Santa first appeared on Christmas five years ago.

She woke up in the middle of the night to a gift sitting on the edge of her bed. Curious, she ripped it open. A small doll sat within the small box, but when she pulled it out, it enlarged to become her size. Maybe even bigger. It looked exactly like the doll she saw on the windowsill of a fancy toy store.

‘Wow.’ She gasped.

‘Hey, how do you like the gift?’ Suddenly, a foreign voice sounded behind her. Alarmed, she grabbed the nearest thing she had--a clothes hanger--and turned around to see an oddly familiar old man sitting on top of her table with a sleeping reindeer on his lap, whose golden nose illuminated her room.

Pointing the clothes hanger at him, she looked him up and down. ‘You wear a red coat and a red hat.’

The old man nodded, calm in the face of a life threatening clothes hanger. ‘Red is my favourite colour.’

‘And you have white hair on your chin.’

The old man nodded again, stroking his beard proudly. ‘Mind you, this is tedious work. But hey, gets you this cool look.’

Still pointing the clothes hanger at the old man, she said with conviction, ‘You’re Santa.’

‘Indeed I am,’ the newly identified Santa nodded.

She put the clothes hanger down. She decided that it would be alright if it was Santa. He did bring her a gift.

‘Who’s that?’ She pointed at the reindeer on his lap.

‘Ah. Of course. Meet Rudolf, the sleepy reindeer with a golden nose.’

As if on cue, the reindeer’s eyes fluttered open. He looked at her lazily.

She walked towards Rudolf, and Rudolf nudged her face with his nose.

‘Rudolf will be giving us a ride,’ Santa said.

‘Where are we going?’

‘The Winter Wonderland, of course.’

‘The one in London?’

‘The South? Oh, no. No, it’s somewhere much better.’

‘North Pole?’ she guessed.

Santa winked at her, ‘Clever girl.’

‘And Rudolf’s bringing us?’ She said sceptically, eyeing the lap-sized reindeer. Then she looked around her room. ‘Where’s your sleigh?’

‘Ho ho ho, great questions, great questions indeed,’ Santa laughed heartily. He pushed his hand out and the windows opened. A gust of cold wind rushed in, along with a few snowflakes.

‘Cold,’ she complained, shivering.

‘Oops, sorry,’ Santa said. He snapped his fingers and a furry cloak wrapped around her.

Rudolf glanced at Santa with contempt, as if doubting his intelligence for not doing it first.

‘Ho ho ho!’ Intentionally ignorant of his companion’s contempt, Santa leapt out of the windows with Rudolf in his arms, landing soundly on the accumulated snow.

‘I can’t get down,’ she yelled out of the second-storey window that led out of her room.

‘Fret not, child,’ Santa yelled back. He waved his hand and a slide made of snow appeared. She slid down and landed with a small thud.

‘That is pretty cool,’ she acknowledged, ‘are we sliding to the North Pole?’

‘Unfortunately, we are going the old fashioned way.’ Santa held out his hand. The snowflakes swirled and twirled, finally settling into the shape of a sleigh, somehow finished with colouring.

‘Rudolf, would you please do the honours?’ The reindeer was resting lazily against Santa but ultimately jumped down after giving Santa a glare. Before his front hooves hit the ground, his limbs elongated, his horn stretched into a majestical stature, and his body enlarged in proportion with everything else. In front of her stood a fully-grown reindeer.

Her jaw dropped in awe.

Santa helped her into the sleigh. ‘Hold on tight,’ he warned, belting her in tightly, ‘Rudolf does not like working overtime.’

‘What do you mea..ahhhhhhh,’ she screamed, as the sleigh suddenly lurched forward, at a speed quicker than anything she had been on.

‘Ho ho ho,’ Santa laughed.

‘Not funny!’ She yelled over the sound of rushing wind.

Amidst the night sky, Rudolf ran ahead, his golden nose shining so brightly that it looked like a shooting star. Calming down from her initial fright, she peered down the sleigh and saw cities and countryside fields merging together, their colours blending into one. She wondered what would happen if she dropped a snowball from the sleigh. Where would it land? Could it break through someone’s window?

Soon, the colours turned a deep dark blue merging into glistening white. Miles of glistening white. She knew they were of ice and snow.

