The Christmas Card
The Christmas Card By: Silverback Christianpaw
On the morning of December 25th the wolf couple of Silverback and Zero Christianpaw were awoken by the bounces and noises of their two adopted pups, Testify and Zen. The married couple spent most of the previous night talking about Christmases they had in the past and wondered if their kids would remember this one considering this was only their fifth Christmas. The pups were excited. They were in their bedroom but couldn't stay awake long enough to catch Santa Claus coming down the chimney but also couldn't sleep long enough for the sun to completely come up,
"Dad! Dad! Dad! Wake up dad!" they said to both parents as they pounded furiously on their parents bedroom door.
Silverback stuck his arm out from under the covers and grabbed the alarm clock on their nightstand as the red numbers read "5:41 a.m."
"Honey," Silverback says.
"Hmm?" Zero mumbles still half-asleep.
"The kids are up."
"Hallelujah," Zero said sarcastically.
"Time to wake up lovebutt, it's Christmas," Silverback said as he got his groggy butt up out of bed and put on his slippers.
"Ugh, I'll get up for Christmas as long as we don't have to see my mother today,"
Silverback slips on his robe and flops into bed and kisses his husband on the lips before gently shaking him, "Come on love, your mom comes down once a year and she is looking forward to seeing us and the kids. Besides, we already promised her we'd be at your sister's later."
"Ugh..." Zero groans again.
The kids pounding started getting louder, "Dad! Get up dad! Santa came! Santa came!"
Silverback get out of bed and opened the door to the kids running in, hugging his legs, and bouncing up and down with sparkling excitement in their eyes,
"Dad, Santa came and got us presents!" Zen said happily.
"Well, we're going to open them right now, but first you and your brother do me a favor and go jump on your father. Hehe."
"Yaaaaay!" Both boys ran over to the side of the bed and climbed on Zero's side and bounced happily all around him. Testify licked his father's cheek, "Dad, there's presents downstairs, we must open them before they fly away and Santa takes them back!"
Zero rubbed his eyes and giggled as he sat up out of bed, "Alright, alright I'm getting up hehe."
Silverback picked both the boys up and stood them on the floor. He could tell they couldn't hold their excitement for much longer to get all their new and mysterious presents, "Alright boys, give us a few minutes and we'll be downstairs to open your gifts."
"Yaaaaaaaaaay!" the pups cheers echoed as they left the room and made their way downstairs.
Zero was finally up and in his robe. Silverback couldn't help but wrap his arms around his hubby's waist and give him a big kiss right on the muzzle. Their muzzles locked up as their tongues swirled around each others.
"Merry Christmas," Silverback said with a big warm smile.
"Merry Christmas hon," Zero smiled back.
"Are you excited? Another Christmas morning that you and me get to share together."
Zero's smile grew wider, "Hehe, yes. The boys are going to love their presents we got for them."
"Oh yes they will," Silverback hugged tighter, "They're going to love the Nex-Box we got for them."
"So . . ." Zero looks up into his husband's blue eyes and puts his paw on his chest, "What did you get me this year?"
Silverback smiled, "Well what did you get me this year?"
"Oh no, you'll have to wait til tonight to find out," Zero said before he sighed under his breath, "Maybe we can tell my mother that I had to go to work today."
"No you already got coverage for today, just relax hon. I'll be by your side the entire time."
Zero puts on a half-smile, "Okay honey."
The steam-cooker outside was cooking a delicious ham as members of Zero's family were scattered about inside and outside the house, which was full of wonderful decorations and a very fancy Christmas Tree, plenty of delicious food to eat . . . and of his their parents. Zero watched as Testify and Zen ran across him as they were playing with their niece and he wondered if he should go chase them down and tell them to stop running in the house . . . anything just to get away from his mother for a few moments,
"When are you going to quit managing at that department store and do something that actually makes a difference," Zero's mother asked. "You should work at the Journal Center as a writer for the newspaper or a magazine, you would make more money and tons of people will get to read your writing."
