12 Days of Christmas.

December 25th

The two of you just made it to Tom's parents' house in time, his mum handing you glasses of bucksfizz as his dad doled out the presents. You'd brought all your presents round the night before, before the party, gifts from your family and friends mixed in with the Holland's. You and Tom left your presents to each other until last, but eventually you were twisting on the sofa to sit cross legged facing him, a box in each of your laps.

It had become tradition for you to make up a box for each other, usually one 'main present' and a couple of smaller, sillier presents. You watched eagerly as Tom tore the paper off his box, removing the lid to reveal more smaller packages, all individually wrapped.

"Not very environmentally friendly, are you?" Sam joked, looking over as Tom ripped the paper off a bottle of Calvin Klein cologne.

"Shut up," you laughed, glancing over at him briefly.

"Are you gonna open yours or are you just gonna watch me?" Tom paused before picking out a second package, turning to you.

You hummed, debating your course of action. You did want to open yours, sure, but it was the first time you'd actually been together when you opened your presents, and you wanted to see his reaction first hand.

"How about we alternate - you open one then I open one?"

Tom nodded, returning the gift in his hand to his box as you ripped open yours. You took out the package lying on top, wrapped in the same paper as the box. Underneath it was a smaller wrapped box, a misshapen lump that Tom had apparently tried to wrap before giving up and sticking a bow on top of, a black paper bag, and a pale blue box you pretended not to see just yet. Instead, you unwrapped the package from the top - a 50oz bag of Peanut Butter M&Ms. They were your favourite, but they're harder to get in the UK, so whenever he went to the US Tom would usually bring you back a few bags. You smiled, setting the bag down on the floor next to the candle from your aunt and the gift card from your grandparents - a bag that size should last you at least, oh, two weeks?

Tom chewed his lip as he debated what to open next, his hand hovering over the box.

"This one last," you said, pointing to one of the packages. He nodded, picking out a different one - three tubes of that lipbalm he stole from you that he insists was his all along, bundled together with tape.

Alternating back and forth, you each worked your way through your boxes - bath bombs for you, a t shirt with a stupid Spiderman meme on for him. When you opened the smaller box, though, you nearly choked.

"Hey, I didn't know you had an Instax camera?" Harry paused in the middle of unwrapping a PS4 game, catching sight of the box of film in your hand out of the corner of his eye.

"Mmmhmm," you hummed, smiling tightly as you felt your face start to heat up.

Tom saved you from any questions about the subject matter of your photography by snorting with laughter at his next present - a pair of socks with Tessa's face printed all over them. As they got passed around for appraisal by the family, Tom instructed you to open the oddly-shaped-lump next.

You had a feeling you knew what this one would be before you opened it. You had a bit of a penchant for mugs - character mugs, self-stirring mugs, mugs with a 3D cat inside, any kind of mug, really - so Tom had taken to getting them for you on a semi-regular basis. He'd started getting you Starbucks 'You Are Here' mugs from places he went to, but then he started travelling more and more and eventually you couldn't close the cupboard anymore, so that had to stop. Special occasion mugs, though, were ongoing.

You laughed as you took off the bow, the paper falling away to reveal a mug with a photograph of Tessa printed on the side - you suspected you had both seen the same personalised gift ad on TV.