.

It was quiet for a few seconds before everyone nodded and replied yes.

Brittany looked up and started to speak.�

"One time," She began in her quiet, monotone-like voice, "I had a dream that everyone in the New Directions were cats. We were called the Mew Directions, and Mike and Tina were Siamese cats. Lord Tubbington was Mr. Shu, and Rory was the lucky clover cat. Rachel was tweety bird, and coach Sylvester was sylvester the pussycat. She almost ate tweety... But then the lucky clover cat zapped Sylvester with a bunch of lucky charms marshmallows. Then I woke up."

Rachel opened her mouth to say something, but didn't. Everyone got silent, as per usual when Brittany says something.�
Blaine broke the silence.

"Um, that's a really interesting dream, Brittany! Anyone else?"

Quinn piped up from where she was sitting with Brittany and Santana. Quinn had been healing over time, slowly becoming her real self again each new day.
�After the disaster with Shelby and Beth, Quinn had been grieving. She tried to distance herself from everything instead of falling apart again and rejoining The Skanks.

"I tried to get Beth back by planting fake evidence in Shelby's apartment to prove she was an unfit mother."
She confessed with a small voice. She sounded angry at herself, and shook her head.�

Brittany and Santana put a hand on her knee to comfort her.

Puck swallowed hard. Quinn had never found out it was him who told Shelby. Quinn wasn't ignoring him or fighting with him, thankfully.�

"I have something to say, but it's more of an idea than a confession." Rachel said in her Rachel Berry-esque tone.�

"Here we go..." Puck teased.

"I have the perfect setlist for Nationals! Finals of course, because we all know that we're going to make it-"

"Rachel, I think we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Finn cut her off gently and kissed her cheek.

"Woah, who taught Finn how to use a figure of speech?" Santana poked at Finn, surprised by his growing vocabulary.

"...Um, it was Kurt, actually." Finn confessed.

Kurt smiled and nodded.

Kurt hadn't deliberately taught him, but he used it once in a conversation with Finn, which had Finn very confused. Instead of walking away awkwardly and asking Rachel what it meant when Kurt said something "fancy", (like he usually did) he had asked what it meant to Kurt. Finn certainly thought it had paid off, because Rachel's definitions were long and usually made him even more confused then he was in the first place.

"I have a confession." Rory said in his thick accent. "I'm not sure if this kind of conversation is appropriate in America because it wasn't in Ireland, but anyways, I once tried to convince Brittany that I was a leprechaun because I wanted to get to her Pot of Gold. But, Brittany was too smart and she found out I was faking." He smiled and shrugged.

�Santana looked at Rory with mixed emotions. She was glad Rory had added that last part, Brittany seemed pretty happy about that.�

�Finn and the other guys quietly gave Rory �props as the girls giggled a little bit.

Everyone listened to a few more confessions. Some sad, some happy, and some just downright hilarious.�

Blaine cleared his throat and everyone turned to look at him.�

"I have a confession to make," He said with that goofy grin on his face.

He turned to Kurt and squeezed his hand.�

"My confession is that I love you." He said in a sweet, flirty voice.�

All the girls smiled and gushed.�

Kurt rolled his eyes.�

"You confessed that last May," Kurt replied flatly,

"...But I love you too." He finished.

Kurt squeezed his hand back and they both leaned their faces towards each other. They stared into each other's eyes, and sweetly kissed.

They were about to part, when Kurt leaned in again and rested a hand on Blaine's chest.

Mike whistled, and Rory looked kind of uncomfortable. He was still getting used to Blaine and Kurt being quite affectionate around their friends. Rory didn't mind it, it just took a little getting used to.

"Oh, get a room you guys!" Mercedes hollered.

Finn looked over and then looked down the hallway. "Just make sure it isn't mine..."

Blaine and Kurt parted, giving each other a last flirty look.

"Look! It's snowing!" Rachel pointed out the window.�

Dazzling light little snowflakes sprinkled the ground in millions. The pitch black sky seemed as though it was sparkling.�

"That's beautiful!" Artie said.

Quinn nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it is."

Blaine kissed Kurt's hair.�

"Merry Christmas everybody!" Blaine called out.

Everyone sang and called into a chorus of Merry Christmases.

And it truly was an amazing Christmas.