Christmas Dreams
December 24th, l992
Alisha was trying to sleep, when she felt someone nudge her shoulder and whisper her name. “Leave me alone, Jamie.” She swatted her hand at him.
“I’m not Jamie.”
“Phillip, I’m gonna tell Mommy you won’t let me sleep. She said Santa won’t come unless everyone is sleeping.”
“I’m not Phillip. Open your eyes, Alisha.”
She sat up and rubbed her eyes. It wasn’t one of her brothers.
It was him!
“Santa! You’re here! You’re in my room!”
“I heard you’ve been a very good girl, and I thought you’d like a treat. Would you like to come on a sleigh ride with me?”
Alisha squinted her eyes and stared hard at the man in the red suit. “Are you really Santa?” She tugged on his white beard.
“Ouch.” He grabbed his beard.
It didn’t move.
The other day, Mommy took her to the big place with all the real neat stores, and she got to sit on Santa’s lap. His beard felt kinda fuzzy, like the cotton candy Daddy bought her at the circus last summer. She tugged on it, just a little, and it came off! She didn’t think it was s’posed to do that. Then Mommy told her that this Santa was one of the real Santa’s helpers, cuz the real Santa was busy making toys for all the good girls and boys, and he couldn’t be at all the stores.
Ever since turkey day, when Jamie told her that Santa Claus was watching her, she’d tried extra hard to be good. She’d been helping mommy with the chores and eating all her vegetables. Yuck. But she did it--swallowed every bite and showed Mommy and Daddy her clean plate. She wasn’t taking any chances on getting on Santa’s bad list. But she still wasn’t sure if this was the real Santa, or one of his helpers.
Alisha stood up in her bed and put her hands on her hips. “How do I know you’re the real Santa and not one of his helpers?”
“Ho, ho, ho! Because all my helpers are home with their families. Only the real Santa Claus comes out on Christmas Eve.”
His belly moved when he laughed. She poked it with her finger.
It was hard. Not soft like the Santa at her best friend Brandon’s “Gotcha Day” party. He was adopted, and every year his mommy and daddy had a party on the day they got him. When she sat on that Santa’s lap, his belly felt mushy, like her pillow.
Alisha jumped up and down on her bed. “I’m goin’ with Santa, I’m goin’ with Santa!”
He put his finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet. “You don’t want to wake your mommy and daddy.”
Alisha clapped her hand over her mouth.
“Come with me.” He held out a gloved hand to her.
She still had some doubts, but she did as he asked and put her hand in his, and he helped her off the bed.
“Now close your eyes.”
Alisha closed them, and when she opened them, she found herself standing on the roof. The first thing she saw was a great big black sleigh. Reindeer snorted and pawed the snow with their hoofs. Daddy better not see them up here. He’d get mad if they made a mess, and he had to clean it up, like he did after the horses pottied. Sometimes Daddy called it another word, but Mommy said they just had to go potty.
This was the real Santa!
The next thing Alisha knew, she was snuggled under a warm blanket next to Santa and they were flying up in the sky. She could see the reindeer pulling the sleigh, and, way out in front, she saw the red light from Rudolph’s red nose. She reached out and almost touched a star.
“Keep hands and fingers inside the sleigh, little lady. We don’t want any accidents, do we?”
“No, Santa.” She tucked her hands under the blanket.
They flew and flew, and, way far away, she could see her house. It looked tiny. She knew it was her house cuz she could see the tree house Daddy and her brothers had built her near the barn. Daddy put Christmas lights on it for her, and they blinked on and off. Then Santa made the reindeer go down, and they skimmed along the treetops. Their hoofs made the snow on the branches fly up into her face, and it got in her eyes. The cold snow made her shiver. She closed her eyes and brushed the flakes away. When she opened them, she found herself lying in her bed, with the blanket wrapped around her legs.
“Santa,” she whispered, looking around the room. “Where’d ya go?”
She got out of bed. He had to be here. Maybe he was putting the presents under the tree. Yeah. That had to be it. He put her back in bed so he could put the presents out.
Quiet as a mouse, she opened her bedroom door, poked her head out to see if the coast was clear, and tiptoed down the hallway. All the doors were closed, but she knew if she made a sound, Mommy and Daddy would come flying out of their bedroom to check on her. She could never sneak past them. They heard everything. Even that time Jamie tried to sneak up to his room one night--real late. Boy, Mommy and Daddy had sure been mad at him.
Once downstairs, she crept toward the den. Twinkling lights from the tree guided her way. She stopped in the doorway and watched them blink on and off. They’d had fun when they went to cut it down. Mommy told Daddy that all the trees he picked weren’t good ones. The first one was too short, the next one was too skinny, and the next one was too fat. Alisha thought Mommy would never find the right tree. Then Mommy smiled and told everyone she’d found it, and Alisha clapped her hands and did the happy dance.
