A Christmas to Remember

When a young Air Force pilot crashes in the Black Forest just weeks before Christmas, it will end up changing the way he and his whole family look at the holiday. (Santa's story borrowed from 'The Life and Times of Santa Clause')

My name is Daniel Franklin and I’m a captain in the US Air Force. Ten years ago, I was stationed in southern Germany.  I never will forget the events of that early winter, and I don’t think my family will, either. It was just a few days after Christmas when I was called into the colonel’s office.

I walked up to the office and knocked on the door. I had a fairly good idea what he wanted to see me about. My squad was well over due for a training mission. I was considering possible destinations when I heard him call from the other side of the door. “Come in.” I opened the door and took a few steps into the office. “Ahh, Dan, come on in. Have a seat.”

I walked over and sat across the desk from him. “Thank you, Colonel. You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, I did. Your squad is up for training. I want you ready in two days.”

“Yes Sir. Where are we going?”

“Just a routine scout over the Black Forest. You should be back in about a week. Think you and your boys can handle it?”

I smiled at him. “Of course, Cornel. I’ll call an assembly for this afternoon and let them all know. We’ll be ready.”

He stood and held out his hand to me. “Very well, Captain. Good luck.”

I stood and shook his hand. “Thank you, Sir.”

The next two days were a flurry of activity as we got ready to leave. My two children, Joy, who was 6 at the time, and Erick, who was 8, were both upset that I would be leaving so close to Christmas. My wife, Colleen, and I both assured them that it was only going to be for a week. I would be home in plenty of time for Christmas. This made them happier, though they were still sad.

When it was time for us to leave, we finished the pre-flights on all the planes and triple checked thing to make sure there wouldn’t be any problems. Apparently, though, someone missed something. Of course, we didn’t know that at the time.

After saying our goodbyes to our friends and families, we took off, heading out for the Black Forest. We bantered back and forth on the radios between the three planes in the squad.  A few hours later, we were finally in sight of the forest. “Well, folks. There she is. What a site, huh? I don’t think we’ve got anything like this back home.”

Johnson, who was from Colorado, laughed at me. “No disrespect, Captain, but you’ve obviously never been to Colorado, have you?”

“No, I haven’t. Deserts aren’t my favorite places.” We talked on and on, things were completely routine until just before we reached the edge of the trees.

“Whoa, what was that? Captain, did you see that?” Carlson, the pilot of one of the other planes called over the radio.

“No, Carlson. What was it?”

“I... I’m not entirely sure, Sir. I thought I saw something flying off at about 3 o’clock, but it didn’t look like a bird or another plane or anything like that.”

“Alright. What do you want to do about it?”

“Well, this is a scouting mission isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Well then, permission to go scouting, Sir?”

I chuckled. “Sure, Carlson. Blake, why don’t you and your crew go with them? We’ll continue on and you can meet up with us. Just make sure to maintain radio contact.”

“HUA, Sir.”

I rolled my eyes. “We’re in the Air Force, Blake, not the Marines or Army.”

With chuckles, both planes banked to the right and were off. About three minutes later, we heard a thud from the rear and the plane began to shudder. “Harler, what was that?”

The pilot was scouring her instruments for an answer. “I don’t know, Sir. I can’t seem to see what the problem...”

“Sir! Look out the window!”  Malic called from the side of the cabin.

I looked where he was pointing and saw the reason for his distress. Black smoke was pouring out of the left engine. “Talk to me, Harler.”

“The engine is completely shot, Sir.”

“Can we make it back to that village? I think it was about 20 miles back.”

His answer was another explosion followed by a trail of smoke coming out of the other engine. “I don’t think so, Sir. We’ve just lost the other engine. We’ve got maybe three minutes before we crash.”

I nodded. “Alright, folks, you know what to do. Time to bail out. Harler, send a quick signal to the others to let them know what’s going on.” The next few minutes were controlled chaos as we all prepared to leave the plane. With little more than a minute and a half to go before Harler predicted the plane would blow up around us, we were ready to go. “Ok, everyone out. Let’s go!”

Being the ranking officer, I made sure that all my people were safely out before I jumped. I saw my three other crew members falling through the air below me and one by one watched as the large white plumes of their parachutes exploded into being like pop corn.

