A Christmas Tree for Santa

An Original

Christmas Story

Daniel 'Chip' Ciammaichella

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"Are you going to make the kids and I stand here holding this tree, Charlie, or are you going to help us get it inside?" Now fully awake, Charlie took charge of the tree, dragging it into the house, followed by Shannon's young son and daughter, each carrying an armload of packages while their mother went back to the car to grab some more. They gave Charlie a funny look when they spied the decorated Christmas tree, but Charlie motioned for them to keep silent. He propped the tree into a corner and ran out after Shannon in his bare feet.

"What are you doing here Shannon?" he asked, thinking he sounded awfully rude. Shannon stood and looked at him for a moment with a smile, her eyes bright, then she began stacking packages into his arms. "Well Charlie, since you went and gave away your Christmas tree, I figured you might need another one. Of course I couldn't trust you to decorate it properly, so I had to get some ornaments and tinsel for it too. You have had a long day though, and I didn't want you to wear yourself out decorating the tree by yourself, so the kids and I decided we should help you.

Since it might take awhile, and you probably didn't eat tonight, I brought some food and snacks, and even some nice old Christmas movies."Shannon paused and reached back into the car. The mountain of bags and boxes she had stacked into his arms hid Charlie's face. "Of course it's been a long day for me too, so I brought this to help take the edge off!" Shannon was still smiling as she raised a bottle of wine so Charlie could see it through the mountain of packages. "Shannon, I gotta tell you something..""Shh Charlie, not while you're holding all of that stuff. Take it into the house and then come back to help me with just one more thing."

Charlie dutifully carried the load into the house, deposited the packages, and walked back out the door. Shannon stood in the middle of the walk, her hands behind her back. "C'mere cowboy, I've got something for you." Charlie walked to her, still confused and a bit in shock. His confused look soon grew into a big grin as Shannon removed her hand from behind her back, holding a small piece of mistletoe. She held it over her head and grinned mischievously at Charlie.

"Now you have to kiss me Charlie...it's the law. You don't want me to have to call the SWAT team do you?" Charlie took Shannon gently into his arms, confusion still all over his face. When they kissed, all confusion disappeared. They stood and looked into each other's eyes for a moment, then were interrupted by a timid question from Shannon's son, standing in the doorway.

"Mom? Why did we bring a Christmas tree when he already has one?" Now it was Shannon's turn to be confused as she looked back up at Charlie. "I thought you didn't have a tree, Charlie." Charlie grinned sheepishly "I didn't." "Did someone else bring you a tree before I did?" Charlie began laughing, and Shannon could not help but notice that his eyes were laughing as well. "Yes darlin, somebody got here before you did."

"Well? Who was it?""The note said Kris.""Chris? Chrissy Morgan from the bank? I always knew she was after you." Charlie was beginning to enjoy this game. "No, not Chrissy Morgan, tell me who then?" Charlie continued to be teasingly evasive and she kept grilling him with questions as they walked into the house, hand in hand, their eyes never leaving each other. The distant tingle of sleigh bells drifted on the cold night wind as Charlie closed the door.

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