Page 108 of A Very Naughty Christmas

I giggled when I felt the cream land on my nose.

“Sweetie pie, please be more careful,” he chuckled as he wiped my nose.

“Sorry,” I apologized, smiling at him. I knew that he wasn’t really mad. If he had been, he wouldn’t have a big smile on his face.

“Would you like to start working on the gingerbread house, so the men and women have a house to live in?”

“Yeah!”

“Want me to help you?”

“Yes, please. We don’t want another disaster.”

Last year, even though I had followed the instructions to the tee, it didn’t matter. My roof slid off and the walls fell down. I had sobbed until Daddy had finally gotten some glue and pasted the walls and roof together so it wouldn’t fall again. It looked amazing, but the only downside to it was I couldn’t eat it then since he said that he didn’t want me to eat the glue on accident. So, he promised me that the upcoming year, he would help me build the gingerbread house first, so that didn’t happen again.

“All right, baby girl. Let’s get to work.”

* * *

“You are a mess, sweetheart.”

Glancing down at myself, I could see what he meant. I had frosting all over my apron.Thankfully, none had landed on my sweater. My hands looked like I had dyed each of my fingers different colors. And underneath my nails, I had small sugar beads. I couldn’t even imagine what my face looked like.

“Here, let me wash you.”

Daddy came over to me with a wet paper towel in his hand. Ugh, I hated when he ran the moist cloth over my face. It felt so uncomfortable. I tried to turn my head away so he wouldn’t be able to wash it, but he still managed to reach it.

“No! No more,” I cried as he finished with my face and went to wash my fingers. I didn’t understand why he couldn’t let me take a bath. That would get all the sugar off of me.

“We’re almost done. After this, how about if we watch a movie and relax a little?”

“Can we watchArthur’s Perfect Christmas?” I asked as he pulled my apron over my head.

“Of course, baby girl. Why don’t you head into our bedroom and we can watch it up there?”

“All righty.”

I headed upstairs, thinking about how exciting it would be to watch this movie. It had come out when I was in first grade and it had been an instant classic for me. As silly as it sounded, my favorite part of the entire show was the first minute. I loved the opening scene because the music was so pretty and you could see Elwood City all decorated and ready for Christmas.

When I made it to my bedroom, I grabbed my Piglet doll and cuddled with him under the covers. I was a tiny bit cold and I wanted to huddle with my favorite stuffie.

“You and Piglet ready to watch this movie?”

“You betcha!”

He grabbed the remote and sat on the edge of the bed as he found the movie I wanted underneath our saved DVR programs.

Before he pressed play, he snuggled underneath the covers and pulled me close to him, so we were cuddling. It felt nice to be cuddled up next to my daddy. He was big and super warm and I knew that nothing could harm me when I was with him.

He finally started the movie and my favorite part began.

Ten minutes after the movie began, my eyes started to get pretty heavy. I tried to keep them open, but I finally fell asleep around the time that Arthur and his mom finished their Christmas shopping.

Chapter Six

After my nap, I had woken up alone. Not wanting to get out of the warm bed, I called out.

“Daddy! Where are you?”

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