Through the rear view mirror he watched the exhaust, vivid against the dark night, rise into the air. He turned the keys to the left and the machine fell asleep. The silence of the very early morning became absolute. He sat until the heat had left the vehicle and he could see his own breath before him.
He tried to start thinking, to get his brain to move to make him unbuckle his seat belt, to crawl out of the car and into the house. But his face simply contorted and tears began leaking from his eyes. He reached down to fight the seat belt off him but he couldn't see with his eyes awash with liquid. Great heaving sobs began to set in as he began to internally yell at himself for crying and demanding that his body pull it together and stop being tired. The man's hands gripped the steering wheel and his knuckles grew white from the strain. He leaned his head forward and gasped. The car's horn sounded as his head bumped the steering wheel. The man jolted up right. The crying immediately stopped. Within seconds he was out of the car listened for any peep from the house. He quickly pulled his carabiner from his belt loop and unlocked the door noiselessly. He stepped onto the hardwood floor again listening for any noises from up stairs. No sound. The man sighed.
There was no need to turn any lights on inside the house. Every wall was covered with strings of lights, all which were constantly on. And of course they would be on tonight of all nights. The man sat on the worn couch and placing his satchel on the ground as he did. His hands found the blanket on the couch and he curled up looking sideways at the living room's masterpiece. It was this bright shining marriage of light and nature. It was perfect.
His view of the tree grew smaller and smaller as his lids fell lower and lower. As his mind began to work again he thought about everything that had to be done. He still hadn't finished wrapping everything. He needed to go out and buy food for tomorrow. But he wanted it to be perfect, to be special. But he knew he was going to be tired and couldn't give all that he wanted to and hated that. And it all began to pile on again.
He breathed.
I just need to sleep.
Just sleep.
*Thud*
*Thud*
*Thud*
*Thud*
The man opened his eyes just in time to see two children mid flight. He responded as quickly as he could, catching the girl in his arms and allowing the boy to slam into his abdomen.
"Daddy! You're home!"
"Why are you on the couch?"
"Were you trying to catch Santa?"
"We were going to stay up to see if we could catch him."
She whispered into his ear, "Mom said we had to sleep though. But we still tried to stay up."
"Yeah, but we fell asleep. We'll see him next year though."
The man blinked the blurriness in his eyes away and looked at the children on top of him. He smiled. His eyes smiled too.
"Well mom was smart to tell you to sleep, but she had me sleep out here so that I could keep an eye on Santa and make sure he got you the right presents."
The girl and boy squealed when he said "presents".
The boy and girl jumped off his lap and began looking at all the presents around the tree. The man looked over and noticed several presents with "From Dad" written on them. He smiled a soft smile.
He pulled himself off the couch and walked into the kitchen as the kids still guessed at the contents of the packages. He put on the kettle and turned the coffee grinder on. He opened up the fridge and saw that it was stock full of all the preparations for a delicious feast. He smiled softly again.
With two mugs in his hands he walked back into the living room then up the stairs. The boy was shoving his arms into the tree trying to fish out the green army men he had hidden in there previously.
The man opened up the bed room door and placed the mugs of coffee on the bedside table. He nudged the woman. She rolled over, eyes squinting.
"Babe. I thought we were going to wait 'til 7."
The man leaned over and kissed her.
"Oh, wow. Good morning."
"Good morning darling. The kids are already up and ready to go, but I've got coffee."
"Mmmmmm."
The woman pulled herself upright and reached for her coffee.
The man stared at her as she sipped her drink.
"What?"
"I love you."
"I love you too."
"Merry Christmas."
She smiled.
"Merry Christmas."