Then it was time for me to pull mine. At first, everything went fine. My decent slowed to a much safer rate and I had a good feeling that we would all make it out of this without any major mishaps. But then, out of nowhere a gust of blew up. It completely avoided those below me, but it not only knocked me off course, but it partially crumpled my chute. Next thing I knew, I was plummeting down toward the trees below. I said a fast prayer to whatever deity that might be listening that I wouldn’t be killed on one of the monster trees below.

 That’s about all I had time for before I crashed through the leafy canopy. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but I think I hit my head on a branch on my way to the ground. I felt a brief, sharp pain in the base of my skull, and then everything went black.

When I woke up, at first I hadn’t a clue where I was. It took a moment to remember what had happened. But then it all came back in a rush. Flying over the trees, talking and joking with the guys, the engine blowing, all of us bailing out as the plane went down, the wind, and finally the tree. My head throbbed, and for a moment I didn’t even want to think about moving.

Slowly I opened my eyes and looked around. I still had no idea where I was, but it seemed like a nice place. I was lying on a comfortable bed that was set in one corner of the room. The building seemed to be of the traditional kind from the area; made mostly of wood in the classic style of a log cabin type house. On the wall behind me and a few feet away was a window. It was getting dark outside, the sun already below the trees. My eyes followed along the wall. There were several paintings and carvings around. The door was in the corner opposite and below me. On the wall in front of me was a fireplace that was crackling with warmth and light.

Sitting in a large arm chair in front of the fire was an old man. He appeared to be of average height, rather plump with long white hair and a thick white beard. He was staring into the flames, idly chewing on the tip of his thumb. He seemed to be in his own little world, and I almost hated to disturb him. But I needed answers. I cleared my throat loudly enough to catch his attention. His eyes snapped back into focus and turned his head to look toward me. When his eyes locked on mine, his face lit up in a warm smile that drove away the subconscious feelings of nervousness I’d had since waking up.

“So, you’re finally awake. Good, good. I was starting to get a little worried. You realize you’ve been asleep for a day and a half? How are you feeling, Daniel?”

“I’m alright, I guess. A bit soar, but at least I’m ali….. Wait a minute. How do you know my name? Who are you and where am I?”

The old man smiled and pointed towards the table beside me. I turned and looked, and there was all my stuff, including my wallet. It struck me all of a sudden. Of course. He’d checked my wallet for ID. I certainly had plenty of it on me; my American and German driver’s licenses, my military ID, not to mention assorted credit cards and other things. “I assume that answers your first question. As for the other two, you may call me Nicolas. This is my home. As for exactly were, that’s a little more difficult. Are you feeling strong enough to sit?”

He motioned toward the other chair across from him. “I think so.” I pushed the covers back and slowly sat up. At first my head spun and I felt dizzy, so I sat for a moment to let things clear. Once I was back to normal, I slowly stood and carefully walked over to the chair. When I looked down, I noticed that I was wearing a pair of flannel pajamas.

When I reached the chair, I sat down carefully. Once I was settled, I looked at the old man. “Alright, Nicolas was it? Why don’t you give explaining where we are a shot? You’ve got me rather curious.”

He sat back and seemed to ponder for a moment, as if trying to decide how best to explain things to me. When he finally looked at me, he nodded. “Alright, Dan. I’ll try me best. But you must help me. What I’m going to tell you might sound rather ridiculous to you, but I promise it’s all true. Now, we are not in the Black Forest anymore. I assume that’s where you were when you crashed?” I nodded and he continued. “I thought so. That’s where Peter said her found you.”

“Who?”

“Peter Nook. He’s the one who brought you to me. As I was saying, we are actually just outside the Black Forest, between there and the Forest of Bersee.”

“The where? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it and I’ve lived in Germany for quite a while now.”

Nicolas nodded. “I’m not at all surprised, really. Bersee has pretty much been forgotten in the human world. Rather sad, really. It is the home of all the magical creatures of the world.”

“Magical creatures? Like what?”

“Nooks, rills, fairies, unicorns. Creatures like that. There was a pixie who lived there for a few years, but when I moved here, Whisk came with me.”

