Saint Nick

One Year Later . . .

• Surprise? •

Hazel felt giddy and slightly nervous as they walked across the fresh snow towards the house she had driven to so many times.

It had been almost a whole year since she had last seen her sister and her niece and nephew, not to forget Jim, too. They had skyped and FaceTimed though, after all, it wasn't a third world country they had moved to.

The North Pole had excellent WiFi.

Hazel felt a soft squeeze in her hand and looked up to see Nick smiling down at her. He leaned down and kissed her head when she nervously laughed back. "Anxious to see them?"

Anxious was an understatement.

Last year, when everything had went down, Hazel had decided to follow her heart and elope with Nick. For once, she decided to be spontaneous and not think too much – and the reward had been grand and was still rolling in.

As it turned out, Nick only visited the factory a couple of times a week, but he didn't actually live there. His real home was in New York, in a penthouse apartment which to Hazel's surprise was incredibly warm and homey. It was stylish, yet classic in beautiful wooden furniture. It was strange to see such an ornate apartment in the heart of The Big Apple.

But one year away from Leavenworth had been more than just warm and homey, it had also been exciting. Coming with Nick had been a real fairytale adventure, flying to the North Pole with all the reindeers to arrive at the factory and... meet thousands of elves.

Yes, actual elves. Nick had laughed at her expression when a dozen dwarf-sized elves resembling normal humans had come running towards them, happy to see Nick. Hazel had been able to do nothing but stare open-mouthed when all of them seemed welcoming and not at all intimidated by her presence. In fact, it was if they all knew her.

"They do," Nick had told as he had gently steered her inside towards something that looked like a large living room area with the largest Christmas tree she had ever seen in her life. "They're as old as me. They get vacations too, and their favorite way to spend them is to go around people's houses and eat their candy. They love your cinnamon rolls, by the way."

Hazel had continued to stare speechlessly. Adjusting to all of the new and crazy things she never imagined could've been true, it had taken her a good month to finally find some normalcy with it all. Once that happened, everything slowly became regular day.

Not-surprisingly though, Nick himself also was magical. While the elves could disappear and turn invisible to the human eye, Nick could spread Christmas spirit with just a smile or a laugh. Hazel noticed it wherever they went in New York; if Nick laughed, the whole street became a warmer place to be.

Everything right from the reindeers, to the elves, to the enormous factory hidden deep within the mountains up north, to the cozy New York apartment and living with Nick and joining his life... it had been a magical journey and Hazel had loved every second of it. After spending a whole lifetime chasing magical moments with her camera, she had finally caught her everlasting moment.

Now, standing in front of her sister's house, Hazel was nervous to see her family again. She knew lots of things had changed, Ashley had lost her first tooth, baby Michael was almost ready to take his first steps and Camille and Jim were as happy as ever with their newest addition to the family; Ashley's golden retriever, which had gotten the name Buttons, chosen of course by Ashley herself. Apparently, there was no other choices which worked.

"Are you ready?" Nick asked her as they stepped up the two steps to the front porch in front of the door. They didn't press the doorbell just yet, instead Nick turned towards Hazel and grabbed both of her mitten-covered hands. "We can wait another day if you'd prefer it."