Feeling more restful than he had in ages, Jason awoke with a reinvigorated spirit, eager to see if the ornament had worked as intended. Instinctively, he reached for his phone, startled for a moment to find that it was not within his reach, realizing that the reasons were twofold. Firstly, his arm was markedly shorter than it had been just the night before, which must have meant that the old shopkeeper had been telling the truth: this must’ve been his 10th Christmas for real! Second, if that was true, then Jason hadn’t owned a phone yet at this age, so there was nothing to reach for in the first place.
Astounded and exhilarated that the magic of the ornament was real, Jason pulled the covers off to inspect the rest of the changes to his body. Where he’d had on blue boxers before, Jason now wore a pair of white cotton briefs, dotted with footballs all over, his last pair of cutely patterned underwear before his graduation into plain white briefs this Christmas. Likewise, his plain undershirt had changed into a blue pajama shirt, advertising his love of Pokémon to all.
Before he could continue the thorough onceover of his diminished form, Jason had to use the bathroom, so he padded hurriedly across the hall, hearing that his parents had already woken up, likely awaiting his excited Christmas morning descent down the stairs. Jason fished his tiny dick out of the briefs and relieved himself. The act was all it took to affirm that he had truly woken up on the other side of puberty, ready to experience the magic of Christmas from a child’s eyes once more. While washing his hands, Jason noted the severe dip in height he’d experienced, now having to tiptoe to get a full view of his upper body in the mirror. His face was devoid of any hints of the short beard he’d once sported, and his jawline smoothed out, leaving behind the last remaining deposits of baby fat yet to be consumed by puberty. Looking down, Jason found that his legs had similarly thinned out, losing their characteristic muscular bulk and coating of hair. The discernible absence of any real bulge in his undies solidified that he really was, well and truly, just a 10-year-old boy. Thankfully, it’d only be for just the day, just long enough to feel that holiday magic again and to forget all about what life held in store for him after college.
Having confirmed the ornament’s magic, Jason bolted out of the bathroom, ready to take in this magical day for all that it was. The newly minted boy rushed down the stairs to greet his mom and dad, who sipped their Christmas morning coffee, waiting for their eager young son to awaken and for company to arrive. “Morning, Mom! Morning, Dad! Merry Christmas!” The boy ran up to his parents, wrapping them both as much as he could in his small arms.
“Aw, morning, bud. Merry Christmas!” His dad hoisted him high by the armpits, delighted that Jason was in such a cheery, festive mood.
His mother planted a kiss on his cheek when he was finally set down. “Merry Christmas, sweetie. Why don’t you go get some pants on before company gets here?”
In his jubilant haste, Jason had abandoned any semblance of adult dignity, electing to instead present himself in just his briefs to his doting mother and father. Reflexively, his hands shot down to shield the front of his briefs from view as he affirmed his mother’s request, but Jason wasn’t so sure he’d have reacted the same way when he was 10 the first time.
The boy darted upstairs to retrieve some matching Pokémon pajama pants, taking some extra time to explore his “new” room, finding that it had been perfectly—magically—arranged to match his 10-year-old room from his childhood. His walls were a spontaneous smattering of both Pokémon and football, combining his two interests into a haphazard mural of cheap posters and NFL and Pokémon trading cards.
Suddenly, Jason heard the doorbell ring from downstairs, jolting him from his nostalgia trip. Finally, it dawned on him. Brett and Michael would undoubtedly be here this Christmas, just as they were the first time. Fortunately, he’d have some buffer between him and them with several grandparents, aunts, and uncles in attendance, but the two always seemingly managed to weasel their way into his business. After all, he was the closest in age to them out of everyone in the family. Given that he was 10, Jason did the math to figure that Michael would be 15 now, and Brett would be 13, both teenagers, which was a fact the two terrors loved to lord over him until his 13th birthday.
Steeling himself, Jason exited the room, ready to begin his Christmas in earnest. Downstairs, Jason found his parents greeting the large collection of relatives, offering each a warm hug and a festive sugar cookie. Brett and Michael came in last behind their parents, each looking exceptionally eager to open their presents, and perhaps even more eager to see Jason open his, always ready to tease the boy for his well-meaning parents’ unintentionally embarrassing gift of underwear.
Through breakfast, Jason managed to steer clear of his cousins, but once it came time to open presents, the adults seated the three boys next to each other around the tree, as the only three minors of the family.
“Merry Christmas, Jay-Jay!” Brett’s snarky greeting brought to recollection the babyish nickname his mother had coined when he was an even younger boy.
Michael, at 15, was perhaps not quite as bad as Brett, but he still mirrored his younger brother’s enthusiasm to tease their younger cousin. “Aw, be nice to him, Brett. Let the kid open his undies in peace. Whatcha gettin’ this year, Jason? More Pokémon underoos?”
Despite his adult intellect still fully intact within his small body, Jason still couldn’t help but feel each of the jabs like a hot poker to his ego.
