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When Jensen was a kid, he never had much of a problem with strangers.
He knows that fact isn’t the least bit shocking. Nothing much has changed.
He is still exactly the same.
It’s this personality trait that enabled his mother to cart him off for a holiday picture with Santa year after year, an action which always resulted in a flawless shot of Jensen beaming a smile directly at the camera
Mackenzie was another matter entirely. Until the age of 5 she is screaming in every picture. And Josh looked like he would rather have dental work done. It didn’t matter much, because, as Donna likes to point out, no one pays much attention to them in the photos because Jensen most definitely stole the spotlight.
Jensen still doesn’t see why his siblings were so affected by a man dressed as Santa. He doesn’t understand the crying fuss kids make when in the presence of the epitome of a child’s Christmas spirit.
It’s why he thinks he and Jared should take Arianna and Brooke to take a picture with Santa. The girls are just over 2 and it is technically their third Christmas, but Jensen has never been a part of any type of Christmas photo.
When they were first born, Jensen was barely in their lives long enough to have any say in the matter. Jared took them for a photo with Santa but they were newborns and blissfully slept through the whole thing.
When the girls were one, Jared and Jensen were too caught up in their first Christmas as an official couple, keeping up with their crawling, walking, talking energetic girls, and Christmas shopping on a whole new level (their combined forces meant combined present shopping). They barely had time to breathe let alone trek to the mall with twins – twins – to take a picture with Santa.
This year, Jensen thinks they might have it under control.
Their new baby is due in six weeks, and things are a little hectic, but it is the good kind of hectic that Jensen can deal with. He’s caught up in the feelings of the holiday, the warm radiating feeling he gets when he thinks about taking time to appreciate his family and loved ones.
And Jared is just pretty much the most adorable thing he has ever seen. He’s got it in his head that this Christmas has to be bigger than usual because it is their last Christmas as a family of four. He wants things to be great for Brooke and Ari. Jared’s pulled out all the stops and it looks like Christmas pretty much exploded in their house.
Jensen is surprised that Jared isn’t throwing up tinsel along with his lunches.
But like a trooper, Jared doesn’t complain. Okay, he complains, but only once. And Jensen can’t blame him. It seems like a shitty deal, still getting sick long after most people have put morning sickness to rest. But, they get a baby at the end of it, so Jared keeps reminding him it is a fair trade off.
Arianna and Brooke are balls of talkative, troublemaking energy. Jensen is positive that they are going to love Santa. They love everything.
Jared thinks so too, which is why he is 100% on board with taking the girls for a picture with Father Christmas himself. Besides, they need to send out Christmas cards and this is a great chance to get their photo taken.
So they wake up early to beat the rush. They have a million things to do today, but Jensen is sure this is going to be the easiest to complete on their list.
Jared still hates dressing them in matching outfits, but his mother and father sent them a pair of matching red dresses with faux white fur trimming. Arianna and Brooke looks so candy-cane sweet dressed up in them and Jared can’t help himself when he completes the look with matching white tights and black mary-janes.
People still can’t tell them apart so Jared keeps to his habit of pulling Arianna’s, Baby 1, hair into one bouncy ponytail and Brooke’s, Baby 2, into two pigtails.
The girls are happy and giggly the whole way to the mall, singing and babbling to their parents as they make their way through traffic and parking lot chaos.
Arianna breaks into her favorite holiday song of “Frosty to toe-man” and Brooke joins in. Unfortunately, they get stuck on loop and Jared looks like he is one minute away from a migraine.
Jensen loves his daughters, loves them more than anything on earth, but sometimes their squeaky singing hits a nerve in his ear and he grins and bears it. Because, looking back at them in the rear view mirror, they are so full of childhood happiness and adorable smiles that he would grin and bear it for the rest of his life.
He’s not so sure Jared feels the same way at the current moment.
