7:23 a.m.
Each day on the calendar from the first to the twenty-third had been crossed out in alternating red and green crayon and Zack stood before it, prepared to cross out the twenty-fourth. The crayon's green tip lightly touched the top left corner, right above the words Work Xmas Party 4.
"Can I, Mom?"
"Go ahead, Zack," she replied from behind her morning cup of coffee. "It's only quarter after seven but that counts as today. I still don't understand how you can't get up this easy when school's in."
"I don't know either," Zack shrugged and made two green diagonal lines through the box. "It's a mystery!"
"It's something, all right," she said as he scurried off to the living room with a bowl of cereal. "And put some clothes on already," Carey called after him. "It's too cold to sit around in your underwear."
"We need a new heater," Zack yelled back with a mouthful of generic Captain Crunch.
Yes we do, she thought to herself as she stood up and refilled her coffee. They needed a bunch of things and, as much as she'd like to make it her number one priority, a new heater wasn't one of them. No, as much as she wanted a new furnace, one that actually worked without an occasional maddeningly annoying clunking sound or sometimes having to be turned up to almost 80 degrees to get 70, it came in somewhere around number seventeen on her list.
It was their second Christmas after the divorce and things weren't easy. They weren't bad, but they were far from smooth. She'd got a cheap house and moved herself and the boys out of her sister's place a few months after she'd taken a job that she nearly loathed. Carey Martin, aspiring singer and part-time songwriter, now oversaw five areas in a department store. It's definitely not Hollywood but it pays the bills, she mused as she finished off the dregs of her coffee. She rolled her eyes and placed the cup atop the coffee maker after giving it a quick rinse in the sink. "It's almost over, Carey old girl," she said to herself, "just one more shift and all the madness will be over for another year."
Truth be told, the last thing Carey wanted to do was go back to work even if it was for a party. She'd spent more than enough hours there over the last month and wanted nothing more than a night of relaxing in her pajamas and some cocoa. The boys though... they were more than enthused enough for her when she first mentioned it two weeks ago.
"Santa's going to be there, Mom," Zack had told her. "We have to go. It'll be my last chance to make sure he got my list." Cody readily agreed with him.
"I'm sure he got it, kiddo. You don't have to worry about that."
"You never know, Mom. What if he got my list mixed up with Cody's? Or with a girl?" Zack shuddered theatrically. "It would be the worst Christmas ever if I woke up to a bunch of Barbies and teacups and pink stuff. We should go so I can be sure."
Carey had to suppress a laugh at Zack's earnestness. "Okay, okay, calm down, we'll go. We'll see Santa, have some food, talk to people for a little while, and then come on home, okay?" Zack wholeheartedly agreed and Cody nodded his assent just as vigorously.
"Remember though," she told the two of them, "you still have to be good because I can always whisper in Santa's ear if you do anything bad between now and then." Zack's eyes widened as he realized he wasn't off the hook quite yet.
"We'll be perfect little angels, Mom," he'd replied and Carey gave him a slightly disbelieving look. "Perfect. Just watch."
To her great surprise, he'd been just about perfect since then. Not one hundred percent, but pretty close. Close enough for Zack, anyway. He'd even offered to help her do the dishes one night, something he'd normally balk at or try to con Cody into doing for him. "I want to make sure Santa knows I'm being really good," he'd said as he wiped the plates dry.
Carey allowed herself the small treat of another half cup of coffee. She took small sips at first and then shotgunned the whole thing after checking her watch. "I swear mornings go by twice as fast as the rest of the day," she muttered while rinsing the cup again. Carey dried her hands on a towel and set off to finish getting ready.
"So no clothes yet, huh?" Carey asked her son as she sat beside him on the couch to tie her shoes.
"Nah, not yet," Zack answered. He was balancing the empty cereal bowl on his belly while watching early morning cartoons.
"Jeremy is going to be here any minute now, Zack. I kind of doubt he'll want to see you in just your socks and undies first thing in the morning."
