Santa Needs His Cookies, Brian Needs a Plan

Brian knew Santa would be here, and needed a plan. Halloween was over, and as he sat in the corner, counting the minutes until timeout ended, he just knew he was on the naughty list. He didn't mean to yank his sister's halo off her head.

He simply meant to knock it a little crooked.

Yeah, that's it.

And about that thing he said to old Mr. G?

Yeah, Dad heard it.

Any prospect of a toy filled stocking, with candy spilling out and over the thick white fleece cuff were done. But he knew, deep down inside, Santa was a kind, jolly (whatever that means), reasonable man who knew kids, right? That's when it hit him.

Mom appeared around the corner and had the "get out of timeout talk" with him. He apologized, and knew he had to try harder to behave. And he did. Thanksgiving came and went, and Grandma commented how much of a gentleman he'd become. That boring old concert his sister was in was easier to deal with now that he decided to sit still and actually listen to it. In fact, he enjoyed it. (Well, some of it.)

copyright 2010 Julie Clark Art

But, now that the calendar said December 24, it was crunch time, and all bets were off. He asked his parents if he could make a special placemat for Santa, for his cookies. And what if his sister made a coaster for his milk? What a sweet idea, mom thought. She handed him an older placemat and a permanent marker for the task at hand. Carefully, oh so carefully, he wrote the words that would help save his Christmas stocking from dirty old coal.


Carefully, he penned the words, "Dear Santa, We are allergic to coal."

Then Brian, and his sister Judy, signed their names.

Surely Santa respected allergies, right? Do you think it will work?