A Boy Called Christmas

The narrator presents the story as the true origin of Father Christmas, beginning when he was an ordinary boy named Nikolas living in rural Finland. Nikolas, an 11-year-old born on Christmas Day, lives in a tiny cottage with his father, Joel, a woodcutter who earns little because wood is cheap in Finland. Nikolas has received just two presents in his life: a wooden sleigh and a turnip doll carved by his mother, Lilja, who died when he was six after a brown bear chased her into a stone well. Nikolas witnessed the event and carries deep guilt. Each night, Joel tells him stories about elves who live in a snow-covered village called Elfhelm, hidden beyond a mountain in the Far North. A small brown mouse Nikolas names Miika sneaks into the cottage to listen.

One evening, a hunter named Anders arrives with a proposition from King Frederick: a reward of 12,000 rubles for proof of Elfhelm. Joel joins the seven-man expedition, leaving Nikolas with his older sister, Aunt Carlotta, and taking the wooden sleigh for supplies. Carlotta proves cruelly oppressive: She throws Miika outside, forces Nikolas to sleep outdoors, and makes him forage all day. Months pass with no sign of Joel. One evening, Carlotta tricks Nikolas into eating soup made from his turnip doll, the last thing his mother made for him, and laughs as she reveals what he has consumed. Devastated, Nikolas resolves to run away, find his father, and see the elves for himself.

Taking stale bread and his mother's old coat, Nikolas collects Miika and heads north. He walks for days through harsh terrain. In a village, an old woman confirms seven men passed through months ago and never returned, and she gives him a map the group dropped. During a thunderstorm, Nikolas encounters a large reindeer with one of Anders's gray-feathered arrows stuck in its hind leg. He tends the wound and removes the arrow. The grateful reindeer follows him, and Nikolas names him Blitzen. When Nikolas grows too exhausted to walk, Blitzen kneels and lets him ride.

They reach the Very Large Mountain. Halfway up, Nikolas finds his father's red hat frozen in the snow. He breaks down and decides to turn back, but Blitzen refuses and keeps climbing. On the far side, Blitzen collapses, trapping Nikolas's leg. Near death, Nikolas whispers, "There is no magic," and loses consciousness.

He wakes to find two elves: Father Topo, an elderly elf, and his great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter, Little Noosh. Father Topo has performed a drimwick, a hope spell that heals those who are good, restoring both Nikolas and Blitzen. Father Topo explains the first elf rule: To see something, you must truly believe in it. As Nikolas concentrates, an entire village materializes around him, with green cabins, shops, a frozen lake, and a Village Hall smelling of gingerbread.

Father Topo leads Nikolas into the Village Hall, where hundreds of elves sit in deep misery under rules imposed by Father Vodol, the authoritarian leader of the Elf Council. Vodol has banned spickle dancing (a traditional elf dance), joy, goodwill, and any human presence in Elfhelm. Nikolas learns from the elf newspaper that a child named Little Kip has gone missing. When Vodol discovers Nikolas is the son of Joel, a woodcutter with nine and a half fingers, he identifies Joel as one of the humans who were welcomed to Elfhelm but kidnapped Little Kip in the night, escaping on a sleigh. Vodol orders Nikolas imprisoned in a tower.

In his cell, Nikolas meets the Truth Pixie, a small pixie compelled to speak only truth, who confirms the kidnapping. Nikolas realizes with horror that his own sleigh may have been used to take Little Kip. Recalling Father Topo's words that an impossibility is just a possibility not yet understood, Nikolas concentrates on hope and begins to float. In the ensuing chaos, his cellmate, a troll named Sebastian, dies, and Nikolas rises through the tower's old chimney, which bends and expands to fit him. He emerges on the roof at sunrise on Christmas Eve.

Father Vodol leads guards on flying reindeer toward the tower, hurling Joel's ax at Nikolas. Little Noosh's voice rises above the hostile crowd: "Leave him alone!" Blitzen charges through the air, and Nikolas leaps onto his back. They fly south into the sunrise. Nikolas lets out a deep belly laugh, a "Ho ho ho" reminiscent of his mother's joyful spirit, and decides he must find Little Kip and return the child to Elfhelm.

That night, Nikolas discovers the expedition's campfire and overhears the men planning to deliver a "present" to King Frederick. Joel is among them, expressing reluctance. Beyond the fire, Nikolas finds a wooden cage tied to his own sleigh, with Little Kip shackled inside. Toivo, one of the expedition men, discovers Nikolas and points a crossbow at him, but Anders recognizes Joel's son. Joel confesses the kidnapping was his own idea. Nikolas demands they free Little Kip, but the men refuse.

That night, Joel quietly harnesses Blitzen to the sleigh and helps Nikolas escape with Little Kip. The men wake and fire arrows. One strikes Joel in the shoulder. As they approach a deep ravine that Blitzen cannot clear under the heavy load, Joel tells Nikolas he loves him and wants to be remembered for something good. He lets go and falls. Freed of Joel's weight, Blitzen soars over the ravine. Nikolas watches his father disappear into the darkness, just as his mother vanished into the well.

On Christmas morning, Nikolas flies Little Kip back to Elfhelm. The elves declare him a hero and return Little Kip to his parents, Loka, a toy maker, and Moodon, a gingerbread baker. Loka gives Nikolas armfuls of toys and stuffs them into Moodon's woolen stockings, noting that stockings are the perfect size for presents. Under pressure from the elves, Father Vodol grudgingly pardons Nikolas.

Nikolas decides to live in Elfhelm permanently. The elves elect him to the Elf Council, and when Vodol steps down, Nikolas wins the leadership. He chooses the elf name "Christmas," the nickname his parents gave him, and becomes Father Christmas. As leader, he restores joy, goodwill, spickle dancing, and fair wages. He wears his father's red hat daily and cultivates a jolly demeanor modeled on his mother's spirit. Years later, after bringing the Truth Pixie a telescope as a gift, Nikolas realizes that giving is what brings him the deepest joy. At 62, with a white beard, the idea crystallizes: He will deliver presents to every child in the world on a single Christmas night using the elves' toys, flying reindeer, and the best sleigh ever built. The moment he discovers his true purpose, Father Christmas stops aging, fulfilling Father Topo's prediction that he would stop aging upon finding his purpose. He leans out his window and shouts, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

On the very first Christmas Eve delivery, barely enough magic exists because no children yet hope for such a thing. The journey is made possible by a single child: an eight-year-old girl named Amelia Wishart in London, whose intense hope creates just enough light to guide Father Christmas to her home. She wakes to find a stocking full of presents and a letter signed "K.C." urging her never to stop believing in magic.