"He won't care, Mom. Jeremy's a boy, too, so it doesn't matter."
"I'm not sure I'd really call him a boy, honey. He's fourteen." Carey finished one shoe and quickly did the other.
"Dad says that you're still a boy until you start to shave," Zack told her as he peeked into the bowl to make sure he hadn't missed anything.
"Well...that kind of makes sense," she laughed. Their fresh-faced neighbor and babysitter still looked years away from having to shave. "Just promise me you'll get dressed if he asks you to."
"'Course I will."
"I guess it's good that you listen to someone," Carey said as she ruffled his already messy hair.
"I have to listen to him, Mom, he's cool."
"What, am I not cool?" she asked with a look of feigned pain.
Zack might have been only seven but he knew a loaded question when he heard one but played along anyway. "Not as cool as he is," he giggled. He watched as Carey reached over and picked up the bowl with one hand and, while he was distracted, dove the tickling fingers from her other hand into his side. Zack squirmed and laughed as he tried to cover every sensitive spot at once.
"I should tell Santa about that," he grinned and wiped a tear a from his eye.
"He'll bring me an extra present for doing it," Carey told him and received a raspberry in reply. She waggled her fingers at him again and he rolled up into a little smirking ball. He kept a watchful eye on his mother for a few seconds before suddenly looking over her shoulder.
"Jeremy's here!" he exclaimed and was off the couch and racing toward the side door in an instant. Three quick knocks echoed through the house as Zack slid to a stop on the wood floor and threw the door open, leaving Carey to wonder how Zack always knew. She shook her head as she listened to her son talk the ears off of his teenaged hero. Cereal bowl in hand, she got up and walked to the kitchen to join them.
"Zack, give him a chance to take his coat off before you smother him, huh?" she pulled her son a step back before turning her attention to their sitter. "Hi, Jeremy, thanks again for looking after the twins today."
"Mom! He brought his Xbox!" Zack said as he pointed at Jeremy's backpack.
"You're welcome, Ms. Martin." he unzipped his heavy coat and Zack took it from him. He put the hood over his head and the coat draped down to just above his ankles. "I thought it might be a little too cold to play outside today."
"You and I might think that but I know someone who apparently thinks we live on the beach," Carey said.
"She means me, Jeremy," Zack said and pulled the coat open to show his Hanes.
"I kind of figured that, buddy." He pulled the hood down so it nearly covered Zack's face and the boy laughed.
"Anyway, I've got to run. Cody's still asleep, there's a ton of food in the 'fridge so help yourself like always, and we close at three so I should hopefully be home about half an hour after that. Zack, try to make sure you and your brother are ready to go when I get home, okay?"
"Sure, Mom. Hey, can Jeremy come to the party with us?"
"Well, I guess if he could if he wants to."
"Mom says there's gonna be a bunch of food there and Santa, too!" Zack exclaimed to him. "You have to go!"
"Zack, he and his father might have already made other plans."
"Oh." Zack pushed the hood up. "I didn't think about that."
"It's okay, little man. Tell you what, why don't you go put some clothes on and I'll call my dad in a little while and see what he says?" Zack highly approved of the idea and pumped his fist. "Don't wake Cody up," Jeremy added as Zack took the coat off and pushed it into his hands before tearing off down the hall to his bedroom.
"I'd love to know your secret power," Carey said as she took Jeremy's coat and hung it on the rack. The teen could only awkwardly shrug and smile. "Anyway, I need to go and get this day over with. Thanks again, Jeremy. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"It's no big deal, Ms. Martin, really," Jeremy told her.
"You might not think so but I do. So thank you for the millionth time." Carey slipped her coat on and wrapped a scarf around her neck before swearing quietly as she stepped out into the bitter morning.
4:55 p.m.
