Page 112 of A Very Naughty Christmas

He continued to work in silence until finally he declared, “There we are, all nice and smooth, and not a tangle in sight.”

He wrapped his arms around me and snuggled me close to him, placing a kiss on top of my wet hair. As excited as I was to go leave cookies for Santa, I enjoyed this moment. Being so close to my daddy always made me feel special and safe.

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Are you ready to go leave some cookies for Santa?”

I nodded rapidly, before dashing out of his arms to the kitchen.

He had put Santa’s special plate on the counter for me. I reached it and went over to where the cookies I decorated earlier were. I picked out the best three as I didn’t want Santa to get a tummy ache. He had a lot of cookies to eat tonight, and giving him too many of mine wouldn’t make his mission any easier.

Remembering that Santa was going to need some milk with his cookies, I got a glass from the cupboard and grabbed the gallon of milk out of the fridge.

“Why don’t you let me pour that, sweetie,” he suggested, taking the gallon of milk out of my hands.

“Fine.”

He poured the milk and put the jug away as I placed the cup right next to the cookies. It looked super nice to me. Santa would be very impressed.

“Do you think that that looks good?” I wanted to make sure that he thought so too.Didn’t want to make Santa mad for any reason.

“I do. Santa is going to love his cookies and milk.”

“I’m glad,” I admitted, letting out a big yawn at the same time. I was beginning to feel sleepy after the busy day I had.

“Why don’t we head back upstairs and I’ll tuck you in and read you a story.”

“Yay!”

He carried me upstairs, tucking me into bed. He sat down next to me, grabbing a book on his nightstand. I smiled when I saw he pickedThe Night Before Christmas, one of my favorites. I snuggled close to my stuffed bear as I looked at all the pictures while he read to me.

When he finished, I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

“Time for little girls to fall asleep.” He placed a kiss on my forehead and pulled the covers up to my chin. He got out of bed and went to the doorway. “I’ll be in my office for a bit if you need anything. Goodnight, sweetheart.”

“Night.”

He turned the light off and closed the door almost the entire way.

Letting my eyes close, I thought about what tomorrow would bring. Lots of presents from Santa, I could finally give Daddy the perfect gift that I purchased for him, we would eat delicious food and be surrounded by friends and family. I couldn’t wait.

Rolling onto my side, I opened my eyes and gazed at the alarm clock and saw that it was ten o’clock, my normal bedtime.

Punching my pillow a couple of times, I shut my eyes again and waited for sleep to take me.

After a while, my eyes popped open again to see that my alarm clock flashed that it was ten-fifteen. I didn’t get it. I was sleepy, but I was also so excited that I wasn’t able to drift off to dreamland.

I repositioned myself for a third time and attempted to fall asleep, but after another fifteen minutes later, I realized that it was useless. No matter what I did, I could not fall asleep.

“What’s the matter, baby girl?”

I yelped, clutched my hand to my chest. I hadn’t heard the stairs creak or the door open, but there Daddy stood in the now open doorway, the light from the hallway flooding into the darkness of my room.

I took a deep breath, waiting for my heart to stop pounding.

“You scared me.”

“I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to. I’ve been hearing you toss and turn for the last thirty minutes and wanted to check what was the matter.”

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