The 'Twas the Night before Christmas poem is most definitely not mine. Don't go getting any ideas. I just... modified it a bit.
Twas the night before Christmas,
When all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even a mouse.
Link lay on his bed, eyes closed and enjoying the silence on Christmas Eve night. He was excited for tomorrow. It wasn't every day that Christmas happened. He gradually started to fall asleep, imagining the fun and feast he'd have with the other kokiri the next day.
Everyone was nestled snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.
And Saria in her 'kerchief and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap.
He was happy that he and Saria were having a sleepover again this year. It had become a tradition for them since they first met, since Link nor Saria had any siblings to open presents with on Christmas morning, they did it together instead. Finally, he drifted off to sleep. In his dream, Link was sitting out on the porch of his house, looking at all of the bottled fairy lights decorating the other kokiri's windows and yards while more fairies darted all around the forest clearing. A prominent blue ball of light darted in front of his face.
"Hey… Listen! Wake up!" the fairy whispered urgently, dancing in front of his face. Link nearly fell out of bed and woke with a start. The blue fairy hadn't been part of his dream.
"What…? Navi! We just fell asleep!" Link hissed back. What if Saint Nick didn't come because he knew he was awake?
"Shh! I heard something!" she hushed.
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
Suddenly, a loud clatter-clatter-thud! echoed up from outside. Link tumbled out of the bed and sprang over to the window, flinging it open to see what had made the noise. Navi ducked under his long green cap.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the luster of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer.
The village spread out before him, bottled lights decorating the tree stump homes just like in his dream. But now, sparkling snow covered the ground in a thin sheet of white, the trees lightly frosted and icicles hanging from open ledges and fences. Then, Link's eyes were drawn to the sky above his house. There, was a man sitting atop a weathered and cheery sleigh, eight reindeer roped to the front of it, blowing and huffing out smokey breaths in the cool air.
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!
Link shivered in excitement. Only one person he knew drove around in a sleigh on Christmas Eve night. It must be Saint Nick! St. Nick whistled cheerfully and urged his team of reindeer on.
"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"
The man called all his reindeer by name, and Link tried to commit all the names to memory. There was Dasher, Dancer, Donner, Blitzen, Cupid, Comet, and… oh. He couldn't remember the others.
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too.
Suddenly, the reindeer veered toward his house! The sleigh slowed down as it neared the roof, coming closer and closer until Link couldn't see it through his window anymore.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.
Clomp, clomp, clomp, scraaaape! Link heard the hoofbeats of the reindeer and scraping of the sleigh landing on top of his house. St. Nick was coming! He turned to rush back to his bed, and noticed that there was suddenly a chimney in the corner of his tree house. Funny, he didn't remember having one before… Suddenly, St. Nick burst out of it, a huge sack on his back with masks poking out of the top.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.
The man was wearing a red, bushy fur coat, a cap on his head and fuzzy boots on his feet. They were all covered in soot from the chimney that-was-not-his. Link vaguely wondered whose chimney had been stolen for him to use, and if it was permanent. But, his thoughts wandered back to the man who was now opening his sack, pulling out wrapped packages and placing them in the socks hanging on the wall. Link was very glad that he had decided to wash them before putting them there. He didn't want St. Nick smelling dirty laundry.
His eyes-how they twinkled! His dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.
Then, St. Nick turned so that Link could see his face. And quite a face he saw. Eyes that twinkled in the fairy light, and dimples on his cheeks. His mouth was drawn up into a huge grin, almost covering half of his face, and a large white beard fell from his chin, that strangely didn't match the orange hair that poked out from the hat.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!
When St. Nick lifted a wrapped package from his bag, he held it up, chuckling a bit in a higher voice than Link had expected. Then, he stared in fascination as his belly jiggled along with his laughter. None of the kokiri's stomachs did that. But then again, he supposed, St. Nick wasn't a normal person. Or a kokiri, at that.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
Link couldn't help it, he laughed at the belly's absurd wobbling, instantly clapping a hand over his mouth as St. Nick spotted him. Surprisingly, all the man did was give a knowing smile and a twist of his head, and went back to work. Link sighed in relief.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!
St. Nick finished filling the stockings and spun abruptly around, grabbing his sack with masks in the top. Turning to Link, he tapped a finger on the side of his nose, gave a nod, and shot up the chimney faster than a rock shot from a slingshot could fly.
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
Link raced outside to see him go. The sleigh was loaded and St. Nick was sitting in the driver's seat. He whistled to the reindeer, and they leaped off of the roof and into the sky. He watched as the sleigh rose out of sight, and could vaguely hear the jolly man shout out joyfully, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
Link smiled to himself as he went back to bed. Not only would it be Christmas tomorrow, but now he could brag to Mido about how he saw the real St. Nick.
~/_\~
Merry Christmas everyone!