The Lorelei Signal
A Missing Christmas
Written by Arendse Lund / Artwork by Marge Simon
The year Father Christmas vanished, the other Holidays gathered together to fashion a replacement. Each volunteered something of themselves in their best approximation of how they remembered the bygone Holiday.
Valentine shrugged off his red cloak. “For Saint Nick,” he said.
“For Santa Claus,” Amu Nowruz added, shearing off his white beard with a grimace.
“And I bring Joulupukki green boughs and branches,” said the May Queen.
But they worried that this wasn’t enough.
Finally, in late autumn, with the scent of cinnamon and waxy pumpkins in the air, the Headless Horseman rode in. He dismounted.
“I’ve come to offer my horse for Sinterklaas,” he said.
“I remember him riding a reindeer,” said the Easter Bunny, who had brought a basket of small gifts.
“If Christmas is something different to each of us,” Saint Lucia answered as she handed over her festive lights, “with any luck, it is for humans too.”
Originally published in The Fabulist Words & Art - 23 December 2022
Reprinted with permission of the author