"Please, Mr. Stewart... Yes sir, but this is important to my family... Yes, but... But sir-"

My mother was trying her best to convince her boss. It didn't seem she was getting through to him but she stayed on for an hour, even when he told her that he needed to go. It seemed she was trying to get fired, but I guess she knew what she was doing.

"Yes sir... Okay, hold on." She covered the phone and looked a SeoHyun. "He wants to talk to you."

SeoHyun stood up and took the house phone as Mom took her seat again and took a bite out of the fattah I made earlier.

"What did he say?" I asked her.

She looked at me with exhausted eyes. Talking to him had drained her. "He keeps telling me that nothings going to change, and that instead of arguing with him I should spend my time packing my bags."

I huffed. He really is stubborn, I thought. Is he not Christian? Does he have no family?  Even if he doesn't, he should understand.

I looked at SeoHyun, who hadn't spoken since she got the phone, only nodding at what her boss said. Finally, she said, "Do you remember someone called Yejoon Yoon? Yep, that's the one. The man who despite the fact that he wanted to spend Christmas with his family he traveled back and forth from here to South Korea so that he could get a promotion, thinking that he'd be able to spend time with his family this year, and thought he'd be able to give his family everything they wanted or needed. And guess what? He's not here anymore."

SeoHyun took a deep breath to keep from crying. "He decided that work wasn't so important, and decided to fly back home even though his work there wasn't done and to see his family. Unfortunately there was a blizzard that night, and he knew there was, but he still took the plane." Another deep breath. "He did it because he wanted to see us, because our family is more important than your partnerships with other businesses. You can do that any other time of the year, but Christmas is special to us. So, I'm not going to Shanghai, and Mom's not going to Seoul. We're staying with our family, so find someone else to go on that trip. Bye!"

She hung up and let out a loud sigh. Then she looked at Mom. "Sorry, we might have lost our jobs."

"That's okay, we can work somewhere else after New Years. We still got our degrees, and we got enough money to live on for a while." Even so, she seemed worried.

Jihoo looked up from the book he was reading. "So, are you staying?"

"Yes, honey," Mom smiled and walked over to him. "We're staying, so don't worry about not seeing us, okay?"

He smiled and nodded eagerly and gave her a big hug.

"So," Mom looked at all of us. "Who wants to go to the mall?"

We looked through all the stores, not thinking of anything really to buy.

When we went up the escalator, we could see that man again, the fat guy in the suit.

"Hey, Jihoo!" Mom pointed over at the Santa impersonator. "Remember him, lil' guy?"

"He's fake." Jihoo remarked.

SeoHyun gasped. "What do you mean?"

"Santa's not real," Jihoo said plainly.

I didn't look at them but I felt them send daggers my way.

"Oops?"

Jihoo continued, "But the people we know are better than any Santa there is because they give us gifts out of love."

They looked at me. "You said that?" Mom asked.

"No, Vernon did," I muttered.

Then, as if on cue, we saw Vernon, Jin, Amber, and Sunny walking towards us.

So it's not just Jihoo. They like stealing everyone in my family from me.

Jihoo immediately started running and hugged Sunny, who was also happy to see him.

"Hey, little guy, how's it going!"

Sunny is probably Jihoo's favorite cousin, and vice versa. She gives him more attention than anyone else.

Then he grabbed Vernon and ran over to Mom.

"This is the real Santa."

We all looked at each other like "What?!"

He laughed. "He told me about how our families are greater than Santa, and remember how I told that guy," he pointed at the guy in the red suit. "how I wanted him to bring the Christmas spirit back to Myra? Vernon did that!"

Me and Vernon looked at each other then laughed. It was true. I hadn't really noticed it, but it was true.

Vernon posed so that he look mighty and said, "Well, you know, I'm just good at it."

We all laughed. "Sure, Vernon."

We all began to walk together throughout the mall. Looking around at things we couldn't buy, just enjoying each other's company.

I looked in Barnes&Noble as we passed it.

"Wanna go in?"

I looked at Vernon. "No, it's okay-"

He pulled me in, and the rest followed.

I migrated towards my favorite section: poetry. It was a good amount of nature poetry, which I tend to enjoy most because it's calming.

"How much is it?" Jin asked, startling me. I hadn't realized he was behind me.

"Uh..." I looked at the price. "Too much." I put it down. "I'm tired, let's go."

Christas Eve.

I wanted to sleep in until noon but Jihoo woke me up excitedly to tell me Jin was ready to go.

"Go where?"

"To the Church!"

I shut my eyes and let out a heavy sigh. I guess I had to go, Jihoo wanted to.

Then when I was dressed and ready to go, I realized I had no choice anyway. My whole family was going.