"Why is Santa getting out of a truck, Cody?" Zack asked as he stood with his little face pressed against the glass. "He's supposed to have his reindeer and sleigh with him." The boys were looking out the window of the second story break room and watching Santa extricate himself from the passenger side of a large pickup.
"Maybe he's letting them rest. They have a long way to fly tonight."
"Maybe. It still doesn't seem right. Santa with no reindeer is like peanut butter with no jelly." Zack leaned back just far enough to swipe the sleeve of his shirt across the window and erase his breath fog. "Hey! Where's his bag?"
"What bag?" Cody, wondering where Jeremy had gone, had turned away to scan the groups of grownups for a moment and snapped his attention back to the window.
"The bag he keeps all the presents in."
"Why would he bring it now? Christmas is still," Cody pulled up his sleeve to look at the watch on his wrist and did some quick addition, "almost seven hours away. Technically. That's midnight. But Mom says Christmas doesn't start until-"
"He could bring it now and give us an early present or two," Zack said, interrupting his brother.
"Why would he do that?" Cody asked, puzzled.
"Because we've been good all year long and Christmas is taking forever to get here!" Zack announced and wiped the window again.
"I don't know about the all year long part," Carey said as she walked up behind her boys and knelt down between them to put an arm around each twin's shoulder, "but you've been pretty good for most of it."
"How much is most?" Zack asked as his eyes flitted back and forth between his mother and Santa in the parking lot.
"Well...I'd say that Santa knows that little boys sometime-"
"Oh Cody look! He's getting his bag out of the back of the truck!" Zack exclaimed and bounced up and down on the toes of his size fours. He pulled his brother to the glass and wiped a bigger clear space and pointed. Santa had slung the red bag over a shoulder and started to carefully make his way across the remnants of snow and ice that had escaped the plow earlier that day.
Carey swallowed a grin as her boys crowded the window and almost laughed aloud when she heard Zack whisper to his brother to hold his breath and not fog up the window again. She stood up and wiped a clear space of her own and peered through the glass. "Do you think he has anything in there for you?"
Zack peeled his face from the pane and looked at her as if she had just asked the single dumbest question ever asked in the history of the world before responding with a single word. "Yes."
"What about you, Cody?"
"I hope so," her other son answered.
Santa made it upstairs and barely had one foot in the room before the children flocked to his side. They called his name excitedly and he laughed his iconic laugh as he slowly moved to where a large, ornate wooden chair had been placed. Santa set his bag behind it and settled his large frame down. The younger ones began crowding around Santa but Zack and Cody stayed back with Jeremy as the kids tried to form themselves into a line.
"Hey, Jeremy? Are you going to sit on Santa's lap?"
"I'm not sure, Zack. I think I might be a little too big for that," the teenager said.
"No way," Zack told him, waving the idea away with a lazy sweep of his hand, "you're not that big. You're skinny like me but just taller. See my mom over there? She's too big. She'd squash Santa like a bug if she sat on him." Jeremy smiled at the boy and put a hand on his shoulder.
"I think we'd better get up there. We don't want to keep Santa busy for too long, right? He's got a big trip tonight and I'm sure he still needs to get ready."
"C'mon, Cody, let's go," Zack said to his brother as he took his hand and led them up to the end of the meandering line.
Cody stood silently and tried to recount anything he'd done during the last year that could possibly be considered naughty while Zack bounced around with oblivious excitement. One by one the children in front of them had their turn with the jolly old man until it was just the two of them left.
"Okay, boys, who's first?" Santa asked as he looked between the twins.
"Cody is," Zack announced and his brother, as well as his mother and Jeremy, were surprised. "That way you'll hear my list last and won't forget it."
Santa laughed a hearty laugh. "I won't forget, Zack," he said with a wink and Zack's mouth dropped open.
"You know my name?"
"Of course I do. I'm Santa. Now come on over here. You, too, Cody." Santa merrily patted his knees and the boys came over.
"He knows your name, too!" Zack whisper-yelled in his brother's ear.
