Edward Cullen

"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse..."

"Oh Daddy, stop. I know that one too well." Nessie giggled.

I leaned over and tickled my daughter, sending her into fits of laughter. She was only 2 and a bit years old, but already looked like a seven year old. Her hair was the same color as my own, a dark bronze mass of curls, her eyes, well they were pure Bella, deep chocolate brown.

She'd encountered so much in her young life, what with the Volturi's visit and so on... she was such a clever little girl and I couldn't be more proud of her.

"Daddy," she smiled meekly. "Can we maybe play a Christmas trick on Uncle Emmett?"

I was immediately intrigued.

What could my daughter be planning? I knew Emmett had been teasing her mercilessly in a way only he could. Jacob had been muttering complaints about it all week but Bella and I had chose to ignore it all, knowing that Nessie could easily sort it out by herself.

"What are you thinking of doing honey?" I asked.

"Well, daddy, it's a well known fact that Uncle Emmett is the one who looks forward to opening his gifts the most. I was thinking of hiding them all around the house and making him do a kind of treasure hunt?"

I chuckled. That sounded like an awesome plan. Emmett would love it too, I was sure of it.

"Sure, sweetheart. We can so do that."

Nessie and I called out to Bella and told her about Nessie's plan. As I imagined, Bella was more than up for it too.

"I may just have to let the others into our plan," she explained. "Especially if we want to hide stuff in their rooms?"

"Mom, dad," Ness said. "I think we should figure out where we'll hide his gifts and send him clues."

Our daughter's enthusiasm had clearly started to rub off on us as we began making up silly clues together.

#1 This year Santa is having a laugh, you'll find this gift where dad takes a ….

#2 Uncle Emmett dont be angree, the next gift you'll find behind the ..

#3 Keep on searchin, you better keep looking, you'll find this one where mom does the …...

#4 If you go to the …... you'll find a gift, do not worry it's not a mirage

On we went making up endless silly clues. Nessie was in her element.

"Daddy," she asked when we'd made up more than enough clues for everyone's gifts to Em, "Does Santa visit vampires?" Her worried tone pulled at my non existent heartstrings.

"Of course he does sweetheart. You know that Santa visits all of the good girls and boys all over the world, and you, my angel are the very best girl, so he wouldn't be able to miss you out."

She seemed satisfied with my response and asked, "Can we tell the others about our plan for Uncle Emmett now?"

"Of course we can. I do think they'll be excited by it."

Bella took our daughter by the hand and went to find the rest of our family in the big house I'd lived in until I'd been fortunate enough to find my soul mate. Now we lived in a small cottage just a short distance from my family home. I had never felt so content. Bella had decorated our cottage with more spangle than would have been Esme's choice but Nessie loved all of it.

The family home was decorated tastefully, with a huge tree covered in tinsel and baubles. The same tinsel adorned the handrail on the staircase. There were dozens of presents under the tree. Alice especially tended to go overboard at Christmas. It now seemed that a few of them would be removed... Tomorrow would be a lot of fun.

***CFAJ***

Bella and Nessie arrived home just an hour or so later. Nessie looked very smug, her plan had clearly gone down well with the family.

"I'm tired now," she declared. "But I need to leave something for Santa and the reindeers."

I had expected this.

"Mommy made some mulled wine earlier." I told her. "Shall we leave some of that and a mince pie for Santa?"

She clapped her tiny hands.

"Yes, please Daddy. Can we leave a carrot and some warm milk for Rudolph?"

"You can leave whatever you like, Angel." I told her. "I'm sure Santa will enjoy anything you choose."

Once we tucked our excited daughter into bed a short while later, Bella and I went about the disgusting task of chewing on the carrot and mince pie. Then we left some reindeer dust with footprints from the door to the sparkly Christmas Tree in our cottage.

I couldn't wait for morning to come.

My beautiful wife and I spent most of the night wrapping gifts for our baby girl, Jake popped by to add one gift to our pile. She'd get the rest of his along with the rest of the family's.

A doll, a pram, some exquisite clothes, some games and a large angel shaped diamond necklace. We hoped she'd love them all.

Jacob had made her gift. He was very gifted in his craft. It was an amazing piece of wooden whittling, a tiny loch Ness monster, so similar to Bella's tiny wolf but different.

Charlie and Billy would join us all in the morning. They'd get to see Nessie opening her other gifts. It truly was an amazing time...