by Sadie Grey

Created on: September 30, 2010   Last Updated: November 26, 2011

Chad had to go to the bathroom in the worst way. He had been fighting the urge to get up for almost fifteen minutes but last night his father told him “no getting up early, you wait until you see light through that window.” He sat up and pushed the covers back. “Dad never said not to go to the bathroom.” He thought.

It was Christmas morning. He looked out the window and could see snow falling. The only light he saw came from the lamp post that stood on the corner of the street. He squirmed a bit. He had to go bad. “I’m not going to have an accident,” he thought to himself.

He slid off the bed thankful he had his socks on; the wood floor was cold. He quietly moved to his bedroom door and opened it. The bathroom was at the end of the hall near the top of the stairs and nightlights would light his way.

He stepped into the hall and swiftly made his way to the bathroom. He pushed through the bathroom door and without turning the light on, took care of business. Relief washed through him and without thinking; flushed the toilet. Chad grimaced. “Oh man!” He whispered.

Chad quickly washed his hands with sanitizer instead of turning the water on. He opened the door fully expecting to see either one of his parents; or worse, his older sister Becka. No one was waiting to yell at him for being up.

He stepped into the hall and was shocked to see light coming from downstairs. It was the Christmas tree lights. “But Dad turned them off last night.” A shadow moved across the stair walls and Chad quickly stepped back into the bathroom. He bravely peeked around the corner. He heard whispering.

Someone was downstairs!

“Mom and Dad put the gifts out last night, so who was downstairs?” He thought to himself. He knew it was way too early to get up. A realization crept into his thoughts. “No,” he thought, “it can’t be!”

Chad was eight years old. He learned about Santa Claus after Christmas last year. “No such thing!” Becka told him. “Mom and Dad buy all the gifts then tell you they’re from Santa.”

Chad wasn’t surprised when Becka told him; he had begun to wonder about the validity of a guy who could get all these gifts out in one night. Even so, he checked her story out with his mother. Becka got in trouble even though she told the truth.

Another sound and this time he daringly stepped into the hall again. He peered down the stairs. Someone was down there. Suddenly, he heard a sound from above. He looked up. The sound was muffled but it sounded like-what? Chad shook his head. “No, it couldn’t be.” He thought. “Becka said they don’t fly.”

Heart pounding, Chad stepped onto the stairs and stealthily moved down to the third step. He didn’t have to go any further. All he had to do was bend down a little to see most of living room. He could see the bottom half of the Christmas tree and the lights were on! It looked like a million presents were stacked around the tree. “A lot more than last night.” He whispered and regretted speaking aloud the minute he did it. He saw a flash of red pass the near the foot of the stairs. Chad froze.

Slowly and silently he scooted backwards up the steps and as quickly as he could; crawled down the hall to his bedroom. He closed the door, stood then leapt into his bed.

He rolled over facing his bookcase trying to get his breathing under control. Santa was not going to catch him out of bed! He closed his eyes; concentrated on his breathing but was smiling the entire time. “I saw Santa! I heard the reindeer!” He thought excitedly. “Wait until I tell Becka.”

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