I could tell from looking at him that he was serious. But what he was saying was absolutely ridiculous to me. I shook my head. “Nicolas, what are you talking about? I’m not some little kid who believes in that kind of stuff. If this is some test to see if my head is alright, I’m pretty sure I’m fine, thank you.”

Nicolas stared at me for a moment with a look on his face that said he was disappointed in my reaction, but not really surprised. Then he too shook his head. “Ahh, Daniel, I was afraid that’s what you’d say. Very well. Why don’t you come with me? If you’re feeling up to it, I’d like to show you my factory.”

“Factory? In the forest?”

“Yes. I’m a toy maker by trade. I have been for nearly two thousand years.”

“You mean your family has been toy makers for nearly two thousand years.”

He gave me a sly look. “You just come with me. We can discuss it more after I’ve given you tour.”

He stood and walked toward the door. He nodded toward a clothes tree standing at the side of the fireplace and I saw a robe hanging on it. On the floor beneath it was a pair of slippers. I slipped them on and joined Nicolas at the door.

He placed his hand on the knob, then looked me in the eye. “Are you ready for this?”

I nodded. I mean, how unnerving could a toy factory be? True, Nicolas seemed to be a tad off his rocker, but an eccentric man’s toy factory was still just a toy factory, right? Yeah, that’s what I thought at the time…

At first, when Nicolas opened the door and we stepped out onto the walkway, I thought it was an amazing, if quant little place. The factory floor spread out below us with hundreds of tables from one corner to the other. Lining both sides of the tables were what I thought at the time were dozens of men and women, all working away studiously, chattering back and forth in merry sounding voices. Everywhere you looked, everything was lined with toys, some in pieces, others in different stages of assembly, others finished and ready for children. I looked around in amazement. I had never really seen anything like this before, so it was rather fascinating to me, but nothing fantastical.

Even when a strange little creature came walking up the stairs to us, I didn’t think much of it. Of course, he didn’t look much like a human at all, but I didn’t think much of it. He was about three feet tall with tan skin, like old leather. He seemed almost human accept for the fact that his eyes were yellow, he had pointed ears like an elf, and there was a thick, lizard like tail sticking out from underneath the robe he wore.

“Nickolas, I wonder if you could take a look at this. Whisk says that this train doesn’t look right, but I say it’s fine. With only a few more days till Christmas, we don’t have the time to go back and completely redo the entire lot. What do you think?” The little man held up an amazing looking little toy engine to Nicolas. I was at least a half dozen feet away, and by no means an expert, but it looked pretty good to me.

Nicolas took the train from the little man. “Well, let’s take a look at this. Oh, by the way, Peter, this is Dan. Dan, this is Peter Nook . As I told you before, he’s the one who found you in the woods and brought you here.”

Peter looked at me for the first time. “Well, Daniel, it’s good to see you awake. For a little bit we weren’t so sure you were going to pull through. Glad to see you’re up and around.”

“Um, thanks I guess.” I wasn’t exactly sure what to say, so I just let it go at that. Peter looked like he might want to say more, but by that time, Nicolas was finished looking over the train.

“Well, personally, I think it’s just fine. There might be one or two small things to change for next year, but I think these should more than pass muster for now. And if Whisk gives you any more problems, you send him to me, alright?”

“Of course, Nicolas. Thank you for your help.” Peter turned and headed back down to the factory floor. As I watched him go, I examined his tail as closely as I could without seeming rude. When he was out of sight, I looked back at Nicolas, who was looking at me with a smile on his face.

“Not a bad job of makeup, I must say. And that tail looks fairly realistic, but to be honest, I’ve seen just as realistic dinosaur tails in museums and on TV.”

Nicolas just nodded, but I could see a little change in his eyes. It was as if he was disappointed that I didn’t believe that Peter was real, but also that he was determined to prove it to me. I wasn’t sure what to expect next, but what happened, I certainly wasn’t prepared for.

When I looked back out over the floor, there was a pretty brunet lady with a blue dress and green wings apparently flying toward us. She landed lightly a little way from us and gave a surprised but relieved smile when she looked at us. “Well, I was just coming up to see if you needed anything, Nicolas, but it seems that I’m a bit late. It’s good to see you up and around, Dan.”

“Thank you Mother, but you worry too much about me. Dan, this is my mother, Necile.”

