The Crybaby’s Christmas

by Princess Pottypants

Sierra was an adult… Technically. She’d turned 19 less than two weeks before, a time that had always been less than convenient. After waiting all year for presents, other than a new dress at Easter, or chocolate at Valentine’s, or things like that, the two big gift-getting times of a person’s life were smashed together, making a lot of people think they could treat them as the same thing.

So it was little wonder that, over the rest of the year, when she wanted something, she tended to get a little upset when she was told she couldn’t have it. After all, it was a long wait for any real opportunity to ask anyone for it, and while Santa might pull through, she had less confidence in her family. And she couldn’t ask Santa for everything, as she’d learned even he had limits.

But there was one thing that did work for her – crying. It did a good job of getting her the new toy she wanted, and then of convincing her teachers to bump her grade up a little, to get the principal to lessen her detention sentence, or even forgo it altogether, to keep herself from getting a speeding ticket, to soften up particularly rude customers at work. It got less effective as she got older, but since she stayed fairly small and youthful looking, it never completely lost its power.