Waiting for Christmas Morning

Waiting for Christmas Morning

Charlie barely slept on Christmas Eve.  It wasn’t until the sky started to brighten that he finally dozed off.  During his short rest, he dreamed about presents.  This year he knew he was going to get what he wanted; there was no doubt about it.  Despite only a few hours of sleep Charlie woke refreshed and excited.  He heard footsteps rumbling down the stairs and he hopped out of bed and followed them, not bothering to change out of his pajamas.

Down the hall, Paul didn’t think he was going to be able to fall asleep on Christmas Eve.  For days he had been eyeing the packages under the tree, in particular the ones with his name on them.  He was sure that the one in the green and blue wrapping was the Playstation he had asked for.  It was just the right shape and he had been reminding his parents about it for months; there was nothing else it could be.

Despite his fears of insomnia, Paul fell asleep early and with greater ease than anticipated.  He woke up and light was shining through the edges of the curtains: Christmas was finally here.  He jumped out of bed in his pajamas and ran toward the stairs, halfway down, he heard footsteps moving behind him but he was too focused on reaching the tree to bother turning around.

The green and blue package was where he had left it and Paul stood motionless, staring at it.  Out of the corner of his eye, a red object caught his attention and he turned to check it out.  It was another package resting near the fireplace that had not been there the day before.  It was wrapped in red paper and gold ribbon and had a card on it that read: “To Paul, From Santa.”  Paul’s eyes widened.  It was the same shape as the green and blue package under the tree.

“Looks like Santa stopped by last night,” Charlie said from behind him.

Paul turned to his father, his eyes still wide, and ran into his arms, “Merry Christmas dad!”

“Merry Christmas, kiddo.”  Just as Charlie expected, he had gotten exactly what he wanted for Christmas, what he had been looking forward to for months.  He held his boy close and ran his hand through the child’s hair.

“Dad, Santa came and left a gift for me.”

“I know, I see it over there.  You should open it, kiddo.”

“But don’t we wait until after dinner to open gifts.”

“We do, but not one from Santa.  That’s a special one, that one you get to open first thing in the morning.”

Paul didn’t need to hear anymore.  He released from his father’s arms and ran for the box by the fireplace and tore into the paper before reaching the couch.  Disappointment quickly set in, as it didn’t take much tearing to read the word “Macy’s” on the cover of the box.  Paul frowned, “did Santa bring me clothes?”

Charlie smiled with delight watching the genuine ups and downs of his innocent boy’s emotional Christmas day roller coaster.  “I don’t know kiddo, open it up and find out.”

Paul’s rabid tearing of paper slowed to a point where he looked like an old man carefully removing gift paper so as maybe to reuse it the following year.  “Yeah it looks like clothes,” Paul said in his saddest voice once the paper had been entirely removed.

“Well open it up and see what kind of clothes he brought you, kiddo?”

Paul lifted the cover from the box and peeled back the delicate paper.  Paul’s eyes widened again, there wasn’t clothing under the paper, but another box, the box that he had been looking for.  His eyes rose to his father and a reckless smile covered his face.

“What is it kiddo?”

“It’s the Playstation.”

“The what?”

“The Playstation that I asked for.  It was number one on my Christmas List.”

“Really?  I didn’t even know you wanted one of those.  It’s a good thing Santa stepped in and got it for you, I thought all you wanted was a few pairs of socks and underwear.”

Paul sat the Playstation box in his lap and stared at it, unable and unwilling to wipe the smile from his face.  Charlie expected him to hop up at any moment and run off to the T.V. Room, not be seen again for hours, but Paul placed the box on the couch next to him, walked over to his father and crawled into his lap.

“What did Santa leave for you and mom?”

“He left you, kiddo.”

“But I mean, like, a real gift, one that you look forward to for months and that you can’t stop thinking about.”

“You are the realest gift there is, Paul.  For months I’ve been looking forward to spending this day with you and your mom.  I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how you would react when you came downstairs and found that Santa had dropped by to leave you a gift for being such a wonderful son.”

“That doesn’t sound like a great gift.  Is Christmas still fun when you get old? ‘Cause that doesn’t sound like much fun.”

“Hey I’m not that old kiddo.  But yes, Christmas is always fun, it always has been and it always will be and it doesn’t matter if you’re young or old.  Why don’t we go wake up your mom and then you can go set up your video game?”

Father and son snuck into the room quietly and then jumped loudly into the bed and with Katherine and tickled and wrestled and laughed with her as she woke.  When the commotion stopped, Katherine looked at her husband on her left and her son stretched out across them and she smiled as it dawned on her that she had gotten exactly what she wanted for Christmas.