I looked between Necile and Nicolas. She looked like she was maybe in her thirties, and he was at least 70 if he was a day. “This is your….. mother? How is that even….”

“Well, adopted mother, actually. I was abandoned on the edge of the Forest of Bersee when I was just a baby. Necile took me in and raised me as her own. She’s the only mother I’ve ever known.”

“Yeah, ok, but she looks young enough to be your daughter.”

“Well, she’s a fairy, and I’m human. I’m immortal now, but I wasn’t always so. She’s actually far older than you could even imagine. It may be a bit difficult for you to understand without truly understanding our world, but that’s how things are.

“Of course, Mother broke nearly every rule of the Forest in taking me in. Ak certainly wasn’t happy with it, but he gave in. He’s a good man. He’s the ruler of Bersee, by the way. Lord of all the immortals.”

“Well, if everything is alright, Dear, I’d best get back down there and make sure things keep running smoothly. We wouldn’t want any problems this close to Christmas.” She smiled and took off, flying back down to the work floor and out of sight in the hustle and bustle.

“Thank you, Mother.” Nicolas called behind her. With a chuckle, he turned back to me. “So, Dan. What do you think now?”

I had just started to reply when I saw something behind Nicolas that robbed me of all speech. Walking up the stairs, growling lowly to herself, was probably the largest lioness I had ever seen. I started stammering like an idiot and pointed at the creature that was by now within easy striking distance of Nicolas.

With a confused look, he turned over his shoulder and saw it standing there. But to my surprise, he didn’t react with terror like a normal person confronted with a seemingly angry lioness. As a matter of fact, he smiled, but had a somewhat concerned, questioning look. “Sheagra, what’s wrong?”

To my even greater shock, the lioness replied in a human voice, deep and gravely. “Nicolas, you know I don’t normally mind Blinky being around, but would you mind keeping her away from Wisk? She keeps chasing him and the fool pixie keeps plowing into anything and everything. At this rate, they’ll end up ruining everything.”

Nicolas chuckled. “Alright, Sheagra. I’ll take care of her. Don’t worry.”

She nodded, looked at me and gave what appeared to be a smile before turning and walking back down the stairs. Nicolas turned back and saw me still standing there in shock and laughed. “I suppose most humans aren’t used to hearing a lioness talk are they?”

It took all my will and military training to pull myself back together and shake my head. “No, not at all. For us humans, when we see a lioness coming at us, it’s usually an indication that we’re in big trouble.”

Nicolas laughed again, and there was something about the sound of it that seemed rather familiar. I knew I’d never seen him before, but still, I couldn’t shake the feeling. “Well, you needn’t worry about Sheagra. She’s harmless. Unless you plan on starting any trouble of your own.”

From down below, we heard some yelling, then a loud crashing. Nicolas got a look of weary affection and shook his head. “Well, I better go and grab Blinky before Sheagra really gets angry with her. I swear, that cat will never learn. You’re welcome to come down.”

He walked down the stairs and I followed close behind. This place was definitely a mad house, that was for sure. But I was beginning to wonder who the mad one was. Was it possible I had hit my head harder than I thought? Maybe I was hallucinating. But if I was seeing things, how come Nicolas was telling me things that, as crazy as they sounded, went along with what I was seeing.

As we walked through the shop, I saw a variety of different creatures and beings doing different jobs. They all seemed to be working together harmoniously for the most part. There was the occasional bickering, but I got the feeling that they were all very good friends.

Nicolas and I were about half way across the room when something ran into me. A small, hairy creature that looked almost human accept for the fact that it had a long tail and a rodent like nose and ears, had climbed up me and was sitting on my shoulders. A moment later, I was attacked again, this time by a small black and white cat. It soon became quite obvious that this was Blinky, and the creature hiding behind my head was Wisk.

Nicolas, who had been knocked out of the way as the pair came flying through, was shaking his head with mock annoyance as he walked over and scooped up the little cat. “Blinky, will you ever learn? You know Wisk isn’t a toy, why do you insist on chasing him and causing such trouble, hum?” He scratched her fondly behind the ear, and she closed her eyes, purring. “You can get down off of Dan now, Wisk. We’ll take Blinky with us and keep her busy for now, alright?”