They find a parking space five seconds before Jared’s pregnancy crankiness comes out and within moments are carrying two happily silent girls, too enthralled by the holiday decorations to make noise, into the mall.
Standing on line for their turn at sitting on Santa’s lap isn’t bad. Arianna and Brooke are happy to point at every element of the “Santa’s Workshop” set up and perk up with an inquiry of, “What that?”
Jensen’s pretty sure the girls are going to ask for reindeer for Christmas, and that Jared might actual cave and try to get them, by the time they make it to the front of the line.
The man dressed as Santa is everything he should be. He’s friendly and laughing and talking to the girls in a safe happy voice. He’s got just the right white beard and his suit is the perfect red crushed velvet.
Everything is picture perfect.
Only, when Jensen places Arianna on the ground, she freezes. She stares at Santa like he just took her last cookie.
“Come on baby, go say hi to Santa.” Jared has Brooke on his hip, but he nudges Arianna forward gently.
“Uhn uhh.” Ari shakes her head. She clings to Jensen’s leg and looks up at him. “Up daddy, up.”
“Don’t you want to say hello to Santa? Tell him you were a good girl all year, just like we talked about?” Jensen gets down on one knee and he touches his forehead to Arianna’s
Voice going whisper soft, Arianna shakes her head again. “No.” She clings to Jensen and crawls back into his arms.
“Come on baby, it’s fun. Watch, Papa is going to put Brooke on his lap.” Jensen laughs as Ari buries her head in his neck.
“Jen…I don’t know…I don’t think they really want to.” Jared gives ‘Santa’ an apologetic smile and mouths an “I’m sorry.”
Brooke looks a little dazed, confused as to what is going on. She blinks and mimics Arianna, burying herself in Jared’s sweater.
“They're just being shy.” Jensen stands up, taking Arianna with him.
Jared shrugs. “Oooookaaaaay.” He kisses Brooke on her forehead. “Want to say ‘hello’ to Santa, sweetie?” Without waiting for an answer, he plops Brooke down on Santa’s lap.
Santa laughs warmly and gets a grip on her so that she doesn’t slide off the slippery velvet of his pants. “Well hello their little princess. Were you a good girl this year?”
Brooke’s eyes go wide, startled by the man’s voice. She stares at Jared and then Jensen, but doesn’t say or do much more than look shocked.
“See Ari, wanna sit with Brookey?” Jensen pries Arianna out from his neck and plops her on Santa’s other knee
For a second, Jensen thinks everything will be fine. The girls look adorably shocked and confused. But then things take a turn for the worse.
Santa laughs again, a big theatrical production. “Oh, two of you! You’re parents must have been very good to have such sweet little girls.”
Arianna’s lip quivers, she sniffles once, twice, three times and then breaks out into a full blown wail. She goes limp and sits helplessly on Santa’s lap as she cries and tears run down her cheeks.
Arianna’s cries flip a switch in Brooke. She sniffles loudly and breaks into her own cry, twisting in Santa’s hold and trying to reach out for Jared.
“Papa!” Brooke is trying to get a foot hold but her little mary-janed feet keep slipping on the velvet of Santa’s pants and her motions give off the feeling that she is scrambling through the air.
Jared is in motion in an instant. Faster than one would assume the pregnant man could move, he is on his knees with both girls practically jumping into his arms. “It’s okay babies. We can go home. It’s okay. Shhhh…”
Unfortunately, once Jared gets onto his knees, he cann’t figure out how to get up off of them, especially not with two sobbing clingy two year olds attached to him.
It took Jensen taking both twins into his own arms and one of Santa’s Elvin helpers to get Jared back on his feet.
Brooke is giving Santa dirty looks and Arianna isn’t even opening her eyes enough to look.
Jensen realizes he over simplified this whole picture with Santa thing. He is shocked at the girls reaction, could have never predicted it, but he never wants to see them so upset at something of his own doing again.
