The Christmas Spirit

The Christmas Spirit

By Derek

No, this was not my first Christmas as I was not a newborn. I was almost eighteen. My birthday was on December 23, two days before Christmas. I always had felt that I received less Christmas gifts because of mom having to spend money on a birthday gift as well. My birthday was coming up next month, and I had stayed over at a classmate’s house, Jimmy. He had been asking me for weeks to spend the night at his house and my parents finally had said yes. We were playing video games, and he eventually turned the conversation to sex. I was uncomfortable with the conversation since when I was in seventh grade, I’d fantasized about my male classmates, them sucking my cock and me sucking theirs. Jimmy was one of the kids I had fantasized about. He had climbed on top of me while we played, and I felt his hard cock in the split of my butt cheeks. Of course, I was soon hard as well. His mom walked in and saw this, and screamed for his father. Needless to say, I was sent home, and I was portrayed as the initiator. My stepdad told me that on my eighteenth birthday, I was no longer welcome in their house. I knew it didn’t matter if I pointed the blame at the other kid, so I watched as the days neared my eighteenth birthday. It should have been a day of celebration but was a day of dread for me. I had hoped that my mom would come to my defense, but she had coward before my dad, my stepdad. You see, my birth father had died of cancer four years after I was born.

Well, here I was on my eighteenth birthday with my bags packed by my tearful mother. She gave me a loving hug but didn’t fight my stepdad’s decision to kick me out. She handed me two wrapped gifts as I stood in the doorway ready to leave. I walked out with my bags, tearfully worrying what my life would become. I had nowhere to go. There was no one to count on and it was two days before Christmas. It was snowing heavily as I walked through the park near our house. I found an alcove of pine trees and found an opening between them with what may have been deer-bedding in the middle. I decided to risk the deer because sleep was overcoming me. I fell asleep and woke up, warm and cuddled. Several deer had bedded down around me. I was in amazed that they would even get near me, let alone bed beside me. As I looked around, none of the deer seemed to fear me. They just looked at me with curiosity and even one of the fawns licked my forehead. I had only wonder in my eyes. How was this so? Why were they not panicked by my presence?

Suddenly, there was a stirring around the herd. Someone or something was approaching. A young guy, or creature came into view. He was the most handsome guy or young man I had ever laid eyes upon. He smiled at me and said, “Welcome to Christmas Eve, I am Nick, Derek.” I was in awe at his looks. He was dressed in lambskin fur with ivy that seemed to grow around the edges. His fur hat had holly adorning it with the red berries highlighting the dark brown hair that hung wildly below the hat. His ears were pointed like an elf’s, and his eyes blue eyes were like ice, but seemed to warm my soul. I said, “I don’t understand. The deer aren’t afraid of me. Are these your deer?” He smiled at me and said, “No, of course not. They belong to themselves as does all of nature.” He smiled and said, “Derek, you want so much to be accepted by someone, to love you as who you are. You are special in your own way, as are all the creatures in nature. We are all created with our own purpose. Will you come with me to stay at my home for this Christmas eve?” I was hesitant at first, but Nick seemed so nice, and I was sure I felt safe around him, “I’d like that, but all my things. How far is it?” Nick smiled and said, “Not far, but you can leave your things where they are. The deer will look after them. Are you ready?” I was confused and at what was happening around me. It seemed ridiculous that the deer would look after my things, but then I looked into David’s eyes and saw the universe in them and knew he was being honest, the deer would take care of my things.  

As we stepped out from the alcove of pines, I was stunned at the woods around us. We weren’t in the park anymore, “How did we get here? We were in the park, and..” Nick smiled and said, “This is the land of Christmas, where magic is in the very air.” I wanted to doubt him. After all, there was no such thing as magic and Christmas had always been just a day where we ate more than normal, and I received another gift. Sure, there was the religious part of it, but we weren’t a church-going family. I couldn’t doubt him now though. Between the deer and now walking out into a land far removed from the local park where I had slept for the night, I didn’t know what to believe anymore. We ended up on a stone path lined by blue spruce. There was snow covering the ground three feet deep and higher, everywhere and it was still snowing. The path didn’t seem to be accumulating any snow, looking like it had just been cleared moments before. As we rounded a turn, a small log cabin front stood before us. It seemed to be built into the mountain of snow or was the snow so high, it covered the house. If so, surely it would collapse under the weight of the snow. We entered the cabin, and I was once more in awe. We were in a room about twenty five feet in both width and length with the ceiling joists fifteen to twenty foot high and at least five more to its peak. A huge fireplace burned on one wall to my right. It had the place very warm. As if reading my mind, Nick said to me, “You can shed some of your clothes if you’d like. It will remain warm in here throughout the night.” I removed my coat and asked, “Where should I hang my coat?” Nick pointed next to the door, “There’s a peg on the wall next to the door.” I hadn’t noticed it before, but I hung my coat there and turned back to Nick. He smiled and said, “Come with me. We’ll eat and then get cleaned up.” I glanced back toward the door and then back to Nick and asked, “Where is my coat? I hung it right there a moment ago!” Nick just smiled and said, “Don’t worry. It will be there when you need it.”

