"You believe in Santa Claus?" The gathering schoolgirls laughed.
Lucy nodded, confused. "Don't you?"
"Of course not," a tall, thin girl with a nose that seemed to be perpetually up in the air pushed her way to sneer in Lucy's face. Virginia. "We all know that Santa is just a bedtime story and a way for mums to keep their children good all year."
"That's not true!" Lucy gasped, horrified. "How do you suppose the gifts are in the stockings every year? And how do his cookies disappear?"
Virginia smirked at Lucy as the children laughed all the harder, and then turned quickly on them, glaring at them until they quieted down enough for her to be heard by all. "I'll tell you something, Pevensie, although I doubt you'll believe me. Our dads and mums are the ones to eat the cookies and fill our stockings. They're the ones who read our Christmas lists so they know what to get us. There is no Santa Claus, Pevensie, so quit going on about it."
"But I've seen him! I've talked with him!"
"Oho, did you hear Pevensie, Margaret? She says she's seen the old man!"
Margaret, Virginia's pal, jeered from the crowd. "'Ey, Pevensie, what's he look like?"
Lucy closed her eyes for a moment, and the children fell silent, confused. Lucy paused, her thoughts racing. What did Father Christmas look like? Suddenly she couldn't picture him. She tried to remember how he'd looked when she'd seen him in Narnia. She remembered him handing her the healing cordial and dagger, and could not forget his words to her concerning them, but she couldn't seem to see him…
"Aslan!" Lucy squealed happily. "I'm so glad to see you! But why are you here tonight?"
The others nodded in agreement to her question, although just as excited to see the Great Lion. "You shall see, dear ones," Aslan rumbled with a fierce joy about Him. He then shook His mane. "Cover your ears, My children!" When they complied, He gave a great roar that harked of joy and cheer and spilled throughout all of Narnia. And suddenly, Father Christmas appeared before the Great Lion and bowed low.
"My Lord!" The tall kindly man's white beard came close to brushing the floor before he straightened up and swung his sack from his shoulder, empty. "I am ready."
He paid no attention to the Kings and Queens, almost as if they had not been there.
"Who is this man?" Edmund asked Lucy in a whisper.
"It's Father Christmas!" Lucy grinned. "Remember? He's the one who gave me my cordial and dagger! And Susan her horn and bow, and Peter his sword and shield, and…" She trailed off as she remembered how Edmund had not gotten a gift from Father Christmas that time.
"Oh." Ed looked away from Lucy and watched the man and the Lion again.
Aslan was now breathing on Father Christmas and then on his sack. A hush fell over the room when the bag seemed to glow. It was just as empty as before but Lucy was sure something was special about the bag now.
And then, for the first time, Father Christmas looked upon the four Pevensies. "Children! 'Tis good to see you again!" His voice was jolly and it reminded Lucy of the Lion's joy. "I believe I have some things for you." First he came to Lucy, and knelt before her. "Would you do the honors of giving out the gifts?"
"Yes, sir!" Lucy responded with a small curtsy. She reached her hand into the empty sack and was surprised to feel something cool and smooth. She pulled the object out and found it to be a silk pouch of seeds. "Who's this one for?" She asked.
"This one is for you, dear." Father Christmas told her. "They are larkflower seeds and will grow anywhere they fall if there is sunlight. Plant them wisely and watch them grow as your kingdom thrives." He accepted the hug from the youngest Queen and then gestured to the bag. "The next is for your sister, Queen Susan the Gentle."
Lucy pulled out a silver hairbrush and comb set from the bag and handed them to Su.
"Although these are but ordinary combs, remember that if you use them on others for their good above yours, your own loveliness will seem to have grown in their eyes. The next gift is for the High King Peter Magnificent."
Lucy found the pointed item after a moment and pulled it into the light. It looked like a star pulled from the night sky, and glowed as such.
Father Christmas nodded to Peter. "This is for your private quarters. May your grace always draw strength and light from the Lion just as this special light does." He then looked at Edmund for the first time. "I have not forgotten you, Edmund, Son of Adam and Just King. Lucy, there is one more gift in there for now."
Lucy reached into the sack for the last time and grasped what felt like a wooden handle. She pulled it out and found it to be a finely carved walking stick, colorful vines and flowers etched into the beautiful, straight, and smooth wood. It was taller than Lucy, and just shorter than Edmund. She handed it to Ed and he admired it while listening to the old man's benediction.
"This is more than a mere stick, Highness. It can be used as a weapon and as a walking stick. Your instructors will see that you learn to use it well. Remember: It is not a toy. It is a tool. Use it well and respect the tree that offered the branch to give you such a gift. And I am told that this stick will not easily break." He nodded toward Aslan. "This is a good year; a year of peace. So I have given gifts for times of peace. Since I could not give you a gift last year, I have combined a gift for times of war with a gift for peace into one."
