Somewhere, far away, in a very cold part of the world, there was a little village. It was a crisp, quiet night, the night before Christmas, and the land was covered in snow. On one side there was a great forest, and on the other side there was a large bank. Both of these protected the snug little village from the biting, whipping wind high above them. In some of the small but bulging cottages, there were celebrations going on. Little people could be seen through the windows. They played music, they danced, they ate and they drank.
From one of the parties came a small man. He was dressed in a purple suit, but over the top he wore a red, fur lined coat, large boots and mittens. He trudged through the snow to a dark side of the village, and entered a large building, larger than the little cottages which were still throwing light and music into the silent night outside. Soon, one by one, five more similarly dressed men came around the sides of the building, and went in through the tall door. Jingles and scrapings could be heard from inside.
After a few minutes, two large doors in the front of the building, facing out to the distant mountains, were swung open by four of the men. It was too dark to see what was inside the building, and they melted back inside. Then there could be heard jingles from inside once more, and scrapings, as if some heavy metal object was being pulled along the floor. Out of the darkness appeared some antlers, then some more, and more, until there were six pairs of antlers poking out of the darkness. These were followed by snouts, then by large gleaming eyes, until the heads of six reindeer were illuminated under the light of the moon. They continued out of the dark. Each reindeer had a harness around its neck. As they came out, they each pulled a sleigh behind them. On the back of each sleigh was a little man, controlling the reindeer with long reins, held in his warm furry mittens.
Once the reindeer had pulled the sleighs outside the building, they began to heave them more heavily, until they were trotting along, with the sleighs swishing crisply through the snow. The reindeer gathered more and more speed. They sprayed up snow behind them, and galloped nearer and nearer to the bank of snow ahead. But before they reached it, the little men pulled back on the reins, the reindeer leaned towards the sky, and they flew upwards, carrying the sleighs behind them. They climbed up to the stars, with the village dropping silently behind them, until they were high enough, and the reindeer levelled out. Now with cries of "Goodbye" and "Good luck" from the little men, the reindeer split up and flew off in different directions with a jingling of bells, leaving a sparkling stream of glitter behind them.
In the English countryside there stood a solitary house. Looking out of one of the upstairs windows was a young boy called James. He could not get to sleep, and instead leaned his elbows on the window-sill, gazing out on the gentle rain falling on the plain farmland all around. He looked down at the tree beneath his window. It had been growing ever since his parents had bought the house, and no-one knew what kind of tree it was. It had never blossomed, and never shown any fruit. It looked rather like a fir tree, but it had never produced any fir cones. James wished that the tree was a tall tree, a great oak which grew right up to his window, but it was just a useless old tree. Once, his family had tried hanging Christmas decorations on it, but it bent over, and some of the branches snapped. It looked so shabby that they took the decorations off, and never tried again.
James' thoughts were interrupted by a faint jingling sound. He leaned further over the window sill, and in the corner of his eye he noticed something moving. Looking around he saw, coming through the sky towards his house, a reindeer pulling a sleigh with a little man in red sat on the back. James' heart leaped for joy. "Father Christmas", he whispered to himself. The sleigh slowed down as it neared the house, and then it disappeared above James' window. He heard clunkings above his head, as the sleigh came to a halt and the reindeer patted the tiles with its hooves. Then James heard footsteps crunching across the roof towards the chimney. He hurriedly put his dressing gown and slippers on and crept down the landing to the stairs. Poking his head around the banisters, he could see the fireplace. There was much scuffling and scraping going on, and then a small red boot appeared dangling from the chimney, and in a puff of soot a little man dropped down into the fireplace.
James pulled his head back a little, so that he could peer at the little man without being seen. James decided that this couldn't be Father Christmas: the little creature that had just popped out of the chimney was much too short. The little man started looking around the fireplace for a letter for Father Christmas. James knew what he was looking for, and remembered putting the envelope on a sill at the bottom of the chimney.
"Oh dear", he thought. "If this little man doesn't find my letter, then Father Christmas won't know what I want him to give me as a present." He very nearly called out to the man to look in the chimney, but he decided it was best to remain concealed.
Then James started twitching his nose. The soot which had sprayed out of the fireplace had reached him and was making him ... want to ... sneeze ... Then as suddenly as it had begun, the tickling stopped. Phew, sighed James, and got out his handkerchief. He took a deep breath, and put the handkerchief to his nose, and blew...
PFAAAAARP!
"Gosh how loud that sounded", thought James. And of course, the little man had heard him.
