Chapter Text
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Out of all the holidays on the calendar, Claudia’s favorite was Christmas.
New Year’s Eve was fun – they usually went over to her uncles’ house – but it was nothing special. Easter always came with an uncomfortably stuffy car ride over to her grandma’s house, followed by an even more uncomfortably stuffy day there, sort of playing with her cousins and watching her papa make her uncle Levi angry. The Fourth of July was probably her third favorite, especially since Daniel let her set off fireworks now. Thanksgiving was tied with Easter for being the worst, but it was a little bit better since Aunt Grace made really good food.
Christmas was on a whole different level. The whole month, they watched movies every night (including school nights) and made hot chocolate and cookies. Christmas music blared out of her Papa Les’s car when he drove her to school, to the mild annoyance of some of their neighbors. He hadn’t grown up in America, so he took everything to the extreme, decking out the house in lights and garlands and so many tiny plastic Santas. Claudia wrote her letter to Santa every year and sent it off on the 1st of December like clockwork. According to Daniel, it got ahead of everyone else’s and made sure she got everything on her list.
All of that is to say, Claudia couldn’t sleep on Christmas Eve.
Her parents made her go upstairs with Rose and Viktor after they put the cookies and milk out, even though her daddy said she could stay up to try and catch Santa this year! She’d have to put that on her list for next year because Santa’s magic definitely overrode what Daddy Lou had to say. He’d tucked her in, put on an audiobook reading ‘The Night Before Christmas’ like he did every year, and quietly closed the door once Claudia was “asleep.”
But she wasn’t asleep. Once Claudia was sure she heard both of her parents finish putting their presents under the tree and turn off all the lights downstairs, she carefully pulled off the covers and crept towards her bedroom door. She pulled the door handle open as quietly as she could and poked her head out. The hallway was empty. Her parents’ bedroom light was off. It couldn’t have been more perfect. Claudia slipped out the crack she’d made in the door, closed it behind her and began to creep down the stairs.
Halfway down the stairs, Claudia realized she didn’t know where she’d hide. If she waited in the living room, Santa would see her and she hadn’t used her ask to stay up loophole this year, so she’d technically be in violation of her daddy’s rules and could ruin her streak of being good all year. At least, that’s how Armand explained it when she’d accidentally let it slip that’s what she was planning to do if she wasn’t given permission to stay up. She’d made him swear he wouldn’t tell her parents and he had agreed.
She sat on the carpeted stairs and thought about it. The living room was off limits. Hiding in the coat closet wouldn’t work since, despite her wishes, Claudia was sort of tired and she might fall asleep squished against the coats. The dining room could work if it didn’t have those creaky floorboards by the entry way. It seemed the whole downstairs was tailormade to ruin her plans.
Creak.
Claudia whipped her head around when she heard a noise upstairs. It was coming from the hallway. Viktor's room still had a baby gate in front of it so it couldn’t be him. Rose was halfway asleep when they were finishing the movies tonight so it probably wasn’t her… It was Daddy Lou! Claudia made a mental note to get back at Armand for ratting her out at dinner tomorrow, but for now, she had to move. She moved off the stairs as fast as she could and hid in the kitchen. It did have a good view into the living room, so if Santa came, she could catch him, and if Daddy Lou asked why she was up, she could tell him she was getting water.
Claudia hid between the kitchen island and the sink and poked her head up. Just like she thought, it was Daddy Lou coming down the stairs. Instead of walking towards the kitchen, thankfully, he turned to walk into the living room. She stood up on her tiptoes to see over the kitchen bar a little bit better and then–
Santa.
Red suit wearing, white beard having, present carrying Santa was in her livingroom by the tree. Other, less informed people would probably be wondering how he got in if Claudia didn’t see him come down the chimney, but Claudia knew better. Santa coming down the chimney would be impossible to see by the human eye because it was a magical process that was faster than any human could register seeing. That’s how he got from house to house so fast.
Back to Santa: it was Santa! He set the sack of presents down and walked to the coffee table where the milk and cookies were. Claudia watched in awe as the Santa drank some of the milk, ate two of the cookies, and then turned back to face the tree.
“They’re all asleep.” Santa froze. Claudia froze. It was Daddy Lou! She didn’t even have time to consider why he was talking to Santa; she just hid so that hopefully neither of them could see her hiding in the kitchen. It hit her that all this sneaking around was probably not worth it, since Santa knew when she was awake, so she decided to bank on Santa not being a snitch like Armand.
“Even your husband?” Santa asked. His voice wasn’t nearly as deep as movies made it, but those were probably misrepresentations. He also sounded like he was trying to hold some accent back.
“Mhm.” Claudia slowly began to stand up again. Daddy Lou was walking over to Santa. “Everyone’s fast asleep. Just us.” Santa grabbed her daddy’s waist and before Claudia could make her presence known because she was very confused about what was going on, Daddy Lou leaned in and–.
Mwah!
Claudia’s mouth fell open so fast her jaw almost popped. Her daddy was kissing Santa Claus in their living room on Christmas Eve. Worst of all, Santa was kissing back. She ducked below the counter again before more of the joy of Christmas could be ruined. Papa Les was asleep and this– this imposter was kissing her dad! Multiple times!
She had had enough. Christmas was ruined, Santa was ruined. She sneaked out the side entrance of the kitchen, careful not to step on any of the creaky floorboards as she went through the dining room, and climbed back up the stairs. Part of her wanted to go wake Papa Les up so he could go see this too, but she decided against it.
No, she’d save this expose for the morning.