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[pere_noel]

It was Christmas Day, and in the world of Saint Nick, that meant only one thing: making sure that every girl and boy got their piece of holiday cheer. Nick'd been hard at work for weeks now, using his time on the island not only to acquaint himself with the people but also to craft enough gifts to ensure everyone had a happy holiday. It might not

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[savedthatjaffa]

Carolyn was thinking about Christmas, which happened to be her birthday, but mostly, she was thinking about her grandfather. Every year up until he died, she could remember the box he'd brought. Origami paper. Thousands of sheets of it, all different colors, all different textures, some very large, some small. He'd always give her just enough to last until the next year, just enough to keep her fingers quick.

"Fold me a hawk!" he'd say. "Quicker, Carolyn. No, too big. I want a baby one. The tiniest you can make." And she'd make him a hawk the size of a postage stamp. He asked for smaller every time. The best she'd been able to do was a half-postage stamp, and he'd clapped and showered her with praise. When she got very, very good at that, he taught her how to fold palm sized dragons out of very large squares of paper. The detail (every scale, every claw) had blown her away

[pere_noel]

"I am very much real," Nick assured her, encouraging her to come and sit with him on this Christmas Day. "And I expect, if your grandfather would have loved to see me, then I would have loved to see him as well. As I am very happy to see you. Milk and cookies?"

[savedthatjaffa]

Lam smiled and found herself a seat. Christmas had long been an empty holiday filled with meaningless commercialism and the empty spot in her father's armchair. Truly, it was for that reason alone why she'd never found much comfort in the holiday. But there was a quiet sort of hope, here.

"I think milk and cookies sounds perfect," she said. "It's not every day you sit with the real Santa Claus. I always thought that in some reality somewhere there had to be a real Santa Claus. Usually, my grandfather played the part. He used to give me thousands of sheets of beautiful origami paper as a child, just enough to last me the year. I learned how to fold all sorts of complicated things, and I've never lost the touch."

She snagged a cookie and nibbled on it.

"I never missed him more than the first Christmas after he passed."

[pere_noel]

"But it's good that you have such happy memories of your Christmases together," said Nick kindly. Christmas was always a time for family - both the ones you were born with and the ones you made - but the flipside of that was that the holiday often made you feel the loss more keenly. "Would you like to fold me something now? I don't have any special paper, but I bet the bookshelf would at least give us something to work with."

[savedthatjaffa]

"I'd enjoy folding your something," she said.

Lam glanced at the bookshelf for a moment and then laughed softly. It had magazines on the bottom rack -- Christmas ones, too, which had colorful pictures and patterns galore. She glanced at the elderly man for a moment and flashed a proper smile. Lam chose a soft yellow piece that belonged to some linen advertisement and quickly folded a sparrow. She set the tiny thing on her palm and held it out for him to take.

[pere_noel]

"That's a truly extraordinary talent you have," said Nick admiringly as he accepted the tiny gift. "It makes me truly sorry that I don't have any special paper to give you, but was there anything else you were hoping for this Christmas?"