Jean-Paul Beaubier isn’t the biggest fan of his fan mail. Going through it was a tedious task even before he came out, but now there’s the addition of the homophobes with too much time on their hands. He stopped reading it all together a couple months after he came out, but something about that letter caught his eye as Heather sorted Alpha Flight’s mail.
It was addressed to “Mr. Northstar” in thick blue crayon, the obvious scrawling of a child, but that wasn’t the only thing that caught Jean-Paul’s attention, it was the red crayon in big letters that said “ERGENT MESSAGE”
“Could I see that letter, Heather?” He asked, she nodded as she handed it to him, visibly surprised to see Jean-Paul show interest in the mail.
“Looks important.” She smirked, but he was already gone, opening the letter in the privacy of his own room.
Dear Mr. Northstar,
My name is Christofer Davidson. I am 9 years old. I am from Londun, Ontario. I know this is your addriss for ledders about Alpha Flight, but I was hopping you could make sure Santa knows my new addriss?
My daddie told me that the reason you have pointy ears is that you and Aurora are elfs. He said you lived in Canada because it was the closest to the North Pole and were on Alpha Flight so you can help Santa with the notty list and you use your souper speed to help him deliver presents on Chrismiss Eve!
We wrote our Chrismiss leturs to Santa already, but dadde died. Me and Nathan (my little bruther) had to move in with a new family. Claire and John are very nice but I am worried that Santa will go to our old house.
I have been very good this year, even though I have been sad. I know Nathan has been notty since we moved in with Claire and John, but I promise he was very good this year, he just misses dadde a lot. I do too.
If he’s been too notty for presents though, could I add a pair of new hock-e skates (size 6) to my list? I no that might be cheating, but he grew out of his old ones Claire said they can’t afford new ones right now. I know how much he misses playing hocky with dad. I think skating will help him be less sad, and what I want most for Chrismiss is for him to be less sad.
Yurs truly,
Christopher
P.S. Merry Chrismiss!
********************
Claire McFarnand dreads Christmas as a foster parent. It’s a hard time of the year for kids who can’t be with their families, or who have no families at all. Especially when the checks from the government barely cover the expense of putting food on the table. This year is even harder, taking on two orphaned children in the month before Christmas. A pair of brothers, Christopher and Nathan, whose father had died in a work accident. Their mother had died when they were still little, and both sets of grandparents were either dead or were too old to take care of them. Taking on them meant taking on their grief as well. It had been difficult, a lot of crying through meals, wetting the bed, and lashing out in confused anger. But the one warm spot in all of it was that they had both been looking forward to the holiday, so nevertheless, she tries what she can to make the holidays magical for the kids. Which is why her husband had taken the kids out for hot cocoa, while she finished wrapping the Christmas presents they could afford this year and writing “from Santa” on them, just as she had planned. What she hadn’t been planning was a knock at the door, or for the knock to come from a man with a truck and a clipboard asking for Christopher Davidson.
“I’m his foster mom… what’s this about?” She asks, trying not to be alarmed.
“Christmas delivery. Since you're his foster mom, I’ll need you to sign for it. Oh! And I was told to give you these.” He said, handing her two envelopes, one addressed to Christopher and one addressed to her, on official Alpha Flight stationery.
The envelope for her had a short note from Jean-Paul Beaubier, explaining what Christopher had written to him worried that Santa wasn’t going to know their address and knew how difficult the holidays could be in foster care, especially after loosing a parent. He wrote how he wanted to help make their Christmas a joyous one, hoping that the check enclosed would ensure a happy new year as well. She couldn’t help the gasp that escaped her either when she saw the check. She’d have to work two months of overtime to make that kind of money.
By the time John got back with the kids all of the presents had been laid underneath the tree, and Claire couldn’t help but laugh at the jaw drop from not only Christopher and Nathan, but from John too. The two boys immediately began to freak out at the sight of the tree, Claire had never seen them so animated and excited before. It was a welcomed change from their solemn quiet sadness or inconsolable anger.
“Santa came early!” Nathan shouted excitedly, jumping up and down and grinning ear to ear. Claire had never seen him so much as smirk. It filled her heart to see him act like a regular six year old.
“Yes he did! He told me that he got an urgent message from a concerned elf.” She said, smiling at Christopher who beamed at her.
“Mr. Northstar got my letter?” He asked, she nodded.
“Yes, and he also wrote back! Wanna see what he said?” She asked, they sat on the couch, Claire helping Christopher read his letter, which read:
Dear Christopher,
I must admit I was quite surprised to see a request for Santa outside of his workshop. Not many people have figured out that me and Aurora work for Santa, as it goes against the Elf Code Authority to reveal our secret identities to the public. Your dad must have been a very smart man to have figured that out.
I made sure to reach out to Mr. Claus to make sure he knew your new address, and he informed me that he was already prepared to stop at your new home. He knows your address no matter where you go, he told me that he couldn’t keep track of who’s been naughty and who’s been nice otherwise.
Speaking of the nice list, he also assured me that both you and Nathan had made the nice list with no question. Santa knows, sometimes it’s hard to be nice when you are sad, and it means a lot to him that you are both trying, despite what a tough year it has been for both of you.
It can be hard to not be sad after you lose someone you love, which is why I talked to Santa to see if he could make sure Christmas is extra special this year. He even made sure to include new skates for both of you as well as a couple other surprises for Christmas morning. If anything is the wrong size, let Claire know so that I can tell Santa and we can get the right size.
May you have a Merry Christmas!
Your Friendly Neighborhood Elf,
Mr. Northstar