There were only a few things Sophia missed from Earth, but certain holidays were one of them. Once she told Maya all about Christmas, including how popular it was with kids, the couple decided to introduce it to Ellie and celebrate it with her.
“Ellie~!” The duo went to the castle and promptly ran into the little tiger.
“So…phia! Maya!” Spotting them, she dashed towards the girls and did a full-on lounge once she was close enough.
“Ooff!” They got on their knees to catch the striped, orange bullet who came at them with enough force to almost topple them over.
"Let's play!" Once she gave both a hug and made sure not to let them escape, the little tiger immediately started demanding reasonable things.
“That’s why we came.” Maya gently rubbed the girl’s head.
“YAY!”
“Do you want to celebrate Christmas with us?” The blonde got right to the main attraction.
“Ellie loves Crimmas!” She got even more excited.
“Pfff!” Sophia tried her best to stifle the chuckle she got from her pronunciation. “Wait, do you know what Christmas is?”
“Nope!” The little tiger shook her head. “But if So…phia wants to celebrate it, Ellie loves it!”
“Nngh.” She took damage from her adorableness. “You’re the best.”
“Ellie knows!” Her expression turned a little smug. “So, what is Crimmas?”
“It’s a holiday from my home.” Sophia smiled at her. “We decorate a room with all kinds of silly and cute things, eat good food, and there are even presents.”
“See!” The little princess raised her voice. “Ellie told So…phia that she loves Crimmas!”
“Ahaha.” She liked her reaction. “Oh, speaking of wood, do you want to bake Christmas cookies with us?”
“That sounds like a great idea!” Maya was a fan of the suggestion.
“Ellie loves eating cookies!”
“No, I asked if you want to bake cookies with us.”
“Hmm…” The little tiger paused for a second. “Can Ellie eat the cookies when baked?”
“Of course.” The couple nodded.
“Ellie loves baking cookies!”
“Alright, let’s go!”
Maya and Sophia then grabbed each of Ellie's hands and made their way to the cottage. Before doing so, they naturally went to get Kira’s permission first.
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“Why is there a tree inside…?” Arriving in the cottage and entering the living room, the princess immediately got confused by the two-meter-tall fir next to the dining table.
“I thought you that Christmas has silly decorations, right?”
“Ellie wasn’t expecting that silly!” She seemed quite into it, though, as she immediately began to energetically circle around it. “The tree is funny, but Ellie was expecting more colorful and sparkly stuff when she heard decorations!”
“Ohoho, you’re in for a treat~.” Hearing her complaint, Sophia started chuckling as Christmas was one of the most colorful and especially sparkly holidays she knew. “Take a look at this!” She gestured at a massive carton filled to the brim with various Christmas ornaments, mainly consisting of red, green, and golden spheres for the tree, stars, and many glittery garlands and lametta. There also were meters of LED fairy lights powered by batteries.
“WAOH!” Seeing all that, her eyes sparkled even more than the ornaments.
“Most of those will go on the tree to make it all pretty and shiny. Afterward, we can use the remaining sparkles all over the living room.”
“ELLIE LOVES CRIMMAS!” She became an even bigger fan of it. “Are there any rules for decoration?!”
“We usually start by wrapping the fuzzy lametta garland around the tree in a spiral, but afterward, you’re only limited by your creativity!”
“Ellie doesn’t have limits?!” She was a very creative girl, after all.
“Before that, we need to change clothes, though." Sophia smiled at her. “Christmas has a very strict dress code.”
“N-No way!” Her expression changed. “Ellie hates dress coding! It’s the worst when mama makes Ellie wear uncomfortatable clothes for a party!”
“Don't worry, the dress code for Christmas is the bestest!” The blonde tried to calm her down. “Here, look at this.” Saying so, she grabbed a nearby bag and opened it. Inside were a couple of ugly wool sweaters in green, red, and a mix of both with various wintery and Christmas-themed motives on them. A set of Santa hats came with them, as well.
“Wow! So ugly!” Taking a better look at the sweaters, the princess started chuckling. “Ellie loves them!”
“Yeah, they’re so bad they’re amazing again.”
"Well, they seem comfy." As Maya was interested in fashion, she had mixed feelings about it.
Afterward, the trio quickly changed into the wool sweaters to look the part. Sophia went for the green one, Maya decided on red, and Ellie got a red and green striped sweater. Then, the blonde moved over the big box of ornaments in front of the tree so they could start decorating it.
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“Fuzz thing first, right?” The eyes of the little tiger wandered between the box and the tree before she grabbed the end of the long golden garland. “Yay!” Seeing the fuzzy lametta garland up close, something came over her, and she suddenly began spinning on the spot and wrapped herself in it.
