A Boy Called Christmas

-Merry Christmas. - I'm working on it.

Yeah.

-Absolutely not. She's awful. -Uh, she's not awful.

-She's rude. -She's a little tactless.

-And she's old. -She's very, very old.

She's the only person who could come at such short notice.

-I'm going to bed. -Me too.

-No. She'll put you to bed. -That's not happening.

We'll have nightmares.

-You're very quiet, Mop. -I already have nightmares.

- -

Look, guys, guys, I'm really sorry that I have to go to the office,

but I'll be back as soon as I can.

Your mom really loved your aunt, so let's try and--

- -

Hey.

Oh, you look awful.

-Hello, Aunt Ruth. Good to see you too. -

-Oh, I… I don't see a tree. -

-No decorations. -No, we decided against it this year.

That's a mistake.

Oh, hello, children.

How are we all?

-They're doing great. - Mmm. Let me look at you.

It's as I thought, still heartbroken.

-I'm not. -Me either.

I am.

But I still love Mommy with all the broken pieces.

They're doing great.

-You're very old. -Yes. I'm very aware of it.

I still don't get why we all have to listen.

Because the universe is made of stories, not atoms.

-That's not actually true. -Well, it must be because I never lie.

So, you listen to the story.

After it, you sleep, and then it will be Christmas.

But we don't want it to be Christmas.

Well, that decides the tale I'm telling tonight.

So, are you all comfortable?

-You better be because I'm starting. -

Now you may find this hard to believe,

but long ago, nobody knew about Christmas.

At this time, in the middle of a forest in Finland,

there lived an ordinary boy called Nikolas along with his father,

a humble woodcutter who at the moment was quite preoccupied.

- -

Be the forest.

- I don't know what that means. -

- It means don't move. -

When I say run, you run.

-So stop being the forest. -Yes, and run very fast.

I won't go without you.

-Then we both run! -

- - Come on!

Run! Run!

One crisis narrowly averted,

Nikolas and his father returned to their cabin in the woods.

Times were hard for father and son.

They had barely enough to make ends meet.

Wait, wait, wait. Sorry to interrupt.

What is it?

Where's his mommy?

Ah, well, she died. Two years before.

Yes, I'm afraid the bear had something to do with that.

Bear ate his mom. Got it.

Well, Finland was a very dangerous place in those days.

Still is.

But despite the hardships,

Nikolas held onto hope, especially at bedtime.

-Will you tell me the story, Papa? - Not again.

Why not?

It isn't my story to tell.

But Mama's not here anymore.

Okay then, I'll tell you about Elfhelm.

A long time ago, in a place not unlike this one,

lived a young girl named Lumi.

One day while gathering acorns in the woods,

Lumi became hopelessly lost.

She tried to find her home,

but the more she searched, the farther from home she went.

Over the river and under the moon,

over the pointy mountain,

all the way down past the, uh…

Past the sleeping giants.

Past the sleeping giants and through the sky she walked.

To a place where snow was soft as clouds.

Then what happened?

Our Lumi was near collapse,

and at last, she stumbled upon a secret village called Elfhelm

where lived the elves, the happiest people in the world

and the most magical place in the world.

There Lumi stayed until the snow cleared,

and she was finally able to return to her home in the south,

her pockets full of chocolates.

You believe this story, don't you?

The ending is a stretch. The chocolate would have melted.

But the rest?

The magic and the elves?

I've never seen them.

But you believe in them.

Your mother did. And to her, believing was as good as knowing.

What was that?

- It sounded like a squeak. - I think it was more of a creak.

Definitely a squeak.

-By the way, that's an overreaction. -Out of the way, Nikolas.

-Mouse! We have a mouse. -

-Papa, leave him alone! -

Papa.

He'll steal our food.

- What food? - Argh!

No, don't!

There he is! We've got him.

Papa, please. Let him live.

Please, Papa.

I've thought about this a lot, and I've decided to call you… Miika.

And I'm going to teach you to talk.

Boy. Boy.

Mouse. Mouse.

My mama always told me

if you believe you can do something, you're halfway there.

Trees. Trees.

- -

Okay, maybe not halfway, but it's a start.

Ugh!

And then one day,

something happened to light the long dark winter.

A summons from the King himself.

There were only two of them on the invitation,

but Nikolas saw no harm in bringing along a plus one.

We're going to see the King, Miika.

King.

-He's too excited to talk. -He shouldn't be.

- - Why? You love the King.

Of course I love the King.

He's a great man, deserves all that he has.

The thing is, we deserve it too. Everybody does.

- We manage with what we have. - We have very little.

We have each other.

And that's wonderful.

But I want more.

His Majesty, the King!

-Hello, everyone. Thank you for coming. -

You okay? Would you like a glass of water?

I can ring a little bell and someone will bring it.

No? Sure? All right.

We all know times are hard.

I mean really, really, really hard.

I can't remember the last time I smiled. Can you?

What is there to smile about?

We're all miserable.

We're all missing something, and I think we know what that is.

-A health care system. - That would be a very good thing.

It's an idea, but not quite--

-A living wage! -

Again, worth discussing.

A fair system of governance? Enough food to feed people?

Okay, maybe I should just tell you what I think it is that we're missing.

- -

Hope. We all need hope.

A spark of magic to keep us all going.

I've gathered you here because you are the hardiest men and women in the land.

- -Not you.

And I'm asking you to go to the very edges of our kingdom.

Go beyond

and bring back something, anything, to give us hope again.

- A visionist. -

The eyes of our great nation will be on this quest.

Oh no.

Any who set out will be well paid for their efforts.

- -The path may be dangerous.

Some of you will die, probably most of you.

But if you succeed, your award will be far greater.

-Got you, Miika! - Say what?

Seize him!