"He's Santa, Zack," Cody retorted quietly and let Santa help him up. Once he was settled, Santa lifted Zack onto his other knee. Cody quickly told Santa what he wanted for Christmas before Zack began reciting his list.
"He doesn't want much, does he?" Jeremy laughed when Zack finally paused for a breath in his delivery before barreling along again.
"I swear he's naming off just about every single thing in the toy department," Carey said as she and Jeremy stood nearby. She dug through her purse and pulled out a bulky digital camera. "Be right back. They look too cute like that for me to not take a picture."
A blinding flash stung Zack's eyes and he squinted to see his mother standing with the camera pointed at them. "Mom!"
"I had to get a picture, honey," she said before disappearing back into the crowd.
Zack talked for another few seconds before finally wrapping up his spiel. Cody slipped off the man's knee and came over to his mother and stood between her and Jeremy. Zack started to follow but doubled back and whispered something in Santa's ear. He received a reply that seemed to make him happy and he joined the others with a giant smile on his face and it only got bigger when Santa pulled his red velvet bag from behind the chair and started passing out presents to the children.
"I told you that you should have sat on his lap," Zack told Jeremy as he waited for Cody's name to be called. He'd already received his gift and waiting for his brother was taking forever. "You'd have got one, too!"
"It's okay. I'll just take yours," he said and pretended to reach for Zack's present.
"Nuh-uh!" Zack giggled and ducked out of the way.
Cody eventually got his and he and Zack were about to add to the mess of wrapping paper already littering the floor when Santa reached into his sack for a final time and read the tag on the present he pulled out. "Jeremy? Where is Jeremy?" Santa asked as he looked around the room.
Zack had just torn open the paper just enough to reveal a Nerf football and Cody was flipping through the pages of his new dinosaur encyclopedia when their mouths dropped open. "He's over here, Santa!" Cody said and pointed.
Jeremy was as surprised as the twins and turned to Carey. "Ms. Martin, ma'am, you-"
Carey told the most unconvincing lie of all time. "I don't know anything about it." She smiled and gave the boy a gentle push. "You'd better go see what Santa brought you before Zack takes it." Jeremy looked to protest again but Carey took a sip from her glass and turned away.
"Well, okay," he said as he took the hint. Zack was by his side, his own present dangling limply in his hand and forgotten for the moment.
"Here you go, young man. Merry Christmas," Santa told him as he handed the package over.
"Thank you, Santa." Based on the weight and shape of the box he had a very good idea of what was inside.
"What is it? Open it already!" Zack said as returned to the others.
"Hang on just a second, Zack," he said. He looked at Carey again and she shrugged her shoulders. "Ms. Martin..."
"Go on, open it," she told him.
Zack recognized the green plastic the moment Jeremy had pulled off the first strip of paper. "It's an Xbox game!" he announced. "Which one is it?"
"Fable," Jeremy said as uncovered the rest of the box and showed Zack the cover. "It's the one I told my dad I really wanted this year," he added and looked at Carey again.
"Isn't it funny how Santa always seems to get it right every time?" she replied as she finished her drink. "And speaking of time, I think it's about time we started heading home. It's almost five-thirty already and I told Jeremy's dad we'd have him home by six. I also know a couple of boys who've had more than enough snacks and soda for one day." Zack tried to whistle innocently under her gaze.
They milled around for another few minutes as Carey said her goodbyes. Cody spent the time telling Jeremy about the dinosaurs from his new book while Zack spent it stuffing as many cookies as he could fit into his coat pockets when he was sure Santa wasn't watching. Coats were gathered and the group headed downstairs and walked through the empty store. They came to a set of bathrooms on their way out and Carey called a halt.
"Zack, Cody, why don't the two of you hit the bathroom before we leave? You'll pee icicles if I have to pull over on the side of the road." The boys didn't argue and Zack snickered as he followed his brother to the swinging door.