Santa produced a megaphone from who knows where. ‘Welcome to the North Pole. We will be landing very shortly. For your safety, please remain seated and keep your seatbelt fastened until Rudolf’s nose turns green.’

The sleigh dipped straight down. She squinted her eyes against the wind and braced herself for impact. Surprisingly, she felt nothing. The sleigh landed like a leaf on water, despite the copious amount of snow flying out from the skates as the sleigh skidded to a stop.

Bling! Rudolf's golden nose blinked green. Santa unfastened her seatbelt and plopped her on the snowy land. Holding her hand, he guided her to look in another direction and presented to her the Winter Wonderland.

‘Merry Christmas, child,’ Santa said.

In front of them was a snowy land decorated with so many Christmas lights that Rudolf’s nose blended right in. Snow structures and ice sculptures scattered across the land. In the middle stood an imposing tree, its leaves green but its trunk and branches translucent, made iridescent by the surrounding lights.

‘How can a tree grow in the North Pole?’ she asked. Her mum said that trees can’t grow in the Poles.

Santa stroked his beard, ‘Ah, that is a very special tree. It is the tree of wishes.’ He beckoned her to take a closer look.

She walked under the tree and saw that there were slips of paper hanging down underneath each leaf.

‘As long as there are wishes addressed to Santa, this tree will grow,’ Santa said, brushing his hand across the paper slips gently.

‘That’s why you always know what we want!’ she exclaimed, ecstatic about the revelation.

‘And what’s that?’ she asked. A few steps away from the tree was a huge structure that looked like a fountain. A polished statue of Santa with Rudolf sleeping in his arms stood in the middle, but the pool was devoid of water and featured a protruding pipe on one end.

‘Ho ho ho. That’s the fountain of gifts. My favourite, in fact.’ Santa positioned himself right in front of the pipe. Rudolf snorted and trotted next to her, placing himself between her and Santa.

Santa grinned, ‘This is where the fun lies.’

Suddenly, the loudest ‘Aaaa-choooo!’ ever known to mankind sounded across the silent arctic night. Snow all around them began to funnel into the pipe.

‘Rudolf, you’re the best,’ she said, clinging to the reindeer to avoid being swept away by the snow storm.

When her vision cleared, Santa stood proudly before the fountain, stroking his white beard. Behind him, the fountain was filled to the brim with snow. The mouth of Santa’s statue slowly creaked open.

Pop! A nicely wrapped gift popped up and slid down from Santa’s mouth. Then a second came. Then a third. Then Statue-Santa began vomiting gifts.

Rudolf shook his head at her and she nodded back at him. ‘Ruins the Wonderland,’ she agreed.

‘Ho ho ho!’ Santa laughed heartily, but she had already followed Rudolf’s lead to get away from the fountain of gifts.

Rudolf took her around the Winter Wonderland, which did not seem to have an end. Christmas lights strung on sculptures and ferris wheels and all sorts of amusement rides to the limit of each end in every direction she could see.

‘The Winter Wonderland goes on for as far as you want it to,’ Santa explained.

She got on as many rides as she could, until finally, it came time for Santa and Rudolf to take her home. Rudolf galloped across the night sky once again at an alarming speed, and soon they were back in her room.

‘Goodnight, child,’ Santa said, as he tucked her back into bed, ‘See you next year.’ Rudolf clicked and blinked his nose, as if saying goodbye. She smiled and waved at him.

She was about to drift off into sleep when she suddenly remembered something important. Very important. ‘Santa, wait! Sorry for pointing a clothes hanger at you. Don’t move me to the naughty list,’ she said, ‘Please?’

‘Oh no, of course not. It was a very smart move. Always beware of strangers in your house. I’d say keep your clothes hanger close for any untimely visitors. It is a terrifying weapon. Actually, hmm…’ Santa considered the clothes hanger and placed a finger on it.

‘There, so much better.’

The wooden clothes hanger was now streaked golden red, equipped with protruding icicles and embellishing snowflakes except for a length on one end.

She jumped up and grabbed it by that end. It fitted nicely in her palm. ‘Thanks, Santa. I’ll keep it near always,’ she said, brandishing the clothes hanger.

Santa smiled, ‘Merry Christmas, child.’ He blew out a breath of cold winter air, and the next thing she knew was her mother waking her up for Christmas.