I’m excited to be part of the Rainbow Advent Calendar this year! Alex Jane has done such a lovely job organizing it and lots of authors have joined in to bring you little bits of Christmas all month long.
Click here to read them all. There’s also a Facebook group available here so you can catch each story as they go live.
My little treat is a glimpse into what Christmas morning looked like for an ocean loving little named Morrie and his patient, kind Daddy Scott.
Morrie and Scott’s story starts in A Little Christmas: Morrie and this scene is intended to come after the conclusion of the book.
There were presents beneath the tree.
I frowned as I sat down on the carpet, staring at them like they shouldn’t be there because they shouldn’t have been. Scott and I had agreed to stick to filling up stockings for each other instead of buying big presents. I had spent a lot of time picking out things that would fit into his snowman stocking that hung in front of the fireplace and when I looked back to where my reindeer one hung beside it, it too was filled with things from him. That was what we’d decided and as I looked back down at the four boxes beneath the glowing tree, my frown doubled. After decorating a whole room in his house for me and giving me presents throughout the last month, Scott wasn’t supposed to spend another pile of money on me for Christmas morning.
“Problem?” Scott asked, walking into the living room in his pajama pants. He yawned as he stretched tall, then smiled as he relaxed.
“What’s this?” I asked, gesturing at the presents beneath the tree. “We said no tree presents, Daddy.”
“I don’t know what those are,” he commented, moving to sit on the couch behind me. “I’ve never seen them before in my life.”
“Well, I think that’s a lie. Where did they come from if you didn’t buy them?”
I glanced up at Scott and he shrugged in response, but the smile on his lips was very telling. He slid onto the floor and settled behind me, opening his legs so I could nestle in between them. I shivered a bit at his closeness, my skin prickling the tiniest bit even though I knew he was a safe touch person.
“Okay?” he whispered into my ear from behind me.
“Tortoise,” I murmured back, using the word we’d chosen to say that everything was okay. Scott reached around me and pulled the boxes closer to where we sat.
“What do they say?” he asked, pointing at the tags. “I really don’t know where they came from.”
I rolled my eyes before leaning forward and picking up the first one of the four. It was a small green box and on the top the label clearly read “To Morrie, Love Santa.” I read it out loud and Scott placed a hand on my shoulder, giving it a small squeeze.
“See? They’re from Santa.”
“Daddy,” I protested, with a sigh. “We said no tree presents.”
“They’re from Santa,” Scott repeated. “Who am I to tell Santa what to do? If he wants to give my brave little boy some Christmas presents, that’s all on him.”
“I didn’t get you anything big though. I feel bad opening these.”
“I didn’t get you anything big either, I promise. I filled your stocking with little things, just like I promised. This was all Santa’s doing, but I bet he didn’t spend too much money either. You’ll see when you open them.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
I couldn’t stop the small smile that broke over my lips as I looked at the package. “Is this stuff for when I’m little? Because Santa brings presents for kids, not adults.”
“Why don’t you open them and find out?”
I nodded, then carefully started unwrapping the present, sliding my finger into the flaps on the sides and pulling open the tape. Scott gave me a tiny nudge and I stopped, turning to look at him as best as I could. “What?”
“You can tear the paper,” he said. “Santa would want you to. Ripping open paper is part of the fun, Morrie.”
He reached forward and grasped the paper I’d carefully unwrapped, giving it a small tank. It tore and I grinned, butterflies kicking up inside me. I hadn’t been visited by Santa in such a long time and the presents I had been given during my childhood came with reminders to not make a mess as I’d opened them. I’d just gotten used to being careful, I supposed, but if Scott wanted me to tear into these gifts, I would definitely do that. I grabbed the paper and ripped it, a tiny giggle escaping my lips as I tore it off the box and found a small box containing a little shark printed sippy cup inside along with a plastic spoon and fork printed in ocean waves. Definitely presents for when I was little then.
“So cool,” I murmured as I held it up.
“Wow, Santa really knows you, huh?”
“He sure does.” I put the box down and Scott slid the next one in front of me. When that one was unwrapped, it revealed a set of shark printed sectioned plates that matched the cup and the utensils. I was pretty excited to have a matched set that I could eat snacks with when we played.
“I wonder what’s in this one?” Scott said as he took the dishes from me and pulled a large rectangle box in front of me.
“Me too,” I grinned, tearing the paper off of it quickly. My eyes went wide and I snorted a laugh into the silence of the living room around us. That one laugh brought even more from my lips as I picked up the shrink wrapped package and held it up for Scott to see. “Macaroni cheese in the blue box.”
“Santa brought you a whole crate of macaroni and cheese?” Scott laughed behind me. “I was right. He must really know what you like.”
My laughter died down as I put the package containing twelve individual boxes of macaroni and cheese to the side. Leaning forward, I reached for the last present beneath the tree. It was a small box, long and thin in shape, and it was wrapped in red and green striped paper. “Is this one more snacks?”
“I’m not sure,” Scott responded, shuffling a bit closer behind me and wrapping his arms around me. “I don’t think so. I think this is something Santa hopes you really like, even though you’ve never asked for anything like it before.”
Curiosity kicked up inside me as I tore into the package, pulling the paper off to reveal a box that looked like it came from a jewelry store. It could hold a necklace, I realized, as I undid the tape holding the two parts of the box together. I opened it carefully to reveal a silver chain. “What is this?”
“Take it out,” Scott whispered behind me. “I hope you like it.”
I carefully pulled the chain out and put the box down on the floor in front of me. As I held it up so I could see the small charm dangling from it, I couldn’t stop the slow smile that crept over my lips. It was a tiny silver shark tooth and as I moved it, it caught the light of the Christmas tree. It was the coolest thing I'd ever seen and my heart kicked in my chest a little bit as I considered how well the man behind me knew me and how quickly it had all happened.
“Do you like it?” Scott asked, sounding incredibly hopeful and a bit nervous.
“Daddy, it’s perfect,” I murmured.
“Santa saw it and thought of you. He knew it was a risk, but he wanted you to have it.”
“I love it very much.”
Scott reached out his hand and I dropped the necklace into it. I felt the slide of the cold chain around my neck as it was placed around my neck. When it was done up, it hung nicely around my neck, the perfect length for me to tuck it into my shirt while I was working. Even when I was playing I could wear it, even if it wasn’t something a little would typically wear. When had I ever done things that typical littles did anyway? “I won’t ever take it off. Thank you, Daddy.”
“It’s really okay? You’ve never said anything about jewelry before, so Santa wasn’t sure.”
He sounded so concerned and it warmed my heart. I leaned back into him hard, resting my head on his shoulder as my fingers came up to play with the tiny shark tooth charm like they had minds of their own. “It’s perfect. I promise. Thank you.”
“Thank Santa,” Scott whispered as I turned a bit where I sat so I could see his face. He smiled warmly at me and reached up to cup my cheek in his hand, smoothing his thumb over my cheekbone hard, like I liked his touches to be.
“Thank you, Santa Daddy,” I murmured.
“You’re welcome, my brave, smart boy,” Scott responded with a small laugh before leaning forward and capturing my lips in a kiss that was almost as sweet as he was.
A Little Christmas: Morrie is available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.
Have a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!
