xenaclone

“God damn it!”

John Casey swore as he sucked his finger after slicing it for the umpteenth time on the wrapping he was carefully positioning around the dollhouse he’d just finished putting together. He’d never been able to get the hang of present wrapping. It was easier and more convenient to have someone else do it, he’d decided long ago.

There were set ups that had all proceeds going to various charities, he grumbled to himself as he put on the last of the tape. Why not help them out and make life easier on me? But will she let me? No…

Checking his watch, he saw that it was coming up on 2 a.m. which meant two things: one, that he’d been working on the kids’ two large presents for nearly five hours now. Just gotta finish the wrapping, John, and you can call it good, he told himself as he stretched his shoulders before starting again.

And two, she was no doubt asleep by now and he wasn’t getting his present any time tonight.

The medieval castle – complete with towers, a dungeon, and a working drawbridge – was all ready to be placed under the tree upstairs. Ellie had gotten the other presents all ready to go days ago with the exception of these two, which were his responsibility to assemble and place under the tree to avoid tampering by the kids ahead of time. 

He was startled out of his concentration as he heard a low chuckle come from the steps above. Ellie stood in shadow, leaning against the doorway watching him struggle.

He frowned, “what?”

Her smile brightened as she slowly made her way down the stairs, attractively rumpled from sleep and wrapped tightly in her ankle-length red chenille robe. No one looked as good as his wife did in the morning – or the middle of the night in this case – hell, anytime really. 

He growled in frustration as he ripped the paper on one of the dollhouse’s many corners.

“Why can’t I assemble everything and you wrap this stuff? I’ve spent more time trying to wrap this than I spent putting it together,” his voice showed signs of serious irritation and she noticed that his lower lip was threatening to pop out into a full on pout.

Taking pity on her poor, frustrated husband, Ellie instructed, “Oh, you big, big baby,” she laughed as he glared at her when she squeezed the fake fluffy belly he wore under the red suit.

“Why don’t you take the castle up and put it under the tree and I’ll finish this and be right up?” She suggested as she soundly kissed him on the cheek for his efforts. 

Before she could change her mind, John got up from the floor, wincing as his knees cracked. As he reached down to pick up the castle, she called over her shoulder, “don’t forget to put the hat and beard back on! We don’t want a repeat of last year!”

Eyes widening, he stood back up to straighten the suit and re-don the headwear, looking to his wife for approval, before picking the castle back up and heading upstairs.

Last year, Ellie had been spotted by their children putting the last of the presents under the tree. It had taken a fair amount of quick thinking on Ellie’s part to get them to believe that Santa had accidentally left one of the presents next to the cookies and milk he’d sampled earlier and that she was just putting it where it belonged under the tree. She still wasn’t sure she’d gotten away with that one.

As John left, Ellie set about examining just what it was her husband was trying to do to this poor dollhouse. 

---

The five-year-old boy, armed with his water pistol and imitation assault rifle that didn’t shoot any ammunition but was very intimidating – his mom had said so – quietly snuck his way down the stairs.He'd heard noises, possibly from unwelcome intruders – possibly even the Grinch from the movie he’d watched earlier!

Hearing a noise, he froze. Someone was coming!

Just then, Santa came out of the doorway of their basement, muttering something under his breath as he bumped against the jamb. 

Unable to restrain himself, the boy gasped, wide-eyed with shock, as the massive present – it had to be for him! – followed closely by the red, rotund belly of the greatest man ever! 

“Santa!”

Surprised by his son’s outburst, John startled but quickly recovered with a deep, booming voice, making sure to keep the volume down so as not to wake his daughter – hopefully – still sleeping upstairs.

“Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas! You would be Jackson Casey, am I right?”

Jackson’s face was almost comical in its surprise, “Wow! You knew my name!”

His eyes shifted to the present, “Is that for me?” Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes…

Very thankful for Ellie’s insistence on the Santa costume, John looked thoughtfully at his son and kept the Santa persona going.

“Well that depends, young man. Have you been good this year?”

Nodding vigorously, “uh-huh, yes Sir, Santa!”

John looked doubtful, “Are you sure? My naughty meter says that you should have been in bed asleep hours ago. And remember, it’s bad to lie to Santa,” he reminded his son sternly.

Visibly, Jackson hemmed and hawed for a moment before answering truthfully. “Well, I was just too excited. Your reindeer made a lotta noise on our roof an’ I had to come and see what was up. It coulda been the Grinch or somethin’ here to steal Christmas.” He showed his gun as proof of his mission.

Fighting not to show his paternal pride at his son’s seriousness, he boomed in his Santa-voice, “Well, young Jackson, since you were protecting your family, and if you go to bed right now and stay there until morning, we’ll keep you in the ‘nice’ column and I’ll leave all your presents – including this one – under the tree. If not, they’re all going back in the sleigh.”

Eyes wide at the thought of losing his presents, especially that big one in Santa’s arms, “Yes, sir! I’m gonna go right back to bed, you can count on me!” With that, he scrambled up the stairs.

At the landing he turned around and stage whispered, “don’t forget to eat the cookies my mom made for you. They’re way good,” and he hurried to his room, making sure to shut the door tight behind him.

With a half smile, John silently chuckled to himself as he walked over to the tree and put the castle down carefully, making sure no part of it was showing through the wrapping.

Standing up, he turned to head back toward the basement to see if Ellie was done with the infernal dollhouse when he stopped cold.

Standing just inside the doorway to the basement was Ellie holding the newly wrapped dollhouse.

And flashing a whole lot of leg.

He perked up. Maybe I am going to get my present early after all, he mused, very amenable to the possibility.

Whatever his present was, it was short. He liked short.

She gave him a flirty grin as he took the dollhouse from her, doing his best to peek down her front, which she coyly held shut as soon as her hands were free. 

“Don’t forget to eat the cookies,” she batted her eyelashes at him, knowing he was hooked as he turned to put the last present under the tree.

“Yes, ma’am,” he turned back to wink at her.

---

Making sure to hurry through the last of the present placing and cookie eating and generally making sure everything was locked up tight for the night; John hurried up to where Ellie waited for him on the landing, her robe open, revealing his present.

 A short, red little­ nightie that skimmed the tops of her thighs, showed off her scintillating cleavage, and had him wishing he weren’t wearing so many layers. She stood there knowing she looked good as she leaned against the wall, feigning indifference as she made a show of checking her manicure waiting for him to finish ogling her.

With a lusty growl, he strode up the stairs and wrapped an arm around her waist, picking her up until she they were face to face. He moved to lower the beard with his free hand, but her lips were on his before he could.

After a false start with the beard getting in the way, she lowered the mustache part so that his mouth was free and then took full advantage of the access as he blindly walked them back to his room, kicking the door shut behind them.

---

Moments later, a door that had been cracked open, swung wide as a little girl rushed to her brother’s room where he was steadfastly doing his best to go to sleep like he’d promised Santa.

“Jack! Jack! Wake up!” She whispered as she came running into his room, shoving him in his bed.

“What?” He whispered back, annoyed that she was ruining his attempt to sleep.

“I just saw mommy kissing Santa!”