Life With A Werewolf

That Time of Year Begins

          It's troubling times for everyone, I suppose. There are memories I hear from others, memories of Christmas presents piled so high in front of Christmas trees in the living room that you could barely see the star at the top of it. Boxes lovingly wrapped with expensive paper, ribbons and bows, each with their own name and card attached. Gifts piled so high it becomes a literal sea of wrapping paper for small children to wade through and a garbage truck's nightmare come day after to deal with.
          Then there's the food, food that was lovingly prepped and baked. Fights in the kitchen are almost always forgotten in the mornings. That is, unless you're the guy half drunk by ten AM in the corner with the children trying to explain to them that Santa Claus is really a stalker looking for any excuse to snatch a bad child up and make them disappear before New Years. Yeah, a quick apology to my ex brother-in-law about giving your kids nightmares. Guess I got carried away with my description.
          But this year feels a bit more subdued than those. The gifts for a lot of people aren't piled as high. The food budget has been trimmed back. As a parent, I can imagine that feels a bit like a failure to your kids. They may believe in Santa, but you know where Santa really comes from, and your bank account isn't capable of conjuring up as generous of a version of the fat man this year. At times, it can be easy to forget that there's still magic in the season for children, regardless of how many gifts they get or how many times you've watched Charlie Brown.
          I've asked Crash if there were any special werewolf traditions. He told me the story of Krampus, of course, which I think I've talked about before. About how he steals bad children in the night and gives them to good werewolf pups. It makes sense for a werewolf's version of Christmas, if you think about it.
          But, there was something mentioned. He hadn't specifically banned me from talking about it, so I'll mention it. It was how him and his mother would shift, and hunt together. They'd bring the beast down and bring it in for his father to help clean, that they'd later cook. The meal was then shared by them, with all the fixings that they'd throw in and assist together with in their own special way.
          This leads me to the thought of Christmas being more than just boxes covered in enough wrapping paper to lose a small child in. It seemed to be more in that description for one family than fighting over gifts in a store, or wearing out the Amazon delivery people. There was a true magic of the season at that moment for that family.
          Perhaps the magic of Christmas, if there's any real magic in it, comes from things just like that. Not from hearing Mariah Carey for the millionth time. Not from overworking store employees. But from the small moments in time that are shared with loved ones. Driving around and looking at the decorated houses. Watching the Christmas specials with your family. Enjoying that special holiday performance by a local group. And of course, the Christmas villages.
          I wonder if mythicals have their own version of a Christmas village? Maybe where kids come and sit on Krampus's knee. Perhaps one child plays the bad kid caught by Krampus. I could see the Rougarou doing some sort of version of eggnog that wouldn't be edible for humans. Heck, it might not be edible for most mythicals.
          The minotuars would, of course, run a Christmas tree lot. Cause of course they would. Then there would be the caroling, oh boy can I imagine the caroling. Sadly.
          Mythicals of all kinds in their shifted forms, singing a chorus of songs designed for their special version of the year. All to celebrate, well, what we celebrate really. Whether that's the religious reason, or the familial one. And I can hear all choruses of voices singing in their own off-key tones that may sound beautiful with special kind of ears. But to my human ones, it would sound like a pack of dogs trying to chase down a bull, an alligator and a confused troll.
          Well, however you enjoy it, just try to enjoy this coming holiday season. After all, just like the special says, Christmas doesn't come from a store. Perhaps it means just a little bit more. Or something like that.