T'was The Night Before Christmas....

[glambertrock]

A/N: Here's a Christmas fic for you all =) Hope everyone's safe and happy on this glorious day!

A/N: Okay, so, I have two separate notes. First, about my story I usually do (for all that read it).
Since Christmas is tomorrow, and since I'll be with tons of family, I'm not going to update LWFC this Sunday like usual. I MAY be able to update next week if I get the chance, but I'm not 100% sure. So, enjoy this in the meantime!

A/N 2: Now, the story! This is a little something from my Kradam universe that I recently thought up. It was created because of the many people saying after they watched Adam say a line or two in that "T'was the Night Before Christmas" thing Jingle Ball did that they wished that Adam could've just said the whole thing. So, here ya' go! =D

Enjoy!!!!!!!!

"Okay, okay, I'll read it one more time," Adam said  to his children, Jessie and Ryan, on their first cold Christmas Eve in California since the year Ryan was born. The kids were bundled up tightly in the fluffiest blankets Adam and Kris could find in such short notice and had cups of sweet hot chocolate warming up their hands. Kris was snuggling close to the fire with Adam, laying his head gently against Adam's shoulder, and was resting as peacefully as ever. The whole family had just finished listening to Adam read the book "T'was the Night Before Christmas", and since Adam couldn't bear to say no to his kids on Christmas Eve, they all were about to hear it again.

"Papa, can I sit in your lap this time?" Ryan cheerfully asked, earning a groan from both his sister Jessie and Kris.

"Daddy wants a little more time to rest with Papa," Kris mumbled quietly as he snuggled closer to his husband's warmth. "I want to still thank him for celebrating Christmas this year instead of going to some weirdo festival with Uncle Brad."

Adam frowned. "Sorry, but the Madonna Festival got new stuff and just got revamped and I REALLY didn't want to have to hear Cheeks gush at me about how amazing it was."

Jessie giggled and then looked over to her brother. "Ryan, even if Daddy wasn't cuddling with Papa, I would be the one sitting on his lap. I'm his favorite, if you haven't noticed."

"Are NOT! Papa said I'm his favorite!"

"Are TOO! I'm his little angel. He told me so!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are-"

"Guys, please, don't fight on Christmas Eve."

"Yeah," Adam agreed with a smirk, "Santa can still take back some of your presents...."

Ryan gasped and hugged his sister, causing her to yelp in disgust.

"Why the heck are you hugging me, twerp?"

"Maybe if Santa thinks we look like we like each other, he'll still give us our presents!"

Jessie pondered that for a moment and then, out of the blue, she blurted out, "I love you my sweet brother Ryan who I love so much," proceeding a huge hug. Ryan nearly gagged at his sister's action as his parents chuckled in amusement behind them.

"Eww Jessie, what are you doing?"

"Well," she whispered loudly, "if Santa can see us then what about him hearing us? I think we should speak nicer so he doesn't take back presents for knowing we're faking it."

Kris giggled and snatched three=and-a-half year old Ryan into his arms. He kissed the cutie's forehead and messed up his hair, much to his dislike, and then sighed contently.

"Sorry to tell ya' this, buddy, but we can tell Santa what you guys are doing. Besides, even if we didn't, Santa knows everything."

Ryan frowned. "Santa's a meanie."

Jessie rolled her eyes and plopped next to Adam, her blond curls slightly bouncing. "Say that all you want, but you better not cry when Santa gives you nothing for saying that!"

"Okay, can we get back to reading the book so that Santa won't have anything to question about giving you guys gifts?" Adam asked, looking at his children in annoyance as they kept on bickering. Ryan nodded and climbed into Kris's lap, ignoring his father's small groan from not getting to cuddle, while Jessie only snuggled even more up to Adam. Clutching the small children's novel in his hands, Adam flipped to the first page and began.

"T'was the night before Christmas-"

"What does t'was mean, Papa?"

Ryan looked up at Adam curiously, his big brown eyes staring at him almost irresistibly. Adam just had to answer his little boy.

"It's kind of like 'once upon a time'."

"Oh. Okay. Read."

Smiling, Adam restarted. "T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse."

"Ew, why would a mouse be in someone's house?" Jessie said with a scrunched up face. Kris giggled in response.

"Sweetie, back when this was written, some mice would get into people's houses."

"Why didn't they use a mousetrap?"

"They don't always wor-"

"Why didn't they call the animal guy to set it free?"

"Back then, they-"

"Why didn't they get a cat to get it like on that show we watch on Saturday?"

Sighing, Kris gave up and rested his head on Ryan's fluffy head of hair. "Ugh, just listen to the story so we can get to bed."

"Fine, I just don't understand why-"

"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care," Adam quickly butt-in, cutting his daughter off just in time, "in hopes that St. Nickolas soon would be there."

"Papa, we don't have a chimney," Ryan said glumly. "How will Santa get in and fill our stockings?"

