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It felt weird spending Christmas together for the first time in what felt like many years, even though it was only a few. They’d spent so much time together in the last few months with the hall of fame inductions and all it felt like the old times. They’d get a glimpse of thanksgiving while playing in the states in late November, and spend Christmas under the mistletoe once in Vancouver, once in Colorado, and many, many times in Anaheim. They’d got each other so many material things when they were younger, from designer things, to hockey things, to plain old stupid things and it just didn’t matter anymore. This year they had decided to just not get each other gifts. They were old, materialized things didn’t matter to them anymore, making up for lost time mattered. Making up for the time when they were separated, for when they were immature and fought with each other, and for all the precious time lost together due to Paul’s head injury.

On Christmas morning Teemu woke up early, wearing ducks gear and a Santa hat and cooked an entire breakfast for him and Paul. He was by no means the world’s best cook, or near any level of a MasterChef but he could make gingerbread and pancakes, which isn’t bad. Paul woke up around an hour later, walked down the stairs of Teemu’s Anaheim home he knew all too well and sat down with him.

“Good morning”. Teemu said with a smile on his face.

“Good morning, babe”. Paul replied.

They sat down and ate and when they went to get up to put their plates in the kitchen they were stopped by the mistletoe Teemu may or may not have placed there completely on purpose. He kissed Paul under the mistletoe. It was soft, sweet, quick. It was different from the ones they used to share that were more passionate and more unsure. “You know, you’re all I could ever want for Christmas anymore”, Teemu said. “I got what I needed, and it’s you”, Paul said, as he gave Teemu one more quick kiss under the green and red mistletoe.

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Their relationship had its fair shares of ups and downs since they were naive high school aged kids in Halifax, completely codependent on one another. There were christmases between them filled with joy and lust, and some filled with sadness, angst, and questioning why. Jo always blamed it on himself. He acted selfish, he acted like a child at times. Their last perfect Christmas together before the draft was magical. It was filled with soft touches under the covers, a pillow fort, acting like children waking up at the earliest hour possible to open their gifts, a perfect rom-com kiss under the mistletoe. In 2013, Jo was so head over heels for Nate he really didn’t know what to do with himself. That was the problem. Jo was never good at dealing with feelings, especially when those feelings are for boys, and that boy happens to be his best friend. His feelings turned to anger and selfishness, pure lashing out when he got sent down to the AHL. He spent years filling Nate’s joy filled heart with empty promises, and felt remorse every time Nate and his crystal blue eyes came crawling back to him. They were dysfunctional, this year they weren’t going to be. They were grown ups now, they’d moved past the phase they’d been in for years and years. Jo was on a new team, Nathan was tearing it up for the Avalanche. They’d grown as players and as people.

This Christmas was going to be proper, in Montreal. Jo set it up to have some vibe going with it. He managed to decorate his house nicely, in a way that fit in with the big city that Montreal is, and it had some form of romanticism to it, which was how he wanted it. Nate arrived on the eve of the twenty-third. He still managed to look flawless in his avs sweatpants and very ratty Halifax Mooseheads t shirt. Jo kissed him right at the door, like when they were kids having no ability to wait for anything. They spent the night sharing stories of their season at the fireplace; with the mantle decorated to the nines with elegant Christmas ones - The classic red stockings and white lights. They eventually made their way to the couch, Nate laying in Jo’s lap and Jo spoke to him softly in French and played with his hair. Nate loved listening to Jo talk in French, it just sounded nice. Their first night back in bed together was incredible and passionate. At the end, Jo kissed Nate and whispered to him “je serai á toi”. Nate didn’t really know what he meant, but he blushed and kissed Jo back before falling asleep tangled in his arms.

