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“Papa, I wanna go see Santa!” Nina signed, her little face full of excitement.
“I know, liebling, Daddy’s going to be here any second. Then we’ll get in line, okay?” Erik replied, his eyes scanning the crowd for Charles. He’d texted that he was on the way, but you could never predict traffic around Christmas, especially to a mall.
This was going to be Nina’s first time seeing Santa, and she was absolutely thrilled. It had been all she’d talked about the whole week, and Erik was pretty excited too. He’d never gotten to see Santa as a kid, and he remembered the feeling of jealousy as the other kids in his elementary school classes regaled the class with tales of meeting the Santa Claus. Nina had grown up with both Hanukkah and Christmas, and she’d once excitedly told Erik and Charles that her friends wanted to have two holidays too.
“Erik!”
He looked and saw Charles making his way through the throng of people toward him.
“Daddy!” Nina signed as he walked over, and Charles grinned.
“Merry Christmas, darling,” he replied, kissing her cheek, then Erik’s. “Are you ready to see Santa?”
Nina nodded ecstatically, grabbing her parents’ hands and pulling them toward the long line of children and adults waiting to see the big man himself.
The line went fairly quickly, mostly thanks to the swiftness of the elves taking the pictures.
“Okay, sweetheart, come on down,” the elf tasked with guiding children said, and Nina looked up at Erik who ushered her down and helped her onto Santa’s lap. Charles followed them down and stood on the other side of Santa.
“Hello, little one, what’s your name?” Santa asked, and Nina looked at Charles with nervous wide eyes.
“She’s deaf,” Charles said gently to the bearded man.
“Does she sign at all?” Santa replied, and Charles nodded.
“Let’s try this again,” he said, smiling at Charles then at Erik before signing “What’s your name?” to Nina, who lit up like a star. Her parents exchanged looks of surprise as their daughter signed back,
“Nina!”
“Well, Nina, what would you like for Christmas?”
“An electric train and a unicorn.”
“Very good! Ready for your picture?”
“Yep!”
She smiled broadly, the camera flashed, and she jumped off Santa’s lap.
“Bye bye Santa, I love you,” she signed, and the old man chuckled.
“I love you too, Merry Christmas!”
“Papa, why are you crying?” Nina asked, seeing Erik wiping his eyes as the three of them walked to the car.
“I’m not sad, honey, just happy tears,” he replied. “They’re happy tears.”