"He-"

"Santa creates one, silly," Jessie said with a confident flip of her hair. "Everyone knows that! Now, let Papa go on!"

"Speak for yourself," Kris muttered under his breath as Adam began with the next verse.

"The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads."

"What's a sugar plum?"

"Ryan, let Papa talk," Jessie said in annoyance, leaning over Adam to hit his shoulder. "We'll never get done if you keep asking all these questions."

"Sorry, know-it-all."

"I forgive you. Papa, feel free to go on."

Smirk widely present on his face because of his husband's growing impatience, Adam returned to the book.

"And momma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap, had just settled our brain for a long winter's nap."

"What's a-"

"Ryan...." Jessie warned, her face commanding and completely adorable. Ryan cuddled closer to Kris and quietly apologized, silently vowing not to interrupt anymore with the fear of his sister attacking him after the story because of it.

"When out on the lawn arose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. Away from the window I flew like a flash, tore up the shutters and threw up the sash."

"Ewww....the kid threw up a sash?"

Adam shook his head and giggled merrily. "No sweetie, the kid threw the sash into the air."

"Oh..."

"Hey, how come she can interrupt but I can't?"

Jessie batted her eyelashes in a devilish glare that immediately shut Ryan up and sent him even deeper into Kris's grasp. She smiled, satisfied.

"Go on, Papa."

"The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow-"

"Ew," Kris muttered, a shiver going down his spine. Adam chuckled and looked his lover in the eye with a hint of knowing and understanding.

"What? I didn't hear anything gross."

"Then you clearly aren't as gay as I thought you were," Kris cooed, nuzzling his nose to Adam's, giving a few Eskimo kisses before he saw his husband understand.

"And clearly," he replied with a child-like smile, "you are so immature it's not even funny."

"You love my immaturity."

"Why wouldn't I? I married you and allowed your traits to be in Ryan."

"You are such a dork."

"Love you too, sweetie."

Jessie then cleared her throat and giggled along with her brother at their parents' slightly dazed expression.

"Not to ruin a moment, but I think you were about to nearly squish Ryan and were grossing me out."

Kris and Adam giggled, looking at little Ryan pretending to gasp for air. They then tickled the small brunette boy, making his rosy cheeks only grow rosier as he laughed in delight. Jessie rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Guys, sorry to ruin your family moment, but this girl here wants to hear the rest of the story."

"Sorry sweetie," Adam soothed, picking up the book once more and flipping back to the page, holding it so she could see. "As I was saying, the moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow gave the luster of mid-day objects below. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer."

"Eight? Where's Rudolph?" Ryan quickly asked before his sister could cut him off.

Kris cuddled his boy close and sighed. "When it's foggy outside, Santa will use Rudolph to guide the sleigh. So, he only is used sometimes. That's why they only mention eight, buddy."

"Oh. Cool. Read, Papa."

"With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, and he whistled, he shouted, and called them by name!"

"This is my favorite part," Ryan announced quietly to Kris, causing his father to smile brightly and kiss his cheek.

"Your Papa does say it good. Now shhh, let's listen."

"Now Dasher! Now Dancer! Now Prancer and Vixen! On Comet! On Cupid! On Donner and Blitzen! To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall! Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

"Yay!" The kids exclaimed, clapping all happy and hyped up. Adam hugged Jessie tight to his body, while Kris did the same with Ryan, and they both kissed them at the same time. It was their favorite part, and the kids absolutely loved it.

"Okay, okay," Adam said with a sigh, "time to go on. Now, where was I......ah! Yes! As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle mount to the sky. So up to the house-top the coursers they flew with the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas, too. And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof, the prancing and pawing of each little hoof. As I drew in my head, and was turning around, down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound. He was dressed in all fur, from his head to his foot, and his clothes were all tarnished in ashes and soot."

"Ew," Jessie said with a yawn, "poor Santa, being all dirty."

Adam smiled and ran his hand through his daughter's hair, smiling as she yawned once again and curled into his arms.

"A bundle of toys, he had flung on his back, and he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack. His eyes-how they twinkled! His dimples-how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry! His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, and the beard of his chin was as white as snow. The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath. He had a broad face and a little round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly!"

"I want a jelly sandwich," Ryan slurred sleepily as his eyes struggled to stay open. Kris nodded and cradled him in his arms.

"He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, and I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself! A wink of his eye and a twist of his head soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread. He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work and filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk. And laying his finger aside of his nose, and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose! He sprang to his sleigh, o his team gave a whistle, and away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I head him exclaim, as he drove out of sight...."

Kris and Adam both looked around themselves to see their children fast asleep, cuddling as close as possible to them with peaceful smiles on their faces. They picked them up and headed off to their bedrooms, where Kris tucked Ryan in and Adam tucked Jessie in, giving them both a kiss. Finally, after the kids were in bed and the lights were all out, Adam and Kris slid in to bed, and together finished the rhyme out.

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!"

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Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to everyone! :)