Their very own Christmas tree! Mommy held on to her hand and made her stand way back while Daddy crawled under the tree and cut it down. Jamie and Phillip yelled, “Timber!” Daddy was under all the branches, and he said some bad words. She couldn’t say them or Mommy would make her go to time out and yell, “A-lee-sha Joy Stetson, what am I going to do with you!”
Phillip and Jamie helped Daddy carry the tree home. Mommy made hot chocolate with marshmallows for everyone, and Alisha counted them to make sure she put four in hers. She could count all the way to twenty now, so if Mommy put the wrong number in, she knew where Mommy hid them. And only she knew. It was a secret. Shssh.
Grandma came over and helped decorate the tree. And Grandma helped her string popcorn. When Grandma wasn’t looking, she sneaked a piece off and ate it. But the bestest part was when Daddy let her put the angel on top of the tree. He picked her up in his arms and held her way up by the tippy top of the tree, and Mommy helped her put it on.
“Santa?” Alisha whispered, then looked down. Presents were all around the tree. Big ones and little ones. She’d missed him. He’d already gone. Then she saw the plate of cookies, and the glass of milk, and the carrots for the reindeer she’d left on the little table next to the couch. They were still there. Santa hadn’t eaten them. That meant he was still around. He wouldn’t leave without eating his treat. Would he? Maybe he was getting more presents. Yeah. That had to be it. She clapped her hands and jumped up and down. Yippee! More presents!
Alisha knelt down by the presents. She couldn’t read yet, but she knew how to spell her name. And her brothers’ names. And Mommy’s and Daddy’s. And Grandma’s. Mommy told her Kindergarten would get harder when Christmas break was over. As long as they still had playtime, she was okay with that.
A shiny bow on something at the very back caught her eye. It was a big present, the biggest she’d ever seen. She crawled through the packages and under the tree, until she sat next to it against the wall.
Footsteps sounded on the hardwood floor. Was it Santa? It was hard to tell. She wished he’d turned on the lights so she could see better. Alisha parted the branches of the tree and saw the back of the red suit, hat, and black boots. Santa was eating the cookies and drinking the milk. She was about to tell Santa she was under the tree when Mommy came in.
Mommy walked up to Santa and whispered in his ear. Santa laughed. He sounded a lot like Daddy, but Daddy wasn’t Santa. What was she telling him? She didn’t sit on his lap the other day; maybe she was telling him what she wanted him to bring her.
Santa picked up the reindeer’s carrots, and he took Mommy by the hand. They stopped in the doorway. He looked up at the missy-mis---the stuff that people kiss under. Daddy always kissed Mommy there. Then Mommy leaned up and tickled him under his beard. And then she kissed Santa right on the lips!
Why hadn’t Mommy told her she knew Santa Claus? She had to know him. Right? Mommy didn’t kiss just anyone. Daddy was the only man Alisha ever saw her kiss. Well, except for her brothers. But Daddy’s kisses were special.
After they left, Alisha crawled out from under the tree and tiptoed back to her room. She heard something on the roof. Was it footsteps? Was it the reindeer? It must be Santa, getting ready to go to some other little boy or girl’s house. Tomorrow morning, she would ask Mommy why she was kissing Santa Claus. She wasn’t gonna tell Daddy cuz Mommy said he had a green monster in him, and Alisha didn’t want to see her Daddy turn into any color monster. But she would tell them both about her sleigh ride with Santa.
Alisha pulled her blanket over her and laid her head down on the pillow. In the distance, she thought she heard a voice shout, “Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a goodnight.”
I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus
Underneath the mistletoe last night
She didn’t see me creep
Down the stairs to have a peep;
She thought that I was tucked up
In my bedroom fast asleep
Then, I saw Mommy tickle Santa Claus
Underneath his beard so snowy white
Oh, what a laugh it would have been
If Daddy had only seen
Mommy kissing Santa Claus last night
Notes:
Thomas Connor wrote “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.”
The beginning scene, where Alisha dreamed she was flying in Santa’s sleigh, is from the author’s personal experience. When I was three years old, Santa took me for a sleigh ride. At least that’s what my parents said I told them. In fact, to this day, I can recall snippets of that dream.
The End
Story Notes:
Disclaimer: Scarecrow and Mrs. King and its characters belong to WB and Shoot the Moon Productions. No infringement is intended. This is written for entertainment purposes only. Please do not redistribute or reproduce this story without my permission.
Thanks: Rita and Miss Edna, you make my stories readable by catching all my grammar and other errors. And a special thanks to Lisa who helped with the POV of a child.
Thanks: Rita and Miss Edna, you make my stories readable by catching all my grammar and other errors. And a special thanks to Lisa who helped with the POV of a child.