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There were a lot of things for Wolf to adjust to when he first came to the 10th Kingdom with the intention of staying. Virginia knew it was going to be so strange for him. After all, she had certainly had her fair share of ups and downs trying to get used to things in the other nine kingdoms, and her world was so very different to all of those. No dragons, witches, or magic beans, at least, not that she knew of, but so very many other things that Wolf needed to get his head around.
From the concepts of working daily for a paycheck and paying rent, to living in an apartment and driving a car, it was always going to be one heck of an adjustment. On top of all of this, he and Virginia had to deal with her pregnancy and the fact they would be parents before the year was out.
“It’s so crazy to think we’ll have a baby by Christmas,” she said on that first night back in New York.
Of all the reactions she might have gotten, she wasn’t quite ready for Wolf’s next words. “What is Christmas?”
She laughed at first, about to ask him how it was possible for him not to know, almost certain that he was joking. Of course, after a moment’s thought, it became patently obvious why he didn’t know about Christmas. He was from a fairytale world and Virginia couldn’t remember a single one that talked about any religious holidays or even any of the secular traditions that went along with.
That night, there were more important things to discuss than an event that was both eight months away and very hard to explain from scratch. Virginia had told him as much and conversation had moved on at a pace after that, with all the larger, immediate concerns taking precedent.
In the months that followed, Wolf learned a lot. Thankfully, he was a quick study, and so very devoted to Virginia and giving her everything she could possibly want or need, it really wasn’t that much like hard work to get him to adjust to her world. It was almost too easy getting him a job as a cook and Virginia carried on her waitressing for as long as she was able, the two of them renting a local apartment.
They simply couldn’t have afforded it if not for Prince Wendell’s help. She would never know how he had managed to get the money into her pocket before they left, or how he even had access to US dollars in the 4th Kingdom, but magic could do many things, and Virginia was more than grateful for the help.
As the weather turned increasingly chilly, and her waist measurement became increasingly larger, Virginia started to think not just about the birth of their little cub, but also, of Christmas, the first for her and Wolf together.
“You never did get around to telling me what it was,” he noted, the two of them curled up together on the couch one night in mid-October.
“Christmas is... well, it’s a lot of things to a lot of people,” Virginia realised, smiling as Wolf’s fingers intertwined with her own on top of the bump where their baby resided. “It started around two thousand years ago, when a baby was born in a stable. His name was Jesus Christ.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of him!” Wolf gasped, smiling happily when she turned to look. “There was a customer in the diner a few weeks ago. He was very angry with his wife about something,” he explained, suddenly frowning, “but I don’t understand why that would make him yell the name of a baby from two thousand years ago...”
Virginia bit her lip. “No, that’s not... Forget about that, it’s just going to be more confusing,” she decided to tell him in the end, because it was just easier. “So, anyway, Jesus was said to be the son of God. People who believed and followed him when he grew up were the first Christians and to celebrate the day he was born, they invented Christmas - the mass of Christ.”
“The son of God?” Wolf echoed, whistling low. “That’s a big deal.”
Virginia couldn’t exactly argue with that. “Well, anyway, that’s what Christmas was in the beginning, what the point of it is, but like most celebrations and holidays it’s kind of got a little altered and a lot commercialised over the years. Not that I don’t like Christmas and all its traditions, it’s just... well, the original meaning is kind of lost on a lot of people.”
She shifted position to better see Wolf’s face and found him frowning.
“Do you believe?” he asked her earnestly.
“In God? I don’t know. I mean, I guess so. It makes more sense to me that somebody is watching out for us all and has a plan for us, than that everything is just chance. You believe in Fate, right? That’s kind of the same thing, in some ways.”
“Fate is what brought us together, sweet Virginia. We were always destined. If God is in charge of Fate, I suppose I believe in him too. So, does that mean we can celebrate Christmas?”
“Sure,” she said with an indulgent smile.
After all, there were plenty of people who celebrated Christmas without believing in God. Virginia didn’t judge either which way, everybody to their own thing, after all, but at least she seemed to have managed to explain Christmas to Wolf in a way that made sense to him. It meant he was comfortable with the concept of celebrating what was traditionally one of the most joyful holidays of the year. There was no bad there.
Not that they talked much about Christmas after that. Within two weeks, the baby decided to put in an appearance, a little earlier than expected, but with no major problems to report. Everything was put on the back burner, in favour of welcoming their child into the world and adjusting to being more than just each other’s partner, but also Mom and Dad to their cute little bundle who they named Lowell, meaning young wolf.
It was one night in early December, when they were once again together on the couch after a long day, Virginia almost asleep, curled up against Wolf with his arm around her, while Lowell slept in the crib nearby. The tv was on, but Virginia was hardly aware of what was playing, at least until Wolf spoke up.
“I know the true power of magic but, huff puff, your Santa Claus must be so very powerful, if he can make one toy for every child in the whole world and deliver them all in one night.”
