A
Perfect Christmas
by Constance Masters
Carol looked out of the window
at the perfect scene before her. The rows of snow covered trees
glinted in the moonlight, their reflection shining from the
spectacular frozen lake. Yep, the outside was a frozen wonderland,
picture perfect, unlike the inside which was about to become very
heated and not from the homey warmth of the fire that crackled in the
decorated fireplace downstairs in the living room. She sighed deeply
and wondered just how much trouble she was in. Okay, so the fact that
she was in the corner with her chubby bare backside on show...a bit
of a hint. Carol winced as she caught sight of the rather ample
target in the bedroom mirror. She really did need to lay off the full
fat eggnog next year. And the cookies. As she looked back again,
through the window at the peaceful Christmas card scene, her mind
drifted to where it had all gone wrong...
***
She'd been preparing for the entire month for what she hoped would be
the best Christmas ever. She was what her Mom would have called ‘A
Christmas Person’. Most of her friends now shopped effortlessly,
hunting for bargains on line, avoiding what they saw as the Christmas
rush. Not many of them could tolerate the hustle and bustle, the
pushing and shoving, let alone enjoy it, or revel in it like she did.
Most didn’t even take their kids to sit on Santa’s knee. Carol
didn’t care if she had to stand on the line all day. Listening to
the whining and complaining were all a part of the magic of
Christmas. She could tune her ears into the carols and bell ringing
and ignore the rest. She loved nothing more than watching her kids as
they barrelled along from one isle to the next, picking out choices
for their lists. Once again, all part of the magic.
Unfortunately there were a couple of things that weren’t part of
her magic of Christmas and they revolved around her husband Joe. Joe
liked Christmas but he didn’t understand her need for perfection.
The decorations that had to be positioned just so, with no two
colours the same next to each other. No messy tinsel throwing on HER
perfect tree, it had to be totally symmetrical from any angle in the
room. HER star was placed firmly on the top of the tree and it
sparkled and shone, proudly showing off its greatness to the rest of
the room. There was mistletoe in every doorway and candles of
deliberately chosen sizes and colours arranged on the mantelpiece.
The stockings weren't up yet, they were waiting to be hung on
Christmas Eve, but she had already measured the spots for the hooks
so that they too wouldn’t let down the perfection of the room.
The greatest problem that her perfect Christmas had faced however was
the dreaded budget. Joe was a stickler for not going overboard. He
threw around words like indulgence and spoiling. Bah humbug! He'd set
aside a fairly generous amount for each person, quite generous in
fact for the children, by HIS standards. Trouble was he wasn’t
counting in the, what Carol liked to call, ‘The Santa Claus’. The
kids didn’t understand about budgets and being careful, they wrote
a list and expected what was on there to be under the tree and no
matter what the consequences for her would be, Carol had been
determined to make that happen. HER children were going to have THEIR
perfect Christmas.
***
Even though her naked bottom was suddenly tingling of its own accord
as she stood in the corner nearest the upstairs window, Carol
couldn’t help but smile when she thought of the helpful young man
at the store. Now HE had understood how she felt about Christmas.
See that’s the kind of personal attention you couldn’t get by
shopping on line. She had been staring at the children’s lists and
the money in her purse and wondering how the hell she was going to
pay for all the stuff she needed to buy. She couldn’t disappoint
the children.
***
Out of nowhere the young man with the flashy white smile had appeared
like the Christmas angel and he'd offered her the perfect solution to
her problem. The Christmas credit card. He'd taken a look at the
children’s lists and patted her on the shoulder with sympathy as he
produced the paperwork that would entitle her to a Christmas credit
card with a very generous limit. The very best part was that it was
foolproof, so he said. Joe had always had this idea that it was no
good to shop with a credit card and have to pay it off with very high
interest for the next half a year. Well this was WITHOUT interest.
Well as long as you paid for it all by the end of the first month
after Christmas and she had thought she had ages to think about that.
She could always get a job if she had to couldn't she? Whatever.
She'd been holding in her hot little hands the very festive looking
answer to her Christmas dreams. She HAD felt a very slight twinge of
guilt in the back of her mind but she pushed it back to be dealt with
after. What choice did she have? Zachary couldn’t have possibly
known that a Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle would be over two
hundred dollars. Well, well over two hundred dollars actually but she
never counted the spare change, it always made it seem so much less
expensive when you rounded things down. And the DSI thingy that was
apparently sooo much better than the one he had already. And what
would be the point of a new DSI without new games. Well just a few at
least. And for heaven’s sake! Who would have imagined that games in
tiny little boxes like that could be over fifty dollars each? It had
made perfect sense to get the package. And it HAD been quite
expensive, so she really had to get the cover so it didn’t get
scratched.
