Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia, or any of its characters. They are all property of Namco Ltd.

Author's Note: This is a fic I came up with out of the blue, and I'm kind of making it up as I go along, so don't mind if it doesn't really make sense at some points. The narrator is Anna, who as most of us know, is Kratos' wife.

The Perfect Symphonia Christmas

I still remember that day…so long ago…it was one of the few memories I share with my family…

It was fifteen years ago, back when I still had everything…everything I needed to make me happy. I had Lloyd, my wonderful Kratos, I may not have had a permanent home, but I was the happiest woman on Earth.

It was Lloyd's first Christmas, well, the first he'd be old enough to remember, and my second Christmas with my beloved Kratos. Slow and silent, the snow kept falling, covering everything in a blanket of sparkling white powder. Though the air outside was cold, but it wasn't a threatening kind of cold. It seemed, in fact, to make that night more magical, and my heart was warm enough to melt all of the snow outside our house as I saw the wonder and amazement in Lloyd's eyes as he looked out at the snow-covered forest, which had been green just the night before.

The wonder seemed to grow as Kratos and I told him the same tale my father had always told me when I was a young child. Kratos pulled our tiny son onto his lap and held him close, telling him the story. For a second, as I watched, I could almost see a younger version of myself replacing Lloyd, and a vision of my father sitting where Kratos was. I could almost hear his voice. Smiling as I shook my head, I sat beside them to listen to the story as well, drifting away into my memories, but not far enough to leave the warmth of my family.

"Lloyd, have you been a good boy this year?" Kratos asked. Lloyd nodded enthusiastically. Smiling he urged his father to continue. "That's good." Kratos said. "You especially have to be good around Christmas time, do you know why?" Lloyd shook his head, still smiling, the wonder glowing in his eyes. "Because on Christmas eve, something good will happen if you are good."

"What will happen, Daddy?" Lloyd asked. Kratos smiled as he continued.

"If you are good, then on Christmas eve, Santa Claus will come and leave you presents."

"Daddy, who's Santa Claus?" Lloyd asked.

"He wears a big red coat, big red pants, has a long white beard and his face is always rosy pink, because he lives at the North Pole, which is very cold. He delivers presents to all the good little boys and girls in the world on Christmas Eve and on Christmas day, you get to open them." Lloyd giggled.

"How he get to all the houses, Daddy?" he asked.

"He has a magic sleigh, and his sleigh is pulled by nine magic reindeer. They fly through the sky and land on the rooftops, so Santa can come down the chimney to put presents under the tree."

"Do the reindeer have names?" Lloyd asked. Kratos nodded. "What are they?" Lloyd asked.

"Their names are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph." Lloyd giggled again.

"Roo-doff!" he said. "That's a funny name!" Kratos' smile widened.

"Yes," he said. "But Rudolph is a special reindeer, do you know why?" Lloyd shook his head. "Because his nose lights up, so that Santa can see when he's flying through a really bad storm." Lloyd's eyes glowed with amazement and it seemed to light up his face.

"And," I added to the story. "Every year we leave out milk and cookies for Santa to eat, and a carrot for the reindeer."

"I want to leave out some cookies for Santa!" Lloyd said.

"And we will." Kratos consented.

"But for now," I said. "How about we go outside and build that snowman you were talking about." Lloyd grinned as wide as his little face would let him.

"Yeah!" he said, rushing to get his coat.

An hour later, we sat in front of the fire, while Lloyd stared out at his newly built snowman. At that time, everything seemed right in the world. And even though it was the only Christmas he remembers, I know that on that night, everything was perfect.