"Do you have to go, too?" Zack asked as he stopped in the doorway and looked back at his hero.
"No, I didn't drink a gallon of soda like you did. Go on before you pop!" Jeremy teased. "You didn't have to do this, you know," he said to Carey and held up the game after the twins were in the restroom. "You already pay me when I watch them and I have fun doing it."
"I know. Just think of it as a Christmas bonus. You've given up a pretty big chunk of your winter break to watch my boys so it's the least I can do. They're so much happier than they'd be if they were in some rotten daycare and that makes me happy so enjoy the game and save the world or rescue the princess or whatever it is you do in it."
"I...okay. Thanks, Ms. Martin."
"You're welcome, Jeremy," she told him and he slipped the game into an inside coat pocket.
8:18 p.m.
"Zack? Did you eat another of Santa's cookies?" Carey asked as she looked at the plate the boys had set out for him. The boys were sitting in front of the tree looking at Cody's dinosaur book. Mouth full, Zack could only shake his head. "You're going to get a year's worth of socks if you keep it up."
"Santa won't miss one cookie, Mom," Zack told her once he'd finished chewing and swallowed.
"You've had three," Cody said as he turned the page.
Zack leveled the sternest gaze he could manage on his brother. "Hush, Cody. You're supposed to be on my side."
Carey ducked back into the kitchen to check the oven and hide the grin that was blooming on her face. Frozen pizzas weren't the meal she'd have chosen for Christmas Eve dinner but they were quick and easy so she didn't complain. "The oven is ready, boys. You now have exactly twenty minutes to get in the tub, get cleaned up, and get your pjs on. Do you want me to start the water?"
"No, I can do it," Cody told her as he and Zack scrambled to their feet and stomped down the hall.
"Make sure it's not too hot. Oh, and it would be the best present ever if all your clothes found their way into the hamper and all the water managed to stay in the tub," she called after them. The water thundering into the tub drowned out any reply the boys might have given.
Carey waited until the water was turned off before sliding the pizzas into the oven. She listened carefully and heard only the usual splashes and giggles. Satisfied the boys were occupied for the next few minutes, she pulled her coat on and grabbed her car keys before easing her way out the side door.
The trunk of their Honda wasn't really frozen shut but that had been her story for the last three weeks. "Watch it actually be frozen now," Carey mumbled into the wind. "Sorry, boys, but I guess Santa must have had a few beers on his trip because he locked all your presents in my trunk last night. Weird, huh?" She inserted the key and thankfully it popped open with no more fuss than normal and two large, black plastic garbage bags were illuminated by the dim light.
Carey shivered as she pulled one bag out and then the other. "I wouldn't even have to be doing this if you guys weren't such little snoops," she said as she glanced back at the house. Zack was nosy but Cody had turned into a regular little master detective. He'd found their birthday presents earlier in the year and discovered where she'd hidden the bags of candy she'd bought for their stockings a few days after Thanksgiving. She loved his inquisitive nature but wished he'd tone it down just a notch or two.
She gently closed the trunk and hefted each bag by its tied neck and trudged back to the door. She peaked her head in to make sure Zack hadn't snuck out of the tub to grab another cookie before hauling the presents inside and directly to her room. She stashed them away temporarily behind her closet door and covered them with an old blanket before sitting on her bed with a sigh. The bags were a lot heavier than she'd expected. "Those kids are spoiled rotten," she said to herself.
Carey enjoyed the semi-quiet of the next fifteen minutes. The boys were still splashing around in the tub and she was enjoying a cup of hot chocolate with a dash of peppermint schnapps. The oven's timer buzzing finally shattered the peace. She pushed herself off the couch and heard a flurry of noises from the bathroom as the twins emptied the tub and started drying off. Expecting a tiny stampede, Carey hurriedly cut the pizza and had three plates ready by the time they appeared in the kitchen.