Virginia laughed even as she yawned and opened her eyes to see the movie playing on the TV. The jolly image of Santa in his red suit made her smile, remembering so many Christmases of her childhood, but she soon realised she had more explaining to do for Wolf.
“Yeah, so Santa isn’t actually real,” she told him, shifting to look up and see his face, watching the mixed reaction she got as she went on. “You know as well as I do, this world, it doesn’t really have that kind of magic. Santa Claus - or Father Christmas or whatever, he has a lot of names - I’m pretty sure he was based on a real person, but he’s just a fairytale. Now that I’m saying this, I’m realising how crazy that sounds, because just about everything from where you’re from is also a fairytale and it’s real but... well, Santa’s not. He’s just a nice story for kids. A way of getting them to behave and be nice, really, I guess, because if they do that, then they get a gift on Christmas, and if not, well, then, they get nothing... or a lump of coal. Depends on who you ask.”
Wolf looked confused and Virginia wasn’t really sure she could blame him for that.
“Okay,” he said after a while. “I suppose it’s easy to forget that technically this world is a land without magic when I have you and our little cub and all the love anybody could ever have. Our family feels a lot like magic to me.”
It was just about the sweetest thing he could have said. Virginia couldn’t help the tears that welled in her eyes and coursed down her cheeks unchecked. She was so in love with Wolf, she so adored their son, and knowing he felt the same, so deeply, with such passion and devotion, it meant the absolute world to her.
“You know, you should remember what you just said. Tell it to me again on Christmas when you have done what most other men do and bought me a really lame gift,” she said, laughing through her tears as she kissed his cheek.
“Well, why would I buy you a bad gift for such a special occasion?” asked Wolf, frowning hard. “I would only want to get the greatest of gifts for you and for our son. Though I’m not sure what kind of present a person could really buy for such a tiny baby... but there must be stores for that. This world seems to have a store for absolutely everything.”
“That is... probably true,” Virginia considered, swiping at her eyes yet, “but hey, don’t worry about it right now. You have three weeks yet until Christmas, and gifts are only a small part of the occasion. At some point, we’re going to have to figure out dinner too, and before all that, decorations would be nice, a tree and everything...”
Wolf started asking questions before she was even done talking, which she should have seen coming. Of course, there were a million things he wanted to know, to be sure of, to be certain that he and Virginia and Lowell would have the best of all Christmases. He only ever wanted great things for their family and Virginia couldn’t argue with him on that. Still, she was tired, and so, urged him to leave all his concerns about Christmas to one side for now and take her to bed.
She didn’t mean for him to take her words so literally, but perhaps she should have learned by now that he almost always did, sweeping her up in his arms to carry her to their bed. He went back for the crib right after, bringing it carefully into the bedroom and standing it at the foot of the bed, so gently that Lowell never stirred at all. Then he joined Virginia in bed, holding her close in his arms and kissing the top of her head. She was already half-asleep by then, content to drift off and dream peacefully of a perfect Christmas.
Of course, Virginia never really expected any occasion to go completely smoothly. Life just wasn’t like that, even when it seemed as if she had gotten her fairytale happily ever after ending. Wolf was great, as was Lowell, but there were always ups and downs. Christmas was no exception.
She tried to explain everything clearly to Wolf, but he tended to get a little over-excited and more so over-enthusiastic about these things. That was the reason for the nine-foot spruce that wouldn’t fit in the apartment, at least, not until it had been cut down to half its original size, which was quite the debacle. Then there were all the toys and things that Wolf thought they should buy for Lowell, and the miles of wrapping paper he wanted to get because all the designs were so festive, and the many strings of twinkle lights that they surely needed to make their home as magical-looking as possible.
Money and how far it went was not something Wolf really had a good grasp on, even after almost a year spent in the 10th Kingdom. Virginia continued in trying to educate him, kindly letting him know that they simply could not afford all the many treats he wanted to buy, and also, that they really didn’t need them either.
“But Virginia, you said Christmas meant a tree and decorations and good food and presents...”
“Yes, I know, I did say that,” she agreed awkwardly, “but I... I don’t think I explained it as well as I should have,” she went on to say, rubbing her forehead with her hand. “Wolf, all these things are a part of Christmas, usually, for most people, and they’re nice to have, but they’re not the real meaning of the season.”
“Are we going back to the baby in the stable again?” he asked, shaking his head.
“Not exactly. Sort of,” she considered, moving to take the items he currently had in hands and put them back on the shelves - this really wasn’t a middle-of-a-store conversation, but it didn’t seem like she had much of a choice. “Wolf, Christmas is... well, the essence of the whole thing, whether you want to see it from a religious point of view or a general one, is... well, it’s light and love, I guess. Yeah, I guess that’s as simple as I can say it.”
“Light and love,” Wolf echoed, looking down into the shopping cart and then back up at the shelves. “Okay, so...”