“Yes, exactly like that.” Sophia smiled at the girl with the spiraled garland around her.
“Why…?” Maya stared at her.
“It was fuzzy and sparkly, so Ellie couldn’t help it!” The princess had no remorse.
“Fair.” The blonde understood the feeling.
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“Is it?” The cat-girl had trouble following them.
“Yes.” The tigers nodded a couple of times.
“I see.” Maya gave up. “Hold still for a moment.” She then got closer to the princess and began to unwrap her.
"Ehehe~." She helped by spinning around the other way this time, and once she was freed, the cat-girl rewarded the little tiger with a head-pat. "Yay!"
“Well, even on Earth, cats loved Christmas trees, so that checks out.” Sophia couldn’t blame her. “Should we put it on the tree together?” She then looked at the princess.
“YES!”
“Alrighty, how about you do the bottom half before Maya and I do the top part of the tree?”
“Okay!” Saying so, the blonde put the end of the garland on the tree's bottom layer and ensured it wouldn't fall off before handing it over to Ellie. “You can just lay it down on the twigs as you slowly go higher while walking around the tree.”
“Sounds easy enough!” Giving her a big nod, she took the fuzzy golden garland and started placing it on the tree while slowly going around it. “That’s all Ellie can reach!” After a couple of minutes and some laps around the tree, the arms of the princess stopped being long enough, so she decided to hand over the remaining garland to Maya next to her.
“You did well~.” The cat-girl once again patted the little tiger’s head.
“Ehehe!”
“Do you want to do the rest?” Sophia looked at her girlfriend. “I’ve already done it many times, and you’re also taller, so it would make the most sense.”
“If you’re okay with that, sure!” As all of this was new to her, as well, Maya gladly wanted to give it a try, too. Just like Ellie, she slowly moved around the tree while carefully wrapping the garland around it until she reached the top.
“Ahaha! So silly!” Once she saw the finished product, the little tiger started laughing. “Ellie loves it!” Nonetheless, she was a big fan of it.
“We’re just getting started~.” Giving her a thumbs up first, Sophia then grabbed a Christmas ornament, a red bell-shaped pendant, and hung it on one of the twigs. “You can take whatever you like from the box and put it on the tree. As many as you want, too.”
“Wow!” The princess managed to get even more excited.
“You have to be a little careful, though.” The blonde took another ornament, a golden ball, and dangled it before the little tiger. "They're made out of very thin glass, so if you drop them, they'll break."
“Ellie will be the carefullest!” She reacted with a determined nod. She then quickly grabbed a silvery star-shaped ornament and carefully hung it from a twig while properly making sure it wouldn’t fall off. "Wait, what's that stringy, long, colorful thingy?!" While she was getting her next decoration to hang up, Ellie noticed something inside the box and pointed at it.”
“Oh, I forgot about that! Those are fairy lights.” She remembered the many strings of battery-powered LED lights she had prepared.
“FAIRY LIGHTS?!” The little princess raised her voice by a fair bit.
“Wait, fairies are a thing here…?” Sophia wasn’t sure how to take her reaction. “It’s just a name.” She then shook her head. “It’s, uhh… a device that converts magic into colorful lights that shine for many hours.” It was a rather broad generalization.
“Ellie wants that!”
“Of course!” Sophia also gave the excited girl a pat on her head. "We'll later use them to decorate the whole room, but at least one definitely belongs on the tree."
Afterward, Sophia and Ellie wrapped the fairy string lights around the tree together before they returned to decorating it with all the ornaments from the box. Naturally, as the little princess was way too excited about it, the trio ended up fully overcrowding the tree in red, green, silver, and gold spheres, bells, stars, and various other trinkets and accessories. There barely was any tree left when they finally ran out of ornaments.
Once the Christmas tree was full, the girls concentrated on the rest of the living room. With Ellie sitting on her shoulders, Sophia hung the fairy lightly all along the walls just under the ceiling while Maya hung a couple of Christmas wreaths on the walls, as well as decorating the dining table.
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“So pretty!” Once everything was fully decorated, Ellie’s eyes were sparkling almost as much as the ornaments all around them. “The fairies look sad, though!” She looked at all the string lights and didn't feel like they were overly impressive.
“Don't worry, they’ll wake up soon~.” Sophia smiled at her because the fairy lights still needed to be turned on. “Before that, we have to place the most important decoration, though.”
“We’re missing something?!” Ellie’s eyes grew wide in shock.
Yes!” She nodded and pulled the last remaining ornament out of the big box. It was a massive golden star attached to a hollow stand. “This has to go on the very tip of the tree. If we don't do that, Christmas will get canceled."
