On Christmas Eve, many years ago, I lay quietly in my bed, and did not rustle the sheets. I breathed slowly and silently. I was listening, for a sound I was afraid I'd never hear. The ringing bells of Santa's sleigh.

It was a calm, dark, snowy Christmas Eve night in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The roofs of houses and the branches of trees were covered in snow. Inside one house, a 24-year-old platinum blonde woman, Elsa, suddenly woke up to the sound of ringing bells. She wasn't sure what to make of it at first, but then she heard it again. And again. Elsa turned to her left and looked towards her window as she got out of bed. She briefly rested her arm on an air vent, but quickly flinched when it proved to be warm to the touch. She wiped some mist off her window with her right nightgown sleeve and looked out. No sign of anything out of the ordinary.

The bells rang again. Elsa turned around, looking at her bedroom door. Maybe he was already in the house. Elsa started towards the door, unintentionally kicking a ball into an old toy she left out, where it rolled back and hit a metal plate leaning on the air vent. Elsa briefly froze before she saw the source of the noise. She tiptoed toward her door and quietly opened it. As soon as she was out of her room, she went down the stairs as quietly as she could until she was low enough to get a view of the living room.

There was nothing under the tree. The stockings were empty. The cookies and milk were untouched. Elsa pondered what could have caused the noise when she suddenly heard it again. She looked toward the doorway that led into the kitchen. A shadow started approaching, one that was wearing a Santa hat. Elsa slowly backed away as her eyes widened and her jaw silently dropped.

Suddenly, the shadow split into two.

"Alright, alright Anna, you had your water. Now let's get you upstairs and into bed."

It was only her father, Agnarr, and her younger sister, Anna. Elsa frowned in disapproval before she ran back up the stairs and into her room. She looked at her sister's room across the hall through the keyhole in her door.

"But Elsa said Santa would have to fly faster than the speed of light to get to everyone's house in one night."

"So?"

"And to hold everyone's presents, his sled would have to be bigger than an ocean liner!"

"Well your sister said that? Well, she was just kidding you. She knows there's a Santa."

"She said she wasn't sure. She wasn't sure if Santa was for real."

"Well of course Santa is for real, he's as real as Christmas itself!"

"But he won't come until you're sound asleep, young lady." Said their mother, Iduna, as she entered Anna's room and kissed her on the forehead.

"Sweet dreams."

"Santa will be here before you know it. So go to sleep!" Said Agnarr as he turned off the lamp and closed the door to Anna's room as he and Iduna exited. A Santa hat with a jingle bell on it hung by his hip.

Elsa, now knowing the source of the sound, slowly backed away from her door. She grabbed a flashlight, turned it on, and opened the bottom drawer of her dresser. She stepped on it as she opened the top drawer and pulled out some papers, setting the flashlight down on top of the dresser. An old holiday card from Herpolsheimer's where the fake Santa's beard was getting pulled off. Part of an old newspaper titled "SANTA'S ON STRIKE!" The cover of a magazine with a terrified-looking kid holding parts of a Santa costume titled "THE DISCOVERY".

After observing them, Elsa pointed the flashlight to the other side of her room, toward a collection of World Books in alphabetical order on a shelf above her desk. She grabbed the "N-O" book and put it on her desk, flipping to the page dedicated to the North Pole. Elsa read some bold words to herself.

"Stark. Barren. Devoid of life."

Before she could read more, she heard approaching footsteps. Elsa turned off the flashlight, closed the book, jumped back into bed, and pulled the sheets over herself, closing her eyes right as Agnarr opened the door and he and Iduna walked in.

"She's gotta be asleep by now." Said Agnarr.

"She used to stay awake all night waiting for Santa." Said Iduna.

"I think those days are just about over."

"Oh, that would be sad if that were true."

"Yeah, the end of the magic."

Elsa opened her eyes in surprise upon hearing this, but closed them when she sensed that Iduna was over her.

"Merry Christmas, Sweetheart." She said as she kissed Elsa on the cheek.

Elsa opened her right eye, looking at her parents through the reflection on the plate by the air vent as they went back into the hall.

"She's out like a light. An express train wouldn't wake her up now." Said Agnarr as he closed the door.

Elsa opened her other eye as she contemplated her father's words.

"End of the magic?" She said to herself, confused.

Elsa turned over so that her head was flat on her pillow, looking at the shadows the falling snow on the other side of her window made on the ceiling. She turned to the ticking analog clock on her nightstand. 10:20 P.M. Elsa stared at the ceiling some more before she closed her eyes as her clock continued ticking.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...