It was a cold, windy night in Seattle. The streets were empty. Everyone was at home for Christmas Eve dinner with the families. The Johnson household consisted of three little children, all eagerly waiting for Santa Clause to arrive. There was Hannah, who was four, Leah, who was five, and Katie, who was six. All the children were gathered in the kitchen. It was their family tradition for all the children to make chocolate chip cookies for Santa and then stay up till as late as they could to wait for Santa; however they always fell asleep early downstairs near the fireplace and the tree. This year was different because their father had been away in Iraq for the past eight months. All the children made cards and drew pictures for him as they awaited his return.

Hannah, Katie, and Leah all knew that their father, Jock, would be coming back soon they just didn’t know when. The days passed by slowly and rolled on in torpor. He had a huge impact in all their lives. Jock coached Katie’s soccer team and he drove Leah to her dance lessons and brought Hannah shopping. There was nothing in the world, other than their mother Dana, that they could ask for more.

“I wonder what we will get for Christmas this year,” Leah exclaimed with a grin, “I didn’t make a list this year cause I want to be surprised.”

“Wow! I want that knew super cool Barbie Lady Gaga doll, nothing else would make me happier,” Hannah said, without the thought that there was possibilities that her dad would be coming back.

“I want to be in Hawaii, maybe tomorrow when we wake up we will all be laying on the beach in Hawaii!” Katie said dreamily.

None of the children ever once thought that quite possibly their father could be home. So the night continued, the children played, their mother, Dana, cleaned, while Christmas carols hummed in the background. As all this happened their father, Jock, had been arriving at the airport home from Iraq. It took Jock an hour plus to get out of the airport and back home. Jock walked with a smile of trickery. People walking by would be able to tell he had a sneaky plan he was about to pull off.

As midnight approached and the children got tired, all the girls went to the family room to watch Christmas movies.

“Alright children, when it become twelve-o-clock lets all go to sleep, it’s getting late, and I’m getting tired,” Dana proposed to the children, and they all agreed.

When the children started walking up to their rooms to go to sleep the doorbell rang. In fact, the doorbell scared them. It is not every day that someone rings your doorbell at twelve-o-clock. Dana tippy-toed over to the door and tried to not make any noise, She looked up and looked through the peep hole. There sat a note on the front door, “Where does Santa usually come down to bring presents?”
Meanwhile, Jock was sneaking in through the back door to set up near the fire place and tree where he would surprise them all. Dana and the children read the note with confusion. Leah, the smartest one, came up with the idea that the message might have meant go to the fire place, so she ran over there and when she came around the corner she saw her father. He stood near the tree and fire place and looked dazzling and better than ever in his army uniform. His smile lit up as Leah rounded the corner. Leah’s mouth dropped and she screamed, that’s all she had in her, then she sprinted up to him and tackled him to the ground. They embraced for what seemed like endless hours. Hannah, Katie, and Dana all came running around the corner to see what she had screamed for and they all had the same reaction. Chills, excitement, life sprang through each of them as they saw Jock for the first time in months. Their family hugged together all in one bunch as they all shed tears of joy.

It was the Christmas that they had never had before. All of them got one thing they had been yearning for months, their father. He was their Santa Clause, but even better. It was more than a gift to them for Jock to return home, it was a new light for all of them. The first hour of Christmas day was filled with excitement which portended a good a good Christmas ahead. Jock, Dana, Hannah, Leah, and Katie Johnson were reunited as a family, once again.