New Christmassy short story for you all as promised. Young Ethan is determined to show Cal there is such thing as Father Christmas, and Cal is determined to do exactly the opposite. I hope you enjoy, please let me know your thoughts as always, thanks, Kayxxx :)
I believe in Father Christmas – Chapter one
It was Christmas Eve and young Ethan and Cal were on their way home from visiting their grandparent's house with their mother. Ethan skipped happily hand in hand with his mum; he watched the darkened sky with excited eyes. Cal on the other hand walked with his hands in his pockets and the hood of his Parker pulled up so far over his head that it almost covered his face as he attempted to protect himself from the bitter winter night.
"Ethan what have I told you? Keep your hood up its freezing out tonight" his mother told him as she pulled up the hood of his coat over his bobble hat.
"Oh but mum I can't see the sky if I have my hood up the fur gets in the way" he sulked as he pushed it back down.
"And why do you want to see the sky?" She asked confused.
"Grandad said it's not going to snow tonight" Cal announced.
"I'm not looking for snow, I'm looking for Father Christmas" Ethan replied excitedly.
"You can't honestly still believe in Father Christmas?" Cal laughed.
"Of course I believe in him!" Ethan replied eagerly, "who else puts the presents under the tree?" He shrugged.
"Um, mum does?" Cal replied easily.
"Stop it Caleb" his mother warned.
"But only Father Christmas knows what I want, because I sent him a letter to the North Pole" Ethan told him.
"Mum keeps that letter so she can get everything you wanted, she doesn't really mail it to the North Pole" Cal chuckled.
"He is real" Ethan replied determinedly. As they reached their house, their mother opened the door and the two boys hurried inside, Ethan ran straight for the couch in the living room and sat looking out the window at the sky.
"What so do you believe when we go to John Lewis in town and meet 'Father Christmas' that's him?" Cal asked as he too sat on the couch but had no interest what so ever in the window, instead he faced the TV, playing a game on his Xbox.
"No don't be silly!" Ethan laughed Cal sighed with relief, "they're just lookalikes that work for him, they give him feedback of what we want in case we don't put it in our letters" he explained.
"What so they go back to Santa and say Caleb and Ethan Hardy from Holby want a BMX bike and a telescope?" Cal asked, Ethan nodded along, "why would they do that? There are millions and millions of children in the world, why would he care what we want?" He asked.
"They go on our files that Mrs Claus and the elves sort out, they need to get the numbers together so they can see how many BMX bikes and Telescopes they need to make" he told him.
"What so you think that Father Christmas can go to every house in the entire world in one night and give them presents?" Cal laughed as he paused his game to listen to the thoughts his younger brother had thought up.
"Well, not everyone in the world celebrates Christmas; did you not learn that in RE? Also Father Christmas has magic, he can freeze time so he gets round to every child on time" he explained.
"What so he's magic now too?" Cal laughed.
"Of course, how else does his reindeer fly?" He shrugged, "He also has elves with other reindeers that help him out on Christmas Eve" he told him.
"Well how does Santa choose which houses to go to?" Cal asked.
"The ones who leave out milk and cookies and carrots for his reindeer Santa will go to" Ethan explained.
"What if every house does that?" Cal shrugged.
"Then he'll go to the ones with the most or the best" Ethan told him.
"What if every house does that?" Cal shrugged.
"I don't know! Not every kid gets a present; some get a lump of coal because they've been naughty that year, I think I'm on the nice list" Ethan replied smugly.
Cal shook his head, "But-"
Ethan cut him off, "You're definitely on the naughty list!" he giggled.
"Eth-" Ethan cut him off once more.
"You are!" Ethan laughed.
"Ethan it's all made up, can't you see that? Flying reindeer, freezing time, naughty and nice lists, it's all lies" Cal told him amused.
"Don't tell him that Caleb!" Their mother yelled from the kitchen.
"Oh mum, he's the only one in his class that still believes, it's a joke!" Cal snapped.
"If he wants to believe then let him believe, he'll be getting more presents than you this year I can tell you!" She warned as she walked back into the kitchen.
"He is real! And it's because of people like you saying he isn't real makes the Christmas spirit die; he needs Christmas spirit to help his magic work" Ethan shouted.
"Father Christmas isn't real Ethan!" Cal shouted back.
"He is!" Ethan argued.
"He is not!" Cal continued.
"He is too and I'll prove it to you! We'll stay down here tonight, we'll build a fort and we'll wait for him to come and then you'll see you were wrong all along when he comes with my presents, and your coal" Ethan stated determinately.
"Now look what you've done" their mother sighed and gave Cal daggers.