Christmas Eve Nightime

Kieron is now getting more excited as the day draws to a close. He would be sprawled on the settee watching Christmas programmes like Top Gear and Braniac. Tea always consists of party food and nibbly things. This means crumbs on the settee, the floor and all over himself as we all sit in the lounge and slob out. We usually end up laughing at one of Kieron's unintentional witticisms and his 10 year old clumsiness. By now, I've had to refill bowls of chocolates and peanuts and tell tale smears leave tracks down his clothes. We decide which Christmas film we all want to watch which usually means Callum and Kieron gang up on me and an action film is the compromise.
Santa's mince pie and milk are put on a Christmas plate with Rudolph's carrot even though Kieron is only a believer on Christmas Eve night. We have a deal that he can sleep in my bed because that way I can smuggle presents downstairs more easily although the odd whisper of 'I can hear you' has been heard the last couple of years. When Kieron was younger, I had some Austrian cow bells which sound just like sleigh bells and they often worked like a sleeping pill. After all, Father Christmas doesn't risk coming down chimneys if a child is still awake.
Presents piled in pristine white pillowcases and spilling over the sides are left near the fireplace and stockings are stuffed with cars and felt pens and boxes of reindeer poo for Kieron, smellies, sweets and socks for his brother and sister. Father Christmas was incredibly polite when Kieron was small and always left a thank you note by the carrot stub and mince pie crumbs. This was gilding the lily in later years. Kieron could take so much pretence but the last couple of years it was a bit of overkill. Probably because Kieron realised that Santa had writing paper identical to mine.
I would creep up the stairs and see a little mop of dark brown hair peeking out from the duvet with that 'lets pretend to be asleep' type of breathing. Into bed to see a grinning face looking at me and snuggling up to a tangle of arms and legs. Kieron's a real sweaty kid in bed so I would sleep fitfully, pulling the duvet off him to cool him down and then covering him up again.Waiting for morning and then waking him early just so that I could see the excitement on his little face.
Tonight I sit in a quiet house...the older ones are at their dads. I will sleep alone and instead of waking up to see my beautiful son all I will see is an empty pillow and hear the deafening silence in my house.