I followed Nick through a large doorway that opened into a large dining room with a wooden table which looked like it grew there. There were bowls of fruits and nuts on the table looking like they had just been served. Two plates were set with glasses filled with what looked like… Nick said, “Yes, it’s wine. Taste it. I’m sure you’ll like it.” I took a sip and was overwhelmed by the flavor, “This is better than any wine I’ve ever tasted before. Not that I drink much wine, but I was allowed to sometimes at home and when we’d go to a restaurant.” Nick just smiled. We ate and by the time I’d finished, I had a full belly and felt really good. The fact I was homeless was a concern at the moment. Maybe that glass of wine had me feeling this way but I didn’t feel drunk or even a little tipsy, just warm inside and out.

Nick stood up and held out his hand and said, “Let’s get cleaned up and refreshed.” I took his hand and thought, ’I already feel refreshed.’ Nick led me to a set of stairs that went down. For the first time, I realized that there were no windows, but there seemed to be light coming from everywhere. As we descended the stairs, it opened up into a large room. We walked to the other end of the room and through a set of wooden double doors. I was amazed once again. We were outside but were surrounded by greenery. The sun shone down brightly and before us was a crystal pool lined by stone. Nick said, “Leave your clothes over there and join me in the pool.” I said, “You want me to strip down to my underwear?” Nick smiled and said, “You won’t need those, either.” My heart began to race. He wants me to skinny dip with him. If I look at him, I’m sure to get hard! Fuck! I kept my back to Nick as I undressed. I was already starting to chub when I slowly slid out of my briefs. I covered my privates and turned toward Nick. He stood there smiling at me, a naked, chiseled god. His manhood hung down over a set of perfectly even balls. It must have been seven inches long, flaccid. His dark, curly pubic bush above framed his manhood perfectly. He smiled nonchalantly, reached out his hand and said, “Come.” I walked to him, still covering myself, but then had to remove one hand to take his. As I looked up to him, I was once more looking deeply into those eyes. My other hand fell away from my crotch as he backed up into the water, drawing me with him and keeping eye contact the whole time. The water felt wonderful. Just the right temperature. It was soothing and seemed to wash away all my fears. I noticed my cock sticking straight out in front of me, hard as steel. I looked back up at Nick. He was still smiling and said, “It’s ok.” Then he did something I hadn’t expected. He reached over and took hold of my rigid cock. I inhaled sharply at the shock that went through my body. He began stroking me and asked, “Does this feel ok?” My mouth froze, so I just nodded yes. He kept stroking me and it felt wonderful. Then I shifted my eyes from his hand stroking me over to his crotch. He was hard as well and his cock must be almost ten inches sticking straight out before him. Nick said, “It’s ok. You can touch it if you want.” I reached out and closed my hand around it. My fingers couldn’t reach around it fully. It was too thick. I began to stroke him at the same pace he was stroking me. Then he removed my hand from his cock and led me to the edge of the pool. He lifted me onto the rock wall and stepped between my legs. As he held my hard shaft in his hand, he bent down and took it into his mouth. Fireworks went off in my head and electricity surged through my body as his warm mouth enveloped my cock. He then began sucking me. It felt amazing! I looked down watching this gorgeous guy sucking away on my cock and knew I wouldn’t last long. Before long, I warned him, “I’m about to cum!” I put my hands on his head to push him off before I exploded, but he didn’t stop. I cried out, “Oh! Fuck!” as my brain exploded, and I must have shot the biggest load of my life into Nick’s mouth. He remained on my cock until the last of my cum trickled out of my nuts. Then he finally looked up at me and smiled, “Did you like that?” I started laughing and crying in the same moment and said, “Yes! It was awesome. Amazing. It was total