Jo made an effort on Christmas Eve to make a nice dinner. The key to making a nice Christmas dinner is not to make it, but to order it. Jo really wasn’t the best cook and he didn’t want to screw anything up, and it gave him and Nate the lovely opportunity to sleep in with Nate. When they woke up they gave each other soft kisses down their face, neck, chest, and spine. They were tangled in each other’s arms, playing with one another’s hair, and exchanging a soft, quick, kiss every so often as NHL network buzzed on the tv in background of Jo’s bedroom. They didn’t care what they looked like for dinner, it was just the two of them. They’ve seen each other at their best and worst, mentally and physically. This was just for making up all the time they lost to Jo acting immature. Jo left Nate to his own devices for a bit to go pick up the dinner and when he came back he set it all up on the elegant dining room table as if he had cooked every part of the dinner. He began to toast with the champagne, and apologize: “To the absolute love of my life: Nathan Mackinnon, I’m so sorry for the way I acted in years past, for how immature I was, for how I left you crying under the mistletoe, for how I did damage to both of our careers. I am beyond grateful you keep running back to me and accept me for every horrible mistake I have done. Je’taime, Nathan”. Nathan blushed, was almost brought to tears. He began to say “To the boy I’ve been chasing after all this time, Jonathan Drouin. I love you. I made mistakes too, I never let you talk, I have been so selfish on this holiday of fools for years and years. You fucked me over, but I did the same to you. I will always run back to you, you’ve shown me love better than anyone else ever has. It’s cold, and I am yours Jo. I love you, I truly do. You’re my everything”. Jo was crying at that. They kissed each other under the tacky mistletoe hanging over their seats by the dining room table, thankful for all their ups and downs bribing them to this.

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By some form of a miracle it had actually snowed and stuck prior to Christmas in the lovely suburbs of Pittsburgh. The snow was piled six inches, coating the grass, fences, and trees. It was truly a winter wonderland in every sense of the phrase, from the soft snow to the Christmas lights shining in the distance. They had the day off for Christmas, so of course Sid was going to call Geno, because Sid was stupidly in love with him and there was no one he loved spending more time with. Geno of course bitched about traffic and the roads being bad, because Penndot is by no means the best, but he would deal with it for Sid. He showed up 45 minutes later, because the roads were bad, because penndot wasn’t the greatest but he was glad to be in Sid’s company.

“It’s snowing so much Sid”, Geno said.

“We should go out”, sid said kind of jokingly.

“What about sleigh ride”? Geno suggested with his ridiculously Russian accent.

So they went to the garage. Sid dug out the old school wooden sled which he’d had his whole life. There were memories behind it. Weekend mornings sliding down the hill behind his childhood home in the bitter cold with the snow piled high. They took it out back, to the hill behind Sid’s house, usually filled with perfected green grass now covered in the wet, white powder. They set it at the top and went down. The rickety, old school, dark, wooden sled left harsh tracks in the perfectly set snow, but they had fun. Geno gave Sid a peck on his chapped lips as they went to do this again

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So, they had like three days off for Christmas, by no means enough, but it’s the price one pays for being a player in the National Hockey League. Patric wanted to do something special for Carl, he wanted to bring him home. He wanted to bring him to his actual home, in Sweden. Luckily he found one of those wow flights for like nothing to an airport in Sweden and a flight from there to his hometown, and somehow Carl never found out because he was stupid and oblivious.

So Christmas came around and they got in the car as the snow began to fall and made their way to the airport. This was planned of course, Patric was going to pick Carl up and they’d go to “dinner”. Patric staring driving towards the airport and the drive was beyond traffic filled. “Why is it taking so long?”, Carl whined. “It’s a surprise,” Patric replied back with a dumbfounded smile on his face. Eventually they arrived at the airport and Patric parked the car in the truly endless lot. “What are we doing here?”, Carl asked. “We’re going home,” Patric replies. Carl could’ve kissed him right there, despite all the logistical questions lingering in his mind he wasn’t sure if he should ask. He decided to because he was concerned, just a little bit. “What about like, our stuff?”, Carl finally asked. “Don’t worry about it”, Patric replied. They walked into the airport, both ecstatic to return to Sweden. “This is the best gift I could ever ask for”, Carl said, with a wide smile and his blue eyes shining bright. “Merry Christmas, babe”, Patric replied.

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“No come to jersey,” Nico contested over the phone.

“Come to philly,” Nolan whined back.

“Come to Newark, please baby”

“Philly, babe”

They fought like this for what felt like hours until Nolan and his pure head over heels-ness for Nico forced him to give in to going to Newark, New Jersey for Christmas. He was excited, of course to see his boyfriend and be festive and get in the Christmas spirit. Like a high schooler desperate for winter break, he set a countdown on his phone to December 23rd, which is when he would finally get to drive up to Newark and see Nico. At 6 in the morning the alarm went off, there was a dusting of snow in Philadelphia and it felt like Christmas time, finally. Nolan grabbed his bags, got in his car, and began the car trip that was going to take much longer than it should. At 11 in the morning, Nolan finally arrived in Newark. He found that the dusting of snow was slowly deteriorating by the cars driving on the roads, the sun shining, and the salt trucks driving. Nolan was just happy to be in the vicinity of Nico.

