"Don't you think, Leela, that it doesn't make sense?" the Doctor asked, looking at the trail of pine needles that had been left in the forest.
"What doesn't make sense?" Leela asked distractedly, concentrating on tracing the pine needle trail. She shivered, cold even in the fur coat the Doctor had made her wear. She wasn't used to a cold planet.
"Well, that these pine needles should fall so uniformly. They're all in a straight line, look." The Doctor pointed out the thin trail.
"Not if it was dragged by something very large," Leela answered, although she had noted the odd placement and shape of the trail when she started tracing it. She wasn't going to give the Doctor the satisfaction of knowing he was onto something though. He knew everything else, tracking and survival were her areas of expertise. And janus thorns. She was very good with janus thorns.
The trail started to thin, and Leela jumped up. "Come on, Doctor, we're getting close!" She stomped through the snow as quickly as she could, leaving the Doctor to catch up behind her, his long scarf trailing in the snow.
The trail continued to thin until they reached a clearing, where there was a little log house with smoke coming out of the chimney.
"Well, isn't that nice? It looks just a like a Christmas card. Don't you think it looks just like a Christmas card?" the Doctor asked as he joined Leela.
"What's a Christmas card?" Leela asked, but the Doctor didn't hear her. He was already striding up to the door and starting to pound on it.
"Hello? Is there anyone in there?" The Doctor stepped back as the door opened, revealing a small room with three small children and a man with a brown beard.
"Who are you?"
"Well, I'm the Doctor and this is Leela. Would you mind telling us where we are?"
One of the children, a small girl, came up and tugged on her father's coat. "Daddy? Is it good luck if we have visitors on Christmas Eve?"
"Christmas Eve? Is it Christmas Eve?" the Doctor asked, making his way inside. There was only one room, with a cheerful fire in the fireplace. The two older children looked at the Doctor and Leela curiously.
"Yes, it is Christmas Eve. I'm Harold Altmeyer," their host said. "These are my children, William, Marta, and Jane." The littlest girl waved at them shyly.
The Doctor made his way to the fire, saying, "We were wondering who was responsible for the trail of pine needles. That's a lovely tree, by the way."
Leela turned around, astonished to see a large pine tree standing in the corner, decorated with candles. "Why is there a tree in the house?" She asked in confusion.
"It's a Christmas tree," the young boy, William, answered in some confusion.
"What is Christmas?" Leela burst out, tired of everyone talking about it without explaining what it was.
"You don't know what Christmas is?" William asked incredulously. His father shushed him, but the Doctor grinned broadly.
"It's a holiday, Leela. People celebrate being together at the end of another year, and they make spectacular puddings and give each other presents."
"And set up trees indoors?" Leela asked.
"Why, yes," the Doctor said. "You know, I was at the very first Christmas."
"That's impossible," Marta said.
"Is it?" the Doctor asked, an exaggerated look of surprise appearing on his face. He sat down in front of the fire, pulling a yo-yo from his pocket and began showing William how to use it. "You know the story of the three kings, I suppose?"
"Yes," Marta answered, while her father looked on, uncertain of what was going on in his house tonight.
"What they don't tell you is that there were four travelers that night. How else do you think they would have found where they were going?" the Doctor said.
"But you are not a king," Leela protested.
"Well, of course not. That's why I'm not in the story," the Doctor said, standing up quickly. "Now, isn't there a tradition of singing carols? I always liked that tradition, you know."
Leela was thoroughly confused by the carol singing, since everyone knew the songs by heart but her. The Doctor's booming voice led them through enough songs to last an hour, after which they all sat tiredly in front of the fire.
"On my world, we do not have songs like these," Leela said rather wistfully. The songs on her world were all pounding rhythms and fast-paced. Good for dancing to, which was what they were for, but not good for much else. Certainly not for the fellowship of sitting together and singing like they did tonight.
"What do you mean, on your world?" Harold Altmeyer asked.
"Didn't we tell you? We're not from here," the Doctor said with a grin.
"Are you angels?" Little Jane asked, wide-eyed.
"No, I'm a Time Lord," the Doctor said. "But Leela here is human, she's just from another world." He said this as if it were the most obvious fact, but the Altmeyer's stared at him in disbelief.
"Doctor, I think we should get back to the TARDIS," Leela said in an aside, before turning to their hosts and saying, "Thank you for your hospitality." The Doctor never seemed to know when he should leave a situation, and so she had taken to leading him around as much as she could. This wasn't often, he was such a forceful personality, but on occasion it worked. Like today.
"Yes, thank you very much," the Doctor said as he strode out into the snow. Leela ran to catch up.
"You know where the TARDIS is?"
"Of course I know where the TARDIS is?" the Doctor said irritably, before looking back at the cabin. "Lovely people, weren't they lovely people?"
"Yes," Leela said. Anyone who could live in this lonely, cold location was at least as hardy as she was, and she respected hardiness above all else. "Earth holidays are much quieter than Sevateem holidays," she observed.
The Doctor laughed, "You should see Time Lord holidays. Most of the time I wasn't sure if I was at a holiday or a funeral. Ah, here we are." He opened the doors of the TARDIS, letting Leela inside. The hum of the engines seemed loud against the silence of the forest outside, and Leela suddenly thought it strange that there were no signs of life aside from the little cabin and its inhabitants.
"Doctor? Where are we?"
"Just a little stretch of forest that doesn't matter to anyone. Except the Altmeyer's, I suppose," the Doctor answered, pushing buttons on the console.
"I don't think they are exactly what they seem," Leela said slowly. No one could live as the only living beings around. It was impossible.
"Well, of course they're not. Nothing ever is," the Doctor said. Seeing she was going to get no answer out of him , she leaned against the console and hoped they would at least go somewhere warm next.