Then there was Natasha. She really did need that new IPhone. Carol
could remember what it had been like to be thirteen. It would have
been so embarrassing to be the girl with the outdated stuff. Of
course, there hadn’t really been cell phones when she was young if
she was to be honest, but she’s sure there was something they had
that was similar. MMmm there was the walkman. You were a virtual out
cast if you had a lesser brand than the walkman. Of course she knew
that the IPhone could play music, but Natasha would need to save room
for all her photos, so she’d need the Ipod touch and of course
there was the fact that it could play You Tube videos apparently that
would a plus. Of course she'd need an extra memory cards. She WAS
going to use last years WII again with the new dance mat game, so
that had been an economical choice, hadn’t it? And the beauty case
full of makeup. Well maybe she was a little young but girls liked to
be girly didn’t they?
The young man had fixed everything for her and she had managed to get
nearly all her gifts bought in one day. She had been on cloud nine
when she got home.
***
Carol had looked at the clock on the wall as she came through the
back door for the last time and smiled. Only 2:00pm. It had of course
taken her a few trips to get all the packages out of the car but
she'd hoped that she would have enough time to get things
hidden...put away before Joe got home. Wrong. Unless the stony faced
man that was snooping through her shopping bags had been a figment of
her imagination, he hadn’t been a figment of her imagination and he
was home already.
And that was when it had all gone horribly wrong. The perfect
Christmas ruined. There Joe stood already red faced and angry with a
fist full of receipts in his hand, and he’d only gone through the
first three or four bags. Carol had tried to discretely throw the
last couple of bags behind the fridge but Joe had eyes like hawk....a
very suspicious hawk when he was on a rant and he was about to be on
a rant BIG TIME.
“Pick them up and bring them out here.” He said in a deadly quiet
voice.
“Sorry?” Carol had said with a face that said she didn’t know
what he had meant.
“Pick the bags that you just put behind the fridge UP and bring
them out here!” he boomed.
Even the proud star on the top of the tree bent its perfect head.
Carol did as she was told, her head bent like the star with something
akin to guilt, but more to do with the disappointment of her now
ruined Christmas. As she stepped through the doorway she had a
thought. “I’m under the mistletoe?” she called cutely.
The look Joe had given her had made her move much faster, thoughts of
the mistletoe pushed clearly to the back of her mind to join the
worry of how she was going to pay back the free credit card.
Adrenalin had pulsed through her body bringing with it a serious
attack of the butterflies. Her lower regions tingled with
anticipation and trepidation. Not that she was scared of Joe, or a
spanking really but there was something about being in this type of
situation that made her feel kind of small.
As she reached her hapless husband, HE reached silently for the bags.
She tried to offer an explanation first, but as a half a dozen sharp
smacks bounced off her backside, lighting a less than festive fire,
she was forced her to hand them over without any further explanation.
It had seemed like an eternity until Joe spoke again, he had been
clearly struggling to keep his temper under control.
“I know how much money I gave you to shop with.” He said quietly
through clenched teeth. “Would you like to explain how you have
over three thousand dollars worth of gifts here?”
Carol decided that she really wouldn’t....but the stamping of Joe’s
foot told her that perhaps it was a rhetorical question.
“Would you believe it was kind of a miracle?” she had asked
hopefully. Unfortunately, Joe took her hopeful answer as a smart ass
comment.
“You really think it’s the best time to be a smart ass?” he
asked with a raised eyebrow.
Carol was offended. “I wasn’t BEING a smart ass Joe!” she said.
“Well the only other explanation I can see is that you’ve robbed
a bank.” He had said putting his hands on his hips. “Now I want a
straight answer! Where...did...you...get...the money...to pay...for
...all these gifts?”
“But Joe, it WAS a kind of a miracle. You don’t understand.”
Carol had said desperately. This nice young boy with lovely white
straight teeth gave me a Christmas Card.” She thought she might
leave the word credit out while she explained, she had had the
distinct feeling that it may be the final straw, and nobody wanted
that.
“Start again Carol, and please try and make sense.” Joe had said
with as much patience as he could muster.
Carol took a deep breath. She had known that she was going to have to
explain fully about the card eventually. She had hoped that they
would make it through Christmas though.
“Carol!”
“Okay. Okay. See, I was in the store looking at the kids Christmas
lists and I realised I didn’t have enough money to cover everything
that they needed.” Joe rolled his eyes. “There is a BIG
difference between WANTS and NEEDS Carol and you know it.” He had
said with frustration.
Carol had barely resisted the urge to poke out her tongue childishly.
“Maybe through the year Joe, but at Christmas, their WANTS, are my
NEEDS!” she had said emphatically.
“Uhhuh. Get on with it. How did you pay for all this stuff?” he
asked.
“Well if you’d stop interrupting me I’d tell you.” Carol had
said bravely. It was actually a lot more bravado that actual bravery,
but hey, anything to stall for a little while. Maybe there’d be a
second miracle. “Okay, where was I?”
“Still somewhere fairly near the beginning I believe, something
about a good looking young boy that doubled as a miracle worker.”
Joe said drolly.
“Oh yes. So he offered me this card, it's kind of like...” she
started but decided to take a step back first, no harm in paving the
way in case a sudden escape might be necessary.
As if he had read her mind though Joe stepped forward to close the
gap. “What kind of a card? It better not be the type of card that I
think you mean.” He had said as he took hold of her arm to prevent
any last ditch effort of an escape.