He made it to the apartment he was living in, parked his car on street, grabbed his bags, entered the building, got in the all too generic elevator and sighed. It got to Nico’s floor and Nolan realized he would have to scour the halls to find Nico’s apartment. After about a half lap around the floor he found it. He was nervous when he went to knock on the door, probably because he hadn’t seen Nico in literally months. He grabbed the knocker on the door knob and slammed it a few times waiting for Nico to get the door. Nico opened the door and gave Nolan a hug before he even spoke to him. “Hi, baby”, Nico said. “Hey,” Nolan replied back and smiled. Nico invited him in, put Nolan’s belongings in his room, and then went to the couch. They spent hours catching up, talking about hockey, the metro, rivalries, who they thought was going to go far this year. As the conversation went on Nolan was laying in Nico’s lap, Nico was playing with his short strands of hair, running his fingers over Nolan’s constantly blushing face. Nico was beyond dumbfounded by the gorgeous boy in front of him. They pretty much passed out on the couch through the next afternoon. Christmas Eve was spent with long kisses under the mistletoe and an incredibly failed attempt.

They were both excited to wake up Christmas Day as if they were still children, because who isn’t excited to wake up to presents and snow. They woke up way earlier than necessary and went toward the nearly Charlie Brown level excuse of a Christmas tree Nico had in his apartment. He was by no means an interior decorator, no matter how much HGTV he watched. He and Nolan exchanged gifts. They both got each other gift cards, because they’re uncreative and really awful at buying gifts on time. That didn’t matter though as they shared another kiss under the mistletoe- Nico’s hands cupping Nolan’s face as they stood there in their Christmas pajamas and Santa hats and Nico kissed Nolan’s pink lips and watched his cheeks go from pink to red. It was all he needed.

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World Juniors, 2002

They were in the Czech Republic , playing hockey, on Christmas. To most people it was by no means an ideal way to spend Christmas, but playing with your friends, for your country, because you’re going to go to the NHL isn’t half bad of a gift. Zach and Ryan were beyond excited to represent team USA in a place they’d never been before and go for the gold- an act that made them feel truly American. They had been friends for years and years and had been an on again, off again hookup for a few years. They were rooming together, so everything was presumably on again.

Their first night of playing went well. They won a game which was a nice enough Christmas gift, they did their usual, stupid media interviews, and packed up to leave. Zach and Ryan were leaving together and walking back to their hotel room since it was in close vicinity to the arena. Zach, being the idiot that he was left his team USA jacket in the locker room probably to never be seen again. Around half way back, the sun was set, and Zach was shivering. “You’re from Minnesota dude, this cant be that bad,” Ryan teased.

“It’s windy,” Zach contested. Ryan took off his own team USA jacket, with “Suter” stitched on in red letters and all and gave it to Zach.

“Keep it,” Ryan said. Zach just blushed a rosy red the whole way back.

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Ovi thought a lot about last Christmas. He showed Nicky his most vulnerable side, his loving side, the side of Alex Ovechkin the media doesn’t know, the side they don’t need to. He kissed Nicky tenderly under the mistletoe, held Nicky in his arms and kissed his neck. They woke up on Christmas morning, talked about their shared memories from embarrassing bus rides, to playoff losses, to competing against each other on the world’s stage. Ovi was not loving or sentimental, at least in a romantic sense towards anyone, that was until Nicky. He gave his everything to Nicky and Nicky held it so dear and true and never told a soul.

This Christmas was as special as the last. They shares sacred moments under the mistletoe and between the sheets, have intimate conversations, pour themselves out to each other. Christmas morning was special. Ovi wanted to gift something to Nicky, a promise of some sort. He got them matching silver chains with an infinity symbol, engraved on a ring with their names in their native tongue. Nicky pulled his over his head, ovi ruffled his hair, ran his hand across Nicky’s chest, playfully kissed him on the lips. It was a perfect Christmas morning, nonetheless.

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Christmas wasn’t going to be Christmas this year. Sure, kris got the cheesy little holiday card all the way from Vegas, sure they still talked, it wasn’t what it used to be. Christmas was going to suck this year.

Christmas was going to be different this year. Sure, Marc got the sweet, heartfelt Christmas card sent all the way from Pittsburgh’s suburbs that were all too fresh in his head, sure he still communicated with Kris, but they were by no means who they were even six months prior. Christmas was going to be different this year, to say the least.

