It was hard times for the people of Wintervale. The struggling community's economy had fallen through and work was difficult to find. As a result, the city officials had decided to take up coal mining as a potential export. Because of this, the men had been forced to abandon the trades that had been passed down in their families and work long hours in the mines.
Many had died in accidents, including the father of two children, Claus and Anya. This tragedy had caused their mother to die of a broken heart, so brother and sister were now living by themselves on the streets.
Claus was a boy of eight and Anya a girl of six. They had endured much together and were wise to the ways of the streets; they tried to find work wherever they could, but they had little to offer being so young. Anya had taken to selling matches, at least until she could make enough for something for her and her brother to eat. In the cold and darkness, the poor girl walked barefoot through the falling snow.
She had no coat, no hat, and no shoes. Claus was supervising from the nearby street lamp and sighed sadly. He knew they would never be able to make enough to feed themselves, let alone with matches for pennies. But his love for his sister overrode his common sense and so he humored her innocent attempt to help. Unfortunately, nobody had bought anything from the girl.
She thought she would have better luck in the city narrows, so she made her way there. Meanwhile, Claus was distracted by a rich family, which consisted of a mother, a father, and two girls, stepping onto a fancy horse-pulled sleigh that was waiting on the street for them. Claus resented the fact that the family didn't even spare a glance at him. However, he thought he saw the eldest girl, a blonde that looked to be around his age, give him a sad look before being shuffled along by her father.
Suddenly, Claus realized that Anya wasn't there anymore and ran to catch up to her, but was blocked by a large crowd. Claus pushed and prodded to try and reach his sister, but all the people overwhelmed him and he got knocked to the ground. As he picked himself up, Claus noticed little footprints in the snow and he recognized them as Anya's.
He followed them out of the sea of people and saw that they were headed towards the narrows. Claus knew that the more unscrupulous residents of Wintervale resided there and feared for his sister's safety. He rushed into the narrows, passing by homeless beggars and miscreants, before he came across a sight that would shatter his heart forever.
There was Anya, frozen to death and still clutching the matches she was trying to sell. Tears welled in Claus's eyes as he ran to his sister's side and cradled her dead body. As he sobbed into her shoulder, a new feeling began to brew in his heart.
They were feelings of hatred: hatred for the parents that left them alone, hatred for the world that had been unkind to them, and hatred for the winter night that had taken his sister away from him. His cries had turned to screams of anger as his heart grew colder and colder with each scream he let out. This was the night that Claus of Wintervale came to hate Christmas Eve.