Page 118 of Santa Daddies

When we arrived at the tower, he lifted me off and set me down before the pad that normally controlled the weight that would rise and, if hit with enough force, shoot to the very top and ring the bell. But standing before it was totally different than seeing it from even a short distance. The tower, well, it towered over me.

I craned my neck back. “That’s awfully high, Daddy.”

“I know, but there’s only one thing you can do, babygirl.” When I glanced from the top to him, he grinned. “All you need to do is listen to them.” He gestured to the crowd who hadn’t yet stopped the chant.

“Okay, let’s do this,” I said and then had a brilliant idea. Turning to the crowd again, I waved my hands. “Jenna, Chloe, Emma, Dawn, and Henry, get up here. You helped me come up with the idea and I need your help again.”

The Littles smiled and soon gathered around me.

“We only have one mallet, I’m afraid,” Aunt Tilda said.

“That’s okay, we can all hold it,” I assured her. It turned out it was a good thing I had help as that mallet was heavier than I’d thought.

She set it on its head in front of us and smiled. “Make me proud!”

“We will!” we shouted as twelve hands wrapped around the handle. There was no real way we could swing it with enough force, or without knocking at least one of us unconscious, but I didn’t care. This wasn’t a moment to win any prize even if there was one left to win. I’d already won the only prize that mattered. The people in this room, the ones holding the mallet with me, the man who’d made all this possible… they were the best gift a girl could ever desire.

“Are we gonna do this or just stand here?” Henry groused, but he was smiling while doing so.

“We’re doing it!” I shouted and counted, “One,” as we lifted the mallet off the pad.

“Two,” Jenna shouted as we all tried to lift it higher without knocking someone down.

“Three!” shouted Emma.

“Drop it!” screamed Henry.

And we did, right onto the center of the pad. To our utter shock, the bell at the top began to peal and we all just stared at it and then at each other.

“We did it!” I yelled and once again, we all danced in our unique, super special dance as the bell continued to ring.

Thunderous applause was the only noise capable of dimming the sound and when that finally quieted it was only because Uncle Grant put two fingers in his mouth and whistled.

I slapped my hands over my ears and just giggled until the crowd quieted and he nodded at Aunt Tildy who then nodded at Uncle Stu and Uncle Phillip. If eyes could actually pop out of one’s head, I was pretty sure there would be a dozen eyeballs rolling around on the floor. The two Daddies carried a huge bag between them and when they stood in front of Aunt Tildy, she reached inside and proved my Daddy wrong. Well, sorta wrong, but in a truly magnificent way.

There were piggies left. Granted, they weren’t candy, didn’t come in velvet bags or have mallets. These were exactly like those on the table behind us. Four plush pigs in their own baskets, nestled among more candy and peppermint sticks all tied up with a red, silver, and green bow.

“Merry Christmas!” yelled the crowd as Aunt Tildy handed a basket to Jenna, who then turned and handed it to me.

“Thank you! Jenna, you’re so right. These are far better than candy pigs!” I said, managing to hug both my sister and my new pig family despite the fact they were behind the clear plastic wrap holding the basket’s contents secure.

Once Jenna had passed out baskets to the other four Littles in the line, Aunt Tilda presented the last basket to her. “Perfectly proper projection of a very pleasant proposition, sweetheart. These little piggies have indeed made a whole lot of Littles pleased to become plush piggy parents themselves.”

Jenna giggled, her face beaming as she hugged her own basket to her chest.

“Wait, there’s more!” Uncle Stu said.

More? How could there possibly be more?

Uncle Phillip reached into the bottom of the bag and began to hand Uncle Stu stacks of money!

He, in turn, passed a stack to Aunt Tildy.

“Hold out your hand,” she instructed and all of us instantly stuck out our free hand and she laid a pile on each of our palms. She moved back and gestured to a silver mesh basket that hadn’t been visible before. “Put your money inside and let’s see if we can top off the tower.”

One by one, we transferred the money into the basket and stepped back.

“Leo, would you do the honors?” she asked.