Ethan went to his locker to take out the gift for Carol. He was about to leave the locker room when somebody stopped him.

“We’ve got a job to do,” said the demon.

“I just need five minutes to —” started Ethan.

“There’s no time,” said Krampus. “There’s a Christmas emergency.”

“The storm?” asked Ethan.

“A special delivery,” said Krampus.

Ethan tried to walk past Krampus with his packages, but Krampus, with a wave of his hand, forced Ethan to sit down on the ground, the package dropping at his feet.

Krampus picked up the package while Ethan was paralyzed and put it back in the locker.

“You have two options,” said Krampus. “Either you get in the air, or you stay grounded until after Christmas Eve’s done. Are you going to act like a boy, or like a bear?”

“Like a bear,” grumbled Ethan in a decidedly ursine tone.

“That’s what I thought,” said Krampus. “Due to the weather, a very large cruise ship for single moms and their kids won’t make it into dock tonight, as they’re running three days late on their journey. The ship has food and water, but, didn’t prepare for delays. That means there’s no Christmas joy to be found on the ship, for over five hundred children. Sticking the landing on a cruise ship is going to be hard. It’s a moving target, after all. Now, I’m going to ask you one more time — are you going to act like a boy, or like a bear?”

“Like a bear,” roared Ethan.

“That’s what I want to hear,” said Krampus with a grin.

Carol looked at her watch. Where was Ethan? He’d left over half an hour ago.

“Why so glum, sugar plum?” asked a friendly voice.

“Hey, Avery,” said Carol. “I just…well, my Secret Santana kinda bailed on me.”

“Who got you?” asked Carol.

“Ethan,” said Carol. “I got him for Secret Santana too. We were doing the gift exchange, and he claimed he had to go to his locker to get my gift. Well, I’ve been waiting here for thirty minutes, and he hasn’t shown back up.”

“This is a big building,” said Avery. “Maybe he got lost.”

“Ha, really?” asked Carol. “Okay. Maybe he got lost. I’ll give him, oh, thirty more minutes to show up…and if he doesn’t, I guess we’ll know just how seriously he takes this relationship.”

Even though Ethan had been briefed on what would happen, he was still shocked when, one minute, he was above The North Pole, nearly right above the glowing gumdrop on top of the giant candy cane, and then, suddenly, he was in the air over someplace in the Caribbean. He could practically smell the coconuts.

“Prancer, you see the red light down there?” asked Krampus, using Ethan’s call sign, the name of his reindeer shift

“Yes,” said Ethan, speaking into the special comms device that let Ethan and Krampus talk, even though Ethan was in his reindeer shift. Krampus’s fluency in reindeer was pretty dang useful.

“That’s the cruise ship. Cloaking devices have been activated on the sleigh, the reindeer, and of course, The Jolly Fellow and his big sack,” said Krampus.

Ha! giggled Prancer. Sack!

Real mature for a mystical shift, said Ethan, rolling his eyes.

“Now, you’re going to land next to the pool,” said Krampus. “You don’t want to be detected. Pick somewhere where there aren’t any people. Everyone should be asleep or at scheduled activities right now. It’s too late for a swim.”

“Got it,” said Ethan.

Ethan was one of the swing deer. Dasher and Dancer were the leads, leading the sleigh itself. Ethan was paired with Vixen. Ethan and Vixen, as the swing deer, had to make sure the rest of the reindeer followed Dasher and Dancer’s directional lead. To do that, Ethan and Vixen basically had to ‘swing’ the rest of the reindeer in the right direction. The position took brains, but it also took brawn.

Ethan watched as Dasher and Dancer came onto the empty cruise ship hot. There wasn’t enough room for the sleigh, as the pool was surrounded by chairs. Either they landed on the chairs, or they landed in the pool. Those were their only two options.

Ethan braced for impact as Dasher and Dancer hit the hard wooden deck of the pool area and pushed the pool chairs out of the way for the rest of the reindeer.

Santana got out of the sleigh with his bag. The bag was big, but could it really hold enough presents for five hundred kids?

“How’s he going to get those presents into the rooms?” asked Ethan.

“Some call it Christmas magic,” said Krampus with a grin Ethan could hear over the phone. “Others…well, they’d call it breaking and entering.”

