“I’ll take first shift today I guess.” My twin brother, Andy, picked up the Santa Claus costume and sighed. “I hate this shit.”
“Me too, but Dad needs our help.” I looked over at him and shrugged. “He never asks for anything, so we gotta do it.”
“I wanted to spend Christmas break getting hammered and going balls deep in some nice Georgia peaches—not wearing a Santa costume and pretending to like children.” Andy slid on the coat. “Meet me out back at four o’clock.”
“I’ll be there.” I nodded and picked up the television remote.
Andy and I never expected to spend our last Christmas break before we graduated from college wearing our father’s Santa Claus suit. The circumstances dropped the job in our lap, and we didn’t have a choice. Our Dad had been doing the Santa thing since he was our age. He inherited the suit from our grandfather, who was the Santa Claus to millions of children after playing the part in a lot of Hollywood movies in the 1960s. Outside of regularly appearing on the silver screen, the holy grail for any Santa impersonator was landing a gig at a mall. It took our Dad twenty-four years to finally get one of those spots after the Santa that used to work at the Mall of Georgia retired.
In early December, he started getting really sick anytime he ate, and a trip to the doctor revealed that he needed to have his gallbladder removed. He tried to ignore the pain and was determined to wait until after the Christmas season to have the surgery performed, but then it ruptured. He had to choose surgery or risk getting an infection that could be life-threatening. Thankfully, we arrived home from our senior year of college and were able to convince him that the job wasn’t worth his life. We finally got through to him, which was surprising because Mom couldn’t get him to budge at all—granted she was trying to do it over the telephone and didn’t see how serious it was. He agreed to get the surgery, but only under one condition—we had to put on the suit and take his place at the Mall of Georgia. The mall manager didn’t really want to have to go through the process of hiring another Santa with the holiday rush underway, and while we didn’t look the part as well as our Dad, the manager agreed to let one of us take over.
Our Dad didn’t want to lose his spot at the Mall of Georgia because it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and there were hundreds of others who would gladly take his place. It also meant he would be in commercials and if any film producers decided to shoot Christmas scenes at the Mall of Georgia, he was guaranteed to be in the movie unless Santa was the star. Andy and I loved our Dad, so while we didn’t like the idea of putting on the suit, we agreed to do it. We tried swapping up the duties every day, but the twelve-hour shifts were brutal. We were normally extremely active, so sitting on our ass and posing for photos all day just made us go stir crazy. We developed a new plan—one of us would work until Santa got his first break, and then we would trade places.
Fuck, I need to go to the mall early so I can pick out a gift for Mom.
“Hello, welcome to Young’s Jewelry. I’m Julia. What can I help you with today?” The woman behind the counter at the jewelry store greeted me as soon as I walked in.
You can start with your phone number.
“Hey there, beautiful.” I flashed a smile and leaned against the counter, but the smile faded when I saw the engagement ring on her finger.
“Sorry.”
“Yeah, I got my Christmas present early.” She held up her ring and grinned. “I guess you’re not here to pick out something for your girlfriend?”
“Nope, I don’t usually let things get to the jewelry stage.” I chuckled under my breath and looked down at the display counter. “I need to find something nice for my Mom.”
“Yes, absolutely!” She motioned to one of the other counters. “We have an excellent selection of birthstone pieces or we can do something personalized if you prefer.”
“Well…” I leaned over and quickly scanned the selection. “My brother and I are twins, and our Mom used to have a heart-shaped pendant with two birthstones in it. She lost it last year when we moved to Georgia, and we want to get her something similar.”
“Twins! Wow, I bet your mama had her hands full with two of you!” She giggled slightly and moved to another case.
“We definitely didn’t make it easy on her.” I nodded and grimaced slightly.
“How about this?” She opened the counter and pulled out a heart-shaped pendant that was similar to what I was looking for.
“Almost, but do you have it in white gold?” I tilted my head to the side in contemplation. “I want it to match her engagement ring and wedding band.”
“We do, but it is a little more expensive.” She nodded and exchanged it. “What birthstones do you want us to put in it?”
“Blue topaz.” I reached into my back pocket for my wallet.
“Ah, so you’re a December baby?” She squatted and started looking through the inventory below the counter.
“Yep.” I chuckled and pulled out my debit card. “Please don’t laugh.”
“No freaking way.” She took my debit card and her eyes opened wide. “This is a joke, right—your last name is Christmas?”
“It’s no joke.” I sighed and shrugged. “Want to hear something that’s even worse?”
“I bet you’re going to tell me whether I want to or not.” She giggled under her breath as she continued to stare at my debit card.
“My Dad’s name is Kris, and it’s spelled with a K.” I exhaled sharply and chuckled.
“Kris Christmas—wow, well at least he didn’t make you a junior.” She walked towards the register.
“He might have if he didn’t end up with twins,” I smirked and waited for her to finish the transaction.