Lucy was shocked to see Edmund weeping.
"Thank you, sir," he nodded to Father Christmas. "Would you… Could you…" He stepped up to Father Christmas and finished his query as a whisper in the man's ear.
"Yes, Son of Adam." The Lion rumbled with what must have been a smile. "They shall receive it."
Lucy and her older two siblings shared a wondering glance but said nothing.
"Go now, faithful servant," Aslan purred to Father Christmas. And the old man snapped his fingers, wrapping the whole of Cair Paravel in beautiful decorations, and disappeared with his sack, leaving one last smile with the Four and the Lion.
When Lucy opened her eyes again, they blazed with a confident fire. "He looks like goodness, like kindness and comfort. As strong as a Lion, but as gentle as a Lamb. He's larger than life, and his joy spills over like sunlight on a gloomy day."
The children laughed and jeered scornfully.
"That's not Santa Claus!" Margaret scoffed.
"More like some creep dream spliced with mum's church friend!" Another kid shouted.
Lucy frowned. "He's not a creep or a dream!" She wished she could show these ignorant girls her gifts from the jolly man over the years, but they'd all been left in Narnia, and the children didn't seem in the mood to look at pretty daggers and flower seeds anyway. They continued to mock and make fun of Lucy until Susan walked around the corner and saw them messing with her little sister.
"Leave her alone or I'll get the headmistress!"
After a few more rebellious jeers now sent Susan's way, the schoolchildren cleared out, and Susan put an arm around Lucy's shoulders and led her away.
"What was it about this time?" She asked once they got to their room.
"I mentioned Santa, and they said he isn't real! How can they think such a thing?"
"Well now," Susan sat down with Lucy on her bed. "Of course they don't believe that he's real. They've never seen him, or heard them, or received something only he could have gotten for them." When Lucy nodded in understanding, Su continued. "And even I don't believe in Santa Claus."
"What?" Lucy couldn't stop her jaw from dropping. "Susan, you've seen him! Your bow and arrows that always hit wherever you aim for, your special horn, your beautiful combs… How can you say Father Christmas isn't real?"
"Shh, of course, I believe in Father Christmas. But I am not convinced that he is the same as Santa. You see, the name Santa Claus is a form of the name of a man who lived a long time ago, Sait Nicholas. People have ascribed many miracles to this Nicholas, and I don't know how much, if any, of it is true, but either way, he's not Father Christmas. Have you thought about how Santa is supposed to look and act? It's not at all how Father Christmas looked. The Father Christmas we knew was the joy, peace, and love of Christmas. He wasn't even the one who really gave the gifts, remember? And even his joy, peace, and love were not his own: he got them all from Aslan. It was almost as if he was a part of Aslan Himself! Father Christmas never wished to be the focus of Christmas; rather to point to Aslan, the One from Whom he was sent."
Lucy wiped away unbidden tears and smiled. "I wish they could meet Him."
"Whom, Father Christmas, or Aslan?"
"Both, but mostly Aslan!" Lucy and Susan shared a special smile.
After a minute of no conversation, Susan told Lucy she needed some air and was going to go walking, but would be back in time for tea.
As she walked through the quiet, peaceful school gardens, Susan thought long and hard about Narnia, Father Christmas, and Aslan. She thought about Tirthan, her last suitor in Narnia before they had stumbled back into England that first time. They would have married… And when she'd checked the history books the Centaurs had kept during the Telmarine reign, she had found no mention of him… She worried, but knew that most probably he had lived a full life after her disappearance and died peacefully… Theirs was a true love, and every day, she missed him more. She began to weep, and quickly stepped behind a tree and sat so that none from the school could see her, immediately wishing that the tree was Narnian and had a willow dryad inside. "I'll never see them again," she whispered, her voice breaking. "Why can't I go back, Aslan? Why do I have to grow up?" Susan sniffled and absently pulled her handkerchief out from her sleeve. "I miss the feel of Your mane, the scent of spring on Your breath, the joy of Your roar. I-I am sure You have good reasons for this. Just– Please, show Yourself to us this Christmas, the way You are in England."
She imagined her prayer floating on the breeze with the spring dancers all the way to Aslan's feet in Narnia and wiped her tear-stained face with her handkerchief. Taking a deep breath, she stood and made her way back to her sister.
"Let's get our packing done for Christmas break before teatime," she told Lu. "That way, we'll be ready to leave as soon as morning comes, and see Pete and Ed all the sooner."