Zero's tail drooped, "Silverback and I don't even like fancy celebrity magazines, they print nothing but lies and there's too much demand for what celebrities are doing and who they are doing. I've told you that before! My job is just fine for now. Plus, Silverback and I need to provide for the kids. So please just drop it." Zero tried not to raise his voice. She had brought up the Journal Center time and time and many many many times before but he wanted nothing to do with writing for celebrity magazines and he rarely read the newspaper.
"Oh honey, just think about it okay?" She gave him a sweet smile but Zero tail wasn't going to wag with that face.
"Fine..." he said walking over to any other place where she wasn't there. He saw Silverback was outside chit-chatting with his grandfather as they stood around the pressure-cooker pot. Zero smiled a little when the aroma of a delicious honey-smoked ham ran across his nose as he stood next to them outside.
Silverback was deep in conversation and took a sip of his soda before he laughed, "The G.R.R. Intercontinental Championship replica belt is awesome but it did cost me a pretty penny hahahaha. But I love it! It looks so cool!"
The grandpa coughed, "The Intercontinental Title has been said by wrestlers to be even better than the World Championship, I read it in Raynge Husky's autobiography. I have to agree. I remember that matches from 1998 over that Championship belt, just extraordinary."
Silverback smiled and pointed, "And I wholeheartedly agree."
Zero grabbed Silverback's paw and gave him a kiss on the cheek as he whispered, "Is it time to go yet? My mother is already driving me crazy."
Silverback whispered, "We just got here hon. Here, just stay by me."
Zero hugged his arm tightly, "That's my plan."
Zero's mom came outside and closed the door behind her, this time with her purse over her shoulder, "Zero, before I forget again, I wanted to bring this to you." She reached into her purse and pulled out a what appeared to be a plastic tiki head.
"What is that?" Silverback asked.
Zero stared bewildered and snatched it from her paw, "Wow, my Mega-Data Card Reader! Oh my gawd! I thought this was lost."
She smiled, "I did my summer cleaning and found it behind a folding table in the closet in your old room. I figured you might like this as a surprise."
Zero smiled, "Wow, I remember you getting this for me for Christmas when I was . . . geez . . . when I was ten?" He showed it gleefully to his husband, "This was for my Mega-Data card game." He pulled on a little circular, black lever on the bottom as the tiki's mouth opened. "Hehe, here's where you put the card in and then you close it's mouth and it tells how well you did when dueling someone."
Silverback smiled and looked at it, "Hehe sounds fun."
Zero's tail started wagging again as he gave her a gentle hug, "Hehe thanks mother."
Her tail wagged as well, "I thought you might like that."
"Yeah, I remember I got this for Christmas. I thought it was super awesome. Sucks the cards are not being made anymore, doubt it still works though."
"Mom!" Zero's sister nerve-rackingly shouted, "Is the ham done yet? I got three people wondering when it will be done, which is three too many!" They walked over to the outdoor-cooker and opened the pot, some steam poured out.
"Hmm, I don't know, let me get your husband, he knows more about this thing than I do."
Zero smiled a little more when his Mom and Sister walked back inside so he could gleefully give his husband a hug and a real kiss on his muzzle,
"She still driving you crazy?" Silverback giggled.
"Wow, I never thought I'd see my Card Reader again." He gazed at it not paying attention to his husbands words as all the memories of playing with it to help strategize his card game. The tiki head was gold around the sides, it had a shining-silver face, with green eyes. Some of the silver paint on the face had faded or been scratched off due to aging. But the favorite feature was the black circular lever that you stick your finger in to pull the mouth open and place the card in. When closed, it would tell him which number he got to determine the score that was on each of his cards. He could have easily used a dice since there were six scores on the card but he thought there was no fun in using a plain old die.
Zero's tail kept wagging, "I wonder if I still have any of the cards?"