Marc hated the word Christmas, he heard “Kris” in its name for starters, and it brought too many memories. So many good memories, some of the highest, sweetest points in his now messy relationship with Kris. Part of him wanted to be in Pittsburgh, the city watching over him, and the place where he and Kris could have intimate moments wrapped in each other’s arms between bright white bed sheets. Part of him was pissed at Kris, he’d closed himself off, was acting like a petulant high schooler and a complete douche bag, or at least douchier than he is in his usual state. He was pissed and for the first time in his somewhat short life he didn’t want Christmas to roll around oh so soon.

Kris was the festive type, key word was. Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without Marc. He loved Marc in so many ways, but never felt so much upset, disappointment, anger, respect, and love for someone all at once. He was pissed at Marc for leaving, but respected his kind of sort of selfless decision. Kris was selfish himself, wanted Marc-Andre Fleury to eat up cap space just to stay for Kris Letang. It was a stupid reason, but Kris was head over heels. He’s not the best at dealing with his feelings, and when he’s mad he just ignores everything. He’s not on his A-game, he’s lonely, he’s angry.

Christmas break rolls around too fast. Neither of them put up a tree, or decorate their house. They hardly attend any holiday parties. They spend Christmas sulking, thinking about each other. The holiday is meaningless without the other next to them, but their entire relationship has changed, and instead of distance they blame each other. Christmas is truly made by the people around you.

It’s not until December 26th, when Marc-Andre finally works up the courage to call his maybe former flame. Kris picks up before a ring can even get through.

“Hey,” Marc says.

“Hi,” Kris replies.

“I know it’s late, but Merry Christmas, I miss you, I still love you,” Marc says.

Kris doesn’t reply with “I miss you too”, or “I love you”. He simply says, under his breath “I could care less.” Marc cries on the other end and hangs up.

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Despite playoff disappointments, their summers were always filled with love, happiness, joy, hangovers- the typical summer “bro” fling. There were days spent shirtless on the couch beating each other’s asses at video games and making out after fighting over who’s the “real winner”. There were days spent at the pool and days spent at the gym. Their favorite were the days curled up in bed, letting the golden sun shine through their cheap IKEA curtains, with the white noise of the tv in the background. Michael was usually wrapped in tom’s arms and there were little bite marks on his neck from the night before.

Winter sucked, it was lonely. There were no video game competitions, fun pools, fun training, or domestic morning moments over winter three days off. There was just time with family, which was nice and all, but being alone year after year, knowing the same summer fling has ended is the worst. They both miss each other, but they’re too stupid to deal with their feelings. They’ll spend the holiday season of joy, blue, someplace in Canada, far away from each other, daydreaming.

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Toronto in the Christmas time caught Auston by surprise. He was captivated by it. The Christmas displays in stores, the lights lining the town, the festive decor and activities from one end of town to the other. He even loved the snow in the bitter cold that didn’t even stick, because he never knew that well growing up. He was mesmerized it, he loved it. He grew up in a town smaller than Toronto in Arizona, that didn’t do this. He was never the crazy Christmas type, but always loved the holiday, especially as a kid, because presents.

Mitch liked Christmas enough. He grew up in Toronto, knew the way the city was his whole life. It wasn’t special to him, just commercialized.

It was finally break and neither of them were leaving Toronto because Mitch was from there and auston didn’t feel like flying home because in his own words “too much flying in too few days”. He had a valid point, of course. “What do you want to do on Christmas?” Mitch asked.

“We should walk through the city,” Auston suggested. Mitch internally rolled his eyes at the idea.

“What if we stayed in? Just you and me,” Mitch suggested.

“You’re no fun,” Auston said.

“I’ve done the Christmas in the city thing so many times. It’s not special and it’s cold,” Mitch was practically whining at this point.

“But have you done it with me?” Auston pleaded, walking over to kiss Mitch on the cheek.

“Fine, But only around where we live. You have to cuddle me after,” Mitch said.

“Fine, and as if I wouldn’t,” Auston replied, happy with the outcome.

They went out on Christmas Eve, bundled up in Canada goose jackets, gloves, and beanies, which no Auston has still not figured out how to wear properly. It was nice. They couldn’t really hold hands because they were in public, but the brush of their fingers together through the gloves every so often felt nice. Auston loved this, he could hear Christmas carols and the background over the harsh Canadian winter wind and he loved the tone of the town, reminding him of New York to some extent. Mitch started out miserable, but grew to enjoy spending time with Auston as the snow fell and stuck to their coats. Auston led Mitch down an alleyway and kissed him as the snow fell harder. Mitch was truly in love.

