Merry Christmas (Patreon)

The excited stampede had woken up the adults in the crowded family home, voices of excitement like a howl as they went from room to room heralding the Christmas Morning. Groggy murmurs of relenting submission to awaking were heard in turn, the kits excitedly whooping and hollering as they stormed through the home. Adults were herded room by room by the kits who were determined to open their presents as soon as possible.

“Doesn’t seem that long ago that you and your sister were pulling this kind of stunt,” Ellie chuckled softly at a sleepy eyed mumbling Sherri. The mommaphant a veteran of Christmas mornings, the mommaphant had known better than to drink too much eggnog the evening before. Her flappy ears twitched as a tiny hand tugged upon her own, “Mhmm, I know, Memaw’s coming.” She let herself be tugged along down the stairs by the boisterous Judith. 

A matronly voice obviously unbothered by such youthful excitement, in fact seemed as excited as the kits themselves, “I’ll get the oven going and make the cinnamon rolls,” it was Justin and Hope’s mother, the odd one of the mostly raccoon family, a mare. “And I’ll put some coffee on to get you lot warmed up.” 

“No coffee for me please, Ma,” Justin wiped at his eyes as the collective began to mosey down the stairs to the living room, “Can I get hot chocolate instead?”

“Of course dear, now go on, get yourselves ready I’ll bring in drinks.” The voices of the family began to perk up, as the lights of the ornaments and tree reflected off one another, the room which had been so thoroughly decorated at the start of the month still twinkled with presents tucked under the tree. So many that the tree itself took a back seat to the festive boxes of abundance.

The kits had rushed the tree itself as Sherri watched on, motherly hand reaching out and snagging a set of greedy mitts that were aimed for the largest box of the pile. “Ah ah ah,” Sherri said with a gentle yet stern voice, “Who does the tag say this present is for?” Her eyes guided towards the large tag from Santa.

“Daniel,” he said gingerly with a slightly apologetic smile aimed upwards at his mum who’s disapproving glare made him sulk in return. “And Judith, and Michelle, and Edward..” His truthfulness rewarded with a soft peck upon the head.

“Good boy, you don’t want Santa finding out you’re not letting your brother and sisters open up their present with you, do you?” Sherri saw so much of herself in Daniel, his boisterous attitude and overzealous nature, the way he was so gung-ho, she felt a sense of need to help channel such traits before they could become poor habits. He shook his head and Sherri released his hands, “Good boy, now wait for Gammy and Gampaw so they can open presents too.”

For parents the true present of Christmas weren’t the holiday gadgets or fancy electronics, the true present were the brilliant excited screams of kits getting exactly what they wanted for Christmas. It took a few minutes, and of course none of the kits were particularly quiet and patient when it came to waiting. It mattered little, the family members taking it in stride almost enjoying the way the youngest members of the family practically squirmed with explosive desire to unwrap the awaiting presents. 

“Hot cocoa dear,” the motherly mare offered a porcelain mug to Justin, then the signature morning coffee mug to her husband, Gampaw, “And coffee.” Ellie followed behind having made a brief pitstop to the kitchen herself with a small platter of leftover treats from the previous evening. “And I think,” She paused briefly to look around the room with a warm smile blessing her cheeks and a warm heart in her bosom. “Mhmm, I think that’s everyone.” 

“Can we open Christmas presents now?” A voice excitedly trailed off, Michelle’s lip forming an adorable pout as she looked off to the adults, the other kits following her lead with a sea of hopeful eyes gazing upwards. 

“Mmm, well what do you think?” Ellie hummed sweetly as she used to her trunk to guide a piece of gingerbread cookie towards her lips, “Maybe make them wait a little longer? I happen to know Santa won’t mind making them be a bit more patient.” 

“Ooooh, what if the grown-ups get to open our presents first this year?” Mally snickered as she played alongside the giggling Mommaphant, such a proposition eliciting pleading cries of protest from the kits.

“Can we open them? Please Moms! Please Dad!” They had scurried to the legs of their trio of parents.

Justin, Sherri, and Hope traded glances, with Hope holding a righteous smirk, “Okay, you guys get to open yours first but after you have to be good little elves and pass out presents to the grown ups after.” At the instantaneous cheers Justin had to catch himself from snickering too hard as he sipped his marshmallow filled cocoa. “Alright then, Christmas is officially here!” Hope declared and a flurry of excited kits stampeded towards the presents, all of them focused on the largest of the bunch. 

The wrapper was torn asunder, ripped as the adults watched excitement building and bubbling with murmurs of what it could be until..

“A PlayStation Five?!”

“Ohmygod it’s a PlayStation Five!” 

“Santa brought me a PlayStation?!"

"Santa got US, a PlayStation Five, Daniel!"

It simply had to be, after all Santa was infallible when it came to picking out the most perfect present for Christmas, their mutual cries of elation were more than the joy they experienced, to Justin, Sherri, and Hope experiencing Christmas as parents in their burgeoning years, to memories Ellie had of Sherri and Mally growing up. Memories that would be shared with Justin, Hope, and their parents. The Christmas Present itself mattered more as a placeholder than as the actual trinket, in years it would grow outdated and eventually another bauble would take its place, but everyone there would remember it as the catalyst to the joy it brought on those four brilliant smiling faces.

That was the true gift of Christmas.