"Please Mommy! Can't we go see Santa?" cried the twin girls.

Victoria Kramer was wishing she was anywhere but the mall right this moment, but here she was, and of all days, she was there on Christmas Eve. She was here because her mother called her in a panic asking – no begging – her to pick up those special cheese nut balls that only Hickory Farms sold in the mall during Christmas. Victoria had agreed before she realized two things: first, it was Christmas Eve, and second, the twins would want to go with her instead of going to a friend's house.

Her goal was to shoot in and out, but she picked the wrong entrance and thus had to pass the gentleman dressed up as Santa Claus and his lady-elf helpers. She knew the moment the girls saw him, they'd want to sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas.

"I need to get to Hickory Farms before they close," she told the girls.

"But the line's not long," said Hope, staring up with her big blue eyes.

"And you promised we'd get to see him," said Charity.

Victoria sighed. She had promised they'd see Santa, but when they went to the Christmas festival on the Base last week, they were too late from having fun with all the activities to get to see Santa. She looked over and only saw a couple of children so she said, "Fine. Let's go."

The girls ran ahead and got into line just as a large family entered the velvet ropes to get their time with Santa. Victoria had to argue with the woman of the family that the dark blonde twins with the big blue eyes were her girls and thus, she was standing next to them, not line jumping. Luckily, the Hickory Farms kiosk wasn't far and they could go straight there after they got their chance to talk with Santa.

From what she should could see, Santa looked like an older man with a real white beard, and seemed very jovial and friendly. All around she could see happy families chatting excitedly about what they were doing for Christmas. Victoria knew they would open presents in the morning, hopefully Skype with Richard, her husband, before driving to her mother's house for dinner.

Victoria remembered the first time she and Richard took the twins to see Santa, and how tiny they were in his huge arms. Neither one really reacted or knew what was going on. The sound of a screaming child snapped her back from memories. It seemed this little one didn't like the bearded man in the velvet red suit with white fur trim, and was screaming for daddy to rescue her. Victoria's heart ached. How many nights over the past eleven months had the girls whined for their daddy? How many nights had she longed to hold him, touch him, kiss him? The next child seemed to have brought his wish list from Amazon was determined to make sure Santa knew exactly what he wanted.

The young elf assistant and photographer stepped up and asked, "Do you want them to go one at a time or together?"

"Together!" the twins exclaimed.

"If they want to go together, that's fine with me," said Victoria, wanting this over as quickly as possible.

The boy with the Amazon list was demanding his picture as the elf escorted the girls to the Santa. Victoria looked over the picture prices and knew even the most inexpensive package was more than her budget could handle.

"Well, hello there ladies!" exclaimed Santa.

The twins giggled. "Hi Santa."

"And what are your names?" he asked, looking at Hope.

"I'm Hope Kramer."

"And I'm Charity Kramer," said the other girl.

Santa smiled sweetly as he and the elf assistant placed each girl on his lap. "And what do you two want for Christmas?" he asked.

"It's not what we want for us," said Hope.

"It's what we want for our mommy," said Charity.

"Yeah, it's what she wants for Christmas."

"Oh? And that is?"

The elf assistant was retrieving the photo for the boy with the Amazon list when everyone heard the girls say loudly and in unison, "We want our daddy home for Christmas."

Victoria gasped. Tears welled up in her blue eyes. Despite the fact they had asked for some expensive toys and dolls, she didn't think they would make such a selfless request.

"Well, where is your daddy?" asked Santa.

"He's in Apple-Stand," said Hope proudly.

"And he's helping the Apple-Standy people," said Charity.

Victoria couldn't help but laugh. She wasn't surprised her twin five-year-old daughters couldn't say the word, 'Afghanistan' correctly, nor did they fully understand why Daddy had been gone for so long. It made her feel even guiltier about not taking them to see Santa sooner.

The elf assistant stepped over and asked, "Apple-Stand?"

"Afghanistan," said Victoria. "He's a sergeant in the Army."

There was a collective gasp from the crowd around. Even the woman who had fussed about Victoria for line-cutting apologized for being so rude. The mother of the boy with the Amazon list hung her head and said, "Did you hear them son?"

"Yeah," he replied.

"They didn't ask for a bunch of toys did they?"

"No," said the boy, it was clear his tone wasn't the greedy boy they had heard from earlier.

"Let's go," she said, then turned to Victoria and said, "Thank you."

"For what?" asked Victoria.

"For reminding me what Christmas is really all about."

The woman and her son walked off. Victoria looked over at the girls and Santa, and said "Come on girls, other children want to have their time with Santa."

"But we haven't had our picture," protested Santa.

"I can't afford pictures," she said, embarrassed. It was why she had avoided doing this for so long.

"I'll pay for them," exclaimed a woman behind the large family.

"Me too," said the woman behind her.

"Promise us you'll send it to their dad and I'll chip in too. A real family photo with you as well," said a man behind the women.

Tears rolled down Victoria's cheeks as she said, "You don't need–"

"Yes," interrupted the first woman, "we do. It's our gift to you."

The elf assistant escorted Victoria to stand by the chair as she quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks. The young elf assistant had the trio smile as she took the picture. Santa gave each girl a candy cane, then pulled Victoria down and whispered in her ear, "What would you like for Christmas?"

"I just want him safe," she said. "I want him to come home and be safe. But don't worry, I won't be angry if he's not home tomorrow. So long as he Skypes."

Santa squeezed her arm and said, "You never know. Tis' the season for miracles."

Victoria smiled. "As long as he's alive, that's all the miracle I can ask for."

The customers had not only paid for the normal pictures, but individual shots of each girl with Santa, one of the twins together, the family picture, and a CD of all the pictures so she could email them to her husband when they got home. She was so happy the girls had insisted on wearing their Christmas dresses. Hope was wearing the black dress with the pink trim, and Charity was wearing the green dress with the black trim. Victoria knew Richard would love these pictures, and love the story behind them even more. Everyone shook her hand or patted the twins on the head thanking the trio for reminding them the true meaning of Christmas.

By the time she reached Hickory Farms, the word about the twins' request had spread. The woman with the greedy son was there and insisted on buying the cheese balls and some Mint-Melt-Aways for the girls despite Victoria's protests. People walked up and praised Victoria for raising two such wonderful children. A local TV news station was there interviewing last minute shoppers and interviewed Victoria and the twins about their Christmas wish, and their Army sergeant father.

The girls happily chattered the entire trip home, talking about who was going to tell Daddy about the nice people at the mall first. Victoria had the girls change out of their dresses as they finished preparing the house for Christmas morning. They watched the local news, and the girls squealed as they saw themselves on television. Shortly after, the phone rang from family and friends telling them they saw them on the local news.

Getting the now-excited twins to bed was a bigger challenge than Victoria had anticipated. They bathed, she read them three stories, and still they fought going to bed.

"But we'll miss Santa!" whined Hope.

"And he's bringing Daddy home!" exclaimed Charity.

"Now you both know the rules," said Victoria sternly, "if you're not sleeping, Santa won't come here and he'll have to take back all your presents."

Both girls pouted, but did finally go to sleep. Victoria went downstairs, poured herself a glass of wine, and stared at the computer screen. She emailed Richard the picture of her and the twins with Santa with a quick message about a great story they would share during their next Skype meeting, and telling him how much she loved him.

Victoria set out the last few gifts for the girls, then looked at the new picture of her and the girls. She fought back the tears as she remembered how generous everyone was, and how the twins had made such an unselfish wish. She wandered upstairs, slipped on Richard's favorite nighty and matching panties, and went to sleep.