Page 14 of Sleigh Rides With St. Nick

I tried to imagine what that must have been like, but I couldn't.It was so far from the world I'd grown up in that I didn't even know where to start.

"That was when I met Annabelle.The girl, not the doll," Nick said."She was a bright child, always asking questions.Sometimes, she'd help me when I was stuck with something on a toy.She played with a lot of my prototypes, but she never had a doll of her own.I didn't know the methods the best nineteenth-century dollmakers were using at the time, but I knew she desperately wanted a doll like that, but that her mother couldn't afford one."

"That must have been hard."I looked down at the doll's face.She looked exactly like I'd expect from a Victorian doll.Perfect and poised.

"It was.But I was determined, so I started learning the techniques I'd need to make the doll she wanted, and that's when I started working on this doll for her," Nick said."But then Annabelle got sick."His voice cracked as he said the word.

"She died, didn't she?"

He nodded."Before I'd finished the doll."He reached out to touch the fabric of the doll's dress."I wished she'd gotten to see it."

"I'm sorry she didn't."

"Me too.After that, I increased the number of toys I gave to children.Before, it had just been a handful of children whose families I'd met over the year.After Annabelle died, I decided to make more of a thing of it and filled a sack with toys to take down the street.It started with the toys that I didn't want in the shop anymore.But then as manufacturing became more of a thing, I could do more."

"You still do it, don't you?"I wasn't sure what made me so certain of it, maybe it was just something in his voice.

"Yes," he responded."Every year.But you can't use that for any marketing you do," he warned me.

"Why not?People love to support conscientious businesses."

"Because I don't do it for the business.The business exists because I want to do this, not the other way around."

"Ah."I studied his face, noticing the slight pain in his eyes and the determination in the set of his jaw.He wasn't going to budge on not letting this become part of the company's marketing, and I could respect that.But it was interesting to hear what had brought him to that point."You said that was how you became Santa like we know him now?"I asked.

"Not quite.Santa actually came over from America.I was just Father Christmas.But yes, that's how I became known for giving out presents.The children would tell their friends about the man with the sack of presents who came at Christmas time, and then they'd tell their friends, and so far.I travelled around Europe at other points and did similar things there, which is how a lot of their traditions started.And before I knew it, I was Father Christmas as everyone thinks of him today."

"But that was only the eighteen-hundreds, right?What about before then?"I asked, leaning closer than I should.There was something so captivating about him that I wasn't able to get out of his orbit, even if I wanted to.

"Ah, before that it was all about feasting.I was the Lord of Misrule."

"I don't even know what that is," I admitted.

"It was something the Church came up with.They'd make one of the low-down members of the clergy into the Lord of Misrule to watch over the Feast of Fools."

"That all sounds made up," I said.

"Everything is made up, that doesn't mean it isn't real," he responded."By the time I was made immortal, the Feast of Fools had become something bigger, it was done at court, at least up until the reformation, then it was the same thing, but a different title."

"All right, tell me.What else did they call you?"I asked.

He stroked his beard as he thought about it."Oh, let's see if I can remember.It was things like the Prince of Christmas, the Christmas Lord, or Captain Christmas."

I snorted, going to cover my mouth with my hand after I did."Sorry, it's just, Captain Christmas sounds like a superhero."

He chuckled."I guess it does, but I can assure you, that's what they called me.It was all about feasting and making merry."

"That does sound nice," I admitted.

"You should come this year."

"What?To a feast?"

"Yes, absolutely.It's on Friday.You can bring your friends."

"Is it going to be decked out like a Tudor court?"I asked.

He laughed, the sound lightening the previous mood."Yes and no.People aren't going to be walking around in hoods and ruffs, if that's what you mean.But some of the dishes will look just like they did.The atmosphere won't be that different than it used to be."

---