Santa's Never Wrong

All the gift tags had been swopped and she braced herself for the fallout

- Ali Loconte

MOM?” Alice said. “Why does Santa have the same writ­ing as you?”

Six was such a suspicious age. Over the past month, there’d been a series of similar questions.

“Is Santa older than the dinosaurs?” she’d asked me yesterday.

“Um, I’d say they’re roughly the same age,” I’d told her.

“How does Santa’s sleigh fly if it doesn’t have petrol?” she’d asked the previous day.

“Because it’s magic, of course,” I’d replied.

But this was her toughest question yet. She stared at me, waiting for an answer. I glanced at my husband for help, but he just shrugged.

“Well,” I said finally. “Santa tells me who the presents are for and I write the name tags.”

Alice frowned. “But how does he know what we want?”

“Because he knows every­ thing,” I said. “And Santa’s never wrong.”

She fell silent, apparently satisfied. I shot a triumphant look at my husband. I was off the hook – for now at least.

Then I turned and my heart sank. Little Jaxon had pulled the name tags off half the Christmas presents under the tree and stuck them across his chest.

“Oh, Jaxon!” I said. “Why did you do that?”

His bottom lip trembled. Two was an impulsive age.