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New York was magical in the winter. Everything from the Christmas lights lighting up the city that never sleeps to the Christmas themed displays in every major store window. From the way the snow sometimes actually stuck making Central Park a winter wonderland, and to the roar of the crowd at games, but In christmas gear. Jimmy and Brady both loved this part of living in New York. Living there had ups and downs, but Christmas was definitely an up.

They loved spending Christmas together in the apartment they shared. It was very simply decorated, a tree they picked out with Kevin, and the very typical white string LED Christmas lights. The decor was nothing special, but they weren’t going to be featured on HGTV anytime soon so it didn’t matter much. Jimmy wanted to take Brady out, on some sort of holiday date and Brady wouldn’t shut up about how much he loved the Christmas lights throughout the city.

“Brady, put on your coat, I have a surprise for you,” Jimmy ordered. Brady put on his coat and followed jimmy out the door and down the elevator.

“What are we doing?” Brady asked.

“We’re going on a walk to see the lights throughout town,” jimmy replied.

“I love you,” Brady said. He leaned in for a kiss, but then remembered they were in public and shouldn’t. Jimmy must’ve remembered they live on as private of a street as one can in the heart of New York City and kissed Brady on the lips before they began their walk.

It was cold out, but beautiful. The city was beyond alive with last minute shoppers, perfectly placed lights, light snow, and the overall Christmas vibe. As they passed Rockefeller center- the flags, the Christmas tree, the ice, and the lights, they held hands for a brief moment. It was nice. They went towards fifth avenue, passed all the expensive stores with their extensive Christmas displays from Gucci to Louis to Tiffany. Sometimes they wanted to go into Tiffany and look at rings, but in reality that couldn’t happen anytime soon. The store was still that striking shade of blue, though.

The end of fifth avenue seemed oddly private for Sunday night, but maybe people were just sick of shopping. They were completely alone. Jimmy cupped his hands around Brady’s face, and kissed him, longer this time. He bit his lip, felt how chapped his perfect lips were, saw his gorgeous eyes close and his lashes flutter. He was in love. He whispered “I love you so much,” to Brady before they began to head back to their apartment.

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Zach felt beyond special going back to Detroit for Christmas. It was his home, where he grew up, where he learned hockey, met Dylan, and fell in love with Dylan. Even though it was worn down and in the middle of some sort of comeback he was still in love with the once industrial paradise. Driving back was weird, the joe was no longer in session, but a fancy new square shaped arena with a Little Caesar’s logo a top of it. It was different from the city he knew, but it was okay. He loved it because it suffered the darkest of times, but it’s coming back, shiny, new, and better than ever. He was also ecstatic to see Dylan. They’d been in love for years and spent every Christmas together in Michigan for as long as they can remember. Zach was of course going to his childhood home, in a nice suburb outside the city, he’d get to see Dylan later.

He finally got to his childhood home which was great. It was decorated for Christmas the same it was throughout his childhood. He talked to his parents, unpacked his things, packed his thins for Dylan’s, and got back in his car to drive to Dylan’s place close to the city. He parked his car in the kind of dark garage that had more snow inside of it than comfortable, took the elevator down, pressed the numbers into the keypad and waited for Dylan to pick up and buzz him in. Dylan just buzzed him in and Zach went to the next elevator and took it up to Dylan’s apartment. It was sort of weird how he had the complete muscle memory of which ways to turn to get to the apartment, but he misses Dylan sometimes, and visits him any chance he has. He knocked on the door and Dylan answered. Dylan looked like he was clearly enjoying his break, still in sweatpants and red wings shirt and stubble on his face. Zach looked more put together, a nice jacket, and the fancier, more expensive blue jackets sweatpants. Dylan kissed him right as he answered the door. He missed Zach more than anything in the world.

Eventually they broke the kiss so they could talk. “I missed you so much,” Dylan said.

“I missed you too, babe,” Zach replied.

They walked over the Dylan’s couch, flipped on the tv and Zach let himself lay in Dylan’s lap as Dylan played with his hair, it reminded him of memories in their shitty dorm in college. Dylan had his blinds up on one of the windows, so they could watch the snow fall and turn Christmas white, and watch the sky change from light blue, to purples, to nearly black as the sun tucked itself away. Eventually they got up and went to Dylan’s bedroom. Zach was wrapped in Dylan’s arms, Dylan left kisses down his neck. He missed this so much, this was love, this was home.

“I love you s’much,” Zach said groggily, as he was falling asleep.

“I love you too, babe,” dylan replied, ruffling his fingers through Zach’s short hair.

Being home for Christmas was one of the best things in the world, for both of them.