Every year I write a Christmas story. Please enjoy the short story for 2022.

My December Birthday (by Brian Claspell)

Planning for Thanksgiving and the feast that culminates on Thanksgiving Day then quickly turns into the preparation for all the Christmas events and the big day itself on December 25. And for my family, for a split second my birthday gets sandwiched right between the two holidays. It is never missed, but let’s just say that the birthday candle almost becomes a Christmas candle as I breath, even before it actually goes out.

I mean, you really just get used to it. It is not a big deal and if everyone else didn’t have birthdays at other times during the year I might not even notice. Most years just pass quickly but one year I got a treasure trove of candy. I am talking the mother lode – enough to generously last me from my birthday, through Christmas, and into the next year. On top of that, it contained a sampling of my favorite candies. For a twelve-year-old it was a dream come true.

I didn’t pace the candy out like some people might have but it did seem to be going quicker than I thought it should. It was not long until I realized my big sack of candy was slowly but surely growing smaller and not by me eating it either. I noticed when I got home from school there would be a piece or two missing. Once when I came home the last piece my favorite candy was missing.

I mentioned this to my mother who promptly said perhaps mice are running off with it. This not only shocked me but scared me. I’m not sure if she was serious or if she thought mice really were running off with it, but I didn’t like the implications at all so I made sure the bag was good and secure and was even inside a drawer and wrapped in a towel. For the next few days candy kept disappearing. I knew it couldn’t be mice.

I devised a plan to catch the would be criminal. The primary suspect was my older brother. I thought that it was not likely my 4-year-old sister who pretty much got candy whenever she asked. I had even offered her some of my birthday candy. My dad loved candy, so it could have been him just grabbing a piece or two (or more) to satisfy a craving. Pretty sure it was not my mom unless she was diverting attention from herself by blaming “mice”. However, that wasn’t like her at all.

My plan was simple, I would announce that I was going out to be with some friends in the neighborhood and then hide in my closet. Then, I would wait and observe.  

I was shocked when I saw my little sister cleverly sneak into my room, get in the drawer, take some candy, and put back the bag almost exactly as she found it. After the shock, I become angry. She knew what my favorite candy was and had taken it. She even sang the loudest at my birthday celebration.

I decided that I would confront her just before Christmas. Perhaps Santa would remove a gift or two from her in spite of her pretty good behavior the rest of the year.

I decided to tell my mom first, but she was busy helping my little sister wrap gifts and said she would talk to me later.

When I finally had time to talk to my mom and explain the dastardly deed of my little sister my mother just laughed at me. It was not the response I expected.

“Honey,” she said with a warm smile, “your sister just asked me to help wrap your gift from her. She got you all your favorite candy. See, she didn’t have a Christmas gift for you and saw how excited you were to get candy for your birthday. She wanted you to be as excited at Christmas because she loves you so much.”

I realized that she wasn’t stealing the candy to eat but was taking it to give back to me for Christmas.

My little sister was right, I was just as excited to get candy for Christmas as I was when I got it for my birthday. Perhaps it was just a little sweeter this time. I split my favorite candy bar with her as we set and played dolls on New Year’s Day.