“NO WAY!” The little princess started panicking. “Hurry up and put it on!”
“I need some help, though.” Saying so, the blonde kneeled down and tapped her shoulder. “The star has to be put on the tree by the most important person in the room, so the princess has to do it. Get on my shoulders, and I lift you up."
“Okay!” Feeling the sense of urgency, the little tiger immediately climbed onto Sophia's shoulders, and the blonde lifted her up.
“Be careful with it, okay?” Gently holding Ellie’s legs with one arm, the taller tiger then handed the big golden star over to her. “Now, just slide the base over the tip of the tree, and Christmas won't be canceled."
“Done!” Following her instruction, the princess carefully attached it to the very tip of the tree. “Were we on time?!”
“There’s only one way to find out.” The panicking princess caused her to chuckle. “Do you see the black dot on the base of the star? Try to push it.”
“Hmm… WAOH!” Once she located the button, the princess immediately pushed it, and the star started glowing. As it turned out, the ornament was also battery-powered, and Sophia simply came up with a story around it. “So pretty! That means Crimmas is saved, right?!”
“Yes, we were luckily in time.”
“YAY!” After her cheer, Sophia put the little tiger back on the floor before she turned on the fairy light inside the tree as well as all the others in the room, so hundreds of tiny LED lights in green, red, and blue colors cozily illuminated the whole room. “WAOH!”
“This is so pretty!” Maya was also mesmerized by it.
“It sure is~.” Sophia smiled at them. “Alrighty, should we try and bake some Christmas cookies now that the mood is appropriate?”
“Let’s go!” The two liked the plan.
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As they wanted to enjoy the mood they had created in the living room, the couple decided it would be best to prepare the cookies on the dining table. They first cleaned it up a bit before getting all the needed ingredients and utensils from the kitchen. Afterward, Sophia also provided everyone with pink aprons with a Christmas tree motif on the front.
“Does So…phia know how to make cookies?” The princess looked at the blonde while they were getting everything ready.
“I’m an expert at eating cookies~.” Her response was a little different.
“So is Ellie!” The little tiger felt even closer to the taller one.
"You two are something else." Maya rolled her eyes, though she was smiling at the same time, too. “Do we need anything special for Christmas cookies, or are they the same as regular ones?” She got back on the topic.
"The cookies themselves are regular, uhh, short… crust pastry?” She tilted her head. “The crumbly crispy one.”
“Ahh, okay.” The cat-girl understood her.
“Though, I love to have cinnamon in them.” The blonde gave her a thumbs up. “Cinnamon is a very Christmas-like spice on Earth.”
“Sounds good!” Maya nodded along.
“The main thing that turns them into Christmas cookies are those~.” Saying so, she showed her a bunch of cookie cutters in one hand, and various tubes with food dies in the other. The cutters mainly were star, candy cane, and tree-shaped, while the colors were a bright green, red, and white. “Once they’re baked, we’re going to use those eatable colors, they’re mostly just sugar, to decorate the cookies.”
“Oh, that’s cool.” The cat-girl liked the idea.
“Waoh!” Ellie energetically clapped her hands. “Crimmas is the king of decoration!”
“It sure is~.” The blonde agreed with her.
Knowing more about the type of cookies, Maya then started mixing the ingredients together. Naturally, she added a healthy helping of cinnamon to the dough to make her girlfriend happy.
After the dough was properly kneaded through and through, they lightly dusted the table in flower and gave Ellie the task of flattening it by using a wooden dough roll. Once that was taken care of, the girls used the cookie cutters to create the base cookies in many different Christmas-themed shapes.
image [https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/moatmfbpa98wriweu02wq/hat-plushies-blur.png?rlkey=blf63s5emchtnvl32me8661nr&st=fv3ret0r&raw=1]
Around 15 minutes later, the entire dough was turned into cookies, and the trio relocated to the kitchen and put the sheet pans into the oven to bake until they were lightly brown and done before letting them cool down for another 20 minutes.
Then, they returned to the living room and started painting them with the food colors and various other sugar-based decorations like pearls and glitter. Ellie couldn’t help herself and had to eat a couple of cookies before they even got the chance to be decorated.
The girls continued to concentrate on the cookies for the rest of the afternoon before eventually getting comfortable on the sofa. There, while cuddling with each other a little, they munched on the cookies while listening to a few stories about Christmas that Sophia told them about.
Ellie was also glad she had been a good girl the past year. The bestest of girls, even. After all, she didn't like the idea of getting coal, so she was delighted when Santa gave her a few new plushies for her collection and promised to be an even besterest girl in the following year.