The magic of a childhood Christmas

[Jacob King]

[Planned game event between me and Amaru.]

Friday, 20th of December 1985

10:00 AM

Another December daý had risen in London, rather warm and without snow. The whole month so far had been mild and wet, not much hope for a white Christmas. Such were rare on this island but they had predicted a little bit of snow for a couple of days after Christmas. At least it wasn't raining right now, and Christmas lights in residental houses' windows and pretty little Christmas tree here and there in front of a few shops along the way created some seasonal atmosphere. Jacob King, a man in his mid-30s headed slowly towards Benhill Recreation Ground, a small park just a few minutes from his house. Mild weather as it was yet still winter he wore brown walking shoes, blue jeans, black autumn coat and a blue scarf around his neck.

He was deep in his thoughts but could not lose himself in them for his five-year old son was in a hurry running several meters ahead. He'd dressed the child warmer, thick dark blue jeans, mid and light blue sneakers with white laces and rainbow stripes on the sides, a couple of layers under a thick light blue demin jacket on which back a group of Disney characters posed in a cheerful portrait, neon coloured rainbow striped beanie covered his head and dark grey thick gloves kept his little hands warm.

The boy didn't mind the lack of snow at all, he had only vague memories of the brief heavy snowfall from the previous winter and to him there were much more important things about Christmas. He himself was lost in his thoughts and frolicked all over the street, singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". His voice was clear as a bell and pitch perfect, loved by most who had heard him sing, but he did not yet control his voice very well. Occasionally running out of breath in the middle of a line, especially now that he was bursting with excitement.

"Stephen...!" the man called after him in a meaningful tone and did not need to say more, the boy steered himself over to the side of the street, the safe side, but his song never paused. Jacob returned to his childhood Christmases as the song brought back memories. Most were now bittersweet as everyone else in them were gone, tragically taken away from him a long long time ago. Most of them never to return. His brother though, he still held on to a spark of hope that he might one day come home and be okay. Even if no one had seen or heard of him for twenty-six years now.
For a moment instead of his son he saw Ben there at age four singing about Rudolph.
"Daddy, do you think he'll bring his reindeer with him? I want to see Rudolph for real!" Stephen suddenly asked, breaking the illusion.

Other times like this sadness rushed over Jacob but not today. For the real little one was someone he loved more than anything or anyone else in the world. Of course equally to his youngest child.
"Hmm...?" he pondered for a moment, catching up with the boy who'd slowed down to a fast-paced walk. "I reckon his reindeer need rest, especially Rudolph, but I think he might bring one of them. We'll see tomorrow." he replied as if truly not sure though really he knew there would be one reindeer tomorrow - just not with a bright red nose. But since anything could happen and it was out of his control, he didn't want to promise this.

There would be a neighbourhood Christmas party tomorrow in the park, and they'd hired Father Christmas to visit the children there. This much had been promised because any father could take on the role if the hired person did not make it. It was their first Christmas here in this neighbourhood, as they'd moved in last summer. So of course Jacob and his partner Carrie had signed up to help in the preparations. They'd already got to know a few neighbours a bit better but especially the children could use as much socialising as possible. After all, neither of them attended school yet. Stephen here was on first year but proved to not be mature enough yet for school environment so he'd chosen to home school the boy at least for the first year.

Carrie and their little daughter Freya had stayed at home this morning to bake some delicious goods for the event. Though no doubt Freya would quickly reduce her part into "cleaning" the bowls.  The father and son entered the park from the side gate closest to their route, and Jacob noted there were already at least fourty adulrs buzzing around. This neighbourhood seemed to really enjoy arranging events together.
"Okay, Stephen, listen up," Jacob said firmly but gently and grabbed the boy by the collar as he was about to run off towards a group of kids nearby a moderate size tent where Father Christmas would be tomorrow. The man crouched down in front of the child.
"Daddy will be over there, helping with the Christmas lights," he pointed about thirty meters to their left where a few adults were struggling with insanely tangled lights. And there were loads of strings of them still not hung. The park was small but still there was over 240 times 100 meters of it. Not that they'd decorate all of it, but at least a semi-large area.

"You stay right around the Christmas tree. You may go inside the tent but don't stay there very long. I need to see you most of the time," he instructed. The neighbours he'd met had been friendly and seemed like good people but he never forgot that he'd not met them all, did not really know any of them yet. And anyway this was a public park and predators could come around anywhere while Stephen would be a tempting target with his very few years, bubbly and social nature and super cute looks. He had of course taught his children about stranger danger, taught them well he believed, but it hadn't yet been put to a test. One of these days he should test them, he thought, with a muggle he knew well but the children haven't met. And then there were accidents and mischief little ones could get into, albeit he was fairly sure Stephen would behave well enough this close to Christmas.
"Alright, mate, go have fun," Jacob sent him off with a loving hug.

