The Captain paused in the middle of hanging an ornament on the tree when he heard Candy emit a small scream. He chuckled when he saw the cause of her distress: a spider, no bigger than a dime, had climbed onto her hand from where he had been hiding in one of the few boxes of Christmas decorations the Captain had left in his attic. He moved a cautionary hand toward the girl when he saw she was about to squash the insect into oblivion. "Don't do that, Candy! Here, let me take him off you." Using a loose leaf of mistletoe lying about on the floor, the Captain carefully scooped the spider off the girl's hand and moved him to the mantle. For a moment, the insect sat there under the Captain's gaze, his legs tucked in, playing dead. Then, slowly, when he felt sufficiently reassured that the coast was clear, he began spreading them again. The Captain watched him with amusement as he scrambled up the wall and promptly disappeared behind his portrait.

            "I hate spiders," muttered Candy, who shivered in disgust at her close encounter, brushing her hands against her pants to erase all traces, real or imagined, of the insect's presence.

            The Captain raised a surprised eyebrow at the girl's comment. He'd never known her to be squeamish; she routinely matched her brother and their friends when it came to handling creepy, crawly things, all to the everlasting regret of their mother, the seaman couldn't help but remember with a smile. So this aversion for spiders was rather unexpected. "It wouldn't have hurt you," the Captain said reasonably.

            Candy looked down, embarrassed, knowing she could trust the seaman on that with her life, yet unwilling to let go of her deep-seated dislike of the crawlers. "Still…"

            "Besides," the Captain continued, "it's considered bad luck to kill a spider, especially at Christmas time."

            She squinted up at him. "Why?" she asked, utterly perplexed.

            "Do you not know the story of the Christmas spider?"

            Candy rolled her eyes. "Aww, come on, Captain, you're making that up just to make me feel better."

            The seaman straightened up, putting on his most sincere look. "Indeed not. Here, come sit with me and I'll tell it to you." He watched as the girl made herself comfortable on the couch, then joined her. "Many years ago, there was an old lady who was very poor and lived alone. Come Christmas, she wanted to celebrate as best as her limited means would allow. But she quickly found that she didn't have nearly enough to decorate her measly tree properly. Despondent, the old lady cried, her head pressed against the frozen glass of her tiny window, praying that the Good Lord would keep her in his thoughts in the coming year and ease her burden a little.

            "Unbeknownst to her, a spider was lurking in the corner of the window as she uttered her prayer. Waiting until the old lady had gone to sleep, the spider made his way to her tiny tree and began to spin his web, methodically covering the tree with beautiful patterns. Come morning, the old lady woke up to the sight of her Christmas tree covered in cobwebs. Then, the most wondrous thing happened: the sun came out, pouring light into the little hovel, and when it struck the little tree, all the cobwebs turned into silver! And the old lady knew then that her prayer had been answered."

            The little girl looked at the seaman with wide eyes, her face breaking into a radiant smile as realization struck her. "So that's why we put tinsel on the tree! That's what it means!"

            The Captain smiled at her with pride. "Precisely." Reaching over to dig around into another of the old boxes, he said, "As you should never judge a book by its cover, neither should you judge character from outward appearances. The lowliest of creatures may harbour the biggest heart of all, just as the greatest treasures may be dug up from the most desolate of places." As he fell silent, he produced a small angel made out of crystal, its multi-faceted surface throwing off tiny rainbows as it glinted in the sun. He put it gently in the girl's hesitant hands.

            She looked at it silently for a few moments, obviously mulling over everything the Captain had said. When she looked up at him again, her eyes were serious. "I promise I'll do my best to remember all you told me today, Captain," Candy said solemnly.

            The spirit nodded with a smile, not doubting for a moment that she would. Reaching once more for the box, he presented it to Candy with a twinkle in his azure eyes. "Now, my dear – will you do the honours?"

            Looking the Captain straight in the eye the whole time, Candy reached into the dusty box and pulled out an ornament, all her fears forgotten.

Merry Christmas, everyone!