Carol had waited and waited and waited, two more hours, and Ethan still hadn’t shown up. She tried to distract herself by playing outside in the snow with Pandora and Jack, who were both ridiculously good at playing in the snow if that could be described as a sort of skill. They were able to build things that made Ethan look like frikkin’ Carol in terms of inexperience. Somehow, Jack had managed to create a full gazebo out of snow. He refused to give away his secret.

Carol looked at her watch and saw that two hours had passed.

“Shit,” cursed Carol. “Really?”

“What’s wrong?” asked Pandora.

“Ethan never came back to the party,” said Carol. “He’s the person who got me for Secret Santana, and he went to get the present and never came back.”

“He must’ve had a good reason,” said Jack. “Ethan loves you, Carol. He’d never hurt you.”

“No way,” said Carol. “There’s no way that Ethan loves me. Uh-uh. Sure. Maybe when reindeers fly.”

Pandora and Jack exchanged a look.

“Ethan does love you,” said Jack. “He told me himself, but it doesn’t take a genius he’s into more than just your curves.”

Pandora elbowed her best friend for bringing hot bodies into the equation.

“Look, I’m sure whatever he’s doing, it’s important, and he has a good explanation for doing it,” said Jack. “Just have some faith that everything will be okay.”

“It’s Christmas Eve,” said Pandora. “It’s one of the most magical times of the year. Who knows what might happen? After all, the evening is young.”

“Ha, ‘magic,’” snorted Carol. “As if magic really exists.”

“Prancer, what’re you doing?” asked Krampus. “That’s some of the worst flying I’ve seen from you, ever. Are you hurt?”

“I’m distracted,” admitted Ethan.

“By what?” asked Krampus.

“You know what,” said Ethan. “She’s going to think I hate her, that I ran away from her for no reason, and then, she’s going to hate me.”

“If I go and give her your stupid Secret Santana present, will that shut you up?” asked Krampus.

“Only one way to find out,” retorted Ethan.

“Fine, back in five, and get your shit together,” ordered Krampus. “It’s Christmas Eve. Act like it.”

Carol was eating a dark chocolate chip cookie. It was both bitter and sweet, like her evening. A familiar man in a black suit came up to her.

“Hey,” said Carol.

“Hey yourself,” said Krampus. “Here.”

“What’s this?” asked Carol, taking the present from Krampus. “I thought Ethan was my Secret Santana.”

“He is, and he has to work, so he sent me to give you this,” said Krampus.

“I don’t want it unless Ethan gives it to me in person to show he’s serious,” said Carol.

“Girl, you’re getting on my last nerve,” said Krampus. “Ethan loves you. Everyone can tell. He also has to work. It’s not his decision. Are you going to accept his gift, or are you going to let one bad thing stand in the way of a lifetime of true love? So many people would kill to have what you have. I’d kill for it. And you have it, and you just want to toss it away? No. I can’t let that happen. Take the fuckin’ gift and have a Merry fuckin’ Christmas.”

“Message received, loud and clear,” said Carol, taking the package from Krampus. “You didn’t need to get so worked up over this.”

“Krampus! How dare you speak to one of my workers that way!” said Avery in a fury, storming up to the man in the black suit.

Carol left the two bosses to quarrel and went to find a sofa she could sit on while opening Ethan’s gift.

“It’s done,” said Krampus.

“What did she say?” asked Ethan.

“About what you’d expect from a woman jilted on Christmas Eve,” admitted Krampus. “I got her to take the gift, though, but Avery whipped my hide like my birch switches on a bad boy’s bum.”

“You never used the switch on me,” said Ethan.

“There’s still time,” threatened Krampus. “Get your head back in the game, Prancer. You’re one of the swing reindeer. You can make this Ride go faster by helping lead the rest of the team. Finish The Ride, get home, and go win the girl.”

Ethan took Krampus’ pep talk to heart. He wanted to get back to The North Pole as soon as possible. As soon as The Ride was done, he could get back to Carol, and explain why he’d left the party.

Every time Santana took the sleigh back up in the air, Ethan made sure to watch Dasher and Dancer like hawks, figuring out how to tell which way they were moving within seconds of them changing directions. Any directional change they made, no matter how small, he made sure to follow it. Shaving seconds off of each landing led to shaving minutes and maybe hours off of The Ride. Every second mattered if it meant he could get to Carol before she left town.

“Hey, Carol,” said a familiar voice. “You doing okay there?”

Carol looked up and saw Avery was standing near her. Around her, the various folks were cleaning up the aftermath of the party.

