7-Eleven Christmas

It was a brilliant plan until he tried to open the office building's door. 

His plan was to use his downtown office to stash presents for Christmas so that his children could not find them. He was proud of himself for thinking of this crafty way to hide gifts. Not only did he hide the small "stocking stuffers", but even items too large to hide at home. His office was full of hundreds of dollars worth of gifts held in a sort of Christmas limbo waiting for their arrival under the family Christmas tree. 

After Christmas Eve worship, he tucked his three boys into their beds and waited for them to go to sleep. He then kissed his wife goodbye as he drove to the office with that anticipation that one has when you know the happiness you are about to bring to your children's lives. 

The only hitch in this masterful plan was that his office building was locked for Christmas and there the regular security agent was off duty. His wonderful plan was shattered when he approached the building only to find the door locked and the contracted security agent without keys. 

With all the gifts several stories above his head behind a locked door, his own excitement turned to dread as he scrambled to rectify this situation. It was far too late to call the landlord or his employer. The only call he made was to his wife. 

It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention, and this father got very inventive. 

"Seven eleven logo" by [2] - [1]. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seven_eleven_logo.svg#/media/File:Seven_eleven_logo.svg

For those of you who do not know, there is a chain of gas stations/corner stores in Fort Worth called "7-Eleven". These stores are open year round usually for patrons who need gas or a famous "slurpee". This fateful Christmas Eve, however, 7-Eleven was Santa's workshop and the overtired employees were elves. 

Like Santa jumping from house to house, this father filled bag after bag of candy, cheap squirt guns, plastic army men, special edition "slurpee" cups and straws and anything else that could pass for a "respectable" Christmas gift. 

A few hours later, the family Christmas tree was covered in 7-Eleven merchandise.

The follow morning, with a sense of regret, the father woke up with a story to explain to his children that these gifts under the tree are nice but the "real gifts" were going to arrive later. When he walked into the family room, he was shocked to see his boys not only playing with the cheap toys, but exclaiming, "How did Santa know I wanted this paddle ball game!" and "This cotton candy in a bag is my favorite!"

In pure amazement this father and mother decided that the 7-Eleven Christmas was more than enough for the boys and they decided to take all the "real gifts" back.