Stephen hurried towards the Christmas tree. The decor was mostly done, in main colours of gold and red with some silver and blue here and there and some fake snow sprayed on the branches - but there was a lot to do on the lower branches and the top was still missing the star. He heard somebody's mother say that it would be left last and would have to be set up there by an adult. The tree was at least three meters tall! Stephen left it for a while as the lovely scent of gingerbread and sweets found his nose and the tent started drawing him like a child magnet.

[Samuel Connor Rees]

Sam was standing near the tree, looking at it. It was a nice tree and Sam was looking forward to seeing it and to spend some time with his father. But unfortunately, it ended up the way it always did - dad was busy. Little Sam didn't quite understand why. He was yet too young to understand, that his dad was quite active in the neighborhood and he was giving some money to this event as well as many others. He wasn't the only one, but that was a part of this problem - the others expected him to make an appearance, to help with preparation and things like that. It would take many years for Sam to realize that one of dad's friends was a politician, who was using those, in his eyes, minor events to gather sympathy and votes. Sam understood none of that, the only important thing was, that dad wasn't with him.

There were a lot of happy children running around, playing games, smiling and generally being in Christmas mood. But every now and then they returned to their parents, spent few moments with them, before coming back to play. Sam wiped his nose into his read sleeve and slowly walked to his father. He was talking with some other men. "Daddy? Will you help me decorate the Christmas tree?" he asked. It would be nice to do something together. Mr. Reese turned to his friends, said something Sam didn't understand and turned his attention to him. "Sammy, I need to finish something here really quick. Be a good lad and play with other children awhile, once I'm done here I will gladly decorate the tree with you. I promise." he smiled at him, pat his head and turned back to his friends.

Sam knew, that "really quick" meant an hour at least. If not longer. He didn't really know many children out here, he knew few of them, but he didn't like them much. They were either older or just mean so he didn't really want to play with them. There were some kids of his dad's friends he had to play with, but they were making fun of his freckles. The other kids he didn't know and was a bit too sheepish to talk to them.

So instead of playing with the others, he looked around. Sam didn't want to decorate the tree yet, he hoped he will do that with dad, so he walked slowly to the tent. There was something smelling really well from the tent and Sam liked sweets as most other kids. 

[Stephen Hunter King]

Inside the tent some adults and children were busy decorating. Miniature statue of Rudolph greeted Stephen at the doorway as the boy stepped in, around the walls hung red and gold strings that had been left over from the tree, and snowflakes children had cut out of paper. Short strings of Christmas lights were currently being hung around as well. Stephen gave the Rudolph statue a pet, wishing that magic could be used here to make him come "alive". The boy headed straight to the table on the left where a small group of children of different ages gathered around a large gingerbread house. He noticed everyone was decorating gingerbread people and animals for the house, so he sat on the last free chair at the table and took off his gloves.

"Oh, sweetie, you want to help with the gingerbread home? Wash your hand with this before you start," said an elderly woman who was likely someone's grandmother as she hurried over to the new little helper with a fresh hand wipe packaged and opened it for him to take one. After properly cleaning his hands he picked up a bunny shaped gingerbread and snatched the black ready-to-use icing tube the second the older boy using it put it back on the table.The boy completely forgot that he wasn't supposed to stay in the tent and began to colour in the bunny, completely, as he loved a ton of icing on gingerbread cookies. Last year he'd become a bit of a horror fan. Even innocent Christmas cookies weren't exempt from the theme when he was in the mood. Tongue in cheek he created his cookie art. This cute little bunny quickly grew a white vampire fang and a red eye in addition to his black fur icing. After all this was done he eyed for a Christmas tree shaped cookie to break and make a cute elf hat for his ferocious vampire bunny, even if it couldn't be attached to the already baked creature. Every home should have a vampire bunny. He most certainly would love one for a pet, but according to daddy they did not exist.

[Samuel Connor Rees]

When Sam entered the tent he didn't notice decorations nor even the statue of reindeer. Mostly because he smelled and saw all that gingerbread. The young boy really loved gingerbread and there was a whole bunch of it. Yes, it was there to be decorated but they wouldn't really miss one... or seven. He saw a bunch of other kids helping with decorating, most of them were older but some were closer to his age. Normally he wouldn't come closer but he really wanted to eat at least one. He heard some old woman telling another boy to wash his hand before he could work with the food so he followed his example. Sam rushed to the old woman and took one as well to wipe his hands. "Thank you," he said quietly and joined the others.