Wisk climbed down with a sigh of relief. “Thanks Nick. I was getting pretty tired. I think I’m getting too old for all this chasing around business.”

Nicolas laughed loudly. “Oh, come now Wisk. Immortals don’t grow old, you know that. You’ve been making the same excuse for the past millennium.”

Wisk gave Nicolas a look that said he knew that he was right, but he didn’t like it. “Yeah, well, pixies aren’t meant to be cat toys.”

Wisk walked off, and Nicolas was chuckling to himself. When he saw my look of slight concern, he shook his head. “Oh, don’t worry yourself over Wisk. He’ll be just fine. Everyone’s a little stressed with it being so close to Christmas and everything. He’s always grumping about Blinky, but deep down, I think he loves her as much as I do.” He gave the cat some more scratching as he looked around. “Well, it seems as if everything is in order down here now. Why don’t we go back upstairs and talk a bit more?”

I followed him back through the maze of tables, work benches and stacks of boxes and toys. When we were back up in the room I woke up in and sitting around the fire, it took me a moment to get all my thoughts together. “So… Nicolas, what is this place? Who are you?”

“Dan, I would have thought you of all people would have figured it out. You used to believe in me so strongly. Dan, I told you to call me Nicolas, but I’m better known in your world as Saint Nick or Santa Clause.”

“You’re…… Santa Clause? But I thought you were just a myth.”

“You didn’t always feel that way, Dan. Like I said, you used to truly believe in me when you were a child. And you’ve taught your children to believe in me too. Search deep down, Dan. Isn’t there some part of you that tells you that this is real?”

I wanted to immediately say no, there wasn’t. That he was insane or that I was dreaming. But as I looked at him, I felt something I hadn’t felt in the longest time. There was a peace, and deep felt joy and warmth that I remembered feeling when I was a child. It was something that I had lost a long time ago, but that I tried to recapture every year. It was that wonderful feeling of love and magic, that anything was possible, that is best known by children before ‘reality’ begins to harden and blind them to the wonders of possibility.

It took me a moment, but I eventually was able to look Nicolas in the eye. At first, there was a look of concern in his eyes. But as he watched at me, he must have recognized that I was starting to believe him, because soon there was a spark of cheer in them. “Ho ho ho, so I was right. You really do believe, deep down inside. You’ve just been keeping it hidden. It’s alright, Dan. Most adults do. It’s a shame, really. Because when they hide away that belief, many of them also end up hiding the innocence and good that went along with it.” He sat back with a content and relieved look on his face. “Well, I’m glad that I was at least able to convince you. Now, just out of curiosity, if you could have anything for Christmas, anything at all, what would it be?”

I sat back in shock. Here was Santa, the one and only, offering me anything in the world that I could ever want. I thought of hundreds of things that I could have asked for, but one thing kept coming back to me again and again, and nothing interested me as much. “Well, Santa, there’s really only one thing that could make me truly happy. To be back home with my family. That’s all I really want.”

Nicolas smiled and nodded. “Well, that’s a very unselfish request, and fairly simple to grant. However, I am the only one here allowed to travel to the human world, and as you can imagine, I’m rather busy at this time of year.” I sighed and must have looked rather dejected. “Why, Dan. What’s the matter?”

“Oh.. Nothing Nick. It’s just…. I promised my kids when I left that’s I’d be home in time for Christmas.”

“Well, my boy, you will. Christmas day, anyway. I am going there Christmas Eve night after all. You’ll just come along with me and I’ll drop you off on the way.”

I could barely believe what I was hearing. “You mean… I’m going along for your Christmas delivery?”

“Ho ho ho, well, part of it, at least. We’ll be getting to your house before we’ve covered the entire world. But it’s still far more than almost any person in the world has ever experienced. Until then, maybe you can keep yourself busy helping out with the final preparations? There’s always plenty to be done at the last minute.”

He spent the rest of the evening telling me about his life. About Ak bringing him into the mortal world when he was a teen and seeing the hardships of life in ancient times. About moving from the forest itself to this area so that he could be closer to the children he had grown to love. The boy who lost his way in the snow when he came to see Nicolas. About carving a little wooden copy of Blinky. The joy of seeing how excited the boy was the next morning when Mick gave the cat to him. How that had sparked the idea in Nick about giving toys to all the children. It was a fascinating history, far beyond what you hear and see in most stories about Santa.

