Disclaimer: Obert Skye owns Leven Thumps. I just love the world he created.

What's Christmas?

Santa handed Leven a steaming mug of hot cocoa.

Seated on a wicker sofa, with a warm mug in his hand, Leven took a moment to relax. A roaring fire raged in the fireplace, the hungry flames licking the bottom of a black kettle. Next to him sat Geth, who also sipped a mug of hot cocoa.

Leven watched as Geth's searching eyes scanned the room, pausing on an item or two before turning towards their host.

"So I see you've added a few things since I was here last."

"Ho-ho-ho, you've noticed! You were always an observant one, Geth…" The bearded man chuckled, his eyes twinkling mysteriously. "I'm a bit surprised to see you though, it's been a while…"

"I couldn't visit due to some extreme circumstances." Geth replied, a smile tugging at his lips.

Leven eyed the lithen thoughtfully. He was almost sure that Geth was referring to his experience in reality, but then again… he hadn't known Geth that long. The lithen was ageless, and undoubtedly had many years under his belt.

Yet, when compared to Santa Claus, Geth seemed really young.

"Where did you get that one?" Geth asked, pointing to a sparkling jade pendant of a horse resting on the mantelpiece.

"That was a souvenir from a trip I took to the Orient a few years back. The people were hospitable and the food was excellent. I even bought a few postcards to add to my collection."

Postcards? Santa collected postcards? Leven wasn't sure he had heard them right.

"Just in case you were wondering, we actually came here for a reason other than to look at your immense collection."

Geth and Santa exchanged a look. The latter of the two nodded before pulling up a chair and sitting across from Leven. Geth continued to sip on hot cocoa, content to simply watch.

"So the holiday Christmas …" Santa started to say…

Soon Leven would understand all the wonders of the Christmas holiday. He was somewhat lost in wonder as he listened to Santa tell him of the many joys of Christmas.

It did help that he was learning from a master. Or in this case, the master…

---

Dennis Wood had never really understood the concept of Christmas… This made it infinitely more difficult to explain the holiday to Ezra, who neither cared for the holiday nor understood it.

The angry toothpick had trouble understanding why humans would pay money to buy other people gifts. How could anyone be so unselfish the entire holiday season?

Another thing that confused Ezra was the tradition of hanging up stockings on Christmas Eve. It was a weird tradition from his point of view.

But the thing that confused Ezra the most was the concept of Santa.

"Who in their right mind would let a fat man slide down their chimney, eat their milk and cookies, and then leave a bunch of his junk under a tree they chopped down and stuck in their house?!" Ezra bellowed.

Dennis tried to explain. "Santa Claus is supposed to be a jolly, fat man who brings presents to little boys and girls who have behaved well all year… I guess it's sort of rewarding the kids for being good."

Ezra was overwhelmed with the absurdity of that comment. "What happens to the suckers who don't behave good?"

"They get rocks or something in their stockings." Dennis didn't know that these rocks were in fact charcoal, but it didn't really matter to Ezra.

"Really?"

"Well yes…"

"When I take over reality, Christmas will be the first thing to go!" Ezra cackled evilly, a grinch-like smile plastered on his face, while planning in his mind how he would do away with all of the Christmas traditions.

Dennis sighed. He definitely did not want to be the one who had to explain the rest of the holidays to Ezra… One holiday was enough.