It was after midnight. The fire in the fireplace was almost completely burned out but Zero didn't need it with their beautiful Christmas tree illuminating the room. The pups were already off to bed with their bellies full of ham and minds racing about the toys they get to play with for the rest of the week while school is out. Zero found a box he was looking for in his basement and sat it down on the couch and opened to see it full of toys that he had when he was a pup. He gazed at some of the action figures. All of them with the paint smeared. Some legs and arms missing, but most them remained intact.
Silverback walked downstairs in his bathrobe and whispered, "Honey, what's wrong?"
Zero smiled, "Oh nothing, just rummaging through a few of my old toys. I can't believe my mom kept my card reader." He held it in his paws before his husband gently took it and looked at it again. Zero kept rummaging until he got down to the bottom of the box and found a bunch of cards at the bottom.
"Oh wow, here they are," Zero started pulling out some of the cards. The cards featured artwork of dragons and lion's wearing boxy armor with guns and swords in their paws. They had numbers on one side and a bar-code on the other side for the card-reader.
"I doubt this thing still works," Zero said.
"Well, give it a try," Silverback smiled.
Zero switched it in the "on" position and pulled on latch to open up the little tiki-face's mouth, he slipped the card inside and closed it. Zero looked up at the little LED light that's on the tiki's forehead but nothing lit up, it didn't make any sound either.
"Meh," Zero opened it back up and took the card out. "Figures."
"Awww, well I can get my screwdriver and see what batteries it takes and go find some new batteries for it," Silverback said.
"Meh, if the batteries are still being made, it's a very old toy." He pouted a little before gently chucking it back in the box and sat the box back on the floor.
"Aww please cheer up love," Silverback said as he pulled him into a big snuggle. Zero smiled again in the snuggle as they gently rocked back and forth next to the Christmas Tree.
Zero's tail started wagging, "Hehe, I will. I just think a little too much during the holidays."
"What are you thinking about?"
"Just about past Christmases. You know? I always enjoyed Christmas as a pup. The toys, and the dinners, the stockings, and taking time to decorate the tree, I just enjoyed it a lot more as a pup. Yes, I didn't like getting clothes and seeing presents that looked like a wrapped-up mushy ball were clearly clothes. But Christmastime was just the best time of my year. Now that I'm older Christmas is more about bills, and working, holiday sales and whatnot."
"Aww, it's still special. Didn't you love the look on Testify and Zen's faces when we brought out the Nex-Box?"
Zero giggled, "Yeah that was awesome, hehe, I loved being surprised as a pup."
Silverback's tail started to wag. He looked up at the clock on the wall read '12:26 a.m.' "Come on love, I've still got more surprises for you" he said as he stuffed his paws down Zero's undies.
"Eep!" Zero bounced as Silverback started squeezing him.
"I want more eggnog hehehehe" Silverback's tail wagged fast.
"But we already drank it all," Zero giggled as he was being squeezed.
"I want more, hehe." They both got up off the couch and quietly whispered and giggled and walked up the stairs to their bedroom.
On the next day, as December 26th started to draw to a close, the stars were bright and the sky was dark. Zero was exhausted from the long day at the department store. Customers had filled up the lines at the store all day using their new gift cards while others were exchanging presents they didn't want for store credit. Zero was just sick of people and needed to get away to his husband and the kids. His car pulled up in the driveway as he noticed the Christmas lights weren't on. 'Well, they were on all month' he thought.
He unlocked the front door and opened it to see the living room almost in complete darkness. The Christmas tree was off, and all decorative lights off, but their was a half-shadowed figure sitting on their couch with a cinnamon-scented candle sitting on the nearby table. Zero could smell the blend of cinnamon with the sweet and familiar scent of his husband. Zero closed the door and looked closer to see that Silverback was indeed the figure on the couch, but was dressed as Santa Paws.
"Hehe honey?" Zero giggled.