The twins are still reaching and calling for Jared but there is no way Jensen is letting the man carry either one of them right now. They take a break and sit down on a bench in the middle of the mall, sandwiching the girls between them. Arianna crawls onto Jared, latching herself around his neck but being careful about her father’s baby bump. The girls learned to be careful around Jared, and it is nice to see them following the rules even in the midst of a meltdown.
“Well, that was a disaster.” Jared rubs a hand over Ari’s back and cradles her against him.
“Yeah…” Jensen scratches at the back of his neck sheepishly and gives his boyfriend a smile. Brooke is hiding against his side, tucking perfectly under his arm and draping it in front of her face. “I’m sorry about that. I thought it would be a cute tradition, not a state of emergency.”
“I know Jen, it was a sweet thought. Maybe we can try again next year, with the new baby and everything?” Jared smiles at the mention of the new baby and the hand not soothing Arianna goes to his middle.
Jensen smiles and brings his hand to rest on top of Jared’s. “Yeah, maybe. I just feel terrible for scaring them.”
“They’ll get over it.”
Proving Jared’s words true right on schedule, a squeaky voice pipes up. “Daddy! Deer!” Brooke peaks out from behind Jensen’s arm and points to a Christmas store directly across from them. Her chubby fingers are pointing determinedly at a large stuffed reindeer plush toy in the window.
“You want to go see the reindeer, Miss. Brooke?” Jensen fishes his daughter out from her hiding place and sits her on his lap.
She still has remnants of tears on her cheeks, but Jensen wipes them away with his thumb as she smiles and nods her head in a yes.
Arianna pushes up from lying limply across Jared’s chest and looks to where Brooke is pointing. “Papa, I want deer.” She shimmies down Jared’s body and sits on the small vacant area of his lap, wiggling and pointing along with Brooke.
“We can go see the reindeer, Angel-face. “
“Yes Jared, we can go see the reindeer. We are not buying the giant reindeer.” Jensen raises an eyebrow and gives Jared a knowing look.
“That is what I said. See the reindeer.” Jared puts Arianna on the ground and pushes himself off the bench with some difficulty. He puts his hand out towards his daughter and Arianna automatically grabs it, taking little excited hop-skips as they make their way to the store.
Jensen swings Brooke onto his hip and follows. And within seconds of being in the store the girls have forgot their prior traumatizing time spent with Santa and are touching just about everything they shouldn’t touch.
Jensen thinks it is funny, because, Arianna finds a Santa hat for sale and delights in tugging it over her own head and laughs even more when Jared puts it on.
She LOVES that hat.
Ari laughs louder, complete with clapping and squeals, when Jared tugs on a Santa beard on an elastic fastener.
She is a complete hypocrite.
Brooke joins in, giggling and pointing. “Papa’s Santa!”
“Hey Jare, I have an idea.” Jensen holds up a Santa suit and makes a weird eye gesture that Jared immediately understands.
“Oh no…no no no no.” Jared tugs the beard off and gives Jensen a death glare. “There is no way I am dressing in that thing.”
“Aww, Jared. Come on. Why not?” Jensen smirks, corner of his lips twisting up as he stalks the retreating Jared.
“Because…well…” Jared blows a piece of hair out of his face in a huff and sighs. “What are we going to do with a Santa suit?”
“I figured since the girls don’t seem to mind when you are dressed as Santa, maybe we can get a picture with Santa-Jared.” Jensen laughs.
“And why can’t you be Santa?” Jared pouts and looks from Jensen to his daughters. Both girls have no idea what is going on between their parents but they miss Jared’s antics in the hat and beard.
“I don’t know…because you have that whole ‘bowl full of jelly’ thing going on.” Rubbing his palm over the curve of Jared’s middle, Jensen emphasizes his point.
“I have a ‘bowl full of baby’ right now, that is what I have.” Jared scowls. He looks down at Brooke who is jumping up and down with the fake beard in her hands and trying to get Jared to take it from her. He smiles, he tries to hold onto his annoyance but the genuine soft smile peaks through. “I should be mad at you for just calling me fat.”
