Page 116 of A Very Naughty Christmas

“Sweetie, this is amazing. Thank you,” he said, looking up at me with a huge grin. I was really happy that he liked the present I made him. It took me a while to come up with a drawing for each of those pages.

“You’re welcome.”

We opened the rest of our presents and by the time that we finished, I was very happy. Santa had ended up bringing me three stuffed animals, two new outfits to wear, theFinding Dorymovie, one board game, a coloring book, a new box of crayons, and three Barbie dolls. It was an excellent Christmas and we weren’t even done opening all of our presents.

Besides Daddy’s scrapbook and pencil holder, I had also made him a picture frame and drew a picture of the two of us for him to put in it. I also made him a bracelet. I told him that he didn’t have to wear it though. He could put it in his pencil holder. I think he was grateful that I said that, when he plopped the bracelet into the holder a second after I told him he could. I also made him a monster-catching device. It was a net and when you pulled the handle, it became smaller. That way, if he ever did catch the monster that I knew lived underneath our bed, he could put the net around him and squeeze it to make absolute sure that the monster wouldn’t escape.

“Let’s go and have some breakfast. Would you like to help me make it?”

“No. I want to go and watch television.”

“All right.”

We went into the family room and Daddy turned on the TV.Arthur’s Perfect Christmashad just begun to play.

“Are you sure that this is what you want to watch? You watched this yesterday,” he asked, still holding the remote, ready to change the channel if I asked him to.

“I’m positive. This is my favorite Christmas movie and the best scene is about to start.”

“I’ll call you when breakfast is ready, honey.”

“Mhmm,” I mumbled, not taking my eyes off the television as I pulled my new stuffed animals and teddy bear closer to me. We all wanted to watch this movie.

* * *

Far too soon, Daddy was calling us to come into the kitchen.

“Five more minutes,” I begged as the room filled with Buster’s Baxter Day song.

“You’re beginning to start a very bad habit of making Daddy ask twice.”

That’s when I noticed him in the doorway, wearing an apron, which was kind of funny, but also carrying a big wooden spoon, which was kind of not! He waited until I came alongside him and tipped my face up to his.

“Next time, we’ll have to do something to break you of this naughty habit of stalling, and I really don’t want to spank you on Christmas Day. Understand?”

“Yes, Daddy. I’m sorry.”

“Good girl,” he said, caressing my cheek lightly and bending down for a kiss. “Now,let’s eat.”

Grabbing all of my stuffed animals from the couch, I headed into the kitchen.

I placed each stuffie on a seat, so they could eat breakfast with Daddy and me.

My Disney Princess plate was already at my place, filled with food, with a tall glass of orange juice next to it. He had made some of what I liked best: scrambled eggs with ham and cheese, and toast with butter and grape jelly. I loved this meal!

“Thank you for making this, Daddy. It looks yummy.” I took a bite out of my food, moaning at the tastes that danced across my tongue.

“You’re welcome, honey.”

He was grinning at me as he took a sip of his coffee and I knew he wasn’t mad at me anymore. I gazed back at him with a big grin. No one should be mad on Christmas!

We chowed down and talked about the presents that we had each received. It made me very happy that he liked all of the ones that I had made for him. I was worried that he wouldn’t. Especially with the monster net. I knew that he was already a pro at catching monsters, but just to be on the safe side, I wanted to make sure that he had something to protect himself with.

When there had been a noise in the closet, and he had gotten up and taken the monster net with him, I knew for sure that he liked it. I laughed when he came back carrying my fake leopard hat in the monster net.

He had joked that he had captured a live one, but I knew it was my hat.

“Chloe, do you want to change out of your footie pajamas before we open up our other presents?” he asked as he grabbed my plate and brought it and his to the sink to wash before putting it into the drying rack.

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