Did Santa catch a cold? 🎅 A Christmas story about my nieces 🎄

Good morning, everyone! 🌞 This is Hikaru, the number magician (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ

Today, I'd like to share a story from when I was on Zoom with my sister and my nieces.

The way we gave Christmas presents to my nieces this year changed back to the same method used when I was a child.
The reason is that if we let them choose freely, they would pick stuffed animals bigger than themselves, and the children's room was about to be completely filled with plushies 🤣
……That said, it's still full of stuffed animals even now (lol).

When I had them write down what they wanted in advance, it was, as expected, a "dog stuffed animal" 🐶😁

When my sister told the two of them,
"Santa will bring your presents on Christmas Day, so please wait until then,"
they both raised their hands energetically and said, "Okay!" on the spot.

However, on the morning of the 24th, my younger niece started crying a little and said, "Did Santa catch a cold...?"
😢

When asked why, she said, "Because the presents haven't arrived yet..."

Even when told, "I'm sure Santa will come tomorrow 🎅," she still looked anxious 🤔

Since they usually would have received their presents by now, I suppose they were extra worried 😹

In the midst of this, the older niece encouraged her sister by saying, "Santa will surely bring the presents tomorrow," which helped her calm down for the day.

Actually, the presents had already arrived at my sister's house and were hidden deep in the closet.

And so, the morning of the 25th arrived.
Dad had placed agift exchange voucheron the desk in the children's room during the night, but they didn't notice it...

They flew into the kitchen as soon as they woke up, and the younger niece started crying, saying, "It looks like Santa's cold hasn't healed yet..."
and the older niece was also on the verge of tears.

My sister looked at Dad in confusion, and he had a look that said,
"I left them in the children's room?"
😅

So she took the two of them to the children's room, and when they looked at the desk, there was an envelope with a picture of Santa Claus drawn on it, and their respective names were written on the front.

Pointing at it, she said,
"Isn't this it?"
and they were surprised, saying,
"Whaaa!"
"It's not a stuffed animal!"
😳

She said that the best she could do was tell them to open it in case there was something inside.

Inside the envelope was a piece of paper that said,
"If you give this exchange voucher to Mom and Dad, you will get your present.
Santa 🎅"

Seeing that, the two of them immediately handed the exchange voucher to my sister, who was right there, saying, "Here! Mom!"
😊

She said, "Then I'll go get the presents Santa left with me," and headed to the closet.

Although they are smaller than the adults, they are still quite large, so it seems he had to make two trips between the living room and the closet—one for the younger niece's gift and one for the older niece's gift.

Upon receiving their gifts, the two of them were overjoyed, shouting,
"Yay!" "Yay!"
✨

When they tore off the wrapping paper, inside was the
stuffed dogthey both love so much.

They walked all around the room while hugging them (they were told not to run, as running might lead to mysterious complaints from the neighbors downstairs 🤣), and
in the end, they apparently took them to their rooms and displayed them with great care 🐶💗

They really do love stuffed dogs.

Later, their dad said,
"Next year, I might have to leave a voucher by their pillows, or they might not notice them 😅"

Still, I couldn't help but laugh at the idea that
the reason Santa didn't come was because he might have caught a cold
😁

On Zoom, they even went out of their way to bring the stuffed animals they received close to the screen to show me 🐶✨

That was the story of my sister's family, who spent a slightly different Christmas this year.

What was Christmas like at your house? 😊

I'm off to a Christmas party tonight 🧑‍🎄

(Hikaru)

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