It was 12:30pm on December 1st.
Alvin, Simon and Theodore laid flat out on the sofa, cheese balls, chocolates and sweet wrappers strewn around them.
Alvin had the remote in his hand, flicking through the channels.
"Phineas and Ferb?" He asked his brothers, as he flicked onto Disney Channel.
"Nah." They replied, resting their heads in their hands, bored.
"Invader ZIM?"
"Naaaah!"
"Ben 10?"
"Yeah, if we were 5!"
"Spongebob?"
"We watched that one earlier!"
"Well I give up!" Alvin said, exasperated, throwing the remote down next to him. He added quietly,
"I'm so bored. . ."

Just then, Dave came in, from the kitchen.
"Hey, whatcha doing?"
"Nothing" The three boys chorused in a one-tone voice.
"We're bored." Alvin added, sitting up and picking at a cheese ball he had found down the side of the sofa.
"Can you give us something to do, Dave?" Theodore asked innocently, eyes large.
An invisible light bulb lit up over Dave's head. "I've got an idea for you." He then sprinted upstairs.
"What you think he's doing?" Theodore asked.
"I Don't have a clue" Simon said, shrugging.
"Whatever it is, I hope it isn't one of his pen-and-paper games. Seriously, those are so lame!" Alvin said.
"C'mon Alvin, they aren't so bad." Simon reasoned
"What if Dave hears you, Alvin!" Theodore suddenly said. "He'll be hurt!"
"Oop!" Alvin said, shutting up. "You're rig-ow!" Alvin cried, turning to Simon.
"What'd you do that for?"
Simon grinned slightly. "What? Why'd I thump you in the side? Maybe I just felt like it" He joked.
Alvin stared through lidded eyes. "Get to the point."
"I heard Dave coming so I made sure you shut up."
As soon as Simon stopped talking Dave walked in with paper and a selection of crayons.
"Coloring, Dave?" Alvin asked, raising an eyebrow. "Not impressive."
"No." Dave said, putting three pieces of paper down on the table.
"…Your Christmas lists!"
The three chipmunks leant in to get a closer look. "Christmas Lists?"
Dave nodded. "I, uh, don't know if you know this, but you write down the things you want ready for Santa at Christmas, and he gets them for you. So I want you to do that."
Each respective chipmunk took their respective color and set down to work.
Dave smiled and went to cook dinner.

He came back in an hour later juggling three bowls of tomato soup. Only then did the three chipmunks turn around and let their crayons roll onto the carpeted floor.
Dave smiled at them as they practically threw their lists at the adult in excitement.

He managed to stop them and put the three bowls on the table, before collecting up the three Christmas lists. One in particular caught his eye.

Alvin's.

'I'll read that later' Dave thought to himself.

And so, after Alvin, Simon, and Theodore had finished slurping down their soup, got washed up and climbed into bed, Dave settled down at the kitchen table and read each list.
When he got to one written out in slightly wobbly handwriting and entirely written in red crayon, he smiled and began to read.
It said,

'Dear Santa,

This Christmas I want A HULAHOOP.
Just a hula-hoop.

Love, Alvin.
(PS - Get me the hula hoop and you can help yourself to any sweets in the cupboard!)'

Dave laughed quietly at the last line. He then looked at the word 'HULAHOOP' again. It was completely in capitals, highlighted in luminous yellow, had arrows pointing to it, and a little cartoon picture of Alvin yelling 'PLEASE!' on the left side.
Dave dropped the note gently back onto the table, but didn't stop looking at it.
"Guess I know What I'm getting Alvin for Christmas.." He murmured.

Fast forward a bit now, to 7AM on the 25th of December.
Alvin flew into Dave's bedroom, grinning and resisting the urge to yell at the top of his voice. He climbed onto the adults bed and began to jump rapidly.
The red-clad chipmunk stopped for a while, seeing that it didn't work. He looked over at Dave's legs and feet and sighed, beginning to wander over toward them while murmuring regrettably, "Just remember, Dave. This is going to hurt me a lot more than it will for you" He then bit onto Dave's toe, but not hard enough to make it bleed, just hard enough to make Dave scream.. Or cry like a little girl.
It seemed to work as Dave shot up like a rocket, screaming.
Alvin heard his brothers scream too, and they ran into Dave's room and immediately began tugging at his hand. Alvin joined in excitedly and , finally all was awake in the Seville household.

Dave led the three downstairs, although still sleepy. They got to the living room where there were three boxes on the table.
Simon and Theodore raced toward them and tore at the paper.
Only Alvin didn't move; just stood there, heart sinking. He was about to give up and let one of his brothers have his gift, when he felt something nudge his shoulder. It was his gift.
"Open it." Dave said softly.
Alvin slowly took the gift; He knew it wasn't a hula hoop - it was in a box and hula hoops don't come in boxes.
But he slowly pulled the red wrapping from the box and ever so slowly pulled the white lid from the box..

And then his face lit up.

He pulled a bright red hula-hoop from the box and hugged it contentedly.
"This is the best Christmas ever!" Alvin said.
And it truly was.