fire!” Then I looked down at his own stiff rod and asked, “Can I suck yours.” He smiled at me and asked, “Are you ready for that? Do you want to?” It was a question he was asking whether I felt obligated or if I really wanted to. I smiled and said, “I would really like to. At least try. You’re so big.” Nick effortlessly sprung up out of the water to sit nest to me on the rock wall and said, “Just do your best and I’m sure I will enjoy it. I smiled at him and then looked down at the rigid shaft before me. I bent down and noticed what looked like a red holly leaf, apparently a birthmark, just above his dark pubic bush. It seemed odd, because otherwise, he didn’t have a blemish on his body. I shrugged it off, opened my mouth and put it over the head of his cock. It was surprisingly soft given how hard it was. It tasted awesome. A flavor I couldn’t describe. I began moving my mouth up and down the shaft as far as I could go which was not even half way. As if he was reading my mind, Nick said, “Don’t worry. You’re doing fine.” That encouraged me and I found I could go deeper and began using my tongue to compensate for not being able to take the whole thing. Nick said, “That feels wonderful, Derek.” I’m not sure how long I was at it, but for some reason, my mouth was not getting tired though I knew it had been a while. As if on cue, Nick said, “Just so you’re aware, I’m about to cum.” He was warning me, so if I didn’t want him cumming in my mouth, I could pull off him. I went at it more enthusiastically. Soon his cock swelled larger and then ropes of sweet creamy cum began flooding my mouth. My tongue felt like a thousand angels were flapping their wings on it. I wanted to savor the taste forever but eventually swallowed it and then looked up into those amazing eyes and Nick’s bright smile. He kissed my lips and then said, “You did an amazing job, Derek.” I felt warm all over. Suddenly he said, “Come on.” And sprung into the water headfirst and was on the shore at the other side before I could blink. I jumped into the water and swam over to him. He held his hand out and helped me out of the water. As we walked up to the doors, I looked around and asked, “Where are my clothes?” Nick smiled at me and said, “They’ll be there when you need them. Come inside with me.” I followed him through the dining room and back into the main room. He led me up a stairway I hadn’t noticed before. Once at the top, we passed several rooms before entering a door at the end. Inside was a huge bedroom with a fireplace raging like it had been started an hour ago, just for us. There was a loveseat facing the fire and Nick led me there and had me sit down. He then went over and retrieved two glasses of wine and handed me one before sitting down beside me. The wine was amazingly chilled considering how warm the room seemed to be. Nick put his arm around me, and I snuggled against his warmth. He asked, “So, do you have any regrets?” I looked at him and said, “About my time with you today? Of course not. This has been a dream come true for me.” Nick turned to me and kissed me slightly on the lips before kissing my forehead. Then said, “I wasn’t speaking of today.” I thought about what he was asking and said, “Well, I don’t regret who my mom is. Regardless of what happened, I still love her and always will. I don’t really blame my stepdad for kicking me out. After all, he has his beliefs no matter if I agree with him or not and he has given my mom and I a home for all these years. I don’t even blame Jimmy’s parents for reacting how they did, although I wish they hadn’t placed all the blame on me for what happened that night. Jimmy even tried to defend me, but they wouldn’t listen. I guess they were just protecting him. I guess my one regret is not telling Jimmy how I felt about him sooner. Knowing how hard he was when he jumped on top of me, I realize he must have felt the same way about me. I regret that we may never be able to explore those feelings because of what happened that night. Nick smiled and kissed me on the lips once more. I began to feel something familiar about him, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. How could I, he was so very different than anyone or anything I had ever laid my eyes on.

