Christmas Candy

19- Sneaking up on Santa

Amelia and Zoe slowly walked the plate of cookies and the glass of milk into the living room. Amelia carried the plate while Zoe had the glass of milk, with them both eyeing what they were holding in their hands, making sure they spilled nothing along the way to the table. Amelia set the cookies down on the table, then Zoe set down the glass of milk next to the cookies.

Zoe cheered, "Look, mommy! I didn't spill."

Amelia looked at Harmony. "Can I grab the whipped cream now?"

Harmony's eyes quickly rolled to Jasper, and she gave him a look. That one look men fear the most when they know their woman is angry about something. He caught on to the evil eye and got the feeling that once the girls go to bed, he was in trouble. Amelia may not have understood Jasper's comment, but Harmony still wanted to let Jasper know she didn't care for what he said to Amelia. After she knew Jasper got the memo, she looked back to Amelia. "You can go ahead and grab it out of the refrigerator."

She ran into the kitchen while Zoe stood, staring at the cookies. "That's a lot of cookies. Will he eat all of them?"

"Santa has quite the sweet tooth. I wouldn't be surprised if he did," Harmony said as she sat on the sofa.

"I thought you said too much sugar is bad for our health," Zoe asked, looking confused.

"It is bad for your health, but Santa doesn't care about his well-being."

"Santa cares. It's not his fault he likes his sweets," Jasper quickly responded.

"Here's the whipped cream," Amelia smiled as she set it by the milk. "What else does he like? I really want to make sure to give him everything he wants. That way, he gives me what I want, too."

Jasper looked at Harmony and smirked. There was more he'd tell her to put out for Santa but knew he was already in trouble with Harmony as it was and stayed mum. "I think what you've got there is good enough. If I were to tell you to leave him a cup of hot chocolate, it would be ice cold when he arrived, finally. So, let's not worry about anything more."

"Maybe he needs more cookies?" Amelia said.

Jasper chuckled. "You've got plenty of cookies on that plate already."

"When does Santa come, anyway?"

Harmony leaned forward, resting her forearms on her lap. "He only comes when the kids are asleep. If he arrives and knows they're awake, he will skip that house and go onto the next."

Amelia's mouth fell, and she looked at Zoe. "I don't want that, so we better fall asleep soon, then. Because I don't want him missing us again."

Jasper tightly pulled her to him and lowered to kiss the top of her head, assuring her Santa will not miss them this year. "Santa won't miss you. He just wants to be sure you're asleep when he comes to drop off your gifts. It's always been his rules for children before he leaves the presents."

"Why? What if kids want to see and talk to him? I wish I could see him again," she sighed.

"How come, honey? You've already talked to him a couple of times," Harmony asked.

"I forgot to tell him what else I wanted."

"What did you forget to tell him?"

Amelia looked to the ground and sighed, "Nothing. I guess it'll have to wait. I still need to see if he will get me the other thing I want, anyway."

Jasper looked at Harmony and discreetly pointed to the garage, letting her know he would sneak out to check on the puppy. Harmony nodded, then looked at the girls, knowing she needed to distract them away from Jasper so they wouldn't follow him out. "How about we take a bath, get your pajamas on, and then we get you to bed so Santa will come?"