"Goodnight girls." Monica said as she kissed her oldest daughter, and then her youngest as she tucked them in.
"Mommy?"
"Yes Zoë"
"Is Santa real?"
"Yes darling goodnight."
"Mommy?"
"Yes Tessa."
"Story, please?"
"Please?"
"Alright," Monica said as she sat on the edge of the bed. "What would you like to hear about?"
"Christmas!"
"Your first Christmas with Daddy!"
"Hum, let me see, my first Christmas with your father, when was that again? Ah, yes, I remember now. Well, by this point we hadn't known each other for that long, about three months if that. And we had this really difficult assignment…"
………………..
"Well, good night. I love you." She kissed Tessa. "And I love you too!" She kissed Zoë as she finished the story.
"Night Mommy!" The girls said. She made sure that they were getting off to sleep, and then she turned off the light and left the room
When she had made sure that her mother was gone three year old Zoë crawled out of her bed and tried to climb into her sister's bed, and in doing so she woke her up.
"What is it?" She asked crankily.
"Get up!"
"Why?"
"Because we've gotta go see Santa."
"No, we have to rest to get up early and open presents."
"Santa!" Zoë pouted.
"Alright." She had forced her sister to give in. "I'll go. But you do know that Santa never comes until you're asleep, don't you?"
"He doesn't?"
"No."
"Well, we'll have to catch him sometime!" She said, insisting that they stay up all night.
Tessa's primary reason for giving in was that she knew that Zoë would've been caught with out her help, and she didn't want that to happen to her, besides what was really the harm in it? Second, she didn't believe in Santa Clause anyway. She believed in God, she knew God, she'd seen God. But why wreck her little sister's spirit; Santa was a good thing.
Hand in hand, the girls ventured to the back stairs, where they could see everything, but no one could see them.
"Be very quiet." Tessa whispered, her sister nodded in reply.
The girls sat on the top step and waited quietly.
The smell of Christmas cookies traveled to their noses as they waited and Zoë wanted nothing more than to run down the stairs and have a cookie, which was why Tessa had a hold on both of her arms. Suddenly they heard footsteps coming up the dark hallway; they hadn't thought of that. Tessa picked up Zoë and began to walk back to their room as quietly as she could. But something happened that she hadn't anticipated. She hadn't realized how heavy Zoë had gotten and all of a sudden she dropped her. The hallway light came on.
"What are you guys doing up?" Their father asked.
"Water." Zoë said.
"No Daddy, it wasn't water at all; Zoë and I were spying on Christmas, she wants to see Santa Clause."
"Oh." He said, picking Zoë up and taking Tessa's hand.
"Cookie please?" Zoë asked,
"Not before bed, but first thing in the morning, okay?"
"Okay." She complied. Andrew put the girls back to bed and left.
Tessa wanted to go to sleep, and this time she wasn't going to let Zoë wake her up. She was determined of that.
"Do you hear something?" Tessa awoke hours later to the sound of Zoë whispering loudly in her face.
"Be quiet and I'll let you know."
Zoë grew quiet and Tessa listened.
"You're right, I do hear something." She said.
"It's Santa, I knew it!"
"No Zoë its probably just Mom and Dad again, go back to sleep."
"No, I know it's him, come on!" Zoë headed towards their door.
Tessa considered all of this for a minute. Would it be better to go with Zoë to protect her or to protect herself by staying there to ensure not getting in trouble? She looked at over at Zoë who was just about to turn the doorknob and made her decision, she'd go with her.
As they left their room Tessa heard the noise once more, it sounded much like hooves and bells on the rooftop and like someone was downstairs. She glanced into her parent's room as they passed it. To her surprise they were both asleep. The same scenario occurred once they passed Tess's room and Gloria's. Tessa had two things running through her mind now. Either their house had been broken into, or this was Uncle Adam, that would not surprise her at all.
This time they came all the way down the front stairs. From the bottom step they could see into the living room.
"Look!" Zoë said excitedly, "There he is."
Tessa could not believe her eyes. Sure enough there was a man in a Santa suit in their living room. It had to be Uncle Adam, it just had to be, if it wasn't Tessa didn't know what she would do with herself. Unless it was Sam that is, it very well could have been Sam. But Tessa was torn form her thoughts when she felt Zoë let go of her hand and saw her run into the living room, she quickly followed her.
"Santa!" Zoë whispered, her eyes sparkled.
Tessa stood behind her. She heard snoring behind her, she turned around and in the chair was Uncle Adam, fast asleep. Frightened now, she woke him up. He jumped slightly and then stared in awe at the man in red before them.
"Santa!" Zoë said, once again, but louder this time. The man turned around. He looked like the perfect image of Santa Clause. He said nothing to them, but walked over to the chimney and simply disappeared.
Zoë ran to the window seat, Tessa and Adam followed. They watched speechless as Santa' Sleigh flew off their roof and disappeared into the night.
"Mommy, Daddy I saw Santa Clause, I saw Santa clause!" She yelled as she ran up the stairs.
"Who was that guy?" Tessa asked.
"I honestly have no idea." He answered her, obviously dumbfounded.
"Is he from good works or something?"
"Don't ask me. Ask Tess tomorrow morning."
"What happened," Monica yawned as she and Zoë came back down the stairs.
"I told you Mommy, Santa was here!"
Monica looked at Adam for an answer.
"Santa was here." He replied, patting Zoë on the head as he headed up to bed.
"Look Mom!" Tessa said pointing at the sky.
"It's exactly like it was so many years ago." She smiled.
And in that Christmas night's shining sky was the Christmas star.
"You see girls." Monica said as she sat in the window seat and both girls crawled onto her lap. "That is what Christmas is about. It's not about presents or winter celebration or Santa Clause or even peace and joy, it's about God and the most precious gift that the father ever could give and ever has given, his son."
Authors Note:
The idea of this story came about because it is Christmastime and I thought that it would be cute. The two little girls in the story are Andrew and Monica's and if you are wondering they are the same Tessa and Zoë form An Angel named Tessa, A New Chapter in our lives, and My Little Sister, except this story takes place when they are a lot younger, about three and nine prospectively. I hope you enjoyed it. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays everyone! Please read and review!