Calvin yawned and managed to wake himself up. He looked over at the clock. It read six o'clock a.m. He looked over at the calendar. It read 12/25/05.

"Sweet sister mother of mercy!" he cried. "It's Christmas! Wake up, Hobbes!"

Hobbes came to. "Is it?"

"It is!"

"IT'S CHRISTMAS!" they screamed together.

Calvin and Hobbes jumped out of bed and ran into the next bedroom. "WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" they shouted. "IT'S CHRISTMAS! IT'S CHRISTMAS! SANTA CAME! SANTA CAME! HE BROUGHT US—!"

They both froze in position. They looked at each other.

"Wait a minute! Did he bring us stuff!" Calvin gasped.

"There's only one way to find out," replied Hobbes.

So, leaving two rather-trampled parents in bed, they scrambled downstairs.

But right before they got to the Christmas tree, Calvin stopped Hobbes.

"What are you doing?" Hobbes asked.

"Before we do this, I just want to say that it's been a very long and strange journey getting this far," Calvin said. "It's been an honor working with you, and no matter what the results, I'm proud to call you my best friend ever."

"Same here pal," grinned Hobbes. "Now what say we see the results of all our hard work?"

Calvin and Hobbes walked slowly down towards the tree.

"I can't look," whimpered Calvin. "Tell me." He covered his eyes.

Hobbes shrugged and took a good look at the tree. He peered down under the tree.

"Okay, I see brightly colored boxes, but nothing to be confirmed yet," he said.

He picked a box up and looked at it.

"We have a gift with your name on it!"

Calvin opened his eyes. "Really!" He dove into the pile of gifts.

After a lot of digging, he pulled out another one!

"Hey! This one has your name on it!" he cried.

Hobbes swiped the small box away from him. "Say what!" he cried.

"Your first gift from Santa," breathed Calvin.

Hobbes paused a moment before he pulled on the ribbon, and the wrapping paper came off. His eyes went wide.

"Holy mackerel," he gasped. "It's…it's…the Entire Encyclopedia of Mountain Cats, Jungle Cats and Cat Cats! The best book ever written in the entire history of forever!"

Mom and Dad came downstairs.

"About time you two showed up!" Calvin shouted. "Hobbes got a gift from Santa!"

Mom and Dad sighed and lay down on the couch.

Calvin dug through the gifts. He found several for him, and he piled them all up. The slaughter was on. While Mom and Dad sat on the couch, drifting back to sleep, Calvin found that he had received three packs of Captain Napalm trading cards, Captain Maim the Board Game, a box of crayons from his grandparents, a kaleidoscope, new wagon wheels, a joke book, a pack of water balloons and a telescope.

Calvin sighed. "Well, these gifts are all well and good, but still no thermonuclear missiles this year."

"And you know, we haven't exchanged our own gifts," said Hobbes.

"Oh, I almost forgot."

The two friends reached across and hugged each other tightly.

It was then that Hobbes noticed something in the tree branches.

"Huh, that's odd."

"What's odd?" asked Calvin.

Hobbes reached into the tree and pulled something out. It was an envelope. It was light blue with pen-written stationary. The return address: North Pole.

Calvin gasped. "It's a letter from Santa!"

Hobbes slowly opened it and read aloud.

"Dear Calvin and Hobbes. You two did a very good job this Christmas by restoring the joy of the holiday spirit into the hearts of your town. Although some don't know it was you who did it, you've truly made this a wonderful Christmas, and you both should be proud. I hope you enjoy the gifts I brought you, but unfortunately my elves were unable to fabricate those heat-seeking missiles you asked for, but I did what I could. Have a Merry Christmas. From, Santa Claus."

Calvin stared at the note. "So that's why I never get that stuff!" he exclaimed. "He only gives out what the elves can make, and he makes up for that other stuff with bonuses. What a holiday!"

"Wait, there's more," said Hobbes. "PS, if you want to see your extra-special gift, it's waiting for you in the treehouse."

"Extra-special gift?" they said together.

They got up and ran outside and looked around. They saw they treehouse and climbed up as quickly as they could.

Calvin stared.

Hobbes stared.

Was that what they thought it was?

"It's a…catapult?" asked Hobbes.

"It…it is!" cried Calvin.

It only took them a few seconds to get it down. They made several snowballs and piled them into it. Then when Moe passed by, Calvin pulled the rope that released it, and several snowballs came raining down on him!

"THIS IS THE GREATEST CHRISTMAS EVER!" Calvin shouted.

"Oh, by the way, you never told me what you did with the cast from the play," said Hobbes.

Calvin's eyes popped open. "Uh, oh," he mumbled.

Across town, the entire cast from the play was banging on the door of the auditorium.

"Open up!" cried the director. "My dream is waiting for me!"

"I have gifts to unwrap!" whined the kid dressed as Ebenezer Scrooge.

"I have to go to the bathroom," said another kid.

"NOOOOO!" everyone screamed.