Ms. Claus. Chapter 1. Santa Claus is finally retiring and is leaving the reigns to his eldest daughter, Buffy. Everyone disagrees that a Ms. Claus would not a be able to fill in the shoes of old Saint Nick, but Buffy has her own style that surprises them all.
Once upon a time, on a cold winter's night…well it's always cold in the North Pole; a city awakens to the arrival of the Christmas season. Lights twinkled brightly on countless of trees and little houses were decorated beautifully. The snow gives the final touch to the winter wonderland place, where Saint Nick continues his work for his once a year round of the world.
Letters come rushing in thousands of bags and they pile up to the ceiling, creating a mountainous terrain. A man with glasses and not very fat sat by the fire reading the letters that the children of the world sent to him.
"Dad," says a young girl entering the room. She could not see him because of the mountains of letters blocking her view. "Where are you? Marco…"
"Polo," replies the man from a distance. The two continue and finally the young girl finds him.
"I baked these cookies for you." The man turns around and looks at the girl. He takes a deep breath and takes one cookie off of the plate. As he takes a bite, he wishes they would taste good or at least be eatable. After the bite, he opens his eyes and is relieved that the cookies were more than eatable.
"They are wonderful, Buffy," says the man. Buffy smiles.
"I knew with a lot of hard work, I would make them eatable some day. Thanks to mom."
"I never doubted you."
"I don't know how you do it." Buffy looks at all the letters. "There are so many."
"It takes the same thing that it took you to make these cookies eatable."
"I don't think that I'll be able to do this."
"You can do anything once you set your mind to it."
"Well, I'll leave you to your work." Buffy exits the room.
The holiday season was Buffy's favorite, there's no doubt about that because she is the daughter of old Saint Nick. The spirit is inside of her and even the incredible magic of Christmas itself. She also loves to go into different cities every year to see how different people spent their holidays.
Her second favorite thing to do during this holiday is going shopping for toys. She had a North Pole Express card that was limitless. (The idea of it is hard to explain, so I won't explain it.) Buffy had a knack for picking particular toys and had always told her dad that instead of making the toys, to buy them in the store like everyone else. He never agreed to such a thing, though some toys for very good kids, he would wave that as an exception.
Buffy is a smart young lady, petite for her age, but pretty like princesses from fairy tales. She is best friends with all the elves. The elves are a variety of sizes and Santa loves them all as if they were his children. Buffy was the size of the taller elves and she befriended two particular ones named Willow and Oz. The two were dating and had always hoped for Buffy to find a man of her own.
"Guys, do you want to try my cookies?" asks Buffy when she found her two friends.
"Buffy, we love you and all, but…" says Willow.
"We want to live and keep our teeth," says Oz.
"I'm serious here," says Buffy with a smile. "My dad tasted them and he said they were great."
"Okay, I trust the big guy, so I'll give it try," says Oz as he takes a cookie. Willow then follows.
"Buffy, they are good," says Willow.
"Thanks," replies Buffy.
The work of an elf was never done. It takes one whole year for Santa and his elves to round up the toys for the next Christmas Eve. The head elf, named Connor, was the busiest of them all. He had to assist Santa in all his activities and keep a track of the new children being born every year. With all the responsibilities that this one tall elf had, he still had time to admire a beauty that he could never have. That one girl that he wished would be his was Santa's daughter, Buffy.
After reading all the lists, Santa's workshop becomes busy making the toys that the children want. Buffy watches over everything as she does every year before she heads out to one of the cities of the world to spend Christmas with them. Then on Christmas day, she would return to join her own family back in the North Pole.
On the second week of December, Buffy is already packing for her trip to the United States and a state called California. She had uncovered that this very state had a little town that has never been mentioned on any map called Sunnydale. The uniqueness of the town reminds her of her own home in the North Pole.
"Sweetheart, do you have to go this year?" says Joyce, her mother and Mrs. Santa Claus.
"Mom, you know I always do this," says Buffy. "There is no difference."
"But I thought that you could spend Christmas Eve with me."
"I love to, mom, but I really want to check this little town out. I'll bring you a souvenir." Joyce gives her a smile and hugs her daughter.
"Maybe one of those snow globes with the town's name on it."
"A snow globe it is." Buffy pulls out her digital organizer and writes down 'mom-snow globe.' She then grabs her bag, kisses her mom and heads out the door. Buffy meets with Willow outside her door.
"Your mother is right," says Willow. Buffy stops and turns to her friend. "You should spend Christmas Eve here with us. We have this great party and we do gift exchange."
"Really," says Buffy. "That sounds nice, but you know I only get to do this during this season. I never get to go out of here and during this season is when I can."
"But it's just once, Buffy. It would really be fun."
"Love to, but I'm really excited of the city I'll be staying in. It's called Sunnydale. I've never heard of it before."
"Me either. Must be pretty small." The two head into the workshop, where Oz was making guitars out of wood.
"Hey, Buffy," says Oz. "You're leaving already."
"Yep," replies Buffy. "Nice guitar."
"Thanks."
"Oz loves making instruments. I keep telling him he should be a musician."
"What, and leave this gig, I don't think so," says Oz.
"Well, gotta go," says Buffy. "See you guys on Christmas day." Buffy starts heading to the door and then she begins to feel something in her heart sting her. She takes shallow breaths and turns back around to look at the shop. She sees her dad walking up some stairs and then he stops suddenly and puts his hand on his chest. He then begins to lean on the railing.
"Giles," says Connor the head elf, who is standing right next to him. "Are you okay?" The railing breaks and Giles falls from the second floor.
"Oh my gosh, daddy!" says Buffy.