If she could just hang on to this one memory she could win….just this one….

River stood in front of the magnificent tree that stretched all the way to the ceiling, and yearned with every fiber of her eight year old being for Christmas to hurry There were already a few presents wrapped in shiny iridescent paper under it but River knew there had to be more. The ones her parents still marked From: Father Christmas, even though she was far to old and wise to believe THAT anymore. She had tried earlier to enlist Simon’s help in looking for them. He had refused with all the scorn inherent in his newly acquired teenaged years. He had informed her that looking under beds and in closets was greedy and not at all in keeping with the spirit of the holiday..

River clung to the memory. The big brotherly smile on Simon’s face….. the smell of the tree….the stockings hanging from the fireplace mantle…..

She felt the small familiar pressure in the middle of her forehead…the cool sting in her forearm….and the monsters came back….and they took Christmas away.