Tommy woke up, yawning broadly and rubbing his eyes. Excitement coursed through his body, today was the big day! He sat up and looked around the darkened room. He could hear snores from the bed across the room.
“Mikey, are you awake?”
He’d have to wake him. Tommy had barely gotten a wink of sleep all night with the excitement, Mikey on the other hand, would sleep through a storm. He jumped from his bed, crossed the room and began to shake his brother.
“Mikey, wake up, it’s Christmas day!”
Mikey stirred and opened his eyes groggily while Tommy pulled the curtains and looked outside. The sky was that overcast, grey colour typical of Irish winters. He surveyed the rooftops of the houses across the road, hoping for any sign that Santa had been there at some stage over the night. He wished it had snowed, because aside from being able to build a snowman, he could have seen some reindeer prints on the roof, proof that Rudolph and co had visited.
“Mikey get up,” Tommy said.
“I’m getting up. I wish Santa left the presents in our room so they’d be at our beds when we woke up.”
“Yeah that would be cool. Imagine we asked for puppies and we woke up and they were there.”
“Wow, yeah. I’d ask Santa for a Retriever.”
“I’d ask him for a Beethoven dog.”
“They’re way too big.”
“Not when they’re puppies.”
“We’d have to walk it to the shop three times per day, they’re that big.”
The shop was far away and they weren’t allowed to go on their own, so maybe a Beethoven dog was out of the question.
“Are Ma and Da awake, do you think?”
Tommy went over to the bedroom door and put his ear to it. The hallway was quiet and there was no noise from any of the other bedrooms. Their sister Sarah was older, and didn’t ask Santa for toys any more. She wanted a ghetto blaster and tapes, so she could play music with her friends in her room. Tommy has asked Santa for one tape, Dance Hits ‘95, because it had Scatman. He was going to ask Sarah if he could use her ghetto blaster to listen to it.
“I can’t wait to go on my new bike,” Mikey said.
“I wanna’ play my Mega Drive all day,” Tommy replied.
He had asked for the new Sonic and Tails game, and couldn’t wait to start.
“Why don’t we wake Ma and Da up?”
“They said yesterday that we have to all go into the living room together, so we’ll have to wake Sarah up as well.”
The lads both groaned. Sarah was older and liked to sleep in. She also wasn’t as excited about Christmas as the boys, so it might take some effort.
“Do you think Santa ate the mince pies and milk we left out?” Mikey asked.
“He must have, he does in every house.”
The two lads had left two mince pies, a carrot and a glass of milk out before they went to bed. They had asked their father if Santa wanted coffee, because it was cold and he might want a hot drink, but their father said no, that Santa preferred milk.
“We could go downstairs, and see if Santa’s eaten the mince pies. That way we’ll know he’s been and left the presents.”
“Ma and Da told us to wait until everyone’s up,” Mikey said.
“I know, but we won’t go into the living room, just the kitchen to see if he’s eaten the treats.”
“We’ll have to be quiet.”
“We will. Come on, let’s go,” Tommy said.
They opened the bedroom door carefully, ensuring there was no creek. Their room was at the top of the stairs, so they wouldn’t have to creep by the other bedrooms. They tiptoed out, stopping on the landing in case they heard a stir. They proceeded down each step, light footed and on their tippy-toes. The excitement! Two ninjas who couldn’t be caught. Tommy visualised himself in one of those black ninja outfits with the mask. They finally reached the final step to the downstairs hallway, when they noticed that the kitchen door was half open. They looked at each other. Santa surely must have come. Tip-toeing closer they started to hear a noise. What sounded like activity in the kitchen. The lads froze and stared at each other. Could it be? It seemed late for Santa to be here, considering it was early morning, but then again Santa had to do the whole world in one night, so maybe now was their road’s turn.
“We might be able to see him,” whispered Tommy excitedly.
He thought of how he could tell everyone in school all about seeing Santa. Niall, a boy in his class, said he had seen Santa’s sleigh fly by his window, all reindeers and lights the year before. Everyone was really envious and always wanted to hear his story. Tommy would be telling this story in his class for a very long time. His excitement was through the roof. The two boys inched closer to the kitchen with bated breath. They were three steps away from being able to peer round the door and into the kitchen to see Santa-
“Whooo’s therrre?”
A deep, booming voice called out from around the kitchen, stunning the lads. They took one look at each other and scarpered up the stairs, all adherence to silence and ninja stealth out the window. Straight up the stairs, into their rooms and into their beds.
Tommy’s heart was pounding. He had been that close. But wait, would Santa be angry? Would he take the presents with him now? Tommy’s heart dropped. He had done it for the right reasons, he hadn’t been bold. He just wanted to see Santa. He hoped Santa would understand. A knock on the door sliced through his thoughts. Their father walked into the room.
“Did I hear you two lads running up and down the stairs?”
“Da we weren’t in the living room, I swear,” Tommy said.
“Yeah Da, we heard a noise downstairs. Da..it was Santa!”
“Santa?” their father said, with a raise of his eyebrow.
“We just wanted to see if he had eaten the mince pies and milk. And he called out to us,” Tommy said.
“Oh wow, what did he say?”
“Whooo’s therrre?” the boys imitated in their deepest voices.
Their father chuckled. He had a glint in his eye.
“Well lads, we now know we mustn’t disturb Santa while he’s doing his work. He’s a very busy man, Christmas is a very busy day for him.”
“I hope he didn’t get annoyed and not leave presents,” Mikey said with despair.
“Well let’s go down and check shall we?” their Da said with a smile.
The two boys jumped out of bed and onto the landing where their mother and sister were also. They all went down to the living room and opened the door. The lads gazed in desperation. Sure enough, Santa had been, and an array of presents lay waiting for all.