Choni one shots

108: The One For The Holidays

TONI POV:

"We have some ground rules." I look at our son Jason who just turned 4. He nods eagerly. "When Santa comes you should be asleep. I know you're excited! But you need to sleep we don't need you crashing half way through opening presents again." Cheryl snickers a little. "Sorry go on." She walks over to close Jason's curtains. "If you are up before anyone else or before 7 you can open you stoking. But no peaking at the presents!" I poke his belly. He giggles a little. "Ok?" I ask. He nods. "What does 7 look like?" He ask. I grab a paper and write 7:00. "If the clock on the stove says this you can wake me and mommy up." He nods. "How will I know the difference?" I look down. "Ok. If the sun has raised you can come in and wake us, unless me or mommy is up than one of us will tell you if it's ok to wake mom up. Ok?" He nods. I kiss the top of his head. "Did you get the carrots ready for the reindeer?" He ask quietly. I nod. "Of course sweetie." I smile. "I love you bud." I tuck him in more and stand near the door. Cheryl kisses him good night. I turn off the light knowing Cheryl needs him to be asleep. It's the same thing every night. She waits for him to be asleep. It's the only way she can get sleep. "I think he's asleep." I whisper. She nods and gets up. I dim the hallway light and we go to our room.

I wake up to little feet pattering around. I smile to myself and roll over to Cheryl. "He's awake." She whispers. "I'll give him a minute than go down and make coffee." I whisper. I shut my eyes for a few more minutes, kiss Cheryl's cheek and go downstairs. "Mommy! Santa came!" Jason jumps excitedly. "Really?!" I ask pretending to be surprised. "Yeah look!" He runs over to the over the top tree Cheryl and him insisted on getting and making me and the boys somehow get in. "Do you want to see if the reindeer eat the carrots?" I pick him up. "Yeah!" We go to the back porch. I gasp. "Look!" He smiles. "You already ate the rest of the cookies didn't you?" I ask wiping the chocolate off his face. We always leave some of the cookies for Jason. "Yeah." He smiles. The sun starts to rise. "Can I wake mommy up?" I nod. "Sure. I'm gonna make some coffee so she'll be a little more motivated to wake up. Go tell her coffee is being made." I close the door and he runs upstairs. "Mommy mommy!" I smile and get the coffee. Cheryl and Jason come downstairs. He starts opening presents as I hand Cheryl her coffee and sit on the couch with her. "Happy Christmas baby." I whisper in her ear. "I love you." She whispers and we kiss. "Ew!" I kiss her again just to annoy Jason. "Hey, can you hand me that box? Be carful." I ask him. He pushes it over. I put my coffee down and pick the box up. "This is for you baby." I smile slightly nervous on how she was going to react. She puts her coffee down and opens it. She pulls out Jason's letterman jacket in a frame with his birthday to death and a picture of the two of them. She wipes her tears away. "I got the jacket restored and framed. I figured we could put that in his old room." I move the hair out of her face. She nods. "Thank you." She whispers trying to not cry. "Why is mommy sad?" Jason ask quietly. "I'm not! These are happy tears. Sweetie." I pick Jason up. "Who's that?" He ask pointing at his uncle. "That's your uncle. He's the person we named you after." I tell him. He nods. "You guys look so much a like." Cheryl looks at our son and at her deceased brother. "I don't see it." Cheryl laughs a little. "You'll see it when you're older. This is a older picture of him." She rubs his cheek. "Ok." He smiles. "Hey how about you open some more presents?" I tap Jason's back. He jumps down and opens some more presents. "Thank you baby." She whispers again. I kiss her cheek. "You're welcome." I whisper. "Now I feel bad because I didn't get you anything that would have you in tears." I rub her back. "No but maybe tonight we can do that thing you won't do?" I smile. She shakes her head. "No!"