All at once, he was replacing various decorative items and potential gifts back onto the shelving, as close to the right places as possible, and then, he was practically running into the next aisle, taking the cart with him, leaving Virginia to follow behind with Lowell in his stroller. She caught up to him just in time to see him piling the shopping cart high with extra twinkle lights, Christmas candles, and the like. He was looking pleased with himself when she finally reached his side.
“Now we have the light, to go with all the love we already have. It means we’re going to have the perfect Christmas, sweet Virginia,” he told her softly.
As stupid as it ought to have sounded, she believed him, she really did. Not that anything was ever really perfect, of course, but if it could be, Virginia was certain it would be something that included her and Wolf and their son.
A week or so later, she would be proven right as Christmas Day dawned, bright and chilly, their apartment completely aglow with all possible sources of light, and Wolf waiting for her to wake, a large wrapped gift held in his hands. He looked so eager and so happy, she was smiling the moment she saw him.
“Merry Christmas, Virginia!” he proclaimed loudly, lowering his voice in a second when Lowell stirred in his crib. “No, no, not yet, little cub,” he urged the child. “Let your mom open her present first, please.”
Virginia sat up in bed, rubbing at her eyes, almost blinded by the light glinting from all the bows and sparkles on her apparent Christmas gift.
“You really didn’t have to get something so big,” she told Wolf, even as she took the package into her lap.
“For you, there is nothing too big or too grand or too special,” he said with a flourish, propping himself next to her and watching closely as she began to pull at the wrapping.
Virginia hardly knew what to expect. Wolf had gotten very stuck on the idea of Christmas being all about light and love, but that didn’t lead to any obvious gift, especially nothing that would be in such a large box. Prising off the lid at last, she was surprised by what she found inside. First, a picture frame, and in it, a series of photographs, a collage of a kind, showing all the people she loved most. A large portrait of Wolf and Lowell was surrounded by smaller pictures of her dad, herself a little girl, her grandma, even her mother, plus Wendell as both himself and in his dog form that they had known as Prince.
“This is so beautiful,” she told Wolf, tears in her eyes and a crack in her voice that she could not control at all. “I don’t... It’s just beautiful, thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome, sweet Virginia,” he told her, lips meeting hers in a sweet kiss, “but it is not your whole entire gift. Look, look!” he urged her attention back into the box.
Beneath a piece of tissue paper, she was amazed to find a hand mirror, something silver and ornate, something that her mother or grandmother might own. In fact it was very similar to one she had seen on her adventures through the travelling mirror, but it couldn’t be anything like that.
“This isn’t...?” she began to check, sure Wolf would say no.
She wasn’t sure what to make of the grin on his face when she glanced his way then. She was positive she was frowning and looking so confused as her husband picked the mirror from her hand and brought it to his lips whispering softly. She could’ve sworn he spoke her father’s name, and then, when the mirror was safely back in her hand, she realised she was right.
“Virginia? Hello, sweetheart!”
Her dad waved at her from beyond the glass, a kind of long-distance video call seemingly being achieved across worlds. Virginia couldn’t speak, she could hardly breathe, she was so overwhelmed. It had been too long since she saw her dad and it was the perfect Christmas gift to see him again, even if it wasn’t in person.
Virginia was so sure the day could not improve after that, but she was wrong. Wolf had aimed for the perfect first Christmas for their family, and she had to admit, as the day went on, that he really had achieved it.
After a long talk with her father, Virginia thanked Wolf in the best way possible for his thoughtfulness. She also gave him a gift she had bought in a store, but honestly, the watch didn’t seem like much compared to what they shared between them in their bed, just in time, before Lowell woke up crying.
He calmed down quickly when his parents went to him, and though he was much too little to understand the point of Christmas, they showed him the gifts they had bought for him, then sat down with him by the tree and watched Christmas specials on TV, eating all the delicious food they had stocked up with in the past week or more. Wolf was proud of the dinner he cooked and Virginia did not object to being waited on hand and foot as if it were her birthday rather than Christmas.
It was a wonderful day of joy and laughter, love and light. It was almost a shame when the sun went down and the day drew to a close. Lowell had to be put to bed and Virginia and Wolf found themselves curled together on the couch once again, as Christmas time dwindled down to little more than an hour.
“Well, for somebody who didn’t even know what Christmas was a few months ago, you really found every possible way to really embrace the whole thing,” she said sleepily, her head on his chest.
“It has been a wonderful day.” Wolf sighed contentedly and kissed the top of her head. “Such a shame it’s only once a year.”
Virginia smiled. “Well, it wouldn’t special if it happened any more often than that. Besides, Christmas may only come around once a year, but our family is forever. Our love is too, at least, I hope so.”
She peered up at Wolf then to find him smiling softly at her. “You can count on that, Virginia. A wolf mates for life,” he reminded her, his finger running gently down her cheek.
She smiled up at him. “Merry Christmas, Wolf.”
“Merry Christmas, Virginia.”