“Santa Claus Will Be Thirsty”

几个礼拜前，儿子就在想自己的圣诞礼物了。今年的单子特别长：gamecube, PS2, PS3,gameboy....看到他在学校里写给圣诞老人的信（学校的作业），就告诉他：“Santa Claus has a long list ofkids. If every kid ask such a long list of gifts, he probably runs out of money.”

“No, Santa Claus has a lot of money, I am sure.”

为了从爸爸妈妈这里拿到一样礼物，儿子和爸爸妈妈谈判了好几次。几次在商店里就是赖着不走。老爸自有办法治他：要么自己掏钱买 （他自己的钱不够），要么得等圣诞老人，要么得先回家签contract，保证每天玩game的时间。。。拖到最后，也没有从爸爸妈妈这里得到一个肯定的答复。最后，人家就一心一意指望Santa Claus了。



昨晚几个朋友在我们家聚会到１１点。朋友的孩子离去后，儿子洗完澡，想到的第一件事就是圣诞礼物：“Dad, I don't want to go to sleep. I want to wait for Santa Claus and his gifts downstairs.”

“I don't think it's a good idea. Santa Claus never wants anybody to see him。”

“But, I saw Santa Claus even in my school.”

“That's not a  real Santa Claus. The real one takes reindeer and the sled.”

“OK, I will go to sleep. But, I need to do something.”

转身下楼，让妈妈倒了一杯牛奶，又拿出几包cookie，摆在桌子上。

老妈迷惑了：“What are you doing?”

“Santa Claus will be thirsty. So I put some milk for him。”
（ 有进步，去年是在姐姐的帮助下，把燕麦片撒在门口，好让路过的 reindeer停下来，吃麦片呢。）

终于安排好了一切，看了一下clock，才肯上自己的房间睡觉。



今天８点一起来，就嚷开了：“Dad, I slept enough. I want to get up and go downstairs to check my gifts.”

“Ok. Dress up 1st.”

那里还听老爸的。只听到下楼的脚步声。跟着又是上楼的声音：“Dad, I have a big box. You have a box, and everybody have a box!”

然后扭头就跑回楼下去了。老妈只好起来，把衣服拿到楼下。女儿也惊醒了，嘴里喊着：“Don't open my box!”，往楼下飞奔。

只有老爸一个人还想赖在床上不起来。可不行啊，儿子又冲上来了：“Dad, Santa Claus gave me a gamecube! Please help me to set up.”

没办法，只好起来。问楼下的儿子：“What did your sister get?"

“She got 40 bucks（女儿把手中的钱花光了，我让老妈包了４０块钱。）! What's yours, dad?  Open your box now.”

老爸打开，里面是一本２００７的日历：Wine ３６５。知道是女儿送的礼物，就回头说：“Looks like Santa Claus wants me to drink more wine this year.”

“Yes.” 女儿笑着说。轮到老妈了，打开一看，是三枝装饰漂亮的蜡烛和一个巨大的candy ball。

“哈哈， 这是什么呀？candy ball, 谁能一口吃下去？”

笑了一回，老爸就替儿子装gamecube。姐姐在旁边帮忙。装好了，儿子激动得饭也不吃，一个人玩开了。老妈，老爸，女儿坐在厨房的桌子上吃早饭，看儿子玩得忘了形，提醒儿子：“Son, you better sign contract today.”

（１２／２５／２００６）