He took another sip of his wine and then stood up. He held out his hand and said, “Come to bed with me.” I gladly took his hand and walked to his huge bed. As we crawled onto it, he positioned me on my knees with my head down on the pillow. He spread my legs and then I suddenly felt his tongue licking up and down between my butt cheeks. Then he startled me as his tongue raked across my sphincter. I practically jumped out of my skin! He was soon lapping away at it and then suddenly, his tongue plunged in. I yelped loudly at the sudden intrusion and then began moaning in ecstasy as his togue plunged in and out of my hole. After what seemed like a few minutes, he stopped and then I felt a finger probing me. I instinctively arched my back and pushed my butt back while I moaned in pleasure. He added a second, then a third and fourth before stopping. I said into the pillow, “Please.” Nick asked, “Are you sure?” I was never more sure, “Very sure.” I then felt his cock sliding in between my cheeks and I began breathing heavily in anticipation. Then the head of his cock was pressing into me until he pushed inside and stopped. My sphincter burned at first and then relaxed around his girth. Nick then slowly entered me, inch by inch. I jumped as he raked across my prostate. I had read about it but now I knew what it felt like to be massaged, like an electrical shock throughout my body, followed by a wave of pleasure. I soon felt him pressed up against my buns. He had all his length inside me and I felt full. He then began slowly fucking me. Each rake of his corona across my prostate sent waves of pleasure throughout my body. I moaned in ecstasy as he made love to me, this creature of nature, this godly being. After some time, though I have no idea how long because time seemed to stand still here, he had me flip over onto my back and fucked me while I drowned myself in his eyes. I hadn’t even touched my cock when suddenly, I was firing ropes of cum all over my face and chest. As my orgasm subsided, the remainder collected on my abs. Then I felt Nick’s cock swell inside me, then pulse as he fired his cum inside me. I felt the pressure as he filled my bowels with his seed. Nick slowly withdrew his cock from me and then lapped up the cum from my abs and chest before making his way up my neck, kissing it and licking at the cum. We were soon face to face and he leaned down and kissed me more passionately than he’d done before. I tasted my own cum on his lips and drove my tongue inside his mouth to taste more. He broke the kiss and licked my face clean before we kissed again. We laid there for a while and then went back to the loveseat by the fire. I was surprised to find our wine glasses full and chilled. We sat, mostly in silence as we cuddled together and watched the fire. At some point it dawned on me that the fire seemed just as large as it had been when we arrived in the room and no one had thrown a log onto it. As I pondered this, I realized I was getting sleepy. On cue, Nick asked, “Ready for bed?” I said, “Yes. Suddenly, I’m very tired.” Nick got up and offered me a hand. I took it and followed him to bed. We crawled in and we kissed. I then said, “I really want to thank you, for all of what happened today. I’ll never forget it.” Nick smiled and kissed me once more before rolling me onto my side and spooning me. I snuggled back into him, feeling his warmth. As I was drifting to sleep, I heard nick whisper in my ear, “You have received your wish from the Spirit of Christmas.”

I woke up snuggled against the warm body. I didn’t want to open my eyes because I hadn’t wanted the night to end. Then a lick on my ear. It wasn’t a human tongue. My eyes sprang open, and I realized I was surrounded by deer. I was back under the canopy of pine trees with the deer. How did I get here? I looked around and saw that all of my things were still here. Before yesterday, I would have thought this ridiculous, but I looked at the deer and said, “Thanks for looking after my stuff.” One of the doe pushed her head against my forehead as if accepting my thanks.

Suddenly, I heard a voice calling, “Derek! Derek! Where are you?” The voice was familiar, but I couldn’t place it. The deer all rose up and then left. One of the fawns, the one who was cuddled against me pushed his head to my forehead and then licked my nose, then followed the others out of the canopy. I heard the call again, much closer now, “Derek! Where are you?” I stepped out from under the canopy and into the open park. I saw three people walking toward me. My mom was one of them and it brought tears to my eyes. As they approached, I realized my stepdad was one of them, but what surprised me was that the third one was Jimmy. I asked, “What are you doing here?” Mom ran up and hugged me tightly, crying and said, “I’m so sorry, Derek. I should have never allowed this to happen to you.” I hugged her back and tears began flowing from my eyes as well, “It’s ok, mom. I didn’t blame you.” Then I felt another embrace and heard my stepdad say, “I’m sorry too, Derek. I deserve all the blame for this.” I gave him a sheepish grin and said, “I don’t blame you either. We just don’t agree on some things. You gave mom and me so much and as long as you make mom happy, I’ll understand.” He hugged me tighter and said, “Derek, I was wrong. We can talk about that when we get your things back to the house.” I asked, “You’re letting me come home?” Mom said, “Of course we are, dear.” I looked to my stepdad, and he nodded with a smile. I was confused. What had changed? Then my mom and stepdad stepped back and I saw Jimmy standing there. I asked, “What are you doing here, Jimmy?” Tears began rolling down Jimmy’s cheeks as he said, “I’m so sorry, Derek. I tried to explain that it was all me, but they wouldn’t listen. They told me I wasn’t allowed to talk to you anymore, even at school. I wanted to anyway, but I was afraid you wanted nothing to do with me after that night. I was too ashamed to approach you. Will you please forgive me? Mom and dad want to invite you and your family for Christmas dinner if you’ll agree. They’d like to apologize also for the way they treated you.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It was like the last two months were being washed away. I said, “It’s a good thing the deer didn’t trample you. I think you scared them when you started calling my name.” They looked at me like I had three heads, then mom asked, “What are you talking about? We didn’t see any deer.” I asked, “You didn’t see the deer run from under the canopy?” They all shook their heads. I was baffled. I walked up to Jimmy and said, “I know you tried to defend me, Jimmy. I was also too embarrassed to talk to you at school and knowing I wasn’t going to be back after Christmas, I thought I’d never see you again anyway.” Jimmy and I hugged tightly, and tears continued flowing. My stepdad broke the silence and said, “Why don’t we get Derek’s things back in his room?” As we collected my things, Jimmy said, “It does look like deer bed here.” As we retrieved my things, I looked back at the canopy and about twenty feet away stood the doe that had rubbed my forehead with hers. I could have sworn she winked at me.