He never actually tried to decorate gingerbread. Dad never had time to make them, so he usually just bought a bunch that was already finished, he was smart enough to quickly catch up, but wasn't exactly an artist. He just took one, that was supposed to be a person, filled his head with icing and quickly glanced if no grown-up was watching him, they seemed busy, so he bit the poor gingerbread human's head off. Then he ate the rest. Without blinking he picked up another, this one was looking like a tree and this time was actually trying to make it look nice. It went well for a moment before he used too much strength and just made a big blob of icing in the middle. Others around him were doing much better. One boy even made... some kind of evil rabbit? Sam didn't like scary things but it was looking really nice. His tree was quite bad in comparison and all efforts to make it better just made it worse.

[Stephen Hunter King]

Stephen was too busy making his scary bunny to even think about eating any, even as delicious as all of it smelled. His artistic talent an passion was reckoned to come from his mother's side although Jacob had aesthetic eye too and both could h old a tune when singing. Granted, his parents rarely sung outside of the privacy of their home. Unlike his sister the boy wasn't eager to do much visual art, though, unless it involved something more than pen and paper. This cookie art he found perhaps the most fun which is why he'd never skipped a chance to do this since he was two years old. After the bunny's elf-hat was done he positioned the creature against the wall to guard the door to the gingerbread house and the hat on its head.

As he did this he took a look around at the others' creations. It was quite a range of different achievements and not everyone looked happy with theirs. In his eyes most were much more complicated and nicer than his bunny but then again most were by children many years older than he and he'd faced similar situations before so he didn't mind. One boy near him seemed particularly displeased with his Christmas tree cookie. An amused smile curved on Stephen's lips but it was warm and friendly.

The old woman approached the table while counting heads. She brought over to the table a large basket of gingerbread cookies shaped into stars and hearts. It was supposed to be there from the very start because naturally kids would want to also eat some instead of just decorating - but the woman who'd promised to bake them did not have time until this morning.

"Here, darlings, you can decorate and eat these," she said as she laid the basket on a little side table nearby. "But," she added before any tiny hand could dive in them, "there's only three for each of you. Miss Claire is baking more right now."
Stephen hopped off his chair and hurried to grab two stars and one heart and then quickly back before someone could steal his seat. On his way he took another look at the disaster tree. The lad still had on his mind hopes of making decorations more real and lively with magic, but as that would not be possible right now his mind wandered to other options.

"Hey," Stephen said when the other little artist was at the table, "Try to make more branches with the icing? So it would be like a real tree shape instead of a flat cookie?" he suggested as he looked from the cookie to the boy. It would require loads of icing but he supposed it didn't matter how much of it they used as there was a whole pile of tubes on the table.

[Samuel Connor Rees]

Seems like everything Sam tried to make it look a bit better just made it look worse. To his credit he didn't give up on his disastrous attempt and was still trying. His fruitless effort was interrupted by one of the old women who brought a fresh gingerbread for all the kids to eat. Most kids swarmed the place. He felt a bit bad about the one he just ate so he didn't join them, instead he tried once again to fix his tree. Before he could try some other kid talked to him. It was one of the younger kids, close to his age. He was trying to help him. "Oh, hey." he answered a bit sheepishly. "Thanks, I will try that." he said and tried to use the icing to make some branches. He was really concentrating and it actually led to a minor improvement. It wasn't a master piece by a long shot, but it was a start. 

For few moments he was purely trying to concentrate on his gingerbread. With a bit of imagination it started to look like a tree. Sam finally looked at the kid who gave him advice and even smiled at him. "Looks a bit better, huh? Thanks" he said, falling quiet for few seconds. "I'm Sam..." he added quickly. 

He wouldn't really mind making a new friend here, but he wasn't great at it and he knew that. Sam noticed he was staring at the new kid, so he turned his eyes to the gingerbread, but it was gone, other kids swarmed it like locusts. He would have to wait for the next batch.

[Stephen Hunter King]

"Yep, it's a good tree," Stephen commented as he looked up from the heart-shaped cookie he was decorating with a red lining and a thick blue D.
"My name is Stephen," he replied with a smile. He didn't even notice any staring, after all he was very social, with other kids, and loved attention anyway. "Would you mind putting it next to my vampire bunny? He could then hide under it."

The boy then glanced doswn and looked at the two still bare star shaped cookies in front of him and had another creative idea. He lifted his bright eyes back toward Sam.
"Hey, let's make stars so it will be night sky above the house?" he suggested and offered one of the cookies to Sam. "My daddy can hang them there," he added as he observed the air space above the house and there was absolutely nothing to provide support for any flying or floating things.

