ho ho ho!

[pere_noel]

Christmas morning wasn't usually like this. In fact, Christmas morning Nick was usually fast asleep after a long (very long, incomprehensibly long) night's work. But the island was a very different place, and called for a very different approach. So Nick woke up with the dawn, dressed in a pair of dark trousers and a warm red sweater he'd found in

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[nowwearesix]

And there came Christopher Robin down to the fire, dragging his Bear behind him, thump, thump, thump against the floor. "Good morning," he said happily. "Merry Christmas!"

[pere_noel]

"Merry Christmas!" said Nick happily. "You're up bright and early, aren't you? Are you and your bear having a good Christmas?"

[nowwearesix]

"Oh, yes!" Christopher Robin said happily. "Very much. Are you?"

[pere_noel]

"I," said Nick, "am having a wonderful Christmas. "I've got my cookies and my tea and my bag of gifts... and I haven't any idea what more an old man could ask for on a day like today."

[nowwearesix]

"Bag of gifts?" Christopher Robin was a good little boy, but even good little boys had ears that were attuned to certain words more than others. "Who are they for?"

[pere_noel]

"They're for everybody," said Nick, patting the bag with one large hand. "If you've been a good boy this year, there might even be one in there for you."

[nowwearesix]

Christopher Robin looked at the bag. So did Pooh. They'd had presents this morning, island presents. That didn't mean they wouldn't like more. "Really?"

[pere_noel]

"Really," said Nick, quite solemnly. "You'll have to tell me though, son, just what it is you'd like to receive for Christmas."

[nowwearesix]

Christopher Robin cocked his head to one side. "What sorts of things do you have?"

[pere_noel]

"Well," said Nick, as though giving the question a great deal of thought, "mostly I have wooden toys in here, though I have a few other things too because sometimes grown-ups like to get presents as well."

[nowwearesix]

Oh, well that made things easy, then. "Do you have a train?" asked Christopher Robin hopefully, eyeing the bag.

[pere_noel]

Nick's eyes positively twinkled at that. "Oh yes," he said, "I have trains. As a matter of fact, trains are one of my very favourite things." He reached into his sack and pulled out wooden train car after wooden train car until there were about a dozen sitting in a pile in front of Christopher Robin, just waiting to all be hooked together in various combinations.