It was a magical night, but the next day I was put to work. Brother, did I find out that Nick hadn’t been exaggerating the night before when he said there was lots to do. I swear to you, there was hardly any time for us to breathe over the following days. Between finishing the last of the presents, wrapping, sorting, packing and everything else, we were working from early in the morning till late at night. But despite the hectic racing about, everyone seemed to be quite happy. There were the occasional spats, but they were usually forgotten fast and everything returned to normal.

Before I knew it, it was Christmas Eve day, and things were at an all time high in craziness. Everyone was running around, trying to finish all the last minute details before night fall. Nick had been rather secretive the last few days. He was always cheerful and kind when he was around, but he would go off by himself for hours at a time, and when I asked him where he went, he would just pass it off as working on last minute preparations, but wouldn’t elaborate. It frustrated me a little, but I let it go. I figured he was entitled to his secrets just like everyone.

Just a little before sunset, Peter Nook brought out the eight reindeer that Nick would use this year. He explained to me that while he indeed had had a team at one time with the names that we’re all familiar with, they were not his first, and had actually retired a long time ago.

When all the presents had been loaded into the sleigh and the reindeer had been harnessed up, Nick, Wisk and I all piled into the sleigh. Since it was really only designed for two people, it was a bit of a tight fit, but we managed. Amid many cheers and calls of farewell and good luck, we took off into the night sky.

It was an amazing sight and feeling, even for a man like me who was used to flying. Flying in a plane or helicopter was one thing, but this was completely something different. The wind whistled past us and the stars twinkled above. It was a beautiful sight.

I saw some sights with Nick that night that I never imagined seeing this way. We started off in New Zealand, then flew to Australia. After we had delivered all the presents there, we headed to Japan. Those were some of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. I’ve always loved Asia, and this was a fantastic way of seeing it. China, Siberia, Nepal and India followed. My last stops were Iraq, Moscow, Egypt and Italy. When those countries were done, we headed back to Germany, and to the base.

I was greatly relieved to see my house when we got there, but I was also a bit sad too. I was happy to be home, but being with Nick had been such an experience, I was reluctant to leave. I was afraid that eventually, all of this would fade from my memory, and I’d go back to the way I had been; loving the myth of Santa, but not really believing it.

Nick must have felt my hesitation, because he smiled and clapped me on the back. “Don’t you worry Dan. I’ve made certain that you’ll never be able to forget your time with me and your family will believe your story.” I gave him a questioning look, but he just winked. “You’ll find out tomorrow, my boy. It’s a surprise.”

We went in together then, and since I didn’t want to wake anyone up, I decided that I would sleep on the couch. While Nick was putting the presents under the tree, I went to the linen closet to grab a pillow and blanket. When I returned, he was just finishing up. “Well, Nick…. It’s been amazing. I can’t thank you enough. If you hadn’t taken me in, I don’t know what would have happened to me out there in that forest. I probably would have frozen to death.”

“Ho ho ho, it’s nothing at all, Son. You’re not the first person I’ve rescued from the snow and I doubt you’ll be the last. It’s been a pleasure, Dan. I hope you have a good life. I’ll be keeping an eye on you and your family.”

“Thanks Nick. For everything. I only wish there was something I could do for you.”

“Well, those cookies your wife made two Christmases ago… I wouldn’t mind stopping by for a dozen or so every year. You know, the chocolate chip ones with the raspberry flavor?” He smiled.

“No problem. I’ll let her know. I might even have her leave the recipe for you.” I returned the smile.

“I’d appreciate that. Well, I better get going. I’ve still got more than half the world to cover.”

“Right. Take care of yourself, Nick. Maybe I’ll see you around?”

“Well, I don’t really get out in the human world much anymore, what with all the fame and that. But… maybe. I can’t promise anything, but we’ll see.”

I nodded. “I understand. Well, if you ever do want to come out, you’re always welcome.”

“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind. Good bye, Dan.” He walked back over to the fireplace and went back up.

I followed him over and leaned in, watching his shadow disappear from the top of the chimney. “Good bye, Nick. Thank you again for everything.” I listened carefully and heard the sound of the sleigh bells and the reindeer hooves on the roof. After a moment, the sounds disappeared. He was gone.