"Oh hush, hush! Please be quiet", hissed the man. "You mustn't wake anyone up. Now don't run away. Come down here." There was a touch of kindness in his voice, for he liked children, and James crept down the stairs. When he reached the floor, he saw he was the same height as the little man.
"My name is James", he said. "Are you Father Christmas?"
"Ho ho, oh no!" chuckled the man. "My name is Bright. I am one of Father Christmas's helpers. I'm just visiting houses, collecting letters that people want to send to him. Do you think you could tell me where you have left yours?"
"Yes, it's on a shelf inside the chimney." The little man reached up to get the letter. He seemed very thoughtful as he brought down the envelope.
"James, how would you like to come with me and see Father Christmas, and our village where we live?"
"Oh I'd love to!" James leaped into the air. "May I, please?"
"You certainly may", said Bright, "as long as you promise not to tell anyone."
And before James knew it he was on the roof with Bright in the sleigh telling him to get a move on!
The sleigh soared over countries and oceans. James, warmly wrapped up in a thick coat, gazed over the scenery rushing below them. At one time Bright steered the reindeer down very near to the ground, where they skimmed along the course of a strong-flowing river with towering trees on either side. As the sleigh came nearer to the North pole, the cold, biting night started to fill with snow. The ground became whiter and whiter until, when they reached the village, the ground was covered in snow as far as James could see. The reindeer now slowed and headed downwards, and then curved up level with the ground in a gentle arc. The sleigh touched the ground too gently to feel it, but snow sprayed up on either side until the reindeer slowed down and they stopped near a large building.
Bright jumped off the sleigh and, unharnessing the reindeer, led it into the building. He returned out of the darkness, and lifted James off the sleigh. It slid easily along the hardened snow, and Bright pushed it into the building, returning with the sack of letters over his back.
"Right", said Bright, "let's get you into the warm."
James sat in front of the roaring log fire. It smelt strongly of pines, and its heat danced on his face. In the room where he sat there were many people dancing, talking and eating. James was eating a bright red fruit that he had been given. It tasted light and sweet, and he no longer felt hungry or cold. But he was tired after his long journey and he sunk back into the cushions as the noise and lights faded from his head.
When James awoke, he found himself in bed in a small room. The late morning light was streaming through the windows onto the opposite wall. James pushed himself up onto his elbows, but that made the sun glare in his eyes, so he dropped back down and rolled off the bed onto the floor. A set of clothes had been hung up for him, so he put them on. He looked at himself in the mirror, and thought that he would be very warm with such a thick, snug coat and trousers. By the door were some boots which he put on, and he founds some mittens in his pocket. He opened the door and stepped into a corridor. At one end it opened out into a kitchen where Bright was eating his breakfast. As James walked down the corridor, he looked up, and invited James to have some breakfast.
"Would you like an egg? With toasted soldiers?", he asked James. James was hungry, and accepted both. After the egg and toast he had another of those delicious fruits which he had eaten last night, but this one was an emerald green colour.
"What are these fruits called?", he asked Bright.
"Haven't you seen one before?", wondered Bright. "That's a firefruit. Don't you have them at home?"
"No, I didn't know they existed", admitted James. "Do you think I might be able to see where they grow today?"
"Of course you may! I will show you everything that there is to see in our village!", chuckled Bright. "And we shall start immediately. Come on!" He leapt up and bounded to the door, opening it for James.
That day, Bright showed James all over the village. They went into the musty pine forest, where the villagers got all their wood for fuel and materials. They visited the workshops, where there were all kinds of beautiful toys being made: dolls, cars, rocking horses and spinning tops. They went to the dark mine where the villagers dug out metals and jewels and extracted oils for plastics. They ate the cheese sandwiches which Bright had brought along, standing over an underground stream which sparkled with diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and moonstones. The villagers didn't collect these jewels because, as one told James, "It's too pretty to mine, and there's plenty more further down".
On the way back out of the mine, Bright asked James if he would like to go and see the trees which the firefruits grew on, and they went off towards the forest once more. Inside the forest, in a part which James hadn't gone in before, the pine trees gave way to a cluster of fir trees. These trees looked at first to be decorated with multicoloured Christmas lights. But as James drew closer to them, he saw that the decorations were really firefruits. James' face light up.
"Oh, may I have one please Bright?"
"Certainly", said Bright. James reached up to a round yellow fruit. It was not held on the tree very tightly, and he could easily pull it off. It had no core or stone, but just little pips which could not be felt in the mouth. After James had finished the last bite, Bright said that he should not eat too much food because they would soon be having tea with Father Christmas.
