I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus!

They say that the moment a kid stopped believing in Santa Claus the fun presents turned into boring socks and sweaters, but this was a milestone in a kid's growing process. The Christmas spell being broken around the age of eight and nine, most kids find out about the biggest scam of their lives from classmates at school, others figure it out on their own, but when it came to Mason and Lizzie... well, Claire making out with Santa and talking funny to him kinda did the trick.

Christmas was for many kids the merriest time of the year, but for others there wasn't anything special about it. Mason fell in the latter group. Sure, like any child he loved the presents he always got from mom and Aunt Karen, but every year the redhead heard the same thing being told to Santa at the mall: "for dad to come over so we can play with my new toys." By the age of six, he'd started adding his own reasoning behind his wish never coming true; "but I've been naughty all year so I know it's not happening." He would shrug it off, "so I'll take whatever but coal."

It broke Claire's heart that there was nothing she could do to get him the one thing her kid wanted the most in the whole world. She could distract his little mind with the biggest and coolest present there was but that wouldn't stop him from asking if Josh could come and have cookies and milk, and play with him.

The redhead was waiting on the side, her hands holding her Christmas shopping bags while Mason had his minute with Santa. She sighed, mentally ready to hear the eight-year old sitting on Santa's lap say how all he wanted was for his dad to care a little bit; green sad eyes made contact with Santa's blue ones and she gulped, ready for the punch in the gut.

"I want a tablet..." Manson whispered into Santa's ear and pulled back with a smile on his face. He knew he hadn't been entirely nice this year, but he was now old enough to notice how he never truly was, and regardless, he still got some cool toys.

"A tablet!?" Santa echoed for mom's benefit and Mason nodded before he leaned forward and kept whispering other things into his ear.

Claire smiled, her eyes moving over to her kid who was now walking back to her. She nodded, thanking Santa and the cute elves for their time. "C'mon babe, lets get some cookies~" She let Mason help her with some of the bags so they could hold hands and head to the small bakery across Hollyville.

"Are you done with your wish list, love?" Claire pressed a kiss on his forehead after pushing Mason's hair back. Since the moment he had learned how to write, he would make a wish list for three things he wanted for Christmas. He would always end up getting all of them; one was from Santa and the other two from Claire and Karen respectively. For the past couple of years, the redhead had asked him to start listing five things so it wouldn't come so obvious for the kid.

"Not yet, I'm still trying to narrow it down..." the second grader shared; he was truly Claire's son, making a list and thinking this through. They found a table by the window and set their bags on the empty chairs. Mason sat down and waited for Claire to go place their holiday shopping tradition order.

The kid looking out the window, smiling, while observing how warming and fuzzy the holiday season actually was. Claire was back in a couple of minutes and quietly noticed how for the first time in his life, he was actually smiling during their Christmas shopping.

"Last year I promised you that you could try the Cold Brew Affogato, so I got you that." She sat across the table from her kid.

"It looks so yummy!" He smiled happily that his mom had kept her promise.

"Whatever you say~" She laughed, she knew he was not going to like it and it wouldn't taste like anything like he thought it would, but he was old enough to let him try new things and let him decide that on his own.