We drove back to our house in silence, after all it was only several blocks from the park and millions of miles from Nick’s cabin, I was sure. Jimmy and I kept taking momentary glances at each other with smiles on our faces.

We arrived at the house, and everyone grabbed my stuff and took it up to my room. My stepdad said, “Derek, I’d like to talk to you in my study for a few minutes if that’s ok with you.” If that’s ok with me? This was the stepdad, although he was always kind to me, was very strict. It’s why I always excelled in sports and had high grades in school. I never wanted to face his wrath. I responded, “Sure dad, I’ll be right down.” Mom smiled at me and said, “I’ll be downstairs. I’ll make you a snack because you’re probably hungry. I understand you love grapes and strawberries now.” I said, “Thanks mom.” Then I thought, ‘Where did she get that from?’ As mom left the room, I looked at Jimmy. He was standing there looking at me as if waiting for my judgement. I asked him, “What made your family decide to invite us to Christmas dinner? This all seems crazy to me.” Jimmy smiled at me, and I looked into those blue eyes for a moment, and he said, “Your dad’s waiting.” I said, “yeah, you’re right, but we need to talk.” He said, “I’m looking forward to more than that.” I felt a rush of excitement run through me. I kissed Jimmy on the lips quickly and said, “That’s a rain check.”, before going downstairs to my stepdad’s study.

I walked into my stepfather’s study. It had always been off limits when I was a kid. As I entered, I saw my stepfather at his desk. He looked up at me and said, “Please, Derek, have a seat.” I sat down across his desk and waited. My stepfather looked at me and said, “Look, I know I’ve been hard on you. The truth is I wanted you to be the athlete I never was. It had nothing to do with you being my stepson. That being said, you can imagine my reaction to what Jimmy’s parents told me that night. I was horrified that I had been driving my stepson to greatness only to find out he was a pansy. Sorry, my words, not my intentions here. Please, suffer me my thoughts at the time. You have delivered far more than I did in my years in high school, Derek. Your grades have been perfect, and you’ve won so many medals in sports to make us proud of you. I let this one thing make me snap out at you because of my preconceived idea of homosexuality.” I said, “Dad, it’s ok. I don’t blame you for how you reacted. You provided mom and me so much since she married you. I understood I had disappointed you. It’s ok.” He said, “No, it was not ok. I was wrong in how I treated you that night and afterward. While I was out shopping for a present for your mother, I sat down on a bench in the mall. This young guy, maybe a few years older than you sat down next to me and started talking to me. He made me realize what life is all about and I felt bad about what I said and did to you. I want to make that up to you. I don’t care who you love. You’ve made both your mom and me proud. I’m sure your birth father is proud of you as well. I’m not disappointed in you, Derek, I’m so proud of you.” He got up and walked around his desk and hugged me tightly. When he broke the hug, he said, “I think your mom wants to talk to you. And Derek, I really appreciate you calling me dad, but if it makes you feel more comfortable, you can call me Dave. I don’t want you to feel like I’ve taken your birth father’s place. I smiled and said, “I think dad is fine.”