Father Christmas lived in a house in the centre of the village. The dining room was decorated with bright lights and long drapes decorated with reindeer and snowball fights. On the floor was a large thick rug with intricate patterns of reindeer galloping through the sky. On this was set a round table, with a deep red cloth spread over it. Four chairs with soft bouncy cushions stood tucked underneath the table.
Father Christmas himself was wearing a pair of red trousers, with braces going over his filled out blue shirt. He had large furry slippers on, which clomped around beneath his plump body. He invited them to sit down, and asked Hurry, his cook, to fetch the food. He then sat down opposite James, with a wide warming smile.
"Pleased to meet you James, I'm sure", he said in his deep, rolling voice. "I hope you are enjoying your stay here!"
"Yes thank you sir", James replied.
Then Hurry came in with some drinks. James was given a yellow drink, Bright a green one, and Father Christmas a red one. They all sparkled and fizzed with bubbles. Hurry returned to the kitchen.
"These are made from firefruit juice, you know James", said Father Christmas. "The very best ones are to be found on the east side of the firefruit tree wood."
Hurry brought in some sandwiches on a white dish, which he placed in the middle of the table. He also put down a plate and knife for each person. There were many different flavoured sandwiches: cheese, egg, peanut butter, something that tasted like marmite, and at the bottom were some chocolate and sliced banana sandwiches. James, who was fairly hungry after the long morning, ate lots of sandwiches, and sipped at his firefruit juice.
After the sandwiches, came some little fruit cakes, chocolates and fire fruit flavoured ice cream. During the meal, James, Bright and Father Christmas talked about how the village ran. All year round the villagers worked on the wood from the forest, making toys for Christmas. They grew their own food and made their own houses. They were totally independent from the outside world. In fact, hardly anybody outside knew that the little village existed - it had become a legend, the same as Father Christmas.
"We are having a celebration tonight James", said Father Christmas. "I do hope you enjoy it, because I'm afraid that afterwards Bright will have to take you back home."
They finished their tea, and when Bright and James stepped out of Father Christmas's front door, the sky had darkened and the celebrations had begun.
In the large square in the middle of the village, there was sweet, vibrant music and dancing, and tables of food and drink were being set out. Decorations hung from the large tree in the centre, stretching out to the houses on the edge of the square.
When the first stars appeared and James was beginning to feel tired, a sudden silence came over the square. James looked around for the reason, and then, with excited gasps from the crowd, three sleighs pulled by reindeer appeared in a perfect line behind the rooftops, soaring up steeply. Three more came from the opposite side of the village, in a triangle formation. Each reindeer and its sleigh were covered in decorative streamers, but not randomly coloured since each sleigh had its own theme: red, blue, green, deep yellow, purple and white. The sleighs made spirals down, down to the houses and then levelled out and swept over the heads of the people below, throwing fountains of glitter down. Then the sleighs flew away over the tops of the houses with fireworks exploding all around them. Green streams of light flared up from the houses, skimming past the sleighs. Yellow balls soared skywards and then erupted into massive orbs of sparkling white dots. Then from out of the turmoil of colours swept reindeer with single riders. The reindeer galloped over and around each other. Then the riders jumped from one reindeer to another. The display went on until James' eyelids were dropping.
After the celebrations were over and everything was being packed away, Bright took James to say goodbye to Father Christmas and then they left in one of the sleighs, its decorations having been removed. This time they took more than one reindeer and the journey was much shorter. James was very tired, and remembered only huddling up with the cool wind whistling through the open sleigh, the sound of the reindeer's bells jingling, and the soft snow floating to the ground.
When they arrived, Bright carried James into the house and tucked him up in bed. He took the clothes which James had borrowed, and crept softly out.
James awoke feeling as if he had only blinked, and his head had only brushed the pillow. A crystal jingle of bells was ringing clear in his head. He sat up and looked at his watch. It was Christmas Day. So the visit to Father Christmas's village had just been a dream. He got out of bed, wrapping his duvet around him. His stocking was hung at the end of his bed, and James looked through it. Then he skipped down the stairs into the sitting room. He gazed at the musty tree, beautifuly decorated with gentle greens, reds, golds and silvers. He saw the presents beneath, and the tree's lights twinkling on the colourful wrapping paper. But the magic fell when he heard his parents talking, so he went into the kitchen where they were having breakfast.
"Good morning James. Have you seen the snow outside?" asked his mother.
He walked to the window, but what made him gasp with delight was not the tiny white flakes gliding to the ground: the old fir tree in front of the house was laden with multicoloured firefruits!