“No!” he blushed. “I’m too old for those now!”
The brothers laughed, deepening the red on Jason’s face, but he needn’t worry about their inane, stupid antics. He could just unwrap presents and enjoy the thrill of receiving things he had no money of his own to afford.
Each of the family members was soon tasked with amassing their pile of gifts, and as the adults doled out the presents to each grateful recipient, Jason was a bit surprised to see the box of men’s underwear handed to him, wrapped and addressed to himself exactly as he’d done last night, which at least confirmed that he hadn’t fever dreamed having an adult life and that this day really was the work of an enchanted ornament. Jason had no intention of opening the package in front of everyone, not wanting to draw any awkward questions, so he simply hid the thing under the couch next to him.
Before he knew it, each family member, especially the three boys, had presents aplenty strewn in front of them, and the ordered circle of unwrapping, youngest to oldest, began. That meant Jason would be first, so he started with what was likely a Nintendo DS game, judging by the present’s petite squareness. Indeed, the boy was right, and Jason was delighted to see the game new again, heartened that he’d managed to keep the thing into his 20s.
The circle continued until Jason was forced to open his last gift, the small, soft, parcel that was undoubtedly the boy’s underwear he’d placed under the tree last night, now all wrapped up just like new. His unwrapping of the briefs was sure to invite some unsolicited giggles from Brett and Michael, but there was nothing to be done. Jason simply tore the wrapping paper off as nonchalantly as he could, finally unveiling the Hanes boy’s tighty-whities, his first non-patterned or character-adorned underwear, proudly marking his ascent into proper preadolescence. Somehow, he felt a bit as he did on his first true unwrapping of the underwear: both proud of himself and grateful to his parents for taking his request to feel more mature seriously. “Thanks, Mom and Dad!” Part of what reliving this day meant to Jason was the chance to see his parents so delighted and encouraged by their son’s gratitude and glee.
“You bet, pal! Why don’t you go get changed?” his dad suggested.
This, of course, yielded some conspicuous chuckles from Jason’s cousins. As Jason arose to return to his room, Michael patted his butt, “What a big boy!”
Brett stifled a laugh, as did Michael when hearing he’d roused his brother. Jason was sure he wouldn’t hear the end of his newfound choice of underwear, if his memory served him correctly, at least not until he graduated to boxer-briefs in 3 or 4 years. Nonetheless, the 5th grader marched up to his room to change.
In the limited privacy of his room, seeing as he had no lock on his door, Jason tore open the packaging of his new white briefs, pulling out a pair to marvel at their lack of any juvenile design. He then shed his pajama pants and decidedly babyish football undies, pulling the new tighty-whities up his smooth, skinny legs, and snapping the Hanes waistband against his slightly rounded tummy. Despite the absence of his typical adult equipment and consequent bulge, Jason still felt like he’d really stepped into the next stage of life with this new underwear, and he wasn’t gonna let his dumb cousins convince him otherwise.
Pulling back on his pajama pants, Jason returned to the living room to find that the gift unwrapping had concluded, and everyone seemed now preoccupied with their own intimate mingling, even Brett and Michael, who looked to be conniving over in a secluded corner of the living room. Whatever they were doing, all Jason wanted was to play with his new toys and games and avoid the hell out of their stupid schemes.
Upon returning to where he’d left his present pile, Jason reached under the couch to retrieve his secret box, finding that perhaps he’d shoved it deeper under the couch than he’d previously thought. Now, Jason was on his stomach, fishing around under the couch for the small box but not feeling anything of the sort, when he was unpleasantly surprised to see Brett and Michael looming over him.
“Looking for these, Jay-Jay?” Brett teased, holding up the plaid boxers that they’d clearly taken from the box.
“Those are mine, Brett!” Jason lunged for the underwear, only to have them hoisted high above his reach. At this age, with their huge puberty-driven size disparity, Jason was no match for either Brett or Michael, let alone the two of them together. Brett tossed the boxers over Jason’s head, landing them in Michael’s even taller grasp.
“Little cuz, you just graduated into your first pair of tighty-whities. Now, why would there be a single pair of boxers left for you with no sign of who they’re from?” Michael towered over Jason, causing the boy to slink back, feeling utterly powerless against the titanic teen.
“Yeah, why’s that!” Brett echoed. “Besides, they’re way too big for you! I don’t even think they could be for Michael they’re so big, and he’s the only one of us who wears boxers.”
“Guys, please, just give them back and I’ll explain everything, okay?!” Jason was frantic, and he wasn’t above begging. Without the boxers, if the shopkeeper was right—and it seemed like she was about everything else so far—he’d be stuck as a 10-year-old, or at least doomed to relive the next 12 years of his life.
“You first, Jay-Jay,” Michael countered. “No explanation, no boxers. Besides, you just got your new tighty-whities that you looked all excited about. What use could you even have for these anyway?”
“Uhhhh…” Jason was left wondering if and how he should explain the boxers.