A ten year old Jack felt himself being rudely shaken. He turned over in his bed and weakly tried to swat his tormentor.

"Jack! Jack, wake up! Santa Claus came!" a small voice said. Jack's eyes snapped open.

"Why didn't you say so?" he asked, sitting up. He looked at his five year old sister, Pippa, her eyes shining with joy. She was holding a plate with a few cookie crumbs on it.

"And look! He ate the cookies! Even yours!" she said, bouncing up and down.

"What was wrong with my cookie?" he asked, pulling on his day clothes. Pippa blushed and looked at the ground.

"Well, you forgot to add eggs and put in to much milk and-" Jack cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"I get it. C'mon, let's go see what St. Nick brought us!" he said, ruffling Pippa's brown hair. She squealed with delight and put the emty plate on Jack's night stand.

She scuried down the stairs, Jack quickly following by sliding down the railings.

"Jack, you are going to break your neck if you keep doing that!" Jack's mother said, sweeping her brown hair up into a bun.

"Yes, ma'am." Jack said, winking to Pippa. She laughed and dashed to the fireplace.

"Look! My stocking is filled with sweets!" she said, sticking her hand in and withdrawing a handful of chocolates and butterscotches. Jack eagerly ran to his own hand stitched stocking. Before Jack could even glance in his stocking, his father picked him up and slung him over his shoulder.

"Well, Margeret. Looks like St. Nicholas left me a sack of potatoes!" his father said. Jack laughed and pounded his father's back.

"Put me down, dad! I wanna see my stocking!" Jack said in between giggles. Jack's father put him down next to the fireplace. Jack stuck his hand in his stocking. His face fell. He pulled out a handful of black coal.

"Oh, I'm sorry honey," His mother said comfortingly. "Maybe next year."

Jack sat down dejectedly. A peice of coal rolled aroun and hit the corner of the hearth. Something shiny caught on the corner of a stone.

"Huh?" Jack said, reaching for the coal. He grabbed the shiny thing and pulled. The black on the coal peeled right off. Jack's eyes lit up when he saw the dark brown chocolate underneath.

"It's chocolate! My coal is chocolate!" he squealed, unwrapping all of his coal. Pippa came over and laughed.

"So you weren't on the Naughty list!" she said, popping a butterscotch into her mouth.

"Come on, kids. Let's see your other presents." thier mother said. Their father laughed and handed out presents to his children and wife.

"This is the best Christmas ever!" Pippa called from under the tree.