Kissing Santa Clause

Telling Dad

Its early morning on Christmas and Hermey was anxious after his discovery. He couldn't believe that his mom actually kissed Santa! Every time he thinks of the incident it makes him laugh. He can't wait until he tells dad too so they can laugh together. Its been a while since they did and dad always seems upset so he can't wait to cheer him up!
Hermey is also happy he finally saw Santa in real life. He always fell asleep before he arrived, but not this year. He knew Santa was real! He knew Kevin was lying about him being made up, now Hermey can't wait to rub it in his face that he saw Santa.
Once it was late enough to get everyone up without him getting in trouble, Hermey jumped out of bed and ran to his parents room. He jumped on their bed screaming "wake up, Santa was here!" and internally giggling because he knows his mom knows that already. His parents started to grumble and shift while Hermey jumped off to get his sister. He was about to open her door but it flew open and she ran out with an excited smile.
The kids run downstairs and see all the presents under the tree. They were excited and both grabbed the biggest gifts they saw and waited for their parents to get downstairs. However, it seems like they were taking their sweet time. Hermey was excited for so many reasons that he couldn't wait to do something so he decided to tell his sister what happened last night.
"Sarah, guess what!" Hermey said.
Sarah didn't look up from her huge gift, trying to figure it out what it is without opening it.
"What?" she said, still staring at her gift.
"I saw Santa Clause last night!" Hermey stated happily
Sarah's head snaps up and has her widened eyes on Hermey now. "Really?!" she questions excitedly. Hermey nodded proudly stating "and that's not all..." He gets closer and whispers "...I also saw mommy kiss him."
Sarah's eyes look like they're gonna pop out of her head with how wide her eyes got while Hermey starts giggling at the memory.
"They were under the mistletoe last night," he continues.
Sarah is about to speak when the parents walk in tiredly, signaling to open their presents finally. Hermey tears open into his while Sarah looks at her mother and back at the mistletoe hanging in the doorway.
"Did you really kiss Santa?" Sarah blurts out. Hermey stops tearing the wrapping paper and their mothers eyes widen in shock.
"What'd you say?" Veronica asks cautiously. "Hermey said he saw you kiss Santa under the mistletoe" Sarah states and their father looks at his wife with questioning eyes. Veronica looks nervous while Hermey looks at his sister angrily.
"I wanted to say that! I wanted to tell dad! You weren't supposed to say anything! Its my story!" Hermey shouts at Sarah.
Its his story, he wanted to surprise dad with it. He's supposed to laugh but he probably isn't because Sarah said it.
"But you never said I couldn't-" Sarah starts but is soon interrupted by "it was supposed to be a secret, I wanted to tell daddy so he could laugh with me. You ruined the surprise!" Hermey was mad and standing now, presents forgotten about.
"Calm down!" their fathers voice booms, interrupting the argument. "Now what's this about mommy kissing Santa Clause?" He asks calmer. Hermey looks up to him, determined to save the story.
"So, I was upstairs watching the living room so I could see Santa, because you know, I've always wanted to see him and I wasn't tired so I stayed up. Well, when I was there I finally saw Santa! I also saw mom under the mistletoe and he came up and they kissed! Isn't it funny daddy? Can you believe that mommy kissed Santa?!"
Hermey starts to giggle again but soon stops to notice that his dad isn't laughing with him. Instead, he is looking at his now pale wife for an explanation. Veronica looks at Hermey and says "that did not happen, you probably dreamed it. I put you to bed, remember?" Her voice seemed a little shakey. "I snuck out of bed. I know I wasn't supposed to but I wanted to see Santa! And it wasn't a dream, I know it wasn't because I was awake! You kissed him right there!" Hermey points at the mistletoe hanging in the doorway.
"I'm sorry Hermey but it must have been your imagination because Santa isn't real." Veronica continued, causing Hermey to tear up.
"Yes he is, I saw him!" he shouts back, and Sarah looks like she's about to cry too.
"Veronica! Don't say that to them" their dad warned. "Its Christmas, don't ruin it for them. Why are you arguing with him so intensely about it?"
Hermeys dad looks at his wife for answers while she starts to look nervous.
"He's being ridiculous and its about time he found out! I don't like being accused about things like that!" Veronica is defensive now and their dad seems to take note.
"If he's not real, why does it matter what he says? You're arguing with a 7 year old about Santa, who I know for a fact is real!"
Veronica starts to shake a little as she questions "how do you know then?"
Their dad looks at her with the most done look on his face. "1, I was once like Hermey, I used to stay up for Santa all the time. 2, do you think we can afford all those gifts under the tree?! We can barely afford the little things we get them in their stockings! With my job doing the budget cuts and you being unemployed, we dont have much! How do you explain these gifts that we never bought, huh? And 3, I caught you and him before! At the time I just went with it because it was mistletoe and you said it wouldn't happen again. Well, it happened again! Did you forget we were in this situation before?!" Their dad voice started to get louder as he continued.
Hermey and Sarah looked at one another frightened.
Veronica burst into tears and their dad looked at them sternly. "Go to your rooms." Hermey and Sarah looked at the tree with unopened gifts. "What about the presents?" Hermey questioned, still holding a half unwrapped box.
"Forget about them, we'll open them later. Now, go to your rooms, I don't want to repeat myself again."
Hermey and Sarah slowly got up and hesitantly went upstairs to their rooms while their parents stayed downstairs.
Hermey didn't understand why their dad was mad about their mommy and Santa. She kisses him under the mistletoe all the time, why is Santa different? It was supposed to be funny! Why is he yelling and not laughing? Christmas was supposed to be happy, not sad, why is his mom crying?
Hermey was full of questions as he went into his room and closed the door, now listening to the muffle sounds of his dad yelling and his mom crying.