"Ho ho ho!" Silverback said in a low but jolly voice with his tail wagging fast, "Merry Christmas! Come! Come sit by ol' Santa Paws and tell Santa what you want this year for Christmas my dear boy."
Zero put his laptop bag down and smiled as he gleefully sat next to his husband and pushed himself under his honey's arm and rubbed his big belly that was like a bowl full of jelly.
He said, "Honey . . . it's the 26th." The big, blue Santa scratched his big white strap-on-beard that hung all the way down to his belly button,
"Nope, it's Christmas eve. Now please tell Santa Paws what you would like for Christmas and Santa may be able to get it for you on Christmas morning."
Zero hugged the blue wolf's fat, jolly belly and snuggled him, "Well, I would like two pups, named Testify and Zen, and I would also like a big, blue, beautiful husband wolfy named Silverback."
Silverback smiled, "Aww, but you already have them. The kids are very loveable and adorable and I have seen your husband, very handsome, handsomest wolf I know! But what would you like for Christmas that you don't already have?"
Zero giggled and brushed Santa's big white beard, "Well, I agree that my husband is the handsomest wolfy, but I have all I need right here."
Silverback's paw was shaking with excitement, "Well, good ol' Santa Paws got you a gift anyway." He reached down under the couch and pulled out the Mega-Data card reader and showed it to him.
Zero laughed lightly before he took it, "Hehe hunny, I already have this too. Why are you giving this to me?"
Silverback pulled a card out of his pocket and gave it to his hubby. He looked at it and face-palmed. "Hon, hehe, this is just a picture that says 'Holiday Magic' taped onto a poker card. Besides, this thing doesn't even work anymore."
Silverback pulled on the tab and opened the little tiki's mouth. "Please, just one more try." He gave him a very big begging face before Zero said,
"Hehe alright," He took the card and slipped it into the Tiki's mouth and closed it. The little red light on his forehead lit up a red light for a brief second before . . .
All of a sudden, the entire living room was lit up when all of the lights on the Christmas Tree started lighting up at the same time. They both heard a click and then some Christmas music started playing as a little music box that was sitting under the tree started playing 'Jingle Bells'.
Zero jumped, "Hehe, oh my gawd! How did-- who-- . . . how did--"
Silverback pounced Zero and pinned him down on the sofa, "Hehe surprise pounce," he leaned down and kissed his hubby as deep as he possibly could. Zero moaned a muffled moan as he returned the kiss just as deeply as he could. Tongues swirled around in wonderful holiday bliss as the song played for them. Their lips separated as Zero's face blushed very red.
"Did you do all this Love?" Zero asked, Silverback nodded happily. "Hehe how?"
"Well my buddy Brendan from work owed me a favor. He found the batteries for the card reader and put in a sensor here on his forehead" he said pointing to the little red light on the tiki's face "and I had him hook up another censor on the tree and the music box so they turn on the moment the card-reader gets activated."
Zero pulled down on Silverback's Santa beard off to reveal his real, white muzzle and returned to his lips the only way he could. Both wolves were excited and panted happily with their tails wagging fast and thumping against the couch.
"Hehe aww you are the sweetest big wolfy in the whole world. You did all this for me?" Silverback nodded again with his tongue out. "Aww you're the best. Merry Christmas hubbykins."
"Hehe you see, Christmas is your holiday too and not just for the kids."
Zero whimpered for a second, "Aww, hehe." He rubbed on his husband's blue paw that was sticking out of the sleeve, "Okay, maybe you're right Love. Maybe I should just appreciate every holiday I am given and make the most of it." Zero blushed as he petted Silverback atop his head and scritched both his ears. "Hehe, you are very creative hubby."
Silverback blushed and chimed in, "I try."
Zero poked, "Hehe, oh, by the way, where are the kids?"
"They're staying with your mom for the night. I asked her for a holiday favor. I want you to thank her."
Zero nodded happily, "I will thank her . . . in the morning." They both continued their deep kissing as the Santa Paws costume started to come off.