Nicolas was only ten years old when he met his best friend at the playground.

     It was a cold, winter morning. The snow was falling down to the white ground, as the children walked out of the orphanage in their stretched out, out of size, scarfs and coats.

     "Alright, scraps. Now, you got ten minutes to walk around and do all of your stupid kid stuff. Don't get in trouble." She said to the kids, as a truck drove up to the orphanage.

     As the headmistress fixed up her hair, the kids raced through the broken down playground.

     The only reason why they were able to play that day was because the man in the truck was, as Nicolas found in the headmistress' diary, "One hunky man."

     Now, the kids ran around, like kids do. Sliding down the slide, playing on the seesaw. Some would have snowball fights, and climb up on the highest of trees.

     But, one kid was not.

     He sat on the swings, looking down at his torn-up, broken shoes.

     Christmas was right around the corner, but, not for him. Not for any of the children. The headmistress didn't even tell them about Christmas. He only knew because he had found the Christmas stories in the shoebox before the headmistress has thrown them in the fire.

The kids at this orphanage never celebrated Christmas. They never got to watch the Christmas specials, or ever play in the snow. This was just their lucky day, because the "hunky man" was here. "Hunky man" only came once a year, and at the same time each year.

     Poor Nicolas, though. He was devastated when he found out what had happened to his parents. He snuck into the headmistress' files and read what had happened, before she sent him into the closet as punishment.

His parents died on Christmas Day. He was just a toddler back then, but he remembered his parents very well.

     He would watch his parents as they cut down the Christmas tree. He placed Christmas lights everywhere. He even helped place the star on top of the tree.

But, with every day that went by, his memory got fuzzier and fuzzier, like a fog coming closer and closer.

     Tears streamed down his face, as he remembered the times that he wasn't treated this way.

"I just want to see them... one last time..." Nicolas thought to himself, as the tears landed on the snow, leaving a hole on where his tear had landed.

      "What's wrong?" Somebody asked him, as he looked up to see the girl. For the past few days, she has been riding a bike in the snow. He would watch from out the window. He didn't know how's she managed to do that...

     She loooked to be around the same age as him. She had dark brown hair, with eyes as black as coal. Her clothes were nice and shiny compared to his small and dirty ones.

     "It's ok. You don't have to tell me. My name is Krystal, Krystal Cringle. But most people call me Krissy. What's yours?" She asked, as she sat down on the swing next to him.

     He sniffles and wiped his tears, before responding.

     "Nicolas."

     "Nice to meet you Nicolas." She said, with a bright smile, her hair blowing in the breeze, her bike getting covered in snow.

     "Would you like to play together? You seem really nice." She said, swinging on the swings a little bit.

     "O-Ok..." Nicolas replied, as Krissy got off the swings with Nicolas.

     They played tic-tac-toe in the snow, made snow angels, and built snowman together. She told him things about Christmas that he didn't even know about. Like Frosty the snowman, Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, Jack Frost... all of them. All he would give was a little smile back.

     After 30 minutes of playing in the snow, Krissy told Nicolas that she had to go window shopping for presents with her father. Nicolas asked where he was, and Krissy pointed at him.

     Her father had a big round belly, a white trimmed beard, and those same big black eyes as Krissy.

     "That's Daddy." She said, giggling, "I'm sure he would love to meet you! Come on!" She said, as she grabbed Nicolas' hand, and ran off to her father.

     "Hey Daddy!" Krissy said, as she ran and hugged her big father.

     "Hello, my little snowflake. Are you ready to go window shopping?" He asked her, but she shook her head.

     "First, I want you to meet my friend, Nicolas! We played together for the longest time! Can I play with him again? Please?" She asked him, a twinkle in her eye.

     "Hmm? Nicolas. You look like a really nice fella. Would you like to go see my daughter sometime? She seems very fond of you." He said, as Nicolas nodded without hesitation.

     The big man laughed a laugh from deep inside his gut. Krissy smiled with pure joy in her heart.

      "Now, Nicolas, where are your parents? Maybe we could work something out with you two." He said, as Nicolas smile faded.

     Nicolas started to cry once more. Krissy got off of her father's lap and hugged him tightly. Nicolas wiped his tears, as he pointed to the orphanage.

     "Y-you don't have any parents?" Krissy asked Nicolas, as he shook his head sadly. The big man stood up, and told his daughter to wait, as he walked off.

     Many minutes went by, before he came back, a piece of paper in his hand.

     Krissy and Nicolas saw him, and smiled a sad smile. But, her father, he was smiling from ear to ear.

      "Krissy, I'm afraid that we're taking a trip home early." He said to his daughter.

     "What? But why?! Daddy! Please tell me!" She said, complaining. Nicolas was just about to walk away, but he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard what the big man said.

     "We have to set up a room in the workshop for your new brother, Nicolas." He said, smiling.

     Nicolas turned around, smiling more then he had ever smiled in many, many years.

     The headmistress told him that nobody would ever care or love for him. He would just be a person in the dark. Always falling short from the rest of them.

     But, this man. This complete stranger with the big round belly and the deep jolly laugh. The adult that he had just met. He cared for Nicolas, after looking at him for only a second.

     Krissy hugged Nicolas tightly once more. But, this time, Nicolas hugged back.

     "Daddy adopted you! Daddy adopted you!" She kept saying, as tears left Nicolas' face.

     After a moment of hugging and crying, they started to walk into the woods, leaving Krissy's bike behind.

     "Are we there yet?" Krissy would keep asking her father, as he would just smile brightly.

     Nicolas stopped dead in his tracks when they got to the end of the woods to see a big red sleigh, and nine reindeer.

     Many years went by, and that bike still layer there, untouched. It had been rained on, stepped on, and snowed on. But, all those years, it had still stayed standing.

     The bike became a legend.

     But, one Christmas Day, people woke up, and found the bike gone. In replace of the bike, they saw a huge Christmas tree, decorated in millions of lights. Buy lunchtime, everybody in town had heard about the phenomenon, and went down to see the tree.

     One kid, about ten years old, looked on that tree, and found something carved deep into the branches and the bright lights.

     "Merry Christmas! From, Saint Nicolas."