“Wow. I kinda missed the party,” said Carol. “I’m fine. I was just doing some reading.”

“I can see that,” said Avery. “Are you ready to head home? I know you wanted to leave early tomorrow morning. I wish you’d stay another day, but…you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.”

“Yeah, I’m ready,” said Carol. She put her things in her tote bag and got up. As she walked with Avery, she noticed that there were many pastry boxes left on the buffet table.

“Hey, are those boxes empty?” asked Carol.

“No,” said Avery. “We actually ended up having leftovers this year – the first year in a long time. Usually, everything at the parties gets snatched right up! This year, we had some extra boxes of cookies leftover.”

“That’s more than just some,” said Carol, looking over the dozens of boxes of cookies. “Are they all going to go to waste?”

“I’m sure people around the office will eat them,” said Avery.

Carol walked with Avery and stopped again.

“What is it?” asked Avery.

“I know this is probably silly…but, what if there was a better thing to do with all those cookies than just let a bunch of office workers eat them tomorrow as a stale snack?” asked Carol.

“I’m listening,” said Avery, putting a hand on her hip.

“What if…we took them back to The Wreath and gave them to the needy? After all – what’s Christmas without some cookies?” asked Carol. “Growing up…you know I didn’t have good Christmases. But there’s no reason other people shouldn’t have the same fun we had here tonight. Well, the same fun everyone else had, given I was busy being a sad sack. The only problem is, I don’t know how we’ll get the word out about the free boxes of cookies.”

“Carol, don’t you worry about that,” said Avery with a smile. “The Wreath is a small town, after all. I can just make a few phone calls, and we can make something happen. I do have to ask – why the change of heart?”

“It’s a long story, but I think that spreading some Christmas cheer is what I oughta do, given my secret Christmas angel gave me all these nice things,” said Carol, motioning over the brand-new clothes she was wearing. “It wouldn’t cost us anything to spread that joy.”

“Spreading joy is precisely what we’re gonna do,” promised Avery.

The cold wind nipped at Ethan’s nose as he flew through the air. The chilly air moved through his fur in waves. Boreas Winter and his ice elementals had whipped up quite the winter storm and had put the sleigh team behind schedule.

Ethan landed his hooves on a worn rooftop. They were in a poorly lit area of a major city. In the distance, he could see Christmas lights, but there were no Christmas lights strung up on the streets of this neighborhood. Still, many of the houses had the familiar glow of Christmas lights.

“Alright, reindeer,” Santana called out. “You’re going to need to help me out with the deliveries. Boreas’ storm is one for the record books. If we all deliver the presents together, we’ll get out of here faster than we got here. We went over this in training. Grab your sacks from the back of the sleigh. Go down the chimneys. Deliver the presents. Get the fuck out. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!” replied all the shifters as soon as they’d turned back into their human forms, including Ethan.

“Then what the fuck are you waiting for?” asked Santana. “Move, move, move!”

Ethan grabbed the sack marked ‘Prancer’ from the back of the sleigh and listened to directions given to him by the elves at The Workshop. He was told what chimneys to jump in and what gifts to deliver.

While the other shifters were quickly jumping in and out of the chimneys, finishing their first, second, and even third deliveries, Ethan was standing still. He was fully stealthed via Christmas magic, in his tactical suit that magically stayed on his body even when he shifted. The family he’d visited couldn’t see him.

Ethan had seen all kinds of Christmases. He’d seen Christmases at Nuthusk where the community went caroling the same way other towns went trick-or-treating at Halloween. He had fond memories of opening gifts with his siblings underneath the cozy family mantle covered in family photos. He’d seen fancy New York City Christmases, all the biggest trees, most expensive ornaments, and luxurious treats that money could buy.

He had never seen this kind of Christmas.

The house was cold. The heat wasn’t on, but the fireplace was. There was only a single log in the fireplace, and the family was huddled close to the hearth for warmth. A grandmother sitting in a worn rocking chair read aloud a Christmas story from an even more worn out book. The kids were all bundled up with blankets and the sweaters and scarves of the adults, who sat on the couch, pretending not to be cold when they were all noticeably shivering.

There were no cookies on the mantle for Santa. There was no glass of milk. Instead, the kids shared a few cookies among themselves. Ethan knew that’s what Santana would’ve wanted. No. Santana wouldn’t’ve wanted that – he would’ve wanted these kids to have a better Christmas, a better life.

