20 Questions

Chapter 32

"Mommy, wake up! Santa came! Santa came! He brought presents!"

"Jenna, its six in the morning. Can we just sleep a little longer? The presents will still be here at eight," my mom groans as she covers her head with the pillow.

"NO!!! You have to get up now. It's Christmas! I've been a good girl all year and Santa knew it. You should see all the presents downstairs. Oh, and it's snowing. It's never snowed on Christmas. It's magic!"

My mom and dad roll out of bed, knowing that I won't give up until they do. I bounce down the stairs and take a seat next to the Christmas tree. My parents walk down the stairs, still half asleep. My dad puts on a pot of coffee and sits next to me on the floor. He puts his arm around me and kisses my head.

"Ok Jenna Bear, which present do you want to open first?" my dad asks, already knowing that I will choose the biggest one. I give him the answer he expects and he places a large present in front of me. I rip open the paper to reveal a Barbie dream house. I jump up and down and throw my arms around my father's neck. I thank my parents over and over again while bouncing up and down. "Jenna Bear, I want you to open the box up. There's a surprise inside the house that I think you will love," my dad says.

My dad and I carefully open the box and I take a look inside the house. Each room is uniquely decorated with all the things that I love. The bedroom is painted blue with Christmas lights lining the ceiling. The TV on the wall has an ESPN sticker on it and there is a little blonde-haired doll on the bed with a black dog lying next to her. The living room has a large fireplace with a fake fire burning in it. There is a Christmas tree in the corner with working lights on it and Christmas presents surrounding. The next room is a theater room with a picture of E.T. on the screen. On the couch is a blonde-haired girl holding out a bowl of popcorn out to a dark-haired boy. Jansen. The other rooms are just as amazing and on the side of the house is an attached garage. My dad has engineered a working garage door that opens with the touch of a button. I open the garage door to find a cherry red F-150 parked in there. It's perfect. It's everything I love.

Every present I opened was better than the previous one but nothing was as great as the dream house. My dad had even hung a fake fish on the wall of the garage. My dad knows how much I value our fishing trips together. He whispers to me that there was no way my mom would let him hang the fish in the living room. I giggle at him and we go into the kitchen to enjoy the Christmas breakfast my mom had made. I got everything I asked for this Christmas. We weren't rich by any means, but my parents always made Christmas extra special for me because they knew it was my favorite day of the year. I'm so lucky to have parents like mine.

"I can't wait to show Jansen my new dream house," I tell my parents as I take a big bite of pancakes.

Merry Christmas to me.