[Samuel Connor Rees]

Sam smiled when his (hopefully) new friend commented about his tree. And he finally learned his name - Stephen. It was a nice name. He never heard a name quite like that. 
He picked up his tree and put it next to the vampire bunny. "Sure, even vampire bunnies need to hide from time to time. Or is that for surprising attacks?" he asked. Vampire bunnies weren't exactly part of Christmas for him, but if people could become vampires why not bunnies. 

He listened to Stephen's idea. It sounded like a good idea. Night skies were nice but a bit scary. He didn't like darkness and vampires were only one small part of why. Dad told him they don't exist, but Sam didn't believe him. "Y...yeah, sure." he took the star and put it on table. "Thanks." He said, but when Stephen talked about his dad Sam had to think about his. "My dad is always working." he said sadly. He picked up the icing and rather then continue talking he started decorating the stair. He only made few smaller star in the bigger one. "This stair is magic." he explained.

[Stephen Hunter King]

Stephen didn't start on his star for his mind was lost in trying to decide what his vampire bunny would do with the tree, and briefly pulled away from it to realise how great it was that his dad was with him and his sister at home. He knew daddy was a police officer and that at some point would return to work but for now he wanted to stay at home and take care of them. He chose not to share this with Sam who didn't seem happy about his own dad's working.
"It sure looks like it is," Stephen said, imagining how pretty it would look if it was really enchanted into a star full of little stars. One of the older girls put a gingerbread man by the door on the other side from the bunny. The man seemed to have some sort of bag with him.
"My vampire bunny has a nest under the tree but he also attacks the postman every day," Stephen decided and turned the bunny to face the man.
"Really? Then he needs a vampire bunny hunter to keep him safe," the girl said, deciding to play along and quickly took another gingerbread man to decorate.

Just then Jacob stepped into the tent and breathed a sigh of relief upon spotting his son at the table.
"Stephen, have you been in here all along?" the man asked calmly as he walked over and squatted down beside the boy.
"Yes, daddy...Oh! I'm sorry, I was supposed to stay around the tree?" Stephen began all excited until his smile faded as he remembered.
"It's okay, at least you were here instead of running around outside," Jacob stated warmly and patted the boy's beanie covered head. He could see from his boy's genuinely sorry and slightly worried expression that he hadn't deliberately disobeyed.
"We're decorating gingerbread," Stephen explained again very excited. "Look, I made a vampire bunny," he pointed at the creature.
"Wow, it looks fierce," Jacob complimented. "I hope it's feeling the Christmas spirit and won't bite anybody?"
"Yes, except for the postman. It's like our neighbour's cat."
"Of course it is," Jacob stated with an amused but warm smile as he observed the scene in front of the house.
"Daddy, this is Sam," Stephen introduced, pointing at the boy. "We're making a night sky over the house. Would you hang our stars when they're done?" he asked and grabbed his own still bare star, never taking his eyes off of his father.
Jacob glanced at Sam, nodded at him and smiled as a greeting, and then looked into Stephen's bright and hope-filled eyes. He seemed to really want something magic for this event but unfortunately it could not have any. Perhaps they should have visited Diagon Alley after this neighbourhood party. Jacob looked up and there indeed was nothing physical to hang anything on so a little wand work was what the boy had in mind.
"Oh, I'm sorry, boys. I left my star-hanging tools at home. Maybe another time," he said, trusting that this whole thing would be forgotten soon enough and they would not actually end up asking something like this again. In truth, he always carried his wand with him when not in his house or garden. Absolutely always. But even the slightest bit of unnecessary magic would be breaking the wizarding law, not to mention making cookies float.

[Samuel Connor Rees]

Sure, why would't vampire bunny have a nest under a tree. In stories vampires needed a dark place to hide during the day and a nest under a tree was a nice idea. He had no idea why would the bunny be attacking postman, but he saw dogs doing that, so why not vampire bunnies? It was completely plausible. The girl who put the postman started to develop a defence against the bunny. Sam felt like he should help his new friend. He looked at the gingerbread characters. He quickly pulled out a snowman. 
"Everyone knows, that snowmen don't like bunny hunters." he said so confidently, that he surprised even himself. It almost was convincing enough so it didn't need any explanation. He started to work on his bunny hunter disliking snowman. 
He was so much concentrating on his work that he completely missed Stephen's dad entering the tent. He missed the few words of their dialogue but he caught on when Stephen started explaining what they were doing. When he introduced him, Sam felt back in his shy bubble. 
"Uhm... hello mister." he said sheepishly. He wasn't quite sure what he should do or say next, so he was just standing there with the unfinished snowman before him. It was a bit shame, that Stephen's dad didn't have his tools with him, because the hanging stars would look quite good.