So the Christmas Story is late. My dearest apologies, as I was making rather Merry the past few days. I would have had it up tomorrow but I gave it a second look and wasn't impressed. I spent the whole day editing again and now I'm positive it looks better. However, there's always something I missed. So, if you spy anything I missed, please tell me. I thrive on constructive criticism and want this to be absolutely perfect.
And now, on with the show. Happy late Christmas, and a a Happy New Year.
Jack Frost
"Now?"
"Not yet, Pumpkin."
Luna was getting impatient, fingers tapping on her knees. She sat cross-legged on the black terrain of the graveyard as Jack labored at her hair to remove various leaves and tiny sticks that had lodged themselves between her curls. He was the picture of absolute patience as he softly hummed Deck the Halls, face absolutely content. Luna, on the other hand, had to use what little restraint small children have to keep still so her father could comb through her scalp. They were waiting, and waiting was something Luna Skellington did not like.
Jack and Sally's daughter had grown quite bit in the short span of a few years. Bringing her home had been an interesting adventure as the little screamer had little to no control over her own vocal cords. Along side that, Luna had the challenge of getting used to her spindly, skeletal limbs. Once the simple task of walking was mastered, everything else came in due speed.
There had been the years of reading he'd done in preparation, specifically on the development cycle of human children. Given the oddity of Luna's conception, it didn't surprise him how much quicker she'd progressed on the timeline. Still, it threw him for a loop half the time. It was all tricky, and not quite what Jack had read in several human parenting books, but it had paid off. The little horror was dancing, singing, and as active as a bee at the age of three.
And now he wanted to share something he greatly adored with her. So, with a basket packed full of their favorite goodies, Jack took Luna to the graveyard. He picked a spot next to a patch of young, green pumpkins, and decided to pass the time by preening his daughter.
"How about now?" Luna asked.
"No, not yet," Jack said. "There. All done."
His little monster finally smiled, got up at her full height. Luna had grown about a foot since her creation, her femurs and spine now noticeably longer, and her hair reaching her little patches of skin she had were already growing, giving his daughter an undead look about her. She looked almost like a zombie, sans the decay, and the little thing was very proud of that comparison.
The tiny half-skeleton perched herself on a grave with a sigh. Back to pouting again, Luna's fingers twitched in anticipation, staring up at the sky.
"Dad, are you sure this is even gonna happen?" she asked. " It's been an hour."
"It's not Christmas just yet, Moonie," Jack said. "I promise, it'll be here. Me and Mr. Claws have a little deal."
Guilt-trip was a better word. It was all rather simple, but also rather embarrassing: Jack kept his brand of Christmas away from the rest of the world and Sandy would bring something special to Halloween Town. The deal was formed not in the aftermath of Jack's original adventure, but in response to the Pumpkin King's repeated trips to Christmas Town and the inability for him to keep his bony fingers to himself. This way, according to , Jack would get what he wanted, and everyone else would be happy.
Jack couldn't help it. Sitting there, on a spider-web blanket, he could still feel that special warmth rising out from his bones when he thought of Christmas. He may have been caught in a harsh-self critique when it came to his greatest adventure, but the Holidays always soothed the ache. And, now that he had a family to join him in the fun, it felt twice as delightful.
The old skeleton gently clasped Luna's hand, warmly."We have to wait for to finish his rounds. The man's a miracle worker so it shouldn't take long. Just try to relax."
"Hm." Luna was unconvinced. "Can we trust him?"
"Of course!" Jack laughed. "He's done it for years now without fail. Why would it go wrong now?"
The little girl looked even less convinced. She leaned down and plucked a dead dandelion from the ground. Than,she began plucking leaves from it's stem in hopes of copying her mother's special talent.
"What's his name again?" she asked.
"Sandy Claws," Jack said, plucking some fish bones from their picnic basket. "Didn't I tell you?"
"No."
Her father froze. "No?"
"Nope." Luna dropped the flower in defeat. "Never heard of him."
Jack stayed still a moment longer, with only the faintest of worry lines creasing his brow.
"Sandy Claws," Jack tried again. "From Christmas Town."
Lunda shrugged her shoulders. "Never heard of that either," she said. "Sandy Claws. That's a weird name… Saaandy Claws."
Luna stretched the words out, flexing her primitive voice box. It was a habit of hers when she didn't know the word, followed by about twenty repetitions. Jack hardly noticed, fingers scratching the top of his skull. He sunk deep into his own thoughts, utterly baffled by his slip-up. The biggest adventure of his life, and he hadn't mentioned it to his daughter. With all the talking the two of them did, it seemed like he would have brought up his Christmas escapade at least once. Had he ever even tried?
