HO HO HO merry Christmas

A story by Tom Ortega

I hope you all enjoy!

please give me a like and I will return the favor within 24 hours

and to the reedsy judges: remember that all winnings will be DONATED and not spent on futile pleasures. hope this gives you an incentive to choose my story as it will go to a noble cause. thank you.

Dedicated to Linda and James

The family gathered around the table for a yummy Christmas meal. Mashed potatoes and ham. Mmm mmm mmm! said the boy. He could hear his tummy grumbling like a big loud bear. Roar!!!

"Remember," said his mom. "Veggies first and then you can have dessert."

He was reaching for the ice cream naughtily. "hehehe okay mom!"

The boy (his name is Timmy) Timmy ate his green beans so he could have a bit of that sweet sugary ice cream. "okay all done ice cream time!"

"you need some ham and mashed potatoes first little Timmy"

"okay mom!"

He was a very good boy and ate all his food. "That was very yummy mother!"

"Why thanks Timmy!" she was very pleased because she had worked very hard on the Christmas meal for her family on this special Christmas holiday.

"say, mom, when's pops coming home?"

"he's probably still at work Timmy"

"okay mom!"

Then suddenly 😱 

BAM! A loud sound traveled through the house at the speed of light. KABOOM! BAM! BAM! BAM! Oh no! What could it be?! thought the young boy, Timmy. what could it be? maybe one of the monsters under his bed. that would be very frightening so he thought maybe he should not go alone and have his mom go with him to check to see where the sound had come from.

Timmy, the little boy in this Christmas tale, ran out to see. It was . . . Santa Claus?! He had only seen the jolly old man in the photos. But hmmm...something was a little fishy going on here because the man looked a lot like his old pops. Like the spitting image!

"Dad is that you?!" giggled the boy with Christmas time glee.

"You got me, little Timmy!" said his dad. He pulled off his beard. "your old man just wanted to surprise you."

"Where's the real Santa?"

"He's probably delivering presents for the other children right now. Don't worry Timmy your turn will come up."

"oh no has santa forgotten about me pops?"

"of course not Timmy, Santa is just a busy man"

"hehe kinda like you pops!"

the boy and his dad laughed at the boy's witty humor.

"say you got your humor from your old man say!"

Just then suddenly the father remembered the last Christmas in a sudden unexpected flashback. he had worked late that Christmas (at the old milling company) and didn't get to spend it with his family. He felt very badly about that and decided he'd make it up this year by giving everyone the best Christmas they had ever experienced in their whole lives. He just needed to find a way to make it come true. Timmy had foiled his plan of surprising them with gifts as Santa Claus. so hmm...he tapped his chin as he devised a Christmas plan when suddenly INSPRIATION STRUCK.

"Got it!" a lightbulb went over his head (metaphorically of course there was not an actual lightbulb)

He went up to his wife and gave her a big smooch on the cheek. "I love you" he said.

"I love you too! your the best father I could have ever asked for to our son.

"and you are the best mother to our son I could've asked for."

"I second that!" said Timmy with such glee that made your heart sing like the Christmas angels.

they all ate their holiday dinner and had a very merry Christmas

THE END : )

don't forget to like and comment! and to the reedsy judges please vote for me!!!

anyway thank you for reading and happy holidays! look out for my book in barnes in nobles in 2023 and let me know if you're a publisher bc I still need to find one.

for some stupid FUCKING reason god fucking damnit GOD FUCKING DAMNBIT my word count is not going through so I need to add something. Here's a passage from the hunger games:

“Gale gave me a sense of security I’d lacked since my father’s death. His companionship replaced the long solitary hours in the woods. I became a much better hunter when I didn’t have to look over my shoulder constantly, when someone was watching my back…Being out in the woods with Gale…sometimes I was actually happy.”

and one from Charles dickens:

I was disconcerted, for I had broken away without quite seeing where I was going to. It was not to be shuffled off now, however, and I answered, `The beautiful young lady at Miss Havisham’s, and she’s more beautiful than anybody ever was, and I admire her dreadfully, and I want to be a gentleman on her account.’ Having made this lunatic confession, I began to throw my torn-up grass into the river, as if I had some thoughts of following it.

`Do you want to be a gentleman, to spite her or to gain her over?’ Biddy quietly asked me, after a pause.

`I don’t know,’ I moodily answered.

`Because, if it is to spite her,’ Biddy pursued, `I should think – but you know best – that might be better and more independently done by caring nothing for her words. And if it is to gain her over, I should think – but you know best – she was not worth gaining over.’

Exactly what I myself had thought, many times. Exactly what was perfectly manifest to me at the moment. But how could I, a poor dazed village lad, avoid that wonderful inconsistency into which the best and wisest of men fall every day?

`It may be all quite true,’ said I to Biddy, `but I admire her dreadfully.’

In short, I turned over on my face when I came to that, and got a good grasp on the hair on each side of my head, and wrenched it well. All the while knowing the madness of my heart to be so very mad and misplaced, that I was quite conscious it would have served my face right, if I had lifted it up by my hair, and knocked it against the pebbles as a punishment for belonging to such an idiot.