The Night Before Christmas 2

I know some are wondering about Old Man Winter and Jack being the same person, yeah I've heard that story too, but to me they're two different people, they have whole different personalities. So that's how I'll treat them. This is going to be in the style of The Princess Bride which is an awesome film from the 80s that everyone should watch at least once.

Jack shifted closer to North, very interested now. "Old Man Winter? Why would he want to ruin Christmas? Doesn't he like the fact that you bring wonder to children?"

North chuckled and sat back against the sofa. "Ah, you would think so, no? Sadly, he was not so willing to share his season at the time. You see Christmas did not start on the twenty-fifth of December, at first it was on the Winter Solstice and that was where the trouble began.

"The Winter Solstice is a powerful time as you well know. It is the time the winter elementals are their strongest and people honor them. In older times they would pay homage, give sacrifices and worship them like gods in hopes of a gentle winter. Many people died in those days, young children and the old unable to handle the cold season. Illness ran rampant throughout the world and while New Worlds were being discovered the sense of Wonder and Joy and even Hope were fading. So Manny asked the Guardians if we could help. I had already been a Guardian ten years but I primarily made toys for the children of Santoff Claussen. I had no interest at the time of expanding but with the threat of Pitch being minimal the idea slowly appealed to me, especially when Bunny jumped at it. You should have seen his face when Manny asked him to bring eggs to all the children of the world. That old fuddy-duddy had a stock pile of chocolate eggs in his Warren, more than anyone of us could eat in ten life times. So he decided to take over an old pagan holiday that the new Christian world was trying to make their own. He was once worshipped fertility God way back in the day before becoming a Guardian so felt it right to take back a day once dedicated to him. His first run was not the success he had hoped – what parent in their right mind would allow they child to eat strange colorful eggs found in the woods? But those who did accept the eggs and were able to eat them brought Hope to Bunny and he continued every year to bring bigger and better eggs and even snuck them into houses. That was what inspired me.

"Of course we made it into a challenge. Bunny was so full of himself and bouncing around like a child with too much sugar. It didn't help that the Santoff children were dancing around him asking for eggs and completely forgetting the new toys I had just made them. I was jealous but I will never admit that to Bunny, he'll just taunt me about for years to come. So I took up Manny's offer and with the help of my mentor Ombric, choose the Winter Solstice for my day. I spent all year making toys but unlike Bunny I had no helpers and was only able to create a few thousand…back then I did have a djinni – a robot man I created to help around the village. Then came the issue of transporting them all. Ombric had given me an infinity sack to put all the gifts in but it was extremely heavy. I had the djinni but after Pitch had stolen it from me once I was reluctant to take it from the village again. So as the time approached I became more and more fearful that I would not be able to accomplish the task of bring the children their gifts. There was great sadness throughout the village. No one knew what to do. Katherine offered to let me fly Kailash from town to town but as might as the great snow goose was not even she could made such a grand trip in one night. No, we needed something much more sturdy. Then came idea!

"My djinni was able to shift forms and one of them was a flying sleigh and while I did not want to use him he gave me the clue I needed. A sleigh, but not just any old sleigh, the grandest ever seen. So while the djinni continued building toys I set to work on the sleigh. I wanted it to be bigger and more power than what the djinni turned into and it needed to be fast, able to land and take off in a heartbeat. It would be magnificent! It took weeks to accomplish but when it was done it was a sight to behold. Not the one I have now, it was smaller but still very beautiful. The next problem to occur was how to make it fly and go the speed I wanted. Oh I could have put a propeller on it as I had the djinni but I feared it would make too much noise and would not be nearly fast enough so I sat under Big Root and thought and thought about what to do."

"Wait, what's a big root?" Jack interrupted.

"A huge tree in which we all lived," North answered with a smile before saying, "Now hush and let me continue. Now where was I?"

"Sitting under Big Root thinking," Jack provided as he grabbed his smoothie and took a sip.

"Ah yes," North said grinning. "And what would I behold as I gaze in the night sky but Nightlight playing with the reindeer as he created a road of light for them to run upon. It was a fantastic sight. Some of the reindeer's offspring had been greatly affected by the by the boy's magic and had learned to fly without the road and they were quite fast and powerful. So I turned to the lad and asked if could do the same to all the reindeer. I had been disappointed at first, apparently not all could handle the magic and their bodies rejected it but he helped me sort through the ones that had adapted to the magic and those that hadn't and soon we had eight powerful beasts, fast and strong that could both fly and pull the sleigh. There was much trial and error right up to the big day but oh what a day it was! Even Bunny was excited, although he'll never admit to that. Everyone helped load up the sleigh, the infinity bag was huge by then and far too heavy for any one person to carry and for a moment I feared we would not get off the ground. Then…whoosh! We were in the air and flying over the clouds.

That night I delivered to every house in Russia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. A small number compared to now but a good first run. I was exhausted by morning but very proud of myself. Of course Bunny teased me for only being able to do such a small amount compared to him so I challenged myself to do much more the following year. And you wonder where we get our rivalry from?

The next year I did three times the amount of homes but a strange thing happened. Children were starting to Believe in me. A story started about Santa Claus that spread from country to country, an old elf that delivered gifts. Now I was not old by any means back then, barely in my 30s and very fit. No big belly back then." He laughed as he patted his belly. "But the stories continued and so I let them be. I later learned it was Katherine spreading the rumors after a vision of me in such a role. Anyhow, they stories grew like wild fire and so did my magic. I was able to create more and go further but not nearly as far as I wanted. So I asked for help from my yeti friends in the Himalayas who suggested I build a workshop and hire some of them to help. It was a marvelous idea! By then I had millions of kids believing in me and counting of Christmas, almost enough to rival Bunny. The idea of my own workshop was so appealing that I could not refuse. The question was where to build it. Sadly, Santoff Claussen was no longer ideal. The children were grown and moving on with their lives and no new families were moving in. Ombric was getting old and ready to retire and even Katherine was all grown up. My inspiration was leaving me. I needed somewhere new, someplace where the distractions of children growing up would not depress me so. Yaloo, an old time friend amongst the yetis, decided that we would go on an expedition to find on new home for me. The Himalayas were nice but the Lunar Lamas can be just as much of a distraction as watching the children who inspired you, grow up and leave. For months we hiked through the frozen tundra of the north while the djinni built toys until we found this." He waved his hand to encompass the North Pole. "And we began to build. But that was not without difficulty. I had unknowingly upset the monarchs of winter. You see, by making the Winter Solstice my holiday children forgot the ancient beings of winter and had begun worshiping me and that was a mistake that nearly cost me my life."