All I Want For Christmas Is You

Christmas Surprise

It was Christmas Eve. Cleo and David were in his kitchen baking shortbreads, making gingerbread men and building a gingerbread house, all while listening to Christmas music and dancing around the kitchen.

David and Zoe agreed to have Cleo stay with her dad for the night, so Zoe could have a bit of alone time with her boyfriend, and so David could have some extra time with Cleo. He loved nothing more than spending time with his little girl, she was his whole world.

Cleo finished putting the frosting on some of the shortbreads once they had cooled. David took out another batch of gingerbread men, putting another batch of shortbreads in. Cleo looked in the bowl and giggled.

"Looks like we need more frosting." She said, pointing to the empty bowl. David looked over and chuckled "I underestimated how much we would need. At this rate, we could bring these to some homeless shelters along with giving them to friends." David suggested. Cleo smiled brightly and her eyes sparkled at the idea. 

About 45 minutes later, they finished making the cookies, wrapping up everything they were planning on giving to people, and were now sitting at his dining room table eating their share of the cookies.

As Cleo took a sip of milk, her eyes widened as she got an idea. David stared at her, confused and worried.

"What is it? Is the milk gone bad?!" He asked, starting to panic, but Cleo shook her head.

"Dad. Remember last month when we filmed that short story of the friends mugs with 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' playing in the background?" Cleo asked excitedly. David chuckled "Oh the one where people lost their minds over a week and a half later because because you zoomed in on Jen and put blush on her? Oh, I remember. What about it?" He asked, genuinely intrigued by what Cleo was going to say next.

"Well, why don't we do an Instagram video of us dancing around to that song as a sort of holiday video for your followers? I know mom likes to put me in videos, and I know you're not a huge fan of that, but I think it would be super cute! You have my consent." She suggested. She felt an evil grin forming on her lips, but she did her best to hide it as fast as she could. She did not want to ruin her surprise so soon.

David thought about it for a moment. On one hand, he was the private parent in this co-parenting situation. On the other, He agreed with Cleo that it would be a cute idea. Plus he had been a bit more open with his followers, this was going 5 steps forward, but for the sake of the holiday, he nodded. "Ok fine, you convinced me." David finally said, caving into the idea. Cleo squealed with excitement "Alright! I'll be back in a second!" she said before running out of the room.

When she got to her bedroom, she noticed her phone was lighting up, indicating a phone call. She smiled at the name:

Momma Jen ♥🦞

"Hey Jen! How was the flight?" the child asked, sounding more excited than ever to get her call. Jen sounded a bit out of breath as she spoke. "The flight was not great, but we made it! I'm alive! How are you and your dad? He just sent me a picture of all the cookies you made! Or I just got it. Airplane mode and whatnot." Jen's heart started racing more as she was in the back seat of the car. She couldn't believe her and Cleo were pulling off the ultimate Christmas surprise.

She had told David a week or so ago that she wouldn't be able to make it to NYC for Christmas because of a childhood friend falling ill, she told him she really needed to stay behind and spend time with her friend once she got home, because she wasn't sure how bad this sickness was. David panicked over the thought it might be COVID, but Jen reassured him it was NOT COVID, this friend had some health issues growing up and she simply just started to take a turn.