His memory of Luna's first birthday finally resurfaced, proving he had at least attempted. Everyone had gathered around a birthday pumpkin pie topped with Worms Wart, and Jack Jack had gone to his closet to fetch her digging, some Christmas lights fell to the floor, much to the confusion of everyone there. Luna had asked after them and Jack had been obliged to explain. She liked them, and that ended up being her birthday gift. It was only then that Jack had attempted to explain where they came from, but nothing had come out. Somehow he felt frozen on the spot, a mixture of shame and worry making his tongue too heavy to work.
Still, she had a right to know. Jack stood up, and scooped up his little monster just as she reached Sandy Claws repetition number nineteen.
"Why don't we pass the time with a little story?" He held her with one arm, and used the other to scoop up the basket. " You remember those lights you got for your birthday?"
"Yeah," she said. "You never told me where they came from."
Jack carried her up the curved hill, stopping to take a seat on it's swirly finish. He crossed his legs and set her between them, one arm around her back. "I know I didn't, but I can now. I got them on the most amazing trip of my life…"
Again, Jack felt the words freeze on his tongue. But the eager look on Luna's face made it impossible for him to go back now. She adored a good story, and he couldn't bare to disappoint her ever eager face. So he summoned up all his will, and began to thaw out the tale.
"It started several Halloweens ago," he said, leaning closer. "I was wandering through those woods," he pointed southward. "with no real goal and no real idea where I would end up. I think, given how bored I was with the sound of screams, I was looking for something different, something special…
"And I found it!" He got excited, the words coming out faster now. "After walking for I don't know how long, I stumbled upon these trees. Each had a door, carved in the strangest of shapes. The strangest of all was this one."
He leaned forward, one finger drawing a series of lines in the dirt. They came together to form the outline of a Christmas tree, topped with a five pointed star.
"I opened it up, and fell into the most wonderful sight…"
From then on out, he had her captivated. With unbridled joy, he recapped the marvelous sights and sounds that had greeted him in Christmas Town. His face lit up just like the old days, describing each thing in exquisite detail. He talked of singing elves in their dainty shoes, big white bears pulling sleds, the jaunty snowmen with black-as-night coal eyes, the smell of cookies and cakes wafting from open windows, and boxes in big, bright red bows. As he spoke, his finger drew each and everything he mentioned, practically surrounding them in Christmas paraphernalia.
"Daddy!" His daughter yanked his hand-nearly pulling it off. "You're running out of dirt!"
Jack finally stopped, and frowned a moment. He very nearly scolded her for interrupting, but he also realized that he had drifted away from his original point. So, taking a deep breath, he drifted back on course.
"Sorry Moony, I get lost thinking about those things sometimes." He cleared his non-existent throat. "Now that's where your lights came from, but there's more to it."
"Oh?"
He placed her on the ground before he continued, standing up to his full height. Curiously, he noticed that she was sitting in the midst of his drawings, surrounded by all the things he'd come to love over the years; how apropos.
"Well, I brought as much of it as I could carry back to Halloween Town," he said, pacing a bit. "I tried to explain it all to everyone in hopes we could try it, but they never understood, and it really didn't work. I didn't really, but I tried...I tried so hard."
Those hours of experimentation, several days worth of science and night-long headaches after had marked those times. When he hit that eureka moment, he had felt so proud of himself, he felt like he was on top of the world, only to have it all broken to pieces in a matter of minutes. It all came back in painfully vivid detail, and he felt like shrinking away.
But he didn't. Instead, he stopped, and pressed forward.
"We tried anyway," he said. "We made all sorts of scary, and spooky toys. I think we had dolls that that flew and sucked blood, wreaths with jagged teeth-"
"Ohhh, do we still have those?!" Luna suddenly asked. "Oh please tell me we do!"
"What have we told you about interrupting?"
"Sorry."
"Thank you." Satisfied, Jack Continued."Delivering those gifts was one of the greatest adventures of my life. I touched the sky for the briefest of moments, and got to bring what I thought was joy to the world."
"Wow, sounds amazing," Luna said, eyes wide. Would you do it again?"
Jack grinned. "Wouldn't you?"
Luna laughed in response, standing up, stepping over the drawings, she stood beside her father, bathed in the pale moonlight.
"You said it didn't work," she mused. "What happened?"
This was the hard part, the part that he believed was the cause for his silence. He sighed, and placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder.
"I told you, we didn't understand," Jack said. "We didn't understand Christmas at all. I failed, and was casted out before I could finish."
"Do you understand it now?"
