Scott Calvin has been Santa for Twenty-Five years. He's seen his daughter Jessie grow up and become a parent herself. His son Charlie has had a successful twelve year long career as Jack Frost. But it's his youngest son, Buddy, whose convinced Scott...
The next morning, Charlie was all too eager to leave his mother's house and return to Holly's bakery. She was sweeping the floor when Charlie rapped on the window. Holly looked over to the shop's front door. She beamed with a joyful smile when she spotted him. She crossed the room and opened the door to let Charlie in.
"Am I late?" He asked as he shut the door behind himself.
"Late for volunteer work?" Holly laughed. Charlie reached for a nearby dustpan. He crouched down and held the dustpan so that Holly could sweep the mess on the floor into it. "Thank you, by the way." She added as Charlie dumped the contents of his dustpan in a nearby trashcan. "seriously, I can't believe you're here."
"Why not?" Charlie questioned. "I said I'd be here."
"Yeah," holly sighed. "I guess I'm still getting used to relying on other people. I tend to be a hands-on manager, too hands on, my team says sometimes. I'm working on trying to trust them to manage things."
"What about Jack?" Charlie questioned her. They'd moved on now to gathering bowls of candy off the various tables to put away anything that could be saved and throw away what couldn't.
"Oh Jack." Holly shook her head. She picked up the bowl of coconut shavings that Jack had worked so hard to make the night before. "Jack is fortunate to be the younger sibling. He's never had much responsibility. He'd rather...make snow." Holly scooped up a handful of coconut shavings and sprinkled them back into the bowl, trying to mimic snowfall.
"Do you think he could do more? You know given the chance?" Charlie suggested.
"You mean if I stopped babying him?" Holly assumed that's what Charlie was insinuating.
"No! No! That's not what I meant at all." Charlie Insisted. "It's hard to explain but back in Canada I have a pretty important job. I get to control...inventory. But with my Dad and Carol wanting to move back home, I could potentially take over the factory. The problem is I need someone to take over my job."
"So, you're back in town looking for someone who could take over your job at the factory?" Holly asked.
"Well, the whole family was in town to celebrate Halloween for the same reason you and your team get together here. The holidays are a busy time for us. My Dad, Carol, Jessie and her husband we all work at the factory so Halloween is the last day we get to see the rest of the family."
"You have a younger sister, don't you?" Holly asked. "Couldn't she take over your job? I mean it's a family business after all."
"She could." Charlie supposed. "But Lucy's a lot younger than Jessie and I, she has things she wants to do before moving to Canada."
"How much longer are you in town?" Holly wanted to know.
"I'm supposed to go back home tonight." Charlie told her. "But I suppose I could be persuaded to stay a bit longer. What exactly did you have in mind?"
"Well, Jack's his own person." Holly explained. "I'm his older sister and his boss, but I don't exactly speak for him. That being said, If you're looking for someone with a lot of heart and an eagerness to learn, it might be worth your while to stick around and talk to him. Let's get these displayed in the window, alright?" She nodded to the Victorian style Gingerbread House that was closest to them.
Charlie spent a few hours arranging the Gingerbread houses with Holly. Once each one was placed about where she wanted it, Holly stood outside and studied the display from the sidewalk. She then relayed instructions to Charlie for more fine tuning. When they were finished, they surrounded the houses with fluffy cotton to simulate snow. Jack's coconut shavings were then sprinkled over everything for a finishing touch.
"Thanks for the help today, Charlie. Really!" Holly thanked him again as they locked up the bakery.
"Thanks for letting me be a part of your traditions. It was nice to escape the family chaos for a while." Charlie smiled.
"So you'll be back tomorrow to take Jack out to lunch?" Holly asked,
"Well, to invite him out at least." Charlie nodded. "Hopefully he's willing to hear me out." There was a chill in the air as a sudden gust of wind swirled through the sidewalk. "You should head inside before you catch a cold." He smirked.
"Ah, the cold's never bothered me much." Holly shrugged. "It's a refreshing break from the hot ovens inside. I'll see you tomorrow, Charlie?"
"I'll see you tomorrow, Holly." He agreed. Charlie began to walk away casually. He was certain no one had noticed the slight twist of his wrist that brought on another breeze of Northern Winds, carrying with it Holly's next words.
Looking forward to it, Charlie.
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Back at the Miller's home, Jessie was sat up at the kitchen table. An empty mug of coffee was in front of her. She rubbed her eyes and debated making another cup, when she heard the front door open and the sound of Charlie's boots.
"I can't stay long," He told his sister as he entered the kitchen. "They're supposed to be getting an inch of snow in Massachusetts and the Midwest is due for a midnight frost."
"I'm not ready to go back yet, Charlie." Jessica sighed. "Everyone's expecting me to have answers. Mom, Neil, the elves. Curtis and Bernard always made this job look effortless. Like every possible answer is in these pages." She gestured to the pocket edition of the Christmas Handbook. Quintin had made it for her after she justifiably refused to carry around the traditional oversized tome. "I've been through this book as critically as I can. There's no way to stop everyone from forgetting us once Dad gives up being Santa. And Buddy! Buddy just doesn't care! He's literally making Dad choose between him and Carol or all of us!"
"We always knew it was going to happen eventually." Charlie reminded her.
"Yeah, but I guess I didn't think it was going to happen so soon." Jess complained. "I thought we'd get more time. That my kids would get more time."
"I'm working on something." Charlie confessed. "But it's going to take some time..."
"We don't have time Charlie." Jess shook her head.
"It's November first. We have Fifty-three days, roughly." Charlie said. His job as Jack Frost had made him more aware of deadlines than ever. "I gotta go." He frowned.
"Wait, what's your plan?" His sister called after him.
"I have to go, Jess," He repeated, already running towards the back door. Jessica followed after him and watched when with a snap of his fingers Charlie changed into the signature pinstriped suit of Jack Frost. He took off at a run before leaping up into the air and getting carried away by a Northern Wind. Jessica shivered as the residual wind reached the back door. She'd decided to have one more cup of coffee before flying to the North Pole.
