12 Days of Christmas

Day 2

Elena was giddy as she started getting all the stuff she needed from the very well-stocked kitchen cupboards. She had worked so hard on figuring out which Christmas activities she and Damon could do, so he could have a proper Christmas, and she had almost completed her list. The next one was a thing she hadn't done since her parents had been alive, and she was really excited to do it with Damon. She figured Christmas cookies hadn't been the same in the 1860's, even though she hadn't researched it for confirmation. She'd have to ask Damon about that one.

She had made sure to get everything she needed - cookie cutters, ingredients for the cookies, lots of store bought icing and different varieties of food colouring. They had always decorated cookies in her family, even after she and Jeremy had become teenagers and no longer believed in Santa. It had been an amazing tradition and Elena couldn't wait to introduce Damon to it.

"You know, I half expected two turtledoves and a partridge in a pear tree." Elena turned around to see Damon standing in the doorway, smirking at her, "That is what the second day of Christmas requires, isn't it, my true love?

"Like you'd ever forgive me for bringing birds in here," she said, moving closer to him, "and with the remodelling, they'd probably get caught in some of the plastic and die horrific deaths."

The boarding house had been a mess for a while. Ever since they'd decided to give it to Caroline and Alaric as a school for other supernatural children, there had been constant reconstruction done to the house. Currently they were working on the wing where Stefan had lived when he was alive. They'd left his room the way it was, so Caroline could stay in it, but everything else had to be converted. Elena and Damon weren't going to move out until Elena restarted school in the fall.

"So, are you gonna tell me what all of this is?" he asked, putting an arm around her and looking around the kitchen.

"What does it look like? We're baking Christmas cookies, of course!" she said happily, grabbing the two aprons she had left on the island in the middle, "and we're wearing these while we bake."

One of the aprons had the print "we whisk you a merry Christmas" and the other one "Christmas baking team".

"Are the aprons really necessary?" Damon asked. Elena huffed.

" Yes they are, so choose one."

"Elena, are you planning on smothering the cookies with the icing?"

"What do you mean?" Elena asked, looking around at the cookies. It seemed like there was the right amount for the cookies they'd made.

"This is more icing than an entire army could eat! We'll be using this icing to make New Years cookies, Valentines Day cookies, and Easter cookies...no wait, that's eggs, right?" Damon asked , as she pulled out the bags of store bought icing. Elena laughed

"Yes, Easter is eggs, and you dye them. And no, we won't have that much left over icing! It all has to go on the cookies," Elena said, pulling up an image on her laptop, "see, like this!"

Damon frowned, looking at the image.

"Do you realize how many calories that is? They are literally called Sugar cookies," he exclaimed, only half joking.

"So?" she asked, kissing his cheek.

"So, I'm not a vampire anymore, you know. If I wanna keep this rocking body, I can't eat stuff like this," Damon said, looking at the picture. Elena put the laptop all the way back against the wall, so it would be somewhat safe from all the icing and cookie crumbs.

"Nah. Calories don't count during Christmas," Elena shrugged and started covering a Christmas tree cookie in green icing, "Besides, you look great."

"I know. But the calories still count... " Damon trailed off, grabbing a cookie in the shape of a santa hat.

"No, trust me, they really don't," she laughed, "It's a national fact. ALL calories are exempt on holidays."

"Uh huh," he gave her a disbelieving look that she ignored, "Alright, so do the base frosting first, like the main color." She handed him the tube of red icing and he attempted to cover the cookie in it, ending up with a somewhat uneven cover that was dripping off the edges.

"That's a little much, but good for your first try."

"Hey, now, we didn't do this kind of thing when I was a kid," Damon said, licking icing off his finger, "You've got more experience than me."

"Well, isn't that a first," she teased and bumped her hip against his.

"Hey, don't make this harder than it already is," he teased, running a finger along the edge of the cookie to get some of all the excess icing off.

"You're doing great!" she said, covering another tree-shaped one in green icing, "Go on, do another one."

Damon kissed her forehead and grabbed a candy cane shaped cookie, making another attempt at it.

***

An hour later, they had containers full of well-decorated cookies everywhere.

"I think we did pretty good," Damon said, wrapping his arms around Elena, "Thank you for doing this for me."

She smiled at him, resting her head on his chest and enjoying this small moment they had together.

"Of course. Merry Christmas, Damon."

"Merry Christmas, Elena ."