@steddiemas day 22 - Santa shenanigans | WC: 560 | Rating: G
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“Are the girls finally asleep?” Steve smiled up at Eddie from his spot on the couch.
“Yeah.” Eddie took Steve’s book out of his hand and pushed his glasses up onto his head before lying down against his chest. “They got two stories, Harper had a glass of water, and I promised that we would wake them up if we heard reindeer on the roof.” He tucked his head against Steve’s shoulder and they wrapped around one another.
“And you made sure they were both fully asleep?” Steve asked as he carded Eddie’s hair back off of his face.
“I did.” Eddie tilted his face up to kiss his husband’s jaw. “So… are you ready?”
Steve grinned, pecked Eddie’s lips, and gently pushed at his hip. “Let’s play Santa.”
This was Eddie’s favorite part of Christmas. Of course he loved other parts– the cookie decorating, cracking out Wayne’s hot chocolate recipe when it got really cold out, the nights they spent in a pile of blankets on the floor watching Christmas movies. But playing Santa? That was where he really got to shine.
The living room was staged just perfectly. There was a tree in the corner with gifts stacked around the base of it. Next to the gifts they had a table set up with a glass of milk and a plate of cookies waiting on it. The stockings were hung up on the fireplace, and a fire had been burning low all day.
Step one was putting the fire out, and knocking some of the logs and ash loose, like someone had slipped on them while coming down the chimney. Ash was smeared on the edge of the carpet– after Steve made sure it would come out of the fabric first.
Then they grabbed Eddie’s favorite boots and the baby powder, and while one held the boots the other sprinkled the powder around the foot of it. They made a path from the fireplace to the tree, then to the table, then all the way back to the fireplace.
The paper used on the Santa gifts was completely different, and Eddie took his sweet time writing their Harper and Willow’s names and from Santa in curling script on the gift tags.
Steve drank the milk, and Eddie ate the cookies, with just a bit of each left as evidence. The pièce de résistance this year was a silver bell, left right beside the fireplace, with an untied piece of ribbon, like it had simply come loose and fallen while Santa had made his exit back up the chimney.
It was so simple, only took half an hour to set up, but Eddie could already imagine the looks on those precious faces in the morning. They would have to spend a lot more time cleaning it up, but it was more than worth it.
Steve wrapped his arms around Eddie and kissed the side of his head as they took in the scene together. “Think they’ll like it?” he murmured.
“I think they’re gonna lose it,” Eddie said. He grinned wide and caught Steve’s hand before tugging him towards the stairs. “Come on. I want my Christmas present now.”
Steve stopped to turn the lights off, leaving the living room glowing with the light coming from the Christmas tree, and he chased Eddie up the stairs to their bedroom.
