Secret Santa✔️

Epilogue

You know how they say life doesn't turn out exactly the way you hoped. Well, mine didn't. It turned out better.

Over the next few years, we had two more children, a girl named Holly and another boy named Noel. The reindeer still wanted Pumpernickel, but we thought it was better to stick to tradition.

Thanks to Santa's Christmas magic, the reindeer would change to human form frequently to play with the kids. They even included Rudolph. Poor thing, his allergies were so bad he always had a red nose.

Eventually, Nick did pass the business down to Nik and retired. He still sticks around so he and Carole can enjoy the kids more.

As for me, Christmas will always be my favorite time of the year. It's the only day Nik works, which is a bonus.

"Mommmmm, Holly won't let me play with the toys," Noel cried.

"Holly! Now you don't want to be on dad's naughty list, do you?"

"No, mom!"

"Then let your brother play with the toys," I said.

"Fine."

"Let me guess are the kids being a handful," Nik said, wrapping his arms around me from behind.

"Not any more than usual," I said.

"They do realize today starts the Christmas season, right?"

"I figure I would let you tell them," I said glancing at him.

He spun me around and then like magic, his beard grew, and his hair turned white. His belly appears, and his cheeks became rosy.

"That is still crazy how that happens," I said.

"Yeah, it was pretty weird to see it first happen to me," he said, smiling.

"Should we check on everyone," I asked.

"Of course," he said, taking my hand and we headed down to the workshop. Pepper greeted him with the nice/naughty list, and Alabaster went over some things new. Sugarplum brought us both hot cocoa.

We made our way over to the reindeer who were playing with the kids. Even Comet and Cupid seemed to be enjoying themselves. The toy workshop was running smoothly we were gearing up for Christmas.

Kris even wanted to learn the family business just like Nik. That was good because he would eventually inherit the business from his dad.

As we stood there watching everything, Nik turned to face me, and with one quick movement, he dipped me and kissed me. I looked at him as he said, "mistletoe. Got to follow tradition." He winked.

I smiled, "of course, don't want to break tradition." I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him back as everyone watched and smiled.

Who would ever guess I would marry Santa Claus? Not me but sometimes things work out the way they are supposed to.

Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night.