Lost and Found

My first attempt at a Blog Hop - I couldn't pass this one up! Thanks Abby and the others for kicking this off!

This is for my brother Brian. His ideas of Christmas Giving have become a legend in our family! Here goes:

"Mom, no way! A new pocket knife?" Craig clutched the object within the newspaper wrap. "Wait a second, this is my old knife. Where did you find it? I thought I lost it after scout camp." Craig rubbed his finger across the rough edge where he’d carved his initials, CSA, into the handle. He waited for his mother to fill in the blanks, but she looked as surprised as he did.

"Your old pocket knife?" she repeated, grabbing the newspaper which had served as Christmas wrap. "It says from Santa," she said, looking at her husband. He shrugged his shoulders and pulled another gift from under the tree.

This one bore duct tape trim along the edge of yesterday’s front page. Across the newspaper in black marker someone wrote, “TO: Net, FROM: Snata.”

"Another from Santa, but this is for you, Lynette." He tossed the gift to his daughter, who wasted no time yanking at the duct tape.

"Here," her mom said, handing her the scissors.

"Daisy! It's Daisy, Mom! Where did you find her? I thought I lost you!" Lynette cried, hugging the doll to her.

“Hey, Dad, this one’s for me,” Clair said, reaching under the tree for the final newspaper donned gift. “Can I open it?” His dad nodded, eyebrows raised in curiosity as his third child tore open the wrap and pulled out a faded baseball cap. “My hat! Are you kidding me? I looked everywhere for this! Where was it?”

Their father scanned the room and settled on a small bundle nestled in the corner of their orange couch. There sat his four-year-old son, peeking at him from behind a blanket. The small form shook with a muffled laugh.

“I guess Santa surprised all of us this year!” their father said, winking.

--Sara Bulla