All of the chibis had had their treats and stories, had said their prayers and had been given their good-night kisses so they were safely tucked away for the night. Tegan had gone to bed as well.

Melody and John were enjoying the rare silence over cocoa in the kitchen. They knew this was the one night of the year that not even one of the chibis would pop out of bed.

So they were surprised when they heard the sound of feetie-jammied feet scurrying across the wooden floor. They both turned in time to see little Quatre in his bunny jammies go quickly past the doorway. His bunny ears were flapping and he had a look of determination on his face.

Melody peeked into the dining room and saw him climb onto a chair. He put a piece of paper on the table and began to write on it with his favorite purple crayon.

"What are you doing out of bed, sweetie?" Melody asked.

"I'm writin' Santa a letter. I'll be REAL QUICK an' get back in bed so Santa don't catch me 'wake, 'kay?" Quatre said earnestly, his bunny ears bobbing as he nodded for emphasis.

Melody agreed and left him to his task.

After Quatre was fast asleep, Duo woke Heero up.

"Scoot over," he whispered. "I got a idea."

Heero made room for Duo and they covered their heads with the blanket and switched on Heero's flashlight so they could see each other.

"After Melody 'n John are 'sleep, let's go set a trap an' catch Santa," Duo proposed in hushed tones. "He's not gonna leave us presents anyhow, so we might as well catch him. Then we can ask him if we can meet all his reindeers."

"But the reindeers will be on the roof. How can we get up there to meet 'em?" Heero asked, using his logical skills.

"Well, we can ask Santa to take us up the chimney with him an' then bring us back," Duo schemed. "Or else we can ask him to put his sleigh in the back yard so's we can see 'em there."

"That would work," Heero agreed.

"An' then we can give the carrots to the reindeers ourselfs," Duo continued. "That'll be fun!"

"I always wondered what reindeers' fur feels like," Heero mused.

"We'll find out tonight!" Duo happily, but quietly, exclaimed.

Presently, they heard Melody and John's bedroom door close. They waited awhile until they were sure their webparents were asleep.

"I'll get the string an' you take all of the stuffed animals out of the pet net an' take the pet net down an' bring it with you," instructed Heero. "Just don't make any noise doin' it."

Melody and John were fast asleep in the Master Bedroom, when Melody awoke because she thought she heard a noise. She shook John's arm to awaken him. "Dear," she said.

"I know--turn over so you'll stop snoring," he mumbled in his sleep.

"No--I heard a noise downstairs."

"It's probably Santa."

"Wake up and help me check on the chibis," she said nervously. She put on her robe while John got out of bed. She took the flashlight from her bedside table, which was kept there for the express purpose of checking on the chibis at night.

They found Relena, Treize and Milliardo all asleep. They proceeded to the Nursery, and found that Heero's, Duo's and Quatre's beds were empty.

"Let's look in the living room," John suggested.

"What's going on?" Tegan asked, emerging from her room and rubbing her eyes.

"Some of the chibis are out of bed," Melody replied. "Come with us."

They found Quatre in the living room, fast asleep in the recliner. He was curled up and was resting his head on a pillow he had put on the overstuffed arm of the chair. They all spoke in whispers so they wouldn't wake him up.

"This explains the noise," said John, picking up a snowman made of resin that had fallen on the floor. "He must have knocked this off the table with his bunny ears."

"It's a good thing that all of the decorations are unbreakable," Melody remarked.

Tegan saw the hoof of a cow pajama sticking out from behind the sofa. "Look," she whispered.

They did, and they found Duo and Heero, sleeping sitting up with their heads resting on the back of the sofa.

Melody then looked at the fireplace and saw Quatre's letter to Santa, which he had pinned to his Christmas stocking. She adjusted the flashlight's beam so she could quietly read the letter aloud to the others.

"Quatre's such a sweetheart," Tegan said.

"He has a heart of gold," Melody said, misty-eyed.

"Well, let's get these chibis back to bed," said John. "We'll wait til morning for them to explain this contraption." He motioned toward the pet net and string trap.

Tegan picked up Heero and John picked up Duo, and they carried them back to their beds. They left Quatre for Melody to carry because he was the smallest of the three. Melody looked lovingly at his sweet little face and brushed his bangs aside with a typical motherly gesture. She lifted him carefully, but he awoke anyway.

"What're ya doin'?" Quatre asked sleepily.

"Putting you back to bed," answered Melody.

"But I wanna make SURE that Santa sees my letter t' him," Quatre explained, instantly awake.

"He will, honey. You don't have to worry about that," Melody reassured him.

Little Quatre was a bundle of Christmas joy from the moment he bounced out of bed. He started waking up his Nursery-mates so they could all help him awaken the others.

"It's Cwissmiss! It's Cwissmiss!" he exclaimed excitedly as he shook the sleeping boys. "Wake up, guys! It's Cwissmiss mornin'!"

Trowa and Wufei went with Quatre to wake the rest of the sleeping household. Duo and Heero rubbed the sleep from their eyes and became bewildered as they realized that they had somehow been returned to their beds.

"How'd we get here?" asked Duo.

"I dunno, but I think we better check the trap in case Santa's down there in it," Heero wisely suggested.

"I hope we didn't catch him. Then he wouldn't have got to all the other kids' houses an' they won't have no Christmas presents," Duo said, with a twinge of conscience.

"I hope not, too," said Heero as they ran down the hallway in their cow pajamas, their fringed tails flying out behind them.

Quatre met them at the living room doorway and handed them their bulging stockings. "See! See! I TOLD ya Santa would bring you your pwesents!" he said happily. Quatre ran back to the fireplace to retrieve his own stocking.

Heero and Duo looked into the living room and were relieved to see that Santa wasn't there. As they were feeling the lumps in their stockings to make sure that they didn't actually have stockings full of coal, Duo scratched his head in wonder and voiced what both of them were thinking.

"I guess we didn't hafta be as good as we thought, after all."