I stood by the fireplace for another minute, then, feeling a bit down, I turned away and went to sleep on the couch.

I was out cold within a few minutes, and didn’t hear a thing until the next morning when my family woke up and came out to the kitchen. I heard their voices talking as they went about making breakfast. It sounded as though they were trying to be cheerful, but were failing miserably.

Getting up, I snuck down the hall and stood in the door. They were all standing with their backs toward me, so no one even noticed me standing there. At last, I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I gave a loud cough to get their attention.

They all turned with a jump. At first they were afraid of who they would find standing there, but when they saw me, their faces changed to delighted shock.

“Dan?” “Dad?” “Daddy?”

“Hey everyone. I’m home!”

They all ran to me, hugging and kissing me. I returned their embraces with enthusiasm.

“Oh, Dan, where have you been? We were so worried after your crew returned without you. They told us about the engine exploding, and that you had been blown off course and they hadn’t seen you since. They’ve got you listed MIA. They were about to report you dead. We even called your parents. Your poor mother, she….”

I silenced her with a kiss. “Oh, Colleen. I’m so sorry for everything you must have been through. I never meant for this to happen.”

“We know you didn’t, Dear. It was just a freak accident. But how on Earth did you survive, much less get back home?”

“It’s a crazy story, but I swear to you it’s all true.” I told them everything while we ate our traditional Christmas breakfast of scrambled eggs with mushrooms and onions, bacon, and cornmeal pancakes. I was sure that Colleen thought I was insane. Eric wasn’t sure whether I was crazy or not. Joy seemed to be the only one who really believed me. I finished the story just as we were finishing eating. “So, after we covered all of Asia, we started across Germany, and he dropped me off here when he left the presents. By the way, Colly, Nick loved those special raspberry chocolate cookies you made two years ago. He said that next Christmas, he’d like a dozen and the recipe if you wouldn’t mind.”

She raised her eyebrow at me, but didn’t say anything.

I could tell that they were all struggling with this, so I pushed back from the table and stood. “Alright, I know how crazy this sounds, really I do. If it was anyone else telling this story, I’d feel the same way you do. Hell, when Nick first told me he was Santa, I didn’t believe him. But before he left, he told me he had left something that would prove that my story is true. The only stuff he left was the presents, so I’m assuming it must be in one of them. Come on, let’s go check it out.”

We all headed into the living room and Eric and Joy began digging under the tree while Colleen and I sat on the couch. They came out with a total of four packages, one addressed to each of us, all from Nick. We all sat down with our packages and opened them. They were all shocked by what was contained inside, but I was nearly brought to tears when I realized what they all meant.

Each of us was holding a wooden carving about a foot tall. They looked as if they had been hand carved and painted. Now I realized what Nick had been doing all those long hours he had been hidden away. Joy had been given a carving of Sheagra, Erick’s was of Wisk and Blinky, Colleen’s was Necile, and mine was the great Ak himself. I’d met him a couple of times when he had stopped by to check on preparations and he had seen us off the night before with everyone else.

We all looked in fascination at our presents for a while. When the others finally found their voices, I could tell they were realizing that what I had told them was true. “So, who… Who are they?”

I smiled. “Well, Joy’s lioness is Sheagra. Like I told you, she’s kind of Nick’s guardian. That little black cat of Erick’s is Blinky. Tormenting Wisk, as always.” I chuckled. “Necile gave Nick Blinky when he first moved out on his own, so she’s probably the world’s oldest living cat. You, my dear, have Necile, Nick’s mother. And this,” I held up my own. “Is Ak himself. The great lord of all the magical creatures of Bersee. We should all feel honored. These are very important people in Nick’s life. And from what he told me, he doesn’t give out many carvings anymore. These were actually the first presents he ever made; carvings of different animals and things. You two should take very good care of your statues.”

“Oh, we will, Papa,” they both promised. And they made good on their words. It’s been almost twenty years. Both Joy and Erick are all grown up now, married, with children of their own. But they both still have their special presents. Both still believe whole heartedly in Santa Clause, and have told their children the story of the December that I spent with Santa. I know that few people believe in him now, but our family will always carry deep inside us the true light of Christmas.