I went into the kitchen where mom was cutting the stems from strawberries and plucking grapes from the vine. “Hey mom. What are you doing? How did you know I liked strawberries and grapes? This is getting so weird. Mom looked at me and said, “I was furious at Dave after I said goodbye to you, but I was afraid of losing him too. Then I realized I had abandoned my only son and couldn’t live with that. I was planning on talking to him and letting him know I won’t let him throw you out on the street. Before he got home though, this nice young man came to the door and gave me these grapes and strawberries. He noticed I’d been crying and told me that everything would be alright and that you would like them. I asked him how he knew you and he just said that you had met him recently. As he was walking away, I asked his name, and he said people call him Nick.” I said, “No! This is just crazy! Mom, did he have dark hair and blue eyes?” Mom said, “Why yes, he did. He almost resembled an older version of your friend, Jimmy, but a little bigger, but Jimmy may wind up looking like that someday. Where did you meet this guy? He seemed so nice.” It made no sense. It couldn’t have been the same Nick. He spent all day and night with him. He couldn’t have talked to mom yesterday. Suddenly I realized mom was looking at me and asked, “Are you ok, Derek. You just lost all the color in your face?” I said, “I’m fine. I guess things have just been pretty weird the last couple days.” Mom said, “You’re telling me. When David got home last night, he told me we needed to find you and bring you back home. He said he had made a huge mistake and needed to fix it. Then Jimmy showed up at our door and told us what had actually happened that night and how his parents were so sorry about that night. Jimmy said he came out to them as being gay, and at first it was tough on them, but they are now fine with it. Oh, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have told you that. He wanted to tell you himself. Just so you know, gay or straight, I love you no matter what.” I startled my mom by grabbing her in a tight hug and telling her, “I love you so much, mom.” We both had tears running down our cheeks when I released her, and we smiled at each other. Then I said, “I need to ask dad something before I go back up to talk to Jimmy.” I quickly ran back to David’s (dad’s) study and knocked. He said, “Yes, come in.” I opened the door and he said, “Derek, you don’t have to knock any more. Just come in if you want to talk.” I said, “Ok, thanks. That guy you said talked to you at the mall. Did he give you his name?” Dad thought for a minute and said, “Yes. I think he said his name was Nick.” We had said, “Nick.” At the same time and he looked at me and asked, “How did you know that?” I smiled and said, “It’s a long story dad, but I’m not sure you’d believe me if I told you. Thanks. I need to go up and talk to Jimmy.”

I got back up to my room and found Jimmy sitting on my bed. I sat down next to him and asked him, “Your parents are ok with you being gay?” Jimmy looked at me and asked, “How did you know?” I said, “Mom let it slip. She’s sorry she did, but after that night when you climbed on top of me while we were playing video games, I kinda figured that out.” Jimmy smiled and looked down at his lap and quietly said, “I was hoping you were too.” I took his chin in my hand and turned his face toward mine and said, “If my rain check didn’t let you know, maybe this will.” I leaned in and kissed him. Soon we had our arms wrapped around each other and were making out. Half an hour later, mom called up the steps and said, “Lunch is ready and there are plenty of strawberries and grapes.” Jimmy said, “I love those. I actually like all fruit.” We raced downstairs and had sandwiches, potato chips and lots of Strawberries and grapes, both red and green, Christmas colors.

We went over to Jimmy’s house for Christmas dinner. As soon as we entered, Jimmy’s mom said to Jimmy, “Why don’t you take your friend Derek up to your room and play some video games while me and your father get acquainted with the Bradley’s” Jimmy said, “Ok, mom. Let’s go play some games, Derek.” He gave me a mischievous grin and I followed him upstairs. We did play some games and made out a lot, but we kept our clothes on. The we heard my mom yell up, “Derek! Jimmy! It’s time for dinner!”

As we sat around the dinner table making small talk while eating ham with pineapple, turkey, potato filling, cranberry sauce and on and on, I realized mom and dad were having a really good time and so were Jimmy’s parents. Then Jimmy’s dad looked to Jimmy and asked, “Nick, could you pass me the cranberry sauce?” My fork fell onto my plate as my mouth dropped open. Mom and dad’s jaws both dropped before my mom asked, “Why did you just call your son Nick? His name is Jimmy, isn’t it?” Jimmy’s dad grinned and he said, “Yes, but so is mine. We started calling him Nick when he was young because every time his mother would yell, “Nick”, we’d both answer, so we started calling him by his middle name, instead. Far less confusion.” Jimmy then said, “Yeah, I got used to everyone at school calling me Jimmy, but around the house and my relatives, everyone calls me Nick. You see, my full name is James Nicholas Clausen.

After that Christmas day, I began calling Jimmy Nick. Nick and I became a couple and we eventually got married. I took his name. We bought some land up north and built a huge cabin. Yes, it was built in the side of a mountain.

 

The End