It was Christmas Eve, the night before Christmas. 

Things were busy in the Hoshi household. Currently, Kirumi was baking some cookies with Asarisu, and Ryoma was watching the cats so they wouldn't mess up the tree. 

 "Darling, would you kindly pass the frosting bowl?" Kirumi asked her daughter. 

The toddler looked a little.. hesitant. The ears on her hat drooped low, and she looked away from her mama, like she had done something bad. 

"Asarisu..?" She raised an eyebrow. 

"Mamaaa..?" She whimpered. 

"Has something happened with the frosting?" 

"......" 

Asarisu picked up the bowl and spatula from the floor and gave them to her mama. 

Nothing seemed to be wrong at first, but as Kirumi went to remove the spatula.. it became obvious that it had been licked clean. (The culprit was pretty obvious at this point.)

She turned back to Asarisu, who was sniffling and tearing up. "Mama.. am I in twouble?" 

"Why, of course not!" Kirumi giggled slightly, bending down to wipe her daughter's tears away. "All you did was lick the frosting off of the spatula- there is more than enough of it left, and we have a plethora of spatulas." 

She placed that one in the sink and chose another one, placing it in the bowl. 

"Hooway!" Asarisu cheered, her joyful mood instantly replenished. 

Kirumi smiled. "Now, these cookies do need to be frosted.. would you like to help me with that?" 

"Yeah!" Asarisu's face broke out into a smile as well. 

Kirumi passed Asarisu the frosting bowl. She took the spatula and scooped up as much frosting as she could, plopping it all on a single cookie. 

"Oh, no, no," Kirumi said softly, taking it from Asarisu. "We will not have enough frosting for the rest of the cookies if you do such things as that. Here, allow me to show you." 

She used it to scoop up the top layer of frosting and smooth the rest down, before transferring it to another cookie. "Now," she instructed, "try it yourself, darling." 

With Kirumi's guidance, Asarisu managed to do it (albeit sloppily.) 

Next were the sprinkles. 

She let Asarisu do that part completely by herself, because these were sprinkles in shakers. That.. was a slight mistake on her part, as now the cookies were more sprinkles than frosting and actual cookie. 

But, seeing the toddler so happy over those sprinkles, she couldn't bring herself to do it!

"Ryoma!" She called from the kitchen, placing the plate of cookies on the table. "We have made cookies, if you'd like to have some." 

He peeked his head out of the living room, smiling once he saw the two. "Alrighty, I will. Just gimme a minute; Pip really wants to jump up on the tree, and I think once she does that, she's gonna want to bat at the ornaments." 

Just as he said, a minute passed, and he came out into the kitchen.

 Lunar the Russian Blue followed him, as a protesting Pip laid in his arms. 

Asarisu giggled when she saw the large Maine Coon calico mix, meowing and meowing. "Pip weally want ownament!" 

She ran up to her father and gave the cat a hug, burying her face in the long fur. Pip instantly stopped and changed to gently licking Asarisu on the head and purring. (Both parents let out an 'awwwww' at this.) 

Ryoma let Pip down and hopped up on a chair. He beckoned for Asarisu to do the same- which she did, sitting right beside him. 

"Mmm, these look good." He smiled, upon spotting the cookies. 

"Thank you Daddy!" She beamed, waving her hands in the air. "Mama and me made them."

Kirumi smiled as he ruffled Asarisu's hair. 

How adorable. 

The three dug into the cookies; since they had already eaten dinner, it was basically a free-for-all. 

~~~ 

Stumbling from a slight sugar crash, they all walked into the living room. 

 "Mmmph.. me ate too much.." Asarisu whined, clutching her stomach. 

"Same, kiddo." Ryoma replied. 

Kirumi picked Asarisu up and held her close to her body, laying back on the couch. With her other hand, she patted the spot right next to her. 

Ryoma climbed up and cuddled against his wife, wrapping one arm around her and the other around a yawning Asarisu. 

(He didn't even bother taking off his hat, and Asarisu didn't seem to want to take hers off either.)  

Kirumi took a blanket from the various draped over the back of the couch and laid it over the three of them; then, she wrapped her other arm around Ryoma. 

One by one, the Hoshi family dozed off. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

Bonus: 

Well, not *all* of the Hoshi family. 

Asarisu had forgotten to bring Mr. Buttercream with her! Maybe she thought that he had been in her pajama pocket or something? 

He was sat on the kitchen table, a little bit of frosting and sprinkles ringing his mouth from when Asarisu had "fed" him some. 

It almost looked like he was glaring at them all, as if he wanted to join the snuggles too. 

The other two members were watching from afar, eyes glinting. 

As soon as the last Hoshi was asleep, Pip and Lunar stepped out from under the table. 

They made their way to the living room, Pip making a stop to take Mr. Buttercream with her. 

Lunar walked over to the Christmas tree as the calico leapt up onto the couch. She gently dropped Mr. Buttercream underneath Asarisu's outstretched arm and joined her mate, jumping up into the tree. 

Since Lunar had only three legs, it was a little more difficult to get up there, but he made it. The two nestled into the dent in the tree, tails intertwining. 

They watched their owners for a while, before they too fell asleep.