A holiday-themed story for as part of a Secret Santa exchange run by

In this story, 's character, Vernom, is determined to win the holiday cookie baking contest by any means necessary. Though the discovery of his cheating leads him to learning a rather forced "lesson" of the holiday spirit.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

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This was it. This was the year that Vernom was going to win the holiday cookie bake-off competition in town. It was a holiday tradition that the blond-haired, pink reptilian liked to partake in simply to show off how good he was at even something as simple as baking. It was also a nice break from his usual activities. The prize for winning was simply getting a picture of one’s self up at the community center until next year’s contest. Vernom couldn’t pass up the chance to have everyone see his handsome face for an entire year.

The only problem was that he’d never won. Despite several years of entering the contest against several dozen others and spending all of his free time in the holiday month testing and practicing on improving his baking skills, someone else always won. Vernom hated losing, especially when the comments he’d receive about his baking was “too burnt on the bottom” or “not fully cooked all the way through”. Well who could make perfect cookies anyways? The judges and everyone else were probably only getting the bad cookies in his batch. If they’d eat the whole thing they’d see just how good his baking was!

But this year Vernom had a plan. It was a rule in the contest that no magic or spellcraft be used at any point in the baking process to give someone an edge. The contest was supposed to be for “fun” after all. But last year Vernom noticed that there was no one actually checking for the use of magic on the cookies. The entire contest relied on the honor system. If so, it meant that the pink reptilian had found his path to victory. After he’d made his chocolate chip cookies, he cast a simple spell on them to simply increase all aspects of the sweetness and flavor in the cookies. As a red mage, such a spell was a simple thing for him to do. After trying a few himself he was sure that they would be irresistible. He was sure to win this year. And while he did feel a bit shameful for resorting to magic, technically he hadn’t used the spell during the baking process. It had only been cast after the cookies were finished. So as far as it mattered to him he was still within the rules. Besides, he’d never seen a detection spell cast on anyone’s cookies nor did he ever register one set on the building itself. He was in the clear.

Vernom arrived at the community center a few minutes before the contest would start at noon. He already spotted several of the usual contestants around, each with their own brand of holiday cookies. There were chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, oatmeal cookies, and more. Most were cut into festive shapes like Christmas trees, sleighs, snowmen and reindeer. But it was beyond the cookies that Vernom’s attention was at the moment, at the green monitor anthro named Lisa. She was his biggest competitor for victory at this holiday contest. She’d won the last three years and he refused to have her win again. Why should everyone get to look at her picture up on the wall when it could be his picture instead?! But with his extra “ingredient” on his cookies, Vernom was sure he’d claim the win this time.

The contest began and the two judges, a lynx anthro and wolf anthro respectively, started going to each table of cookies and trying one sample each. With about 30 contestants this year, each with plates of cookies piled high, it was going to be a bit of time before they came to Vernom’s entry. But he knew that the win was as good as his. He stood there, smiling smugly and simply waiting for his chance to shine. Lisa, who conveniently had her table next to his, looked at Vernom in confusion. “What are you looking so smug for? Did you manage to not burn all your cookies this year?” she asked with a small chuckle.
“Joke all you want, Lisa. This year it’ll be my face that adorns the town’s community center. I hope you’re ready to see me anytime you come in here,” he stated proudly.

“Adorns? Vernom, the picture is just a six by six polaroid picture they tack onto the wall by the name of the contest. It’s really not that big a deal. This is just a fun little contest for the holiday. I wouldn’t get so caught up about the picture,” Lisa responded, sighing and shaking her head at Vernom’s attitude about what was supposed to be just a chance for everyone to share cookies with one another.

Vernom didn’t have to wait too long before the judges finally came to his table. They’d just finished trying out Lisa’s and he tried not to groan and roll his eyes when he heard them complimenting the crisp outsides and warm yet soft center of her sugar cookies. Finally they were at his table where he was more than happy to present what he’d made. “Good to see you back again, Vernom. Let’s see how this year’s batch turned out,” the lynx said as she grabbed one of the chocolate cookies.

