A collection of short stories

Small Talk

     Sitting in a tiny house, at a tiny table, are four tiny kids. Their tiny hands grab at sticky balls of sugar and attempt to balance them on the roof of their future. While they all sit there innocently reaching for decorations and having fun creating a life for a small gingerbread family. Their parents run around the house fetching stollen out of the oven and running it to the dining room table. As the burn of vinegar from the german potato salad begins to fill the air, and the thump of Bratwurst being taken off the stove and put onto a plate echoes throughout the house, the children scramble into the dining room pulling out their chairs and looking at their meals with ravenous eyes.
     In the small house sits a small table, with a small family, holding each other's small hands in prayer. Their routine prayers silence the house, and as the first plate of schnitzel is passed around the table to the father the tiny house becomes enveloped in noise. "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" hums in the background as the kids discuss what they think will be waiting under the tree for them the next morning, while the adults discuss the plans they have for their holiday break, and how work is going, and how much they've missed each other.
Swallowing their portions whole, the kids eat what they've been served as fast as they can, believing that time will magically disintegrate. Before they can leave the table though, dessert is served, consisting of Pfeffernüsse, Zwetschgenkuchen, Schokoladekuchen, and a Hefeweizen for the adults. The children's eyes turn to saucers as they fill their plates with sweets and with every cut of kuchen the house smells more and more like a bäckerei.
Cleaning their plates and the table the tiny family stuffs their tiny plates into the tiny kitchen sink. With the celebration over the parents went to their rooms and the kids settled onto the carpeted by the base of the Christmas tree.
     Ready for the tradition of a Christmas night the tiny children grabbed one tiny present each and opened it with a newfound delight. The youngest was gifted a doll with a large skirt and long flowy hair, whose entire body spun atop a crystal stage. The child revealed a book that was green, on the front it said "Fülle dieses Buch mit Erinnerungen aus deinem Kopf." Next was the second eldest who with renewed urgency ripped the package from its bearings and relieved inside a shiny chain with a plate that read "US MARINE." The eldest child now looked worried to see what was inside of his significantly smaller package. With a sigh he then opened the package to reveal inside a box that, once opened, had a small watch face attached to a chain and a note saying, "to my eldest grandson so you will never be late."
     After the final tiny present was gifted to the final tiny child, they all curled up into their fluffy blankets and laid head to head, feet to feet, excited by what they might receive in the not so tiny packages under the not so tiny tree.