Jack blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Do you understand it now?" Luna repeated. "This Christmas Land, this whole Christmas thing? Do you understand it now?"
Jack thought it over. "I believe so," he finally said. " At least in the way everyone else does."
Luna looked up at him, rather confused.
"You see, love," he explained. "Christmas doesn't mean the same thing to everyone. I didn't understand that at all, I was so wrapped up in my own wants. Thankfully, it had a happy ending."
The story gave way to sleigh bells. The soft sound of their joyful noise filled the graveyard air, and a fresh chill swept through the Skellingtons. Jack smiled and turned his skull to the sky as the familiar shape came into view.
"It's time," he said softly.
The first one hit his nose, or where his nose would have been. Then the white flakes fell all around them, covering the top of the tombstones. The ground became covered in a soft white blanket of snow, everything painted Christmas white. Luna looked up in shock, watching each and every unique crystal fall around her. One of the flakes fell into her open mouth, and she squeaked in response. The taste was cold and shocking on her tongue, and eagerly tilting her head back for another.
Jack laughed, and waved over his head. "Merry Christmas!"
"Happy Halloween!" a jolly voice echoed back from a red sleigh, eight tiny reindeer at the helm.
Then, just as easily as it came, the sleigh vanished back into the night. Just as it vanished over the horizon line Jack turned back around, but Luna was nowhere to be seen. Jack's breath caught, mind panicking.
"Luna?" No answer, making his chest tighten. "Luna? Luna?!"
Just then, something cold and hard smacked into his suit's right shoulder: a snowball. A little red-head vanished behind a tombstone.
Jack smirked, and started scooping up a bigger pile of snow. "No one hides from the Pumpkin King!" he sneered, and crept closer.
He tossed the snowball just as she poked up her head, and the biggest fight of the year began. The two threw wet, cold balls of snow back and forth for nearly an hour, starting an innocent and freezing game of tag. Luna turned out to be a better shot that the old skeleton predicted, laughing maniacally as she soaked her father from skull to shoes. Jack gave up on the snowballs, and slowly sneaked up behind her. He grabbed her and playfully tackled her to the wet ground, tickling her for extra measure. The two finally collapsed on the snow in a fit of giggles, making the closest thing to snow angels they could.
"This is amazing!" Luna said, sitting up on her elbow. "All of this, everything you told me, it all sounds amazing!"
Jack sighed, content for the moment. "Yes, yes it was."
"Hey, you never answered my question," she stood up, water dripping from the tips of her hair. "Do you still have those Christmas things you made?"
The remainder made Jack ill at ease, his face falling "Yes...I stored them somewhere safe."
Luna put her hands on his chest. "Let's get them out and put them around the house, oh please? Please? I think Mom would love to string some lights on the electric chair…"
I think Sally would be more nervous to catch me around anything Christmas, Jack thought to himself, only to feel that familiar tug at his wrist that every parent has had at some point.
"Please Dad, please?" she begged, eyes wide. "They sound so wicked. They don't deserve to be forgotten."
Jack paused, thinking over her statement. Perhaps that had been what was bothering him all this time. He knew now that he'd not wanted his little girl to think him a fool, but could those forgotten toys be part of it? All those creations everyone loved putting together had been locked away, as if that would erase what would happen. The rest of the town had certainly liked them, even the ones that were burned in the explosion. Was it really right to bury them all, and simply forget this ever happened? Were they just shameful memories, or was their burial undeserved?
Maybe Jack's Christmas wasn't dead on arrival. The more he thought about, the more Jack realized that he would love to turn Halloween Town into its own version of Christmas Town, even just for a little while. What was done was done, but what could be done sounded too exciting to ignore.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" The idea gave him a burst of energy. He leaped to his feet, and stretched out a hand to Luna. "Let's get you dried up, and get those presents out; your brother's about chewed through his toys anyhow, and we can put the decorations in the town square."
Luna cheered, and took his hand.
"Does Victor really need another chew toy?" she made a face. "Why did he get the sharp teeth? He keeps eating my clothes."
"Don't worry, your mother's a quick sewer."
And so, father and daughter trudged through the now ankle deep snow. Despite all the frozen surroundings, Jack couldn't help but feel that warmth spreading through him again, but much more intense. In the end, the Pumpkin King felt like he'd finally thawed from the long winter, putting him back to rights for good.
Luna tugged his wrist one last time, and Jack knelt down in response. "Yes, Moony?"
She kissed his cheek. "Merry Christmas Dad."
He smirked, and kissed the top of her head. "Merry Christmas, my wonderful nightmare."
End