“Oh, I think you’ll be plenty pleased with this year. In fact, I think everyone should get a chance to try these cookies right here and now! I promise you that you’ve never tasted anything as good in your life!” he announced proudly, throwing his arms out to the side. The other contestants rolled their eyes and simply went back to chatting with one another while the two judges looked a little confused. Regardless of how odd they found Vernom to be acting, they simply shrugged it off and took one cookie each. Vernom watched them like a hawk as their expressions turned from one of doubt and hesitance to delight as the magic in the cookies did their work. “This is incredible, Vernom! This is such a massive improvement over last years cookies. You weren’t kidding about how good these are!” the wolf said, reaching out for another without even thinking about what he was doing. Vernom was so pleased with the result that he didn’t even try to stop him. This just helped prove how delicious his cookies were. “Didn’t I promise you they’d be the best cookies you’ve had in your life? I feel sorry for anyone that doesn’t get to try these!” Vernom exclaimed, again boasting more to the gathered contestants than the judges. The others in the room seemed to notice the judge’s reaction and looked far more curious than they had moments ago. It looked like his boasting was working after all. Everyone but Lisa was looking more intrigued. She was looking far more suspicious of Vernom, but the pink reptile passed it off as jealousy for his success. “She’s probably just not used to losing at this,” Vernom thought to himself as his smug grin grew even larger.

The judges thanked Vernom for his entry into the contest and, after having one more cookie each, moved on to the contestants that were left. Vernom watched closely to judge their reactions and was plenty pleased when they never showed anything even close to the satisfaction they’d had when trying his samples. Now that they’d had his baked treats, they could only say that everyone else’s was “okay” or “pretty good”. Vernom had this win in the bag.

It only took another ten minutes of waiting before judges stepped into the middle of the room to announce the winner. “Thank you all again for coming today and joining us in having fun with this little contest we put on. We hope you’re all enjoying the holidays and have enough spare cookies at home to share all your delicious treats with your family. There were so many entries this year that it was hard to pick just one winner. But this year, our annual cookie contest winners is… Vernom!”

Vernom’s grin went the widest it could as he stepped forward and bowed towards all the gathered people. “Thank you, thank you! While I’m sure all your cookies were great, I’ve been working hard to make the perfect chocolate cookies for just this contest. And when you look up at my picture on the wall you can remember just how hard I worked and how delicious the results were,” the pink reptile told them.

“Now all we have to do is have Lisa check to make sure the cookies don’t have any enchantments on them.” said the wolf.
Vernom’s heart momentarily stopped in his chest. “Wh-what?”

It was Lisa, not the wolf, who spoke up this time. “You always storm off right after the announcement of the winner every other year, Vernom. We always check the cookies to make sure there aren’t any enchantments or spells placed on them that would throw off the judges. You’d know that if you didn’t get all pouty when you weren’t declared the winner,” she said from behind him. Vernom turned around and went pale when he saw she was standing by his cookies, a magical detection spell cast over them already that caused them to get a white glow about them. He had no idea she was a mage too! “And it looks like someone didn’t want to follow the rules this year,” she added.

Everyone else in the room sighed, and Vernom could feel their disappointment on him. He looked around quickly, trying to find some out or think of some sort of excuse. “S-someone must have tampered with them!” he tried to lie, but it was clear no one was having it. Murmurs of “it’s just a cookie contest” and “well that’s lame” started to float around. When he couldn’t think of anything and it was clear the judges were going to announce some other winner instead, Vernom finally lost it.

“So what?! You win three years in a row and act like its nothing! I slave away for at least a week to make good cookies and never get the win! My face should be adorning the wall of this place for all my hard work!” he shouted as he turned towards Lisa, who, like many of those gathered around, was looking very confused at Vernom’s reaction. “Besides! It’s the season of giving after all. So I deserve to finally have a win at this silly contest,” he huffed, crossing his arms across his chest and metaphorically putting his foot down.

That seemed to anger Lisa more than anything else he said. “Deserve to win? It’s. Just. A. Cookie. Contest! Why do you care about that picture on the wall so much?! And everyone else worked to make good cookies without magic! You’re taking away their chance of winning for the work they did by just casting a dumb spell!” she shouted. Most of the others around Vernom seemed to be agreeing.

“Well there’s always next year they can win. Think of this win as… as a gift for me!” Vernom chuckled.

That was the last straw for Lisa. In his smugness and desire for victory, he had forgotten that it was Lisa that had cast the spell that detected his magic. And he had no idea that she was capable of other simple spells as well. “You know what, Vernom. You’re right. It is the season of giving,” she said, taking a few steps closer and getting a rather mischievous grin on her face. A grin that made the triumphant smile on Vernom’s face drop. “And in the spirit of giving, I think you should get to know how good everyone else’s cookies were that didn’t use spells. So… season’s eatings, Vernom,” she said.