Ethan had taken his money for granted, his life and privileges for granted.

“Prancer?” called comms. “You’re behind on deliveries. You need to haul ass.”

“Sorry,” said Ethan. He quickly dropped off the gifts, flew up the chimney, and headed to the next house, where he delivered gifts like rapid-fire. He was cold and mechanical, delivering the gifts as fast as possible because he knew if he stopped to look at the situations, he would get hypnotized by the sobering reality of poverty at Christmas time.

“That’s the last of them,” said one of the elves. “Get back in position. Time for another flight.”

Ethan got in position. He was the first reindeer to have finished his deliveries.

“Damn, Prancer,” said Santana. “My elves tell me you were the slowest at first, and then, became the first to finish your deliveries. What’s your secret?”

“It’s Christmas, this is my job, and I’m a billionaire,” said Ethan. “Doesn’t that mean I’m supposed to be good at my fucking job?”

“I suppose it does,” answered Santana with a chuckle, knowing the truth.

For the first time in a long time, Prancer didn’t make Ethan’s mark burn when he cursed.

“There we go,” said Avery. “It’s perfect.”

Carol looked around. They’d set up the bakery so that families could come and pick up boxes of cookies for free. There was also a station with hot Christmas beverages and other treats. After all, the families needed something to enjoy on their way home.

“This is perfect,” said Carol. “I think we can open the doors now.”

Avery flipped the sign on the door to read ‘Open,’ and she turned on the neon sign. Five minutes passed by, and nobody came.

Then, there was a knock at the door.

Carol hurried to the door and opened it. “Please, come in!”

In walked a single father with four kids.

“Hello,” said the man. “I know this might sound crazy, but I heard you were giving away free cookies?”

“We are!” said Carol. “Come right this way. We made too many cookies and wanted to give them to families that would enjoy them. Four kids…here! This should be enough cookies!” Carol passed the man a big box of cookies.

“I don’t know what to say,” said the man. “I thought this was some practical joke someone was playing. I can’t believe you’re being so generous.”

“Well, y’all should help yourselves to the treats on the table,” said Avery. “We’ve got hot cocoa, eggnog – alcohol-free, of course, and hot cider, and tea…and all those pastries, they’re free too.”

“Wow, they are?” asked one of the kids.

“It must be a Christmas miracle,” said the other.

“Thank you, Christmas angels!” said the third kid.

The fourth kid was already stuffing a cookie into their mouth.

After the family left, Carol looked to Avery.

“Well, at least we got one set of takers,” said Carol. “Scratch that – five takers.”

“The night is young,” said Avery. “You’ll be surprised what can happen at the last minute, especially on Christmas Eve.”

“Ethan, you need to be careful out there,” said Krampus, speaking into the comms device. “You’re delivering presents in record time. You know what happens to reindeer that break records on Christmas? They break limbs being careless.”

“I’m fine,” insisted Ethan, hoping down the chimney, tossing the gifts underneath the tree, and hopping back up the chimney. “I didn’t become a billionaire by being careless. I became one for many reasons…and one of those reasons was stinginess.”

“And?” asked Krampus, watching as Ethan made another set of deliveries in mere seconds.

“And this is the first Christmas where I’m being a Santa instead of a Scrooge,” said Ethan.

It had been slow going at first, but more and more people visited the bakery. There weren’t lines out the door, but, by the end of the night, they’d given away all the boxes of chocolate chip cookies and the leftover pastries they’d made for the folks coming to pick up the cookies.

The last family left with the last box of cookies, and after an hour of no activity, Carol and Avery decided to call it quits. It was time for them to go home.

“I think we made a lot of Christmases special this year,” said Avery, as Carol swept the floor.

“I just wish I’d done more,” admitted Carol.

“You did something – which is more than most do,” admitted Avery. “Merry Christmas, Carol. Now, you need to get out of here so you can sleep for The Ride – I mean, sleep for your ride tomorrow. I’ll clean all this up and lock up, okay?”

“Really?” asked Carol, putting down her broom.

“Hon, you’ve done a lot of good tonight,” said Avery, pulling Carol in for a hug. “Now, let me give you the gift of getting to bed at a reasonable hour. Merry Christmas, Carol.”

“Merry Christmas, Avery,” said Carol, giving Avery a smile before leaving the bakery.