Sander Sides One-Shots: Platonic

Ten Crofter's Christmas

This story is (loosely) based off of one of my favorite Christmas stories "10 Candy Bar Christmas" which is a true story about a single mother who finds a way to buy Christmas presents during the roughest of times.

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It was 2008 and that year had been rough. With barely being able to hold onto a low income job and making enough money to feed his three sons, the fact that Patton was able to pay off the monthly bills was celebration in of itself. But there would be no extras. Patton had sat his three sons down one night and explained to them that they would be able to afford a small, bare Christmas tree. But for the first time in their young lives there would be no presents under it.

"It's going to be a Top Ramon and Kool-Aid Christmas this year kiddos." He had said.

His fifteen year old son, Logan, already understood the financial struggle that they were in. Being the eldest and the only one out of his siblings old enough to get a job, Logan spent his after-schools and weekends working a part time job at the library in order to help make a little extra money. He had already understood that this Christmas would be very different from years previous.

His next eldest, eight year old Roman, understood as well. Despite his young age he was already doing what he could to help out. Including watching his five year old brother, Virgil most days after school and on the weekend so his big brother and Dad could work. Of course, he was still a child and was disappointed at the lack of presents this year. And while he did try and hide it Patton could still tell.

Virgil was the youngest and didn't understand, all he knew was that he wasn't getting a new toy this year for Christmas. But he copied his brothers' example in saying that it was alright and that he didn't mind. Patton truly had no idea what he had done to deserve his kiddos.

The family had gotten their small, bare tree and had a fun time decorating it with ornaments made from paper scraps and tin foil. One day, a few days before Christmas Patton's kids met him at the bus stop. Roman came running towards him with Logan, who was carrying Virgil, close behind.

"Dad!" Roman yelled engulfing him in a huge hug "there's a turkey raffle, we heard about it on the radio." Ah the radio, the one form of entertainment they could afford "we entered it and oh I bet we'll win!"

Patton hugged Roman back and scooped him up and sat him on his hip. He smiled and agreed that it would be amazing if they'd won the turkey raffle on radio. He looked over his son's head and eyes met with Logan, they both knew that it was a small possibility that they would win. But neither of them told the two young children who looked so happy and full of energy, and neither one of them wanted to crush the spark of hope and excitement.

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Patton was at work when a miracle happen, it was Christmas Eve and it was a slow day for most people had taken the day off to do some last minute shopping. He was hard at work when the phone in the manager's office rang. "Patton, it's for you." They had won the turkey after all.

They lugged that big bird home on the bus laughing and singing Christmas carols all the way. Even Logan, who claimed to be too old for such childish things, participated.

The apartment complex was full of other single parents in the same situation they were, and the turkey was way to big for the three of them to eat themselves. So they decided to invite a couple of the other families in the building.

They invited Thomas who was a close friend and neighbor of theirs and his two kids, Joan and Tayln along with two other families on their floor. Dinner was full of talking, laughter, and high spirited as they feasted on cooked turkey, cookies, and (you guessed) Top Ramon and Kool-Aid.

After dinner and many thanks Patton was cleaning up the kitchen when he heard a light tapping at the door. When he opened it an envelope fell out from where it had been stuck in the door-jam, Patton looked up and down the hallway but saw no one. He picked up the envelope and opened it to reveal a single ten dollar bill. And he understood. It must have been the only way that one of the families could think of repaying him for sharing the turkey.

Patton had long since stopped believing in angels but in that moment he believed (and forever will) that an angle had been looking out for him. Providing a way for him to buy something for his kiddos for Christmas.

He checked the time. Roman and Virgil had gone over to another apartment to play with Joan and Tayln, Logan had went with them to make sure they didn't get into any trouble, and should be occupied for at least an hour.

Decision made the father quickly threw on his coat and hurried out into the barley chill night that was winter in Florida. Hoping that it was still open, he hurried to the one place that he might find Christmas presents for under ten dollars. The 95 cent store.

He walked through the isles trying to think of how he could stretch his ten dollars into Christmas presents for his kids, then one of the isles caught his eye, the produce section. He made his way down the isle hoping and praying that he could find some. His face breaking into a wide smile when he saw what he was looking for. Crofter's.

Crofter's Jam was a favorite with both the kiddos and the father himself, however it was pretty costly compared to other jelly brands so Patton wouldn't let the boys have it very often. So this would be a big surprise. He was barely able to stretch his money enough to buy ten small jars of Crofter's, it was lucky that the store was having a sale on their smaller jars.

Carrying his purchases close to his chest he quickly hurried home. When he got back to the apparent he looked around to see if there was anything he could wrap the jars in, when his eyes landed on the brown paper sacks his kids used to carry their lunch in. He pulled a few out along with kid's crayons and carefully drew stars, tress, candy canes, and anything else he could think of to make them look festive. He then put the jam jars into the bags and the bags under their small, bare tree. And in that moment Patton's heart was a little lighter.

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The boys were ecstatic when they got home to find presents under the tree "don't get too excited." Patton warned "it's not much but it was all that I could afford." Even so they insisted on opening them right then and there.

And with each Crofter jar they unwrapped they grew more excited, so excited you would have thought they were unwrapping the best toys from FAO Schwarz. And the next day they would sit and eat leftover turkey and Crofter's with nothing other than each other's company.

The year had been hard with the divorce and Patton being laid off from his job. But he knew that so long as he and his kiddos had each other, everything would be alright.

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A/N: Happy holidays everybody! I hope you all enjoyed my little one-shot, as mentioned before I got inspiration to write this from one of my favorite Christmas stories so I had a lot of fun writing this. Also, I hope finals went well or are going well. I'm in the middle of finals week right now and it is stressful. 

Please note that I am going to be gone during the end of this week and the beginning of next week, so with that plus Christmas and family I probably won't be able to get started on another one-shot until at least next month. Also, if you have any requests PLEASE let me know, I have some ideas of stories to write but the ones I have will take a while to write. Hope you have a great holiday. 

Please Add, Vote, and Comment. Take it easy Guys. Gals, and Non-Binary Pals. PEACE OUT!

-Isabel