With that, all the cookies in the room started to shine with a similar white light before floating up off their plates. At first the other contestants were shocked but as the cookies began floating towards Vernom they caught onto what was happening. Vernom, unfortunately, didn’t catch on right away until the first five cookies went flying into his mouth. “H-hey! What are you doing?!” he coughed after swallowing the cookies. They were quite delicious but that was besides the point! Unfortunately, when he asked what was happening it provide another opportunity for Lisa to send another five cookies right into his mouth.
Vernom’s eyes widened when he realized what was happening. Was she really going to force him to eat all the cookies at the contest? There were almost 30 people that had signed up this year, each with almost two dozen cookies to share! If he had to eat all of those…

Vernom quickly turned and tried to get out of the building but found the judges blocking his path. They both looked plenty content to see him get his just desserts. And there were so many desserts coming his way! He shut his mouth and refused to speak to try and prevent the cookies from getting to him. But the moment he did he felt a tug on the top and bottom of his snout that forced his mouth back open. Now the cookies were coming in at a near constant stream. They were just marching through his mouth and down his throat.

But Vernom wasn’t defenseless! He was a red mage and could certainly cast a spell to get himself out of this! And he needed to think of something quick because he could feel his shirt getting tighter around his middle. He raised his hands to cast a spell but as he did the stream of cookies increased in their flow. Instead of five or so cookies at a time it became ten or more with enough force to almost throw him off balance.

Unfortunately for him, the cookies were finally having the intended effect. The shirt that was just tight a few moments ago was now riding up as his belly pushed out. He’d been a little pudgy before but now he was gaining far more of a gut than he’d had. Any attempts at casting a spell were gone as he tried to tug his shirt back down over his stomach that continued to swell before his very eyes. He tried finding a way to get out of the building but everywhere he turned people were there to block him off. It seemed everyone was willing to give up their cookies to see Vernom get what was coming to him.

The pink reptile groaned and rested his hands on his growing middle, rubbing at it and groaning as it ballooned outwards, pushing his shirt up to his chest. Every mouthful of cookie was fattening him up more and more, blimping him in front of everyone. The smug look was long gone from Vernom’s face and instead he had to move his hands back up to try hiding his face from view, ducking it down into his increasingly pudgier chest. It seemed that Lisa had added some sort of caloric spell into the one already floating the cookies into his mouth. His arms were feeling much heavier and the shirt getting even tighter. It wasn’t long before he started to hear a few rips and tears in his shirt.

Anytime Vernom turned his belly swung wide and wobbled. Every part of him was feeling increasingly heavy as his neck gained a few rolls that practically cushioned his head, his tail slumped down to the ground now that it looked more like a thick sausage attached to his rear, and his hips were testing the limits of his pants. His steps were growing heavier and he was finding it difficult to stay standing with a belly now hanging down to his knees. His hands even had difficulty reaching up to his head anymore and when they grew too exhausting to keep holding up he let them drop and sink into the side of his flabby body. With another groan, Vernom fell back onto his very cushioned rear to keep himself from falling forward with how heavy his belly was getting.

All he could see now, beyond his own massive self, was Lisa looking quite pleased with herself. The last few cookies came floating in and finally Vernom was given the break he so desperately needed. Though it came at the cost of his waistline going up an absurd amount of sizes. He could hear some chuckling from all those around him along with some sounds of awe at just how round he became in so short a time. His belly sat in his lap, or what remained of it, as he tried his best to hide his face from view. This wasn’t the kind of thing he’d ever want to be remembered for!

Soon he heard Lisa’s footsteps approaching and felt her hand rest on his pink belly. “There we go. Not only do you get to experience the spirit of giving, but you’ve got the body of Santa Claus to prove it! Now, there are still some cookies left, Vernom. Do you think you’ve learned your lesson or should we donate the rest to you,” she asked. Vernom gave a muffled, quiet reply that was practically a whimper. “Oh, come on. I know you can be louder than that. Especially after your boasting earlier today. Now saaaaay it,” she said as she lightly squeezed his belly. He sure felt like he was one big scaly ball of cookie dough now.

“I-I’m sorry,” came the defeated reply.

Lisa smiled and patted Vernom’s ample middle. He was still able to walk, albeit it would be a heavy waddle now, so he wouldn’t be stuck here. And she was sure they could find something for him to wear on his way home. She knew Vernom was a skilled red mage and that he’d find some sort of spell to lose the weight quickly but for now this felt like justice for his cheating and his demanding attitude. “Why don’t we celebrate this new understanding with a picture. We don’t really need a ‘winner’ of this silly contest if it’s been bugging you that much. Why don’t we all get in a picture together?” she suggested. Those around Vernom agreed and he quickly felt others pressing up near his side. If he didn’t know better he could have sworn a couple were getting a few handfuls of tubby scaley belly when others weren’t looking, Lisa in particular.

Vernom did finally get his picture up in the community center for the year after all. Just not quite what he had in mind.