The Perfect Christmas

Once upon a time there was a 10 year old boy named David. It was early December in 1999 and everyone in his class thought he was weird because he still believed in Santa Claus. Everyone was being a bully to him saying that only babies believe in Santa Claus. They all said that the parents are the ones that just wrap the presents and write that it’s from Santa, and that they also eat the cookies and drink the milk.

He decided he had to do something about it, and fast.

It was December 23, just two days before Christmas, and David was super excited about it that he could hardly wait. Suddenly, he had an idea. He thought maybe if he could just rip just a small piece of wrapping paper off of one of the presents and just peek to see what it was, that he could then wait till Christmas morning to open it.

That night he sneaked downstairs and slowly crept toward the tree. He dug through the presents until he found one that was his, slowly ripped the corner open and looked to see what he was getting. A skateboard! He was getting a skateboard! He had always wanted a skateboard. Feeling better about things, he went back to bed and fell fast asleep.

What David didn’t know, though, was that his parents had security cameras hidden in the house to catch thieves, and even though he thought he was being sneaky when peeking at his present, his parents had actually heard him and watched his mischievous maneuvers in the dark from the comfort of their own bed.

Busted.

Come breakfast time David was feeling pretty good about himself, thinking that he’d completely gotten away with his discovery, but his parents had a different idea.

“Hey David,” said his dad while delivering pancakes to the table, “Anything you want to tell us?’
 “No?” said David nervously.

David’s dad stared at him for a time before saying: “I think you do, why don’t you take some time to think about it and get back to us if you come up with anything.”

Giggling from across the table broke the silence. It was David’s four year old brother, Charlie who was laughing at him because he got in trouble. David scowled and said: “Just wait, soon you will be older like me and will see how it feels..” But he knew it wouldn’t really matter. His little brother always laughed at him when he got in trouble.

The next day was Christmas eve. David didn’t have school which meant he got to spend the whole day bored while he waited for Christmas to get there the next day. He woke up bright and early and went downstairs. He walked over to the Christmas tree to look at his presents, bent over to pick one up, but his mom yelled at him: “Don’t you touch those presents young man! You aren’t allowed anywhere near them until you come clean about some things.”

David froze. Do they know? Nah, there is no way they could know. But why else would they think I’m hiding something. They must know. Oh my gosh! They know! HOW do they know!?

In his head he decided to come clean. It’s better to be honest than sorry, he thought. He turned to his parents and said, “I’m sorry, but two days ago I peeked to see what my presents were and I know that I’m getting a skateboard. Do you forgive me"?”

“Of course we forgive you,” said his parents together and it ended up being the perfect Christmas.