“Well Joe, there's credit cards and credit cards.” She'd said
with a wince at the look on her furious husbands face. “Really Joe,
this one has NO INTEREST! None at all.”
Joe ran a hand over his face, he'd wanted nothing more than to tip
her over his knee that second and spank her ass so shiny that he
could see his face in it, but he was too angry and he really needed
to find out exactly what kind of mess she’d gotten them into this
time. “Get me the paperwork you signed.” He said.
Carol had opened her mouth to speak and he had put a hand up to stop
her. “Don’t even try to tell me that there was no paperwork.
There’s ALWAYS paperwork. They’re not just going to let every
crazy Christmas woman that enters the store walk out with thousands
of dollars worth of goods without having them sign for it first. Get
it. NOW!” he had bellowed when she had stood frozen to the ground.
She had suddenly found herself hunting through her purse for what
he’d wanted.
“And just quietly there is ALWAYS INTEREST! Once the first month is
up they double what the interest would have been on a normal credit
card, which you know damn well you weren’t allowed to use.”
Suddenly that guilt that Carol had managed to push way, way back
into the recesses of her mind started to surface. It had stirred up
the butterflies that were already fluttering around frantically in
her tummy. Maybe she should have read the fine print before she
signed, she had thought nervously as she chewed on her bottom lip.
She passed the papers over to Joe and took a step back.
“Upstairs.” He said. “Pants down and in the corner.”
Carol’s mouth dropped right open. “You expect me to stand in the
corner like a child? Without my pants?” she had asked
incredulously.
“And your underwear.” Joe had said without looking up from the
papers. Carol had opened her mouth to argue but found herself spun
around and sent towards the stairs with another sharp flurry of
spanks to her jean clad bottom.
“Stop! I’m going.” She’d said with her eyes narrowed. Big
bully, she had thought, but kept the insult to herself. Wisely,
considering that Joe's mood.
***
Carol jumped and her mind came crashing back to the present when she
heard the familiar footsteps on the stairs. She clenched her butt
cheeks together involuntarily as she heard the squeak of the mattress
springs as Joe made himself comfortable on the bed. She turned with a
sad smile.
“Would it help if I said I was sorry?” she said.
“A little, not gonna save your ass though this time.” He said as
he beckoned her over with a crooked finger. He patted the side of the
bed next to him. “I rang the store. Do you even know how much money
you spent today?”
“Um....” Carol said as she tried to quickly add up the figures in
her head.
“Nearly the whole five thousand dollar limit.” He said seriously.
Carol gulped. She hadn’t realised it was quite that much.
“Why don’t I let you use the credit card at Christmas?”
“Um...because I have trouble keeping my perspective at Christmas?”
she answered, hoping it was the right one.
“And?” he asked. Carol brushed away a stray tear that ran down
her flushed cheek.
“We can’t afford it on one salary.” She said.
Joe took his wife chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted
her head so that he could look into her eyes. “Nothing's changed.
How do you think we’re going to pay back all that money?” he
asked. Carol brushed away more annoying tears and tried to come up
with an answer but sadly she had none.
“Right. So tomorrow, you’re going to go back to the store and
return a lot of the stuff that you bought today. I’ll help you
choose which gifts we’ll keep.” Carol nodded. “That’s an
excellent punishment.” she said hopefully.
Joe chuckled. “You wish.”
Carol sighed. “You’re still gonna spank me aren’t you?” she
asked with resignation. It had been worth a try.
“Oh hell yeah.” He said as he gave her arm a small tug and tipped
her over his knee. He brought his hand down with hard thwack.
Carol jumped. “Ow, Joe! Not so hard!” She yelled as she stuck her
hand back for protection.
“Move it!” he said sternly. When she made no attempt to move her
hand out of the way, he shrugged and brought his hand down smartly on
each of her thigh’s, leaving a large angry handprint on each.
Carol made sure she pulled her hand back quick smart before she told
him what she thought of his dirty trick.“That hurt Joe!” she
shouted.
“Should’ve moved your hand then.” he said with a grin. He
started spanking in earnest. Carol kicked her legs wildly but it
didn’t help her effort to get away or the fast building burn that
her husband’s hard smacks were building in her rear end.
“Please Joe!...It hurts...ouch...you’re do...ing it...Ow JOE! Too
hard! PLEASE!!!!!” She begged.
But Joe just kept on spanking. The job wasn’t anywhere near done
yet.
“Joe?...OW...Joe...for God’s sake JOE!” Are you even listening
to me? Shit...Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch.” She yelled as a group of
rapid fire spanks landed one after the other onto her very pink
bottom. “JOE!!!!!”
“Can’t stop yet Carol, you’re not the right shade.” He said
with a chuckle.
“Ow Joe...what the hell...ow, ow, ow, ow...are you...ow,
ow...talking about?” she asked between deep gasps and sobs.
“The Christmas theme...just making sure your ass matches the
Christmas decor.” He said as he renewed his task with great vigour.
“We couldn’t possibly have your PINK ass messing up the red and
green theme now could we?”
THE
END
Merry
Christmas