Miracle on Super Boring Street, as Zack called it, was on as they ate. Carey had given up trying to focus to the movie and listened to her boys jabber about Santa. "Oh, Zack, I meant to ask you earlier but I got distracted. What did you ask Santa when you went back up to him?" Zack looked at her with a wide grin and a mouth full of pizza. "Is it that good?"
Zack held up a saucy finger while he chewed. "I asked him how naughty it was for Cody to put all his lima beans on my plate when you weren't looking."
"Hey!" Cody squeaked and leaned forward so he could see around his mother, "you did that to me!"
"Easy, Cody," she said while struggling not to laugh, "Santa knows who did what." Cody looked satisfied. "What was his answer?"
"He said it wasn't really that naughty but I, I mean Cody, shouldn't do it but he understands because he tries to sneak them to his reindeer whenever Mrs. Claus makes 'em. Can we get a reindeer?"
"Probably not," she told him as she noticed the time. "I don't know where we'd keep-" she started before abruptly looking up.
"What, Mom?" Cody questioned. He looked up but didn't see any spiders on the ceiling.
"I think I just heard hooves on the roof."
"Really?" Cody looked up again and listened as hard as he could. Zack began to say something but was quickly shushed by his brother.
"I think so. It sounded like they landed and then took off again real quick."
"Why would he leave?"
"Because we're still awake, Zack!" Cody answered instantly.
"He'll come back, right?" Zack looked to Carey for reassurance.
"I'm sure he will. He's probably just hitting the other houses in the area first. You two better get to bed though, just in case. I doubt he can circle the neighborhood all night waiting for you to fall asleep."
Zack inhaled the last bite of his pizza and put his plate on top of Cody's. "C'mon, Cody!" Zack hopped up and pulled his brother from the couch.
"Brush your teeth and wash the sauce from your faces, please," Carey called after the boys as they ran down the hallway. She saw them turn on a dime and dash into the bathroom. "I don't know how I didn't think of that years ago," she mumbled as she took the small stack of plates and loaded them into the dishwasher.
Carey tucked the boys in and retired to the couch to wait. They were quiet and she considered going ahead stuffing their stockings but she knew better. Cody had wandered out of his room silently last year and it was only because he was rubbing his eyes that he didn't see her dumping half a bag of Hershey's kisses into Zack's stocking before she swooped over and picked him up. She could wait.
When Miracle was over, Carey stole to the boys' door and poked her head in. Zack was sprawled out, half-covered, and lightly snoring while Cody had curled into a little ball and buried himself under the blankets. She nodded to herself and pulled their stockings off of the door. It was time.
Loading their stockings with candy and small presents always took longer than she expected it to. Something wouldn't fit or she'd remember halfway through that Cody liked peppermint more than chocolate and have to dump the whole thing out and start over. "He certainly didn't get that from me," she said as she unwrapped a chocolate kiss and popped it in her mouth. When they were finally full to the point of almost overflowing, she set the stockings aside.
The presents were the easy part. Carey pulled the garbage bags out into the living room and unloaded them in the middle of the floor. Having learned from a mistake two years ago, the presents were already labeled so all she had to do was stick a bow or two on each box before she stacked them under the tree with the others.
"What a haul," she said with a yawn as she stood back and admired the mountain of presents under the tree.
There was only one thing left to do before she turned in so Carey picked up the laden stockings and carried them back to the twins' room. She double checked the name before laying Zack's stocking beside his pillow. She covered him as well as she could with the parts of the blankets he wasn't laying on before turning to the other bed. She put his stocking down next to Cody's teddy bear and that was that. Carey retreated to the doorway and watched over her boys for a moment.
"Merry Christmas," she said softly and pulled the door almost all the way closed.
It's been absolutely forever since I uploaded anything but I was poking around an old laptop and came across two long-unfinished Christmas stories and decided to combine them into this one. I hope you enjoyed it and wish you all a happy holiday season. Thanks for reading, SI.