Santos lived in a little brick house. He wasn’t much for Christmas; him or Reese, his sister. Reese celebrated Yule. Santos and Reese did not exchange gifts, but rather sang to each other. One song Reese sang in particular, “Icicle” by Tori Amos. Santos played the piano as she stood on the table and pretended she was on stage. Their little room was not decorated much. It was a sitting room. They had a little blue wreath hanging on a large, heavy, unused door and some ivy lining one wall (and for some reason, the moon had crept in one cold night last month and hadn’t left, so you can imagine how bright it was in there), a string of lights on one side of the room and large gold chandelier in the middle of the ceiling. In the room they had a stone bench in the shape of a butterfly; story behind the bench was that it was made of ashes of all those unclaimed cremains their father, a mortician, now dead, had kept in honor of the forgotten people left behind by their so-called loved ones. So Trent, their father, had made a butterfly bench in honor of his late wife, Magda, or so that’s how the story was told. Opposite of that was the stone stage, or table Reese liked to sing on. And on the far left wall were morgue drawers; their living room was their fathers old morgue; even the sign was left behind!
This Yule was especially lonely with both parents gone; they vowed to make the best of it. So, in memory of their mother, they decided it’d be nice to make a gingerbread house, not exactly a custom, but Magda loved gingerbread and she felt the only time to eat it was during the holidays. What was to come they were never prepared for…
Reese made the gingerbread from scratch from her mother’s recipe in the oven that had strangely been installed in the living room. Santos had gone out to get decorations for the gingerbread house, some liquor and other things when he came upon a little man, very little, selling a blue Christmas tree. He was offering it for a very low price and blue was Reese’s favorite color, but he thought to himself, ‘She wouldn’t like a Christmas tree. I don’t even like Christmas!’ The man, we’ll call him Mr. Piper, insisted. He said, “This tree is magical and I know you want something magical. Who doesn’t want magical… things?” Santos agreed but at a lower price and so Santos walked home with a dirt cheap, blue Christmas tree.
Once Santos got home and Reese saw the tree her eyes fell upon it with amazement and curiosity, “Where on earth did you get that?”
“A little man—Mr. Piper.”
“What is it?”
“He says it’s a “magical” Christmas tree.”
“San, you know how I feel about the whole “spirit” of Christmas…”
“Yes, I know, but look, its blue-- your favorite color.”
“I guess… put it up.”
So, Santos set up the tree as Reese continued to bake the gingerbread and cut out the beginning pieces of a house. She was quite pleased with herself. It was the first time without her mother helping her.
“Gingerbread is ready!” yelled Reese.
“Yes! Let’s get this show on the road!” Santos was very excited, he felt his own spirit rising, Yule or not.
They worked until 1am perfecting their gingerbread house. When they were complete they decided to set it on a little table in the living room. Reese saw something twinkle from the corner of her eye coming from their new tree. As she approached the tree it got brighter and Santos joined her.
“San, do you see this?”
“Yeah, what is it?”
“I don’t know. Let’s get closer.”
As they crept closer to the tree they heard a little noise almost like a mumble… a little tiny voice…
“WELL, IT’S ABOUT TIME!” a little tiny many yelled. Very tiny.
Santos and Reese jumped back. They were startled. There was a little, tiny man in their new tree and he was yelling. Why was he yelling?
“Hey! You’re Mr. Piper!”
“How’d ya guess, genius?”
“Hey don’t talk to my brother like that!”
“What are you gonna do about it girlie?!”
Mr. Piper had quite the temper.
“Wait—How’d—But—You were—“ Santos was at a loss for words.
“I’m magical, just like your tree, I hopped on the back of it as you walked away. I’ve been waiting for you two to stop baking and chatting and come look at this beautiful tree. It’s hotter than sauna in here! Are you two ready?”
“Ready? Ready for what?” asked Reese.
“Ready to leave this place; I can take you to a place most magical where your wildest dreams can come true and you’ll never have another worry again. Reese you can stop getting harassed by your male co-workers—you won’t have any! And Santos, you can stop working three jobs just to take care of you and Reese and the bills. I promise.”
Reese and Santos thought about this. They had nothing to lose. They decided to go with Mr. Piper.
“How do we get there Mr. Piper?”
“Well through your gingerbread house of course…”
Reese and Santos approached the too-small-for-humans gingerbread house and looked on in confusion.
“Ready guys?”
“Yes.”
With a wave of his hand and a simple, “ONWARD!” shouted by Mr. Piper everything went black for Reese and Santos and they were in the Strawberry Fields.
They were speechless. There was nothing to be said. Candy canes lined the ground and strawberries twinkled in the night sky as stars danced all around them. They couldn’t believe their eyes!! They had cakes, cookies and candies at their every finger tips. Santos eventually married the faery queen Lucy and Reese married a blacksmith named Carl that got persuaded by Mr. Piper as well.
No one knew where Mr. Piper came from or why or the reasons for his actions (which benefited many), but needless to say Santos, Reese and their new friends and family lived out their days together, in happiness, in the Strawberry Fields.

THE END.