Living in Rosewood hasn’t exactly been a walk in the park for the characters of Pretty Little Liars.

As across the show’s six and half seasons, characters have been murdered and stuffed in boxes, they’ve been locked inside industrial freezers, they’ve been attacked with batting cage ball shooters and they’ve been kidnapped and implanted with tracking chips.

It’s surprising then that with all of this going on, the four titular liars have managed to have any sort of romantic relationships. All four of the show’s leads (Emily, Spencer, Hanna and Aria) have had various love interests, but it’s Emily’s love life that’s often talked about the most.

It’s become somewhat of a funny talking point amongst the show’s fans that Emily has had so many romantic partners: Maya, Paige, Alison, Talia, Samara and her latest love interest, Sara.

Fans have often joked about Rosewood’s multitude of queer women and it seems that Shay Mitchell, the actress who plays her, and I. Marlene King, who created the show, are in on the laughs.

In an interview with AfterEllen, the two women say that they discuss this a lot, with Mitchell suggesting that “maybe [Emily] is just turning [all of the women]” and King saying “who wouldn’t be gay for Shay, she’s so beautiful”.

As for who fans think that Emily should end up with, many fans support ‘Emison’, the portmanteaus for Emily and Alison’s relationship.

Alison was Emily’s first true love, so it’s unsurprising that there are many ‘die-hard’ fans, with Shay saying that sometimes when she does photoshoots, Emison fans will “superimpose [Alison’s] face onto whatever it is that [she’s] looking so lovingly at” and that when it comes to Emison, her motto is “never say never”.

King, on the other hand, says that “they don’t have to be sexually a couple to be ‘Emison'” and that “they always have that special connection”, noting that there is a cute Emison moment in the summer finale of the show which recently aired.

And what of Paily? The relationship of Paige and Emily? Paige and Emily have had one of the most well-supported relationships on the show, with Emily helping Paige discover her sexuality, but in season five they appeared to break up, with Paige’s family moving her to a different state to get away from Rosewood’s drama.

With Pretty Little Liars doing a five year time jump forward, however, there is a chance for them to reunite in some capacity. King notes that the show’s story does at least put them in the same state

Spoiler alert! The midseason finale of Pretty Little Liars was a big’un. Things are always dark in Rosewood aka the murder capital of the world but in that episode it really lived up to its (unofficial) nickname as fan favourite Mona Vanderwaal was killed off. We even saw her dead body; it was grim.

The liars also fell out with Ali in a big way as the queen of lies and deception began to plot against Emily, Spencer, Hanna and Aria despite the group previously being her best friends and it left us with a plethora of new questions and an intricate web of mystery.

What other secrets is Ali holding? Does she have the power do blackmail the liars? And has she been ‘A’ all along? Aaargh! So much has been left unanswered but we’ll be one step closer to a solution later this year when Pretty Little Liars returns for its Christmas special.

So what do we know so far? Like many of the Halloween specials before it, PLL’s Christmas themed episode is centred around one big party. The theme is ‘Winter Wonderland’ so we’re told and so the liars –plus Ali and her henchpeople – are suitably dressed in icy blue and white attire. I’m not quite sure how dresses are appropriate for Winter weather but it’s Pretty Little Liars so let’s just go with it.

Aria will also be dancing with her boyfriend, English teacher Ezra Fitz, but it won’t all be slow dances under the disco ball for Rosewood’s most famous, definitely illegal couple. The episode is called “How the ‘A’ Stole Christmas” so the infamous villain (or the villainous group) will be back to cause mischief like the Grinch, but with more black hoodies.

Furthermore, A’s plotting includes some Christmas-themed spooks. There’s no word yet on what they are yet but Mona Vanderwaal makes a return as the ghost of Christmas past, with Janel Parrish who plays the deceased teen explaining that she’s “going to be in the Christmas special as the ghost of Christmas past, present and future, and in the second half of the season there will be more Mona flashbacks”.

In a more festive holiday spirit though, the liars, along with Paige, Jenna, Lucas and Sydney, visit the Shady Days Nursing Home to sing some Christmas carols!

Even Ali celebrates the right way as the cunning teen gets her smooch on at the party with someone dressed like Santa Claus, according to Pretty Little Liars writer Bryan Holdman. It’s unclear just who is dressed up as Santa though (some fans are hoping that it’s Emily, despite her and Paige looking pretty loved up in the teaser photos) so that will be one of many big reveals when the episode airs in December.