Jensen knows he has already won the argument. “But you’re not.”
“Fine.” Jared pokes his tongue out at Jensen in an out of character gesture. It must be the childishness of the season, but Jared puts his hands on his hips too, looking all the more indignant. “But you are not getting out of this unscathed. You are wearing this.” Jared throws an elf hat at Jensen, compete with sew on pointy ears.
“That’s fair.” Jensen catches the hat and pulls it on. He isn’t afraid to make a fool of himself and he would happily do so for the benefit of his children.
Jared turns and picks up a pair of curl toed elf slippers. “And these.”
“Done.” Still unfazed, Jensen grabs the slippers from his boyfriend.
“And these.”
Jensen falters for a moment. “Aww, Jare, really?”
“Yes.”
“But…I mean…really?” Jensen grabs the pair of white and green stripped tights and holds them up while narrowing one eye in uncertainty.
“Yes. If I have to be dressed as an overweight grandpa, you can shove your hot ass into those tights.” Jared crosses his arms over his chest, smiling triumphantly.
Rolling his eyes, Jensen surrenders. “Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiine.” Finding a silver lining, Jensen’s eyes go dark, almost smoldering. “You are going to regret this. I am going to work the hell out of these tights.”
Unaffected, Jared shooes him. “And we are buying that reindeer.”
“Jare…&rdquo
“No, we are buying that reindeer.” Jared leans closer to Jensen and whispers in his ear. “And if you play your cards right, after the girls go to bed, I just might make those tights worth your while.”
Jensen shivers in reaction to Jared’s warm breath against his skin. He would have bought the girls the reindeer anyway. All it took was one puppy dog look from Arianna or Brooke and he knew the stuffed animal was going home with them. Jared knows that too. It is why Jared’s hint of a promise affected him so strongly. It was given freely and was all he needed to march himself up to the cashier and pay of everything.
Even the tights.
****************
Sherri Padalecki tossed her handful of mail onto the kitchen table and took a seat so as to sort through it all.
When she came to an envelope from her son and Jensen, she abandoned all her other mail and quickly tore it open.
What she found had her laughing almost to the point of tears.
It wasn’t the message at the bottom, the sweet warm wishes for a happy holiday season from Jared, Jensen, Arianna, and Brooke. It was the giant photo that took over most of the card.
The girls were dressed in the identical red outfits she had sent them weeks ago, hair pulled into their habitual styles. But her son…her son was dressed from head to toe in Santa gear, Jared’s pregnant belly leaving no need for a faux belly. In fact, the coat was open a little at the seam, revealing more evidence of her soon to be born new grandbaby.
Arianna was on Jared’s lap, the moment captured perfectly as she smiled mid-laugh, looking at the camera in delight as she tugs the costume beard away from Jared’s face, revealing her son’s smile.
But Jensen, all these years later still found a way to steal the spotlight. He was the reason for Sherri’s uncontrollable laughter. He was to Jared’s left, helping balance a toothy smiley Brooke on the most gigantic stuffed animal reindeer the woman had ever seen.
He was dressed in an elf hat and matching elf slippers, along with striped green and white tights that went up to his waist...and nothing else.
Out of the whole group, Jensen had the biggest open mouthed grin on. His eyes were shining and full of laughter, the infectious kind that was taking hold of Sherri at the moment.
“Paul! Paul! You have to see Jared and Jensen’s Christmas card! It is just about the funniest and sweetest thing I have ever seen.” She pushed up from the chair, still laughing and smiling at the card as she made her way towards the living room.
And when Paul saw the card, he reacted similarly.
With so much love and playful holiday spirit in the card, it was hard not to.
It was also hard, Sherri thought, not to see how absolutely perfect Jared and Jensen were together and how lucky those babies, all three of them, were to be in this world and in this family.