A Little Christmas: Aster

Sometimes…if you are a very good boy…Santa brings you a daddy. Aster has been very good. He’s done everything he promised his daddy he would when he left for his last business trip three years earlier, the one that ended in tragedy. Aster eats three meals a day even when he doesn’t want to, he stays hydrated, he doesn’t let anyone make him feel bad for who he is, and he colors a picture every night before bed. Aster is a very good boy—he’s also very lonely. Maybe he should write a letter to Santa? Theodore’s heart breaks for his next-door neighbor. After losing his husband in a freak accident, he’s been but a shell of himself. All he wants to do is give him a hug and take all the hurt away, like a good daddy should. Only he’s not his daddy and, for all he knows Aster isn’t into daddies. Everything changes when Theodore picks up a piece of what he thinks is trash only to discover it’s Aster’s list for Santa, a list that includes two things: a daddy who will love me and a teddy bear.