We decided to take the van this time in order to keep warm and stay safe, and to get there quickly, since we were running out of time.

At the church we met Vernon, Jin, Kyungsoo, and Sunny. As we slowly walked in, I heard Vernon say, "This is the reason I love Christmas."

I looked at him, confused. What did he mean?

We took our seats on the front pews.

The services took a while. There was prayer, preaching, and singing, like any other church service. Then there were the Christmas sevices.

First, we sang songs, and we watched a reenactment of the nativity scene. I ocassionally looked at the faces of the people around me: Vernon, elated. Jin, amazed. Jihoo, just happy as always.

"This is why I love Christmas." Vernon smiled brightly. "This is why we should enjoy ourselves during the holidays, not because of sales and gifts or Santa or cookies..."

Then I understood. How could anyone forget the real reason for Christmas? It wasn't about the presents or songs... It was celebrating life with those you love.

I smiled as if the sun were shining on me. I loved Christmas again. And this was the reason why.

Then the preacher came up to the podium and invited everyone to come up as we please and to talk, perform, or preach as we may please. It was kind of odd, actually.

There were many people who did, some preached, others just simply wishing everyone a good holiday.

Then I saw Jin stand up. What was he doing?!

He went to the podium and smiled shyly.

"Hello, I'm Seokjin Kim, and um... I like to sing, so I would like to sing my favorite Christmas song for you all."

I swear, he's so awkward sometimes. It's so cute.

Then he began to sing.

My mouth dropped. He could have chosen to sing any song in the world, but he chose to sing "I'll Be Home for Christmas."

That was the song Dad used to sing to me over Skype when he couldn't come home.

"Close your eyes, Myra," he'd say. Then he'd sing and I'd imagine he was with me.

Tears rolling down my face, I closed my eyes and listened to my friend sing. I imagined my father with me.

Towards the end of the song, I started hearing sniffling to my left and right. I opened my eyes to find everyone I had come with was crying, even Vernon.

What happened in there?

When Jin was done, he didn't move right away. In fact, he decided it was a good time to embarrass me.

"Thank you. Um, now, my friend Myra's gonna come up and perform a poem."

Wait what.

"Come on up, Myra!"

He smiled and waved for me to come up. So I did, and Jin went to take a seat.

Thanks a lot Jin, I really wanted to do this. Ugh.

"Hello... I'm Myra, many of you guys may remember me *ahem* um... I will perform a poem that I wrote around last year at this time."

I took a deep breath, wondering if this was such a great idea to read it there. But, I had to. Pulling the notebook out of my pocket, I read the words on the page.

I can't help him when I can't even help myself anymore
Because days have turned into months and I'm just dying to crawl
Out of my skin and out of this world
it's full of sadness and carelessness and misery and doubt 
And I had you back for a moment and now you're walking back out
And I can't keep apologizing for stupid little things
And giving people advice when all I need is an embrace
To let me know I am human and that it will all be okay
But I'm sinking in sorrow and the snow just keeps falling
And I can't help but wonder what would happen if I laid down on the ground
And let this white blanket consume me
Would I die and be reborn or
Become absolutely nothing

"blizzard of 2015" by Hayley Coleman

I took another deep breath, nervous since it was silent. Then slowly there was applause, which I saw had started with Jin and Jihoo.

Everyone in the church knew what I was talking about, and I think they all understood.

I smiled. I felt like a weight was being lifted off my shoulders. Everything I felt I said it. Now I can be free.

It was gonna get dark soon, which was perfect since I enjoyed skating at night the most.

All of my friends had come to my house because they thought that they would all need to convince me to come along. Even though it was unnecessary.

We left around 5:45 so that we could have enough daylight to walk there. When we arrived, there were a lot of people and music was playing. I saw my cousin with a group of her friends and waved. We rented our shoes.

Everybody was ready to get on the ice, except me and my brother.

"Why aren't you two coming?" Jin asked, noticing that we weren't following.

I looked at him, embarrassed.

"I'm scared," Jihoo whined. I couldn't help him, for I was also afraid.

Jin stuck his hand out for Jihoo to grab. "There's no need to be afraid, little guy. I'll be with you." Then he looked at me. "Okay?"

Jihoo nodded, and I smiled.

Jin took Jihoo's right hand, and I his left, and slowly we walked to the lake in our skates.

I thought I was going to fall, and it would not be a good idea to rely on my brother if that were to happen. Jin was trying to teach Jihoo to skate while I was try not to fall on them.

Before I could completely lose balance, I felt a hand wrap around my waist to keep me from falling.

It was Vernon.

"You weren't joking when you said you forgot how to skate, were you?"

I looked at him and laughed. "I hadn't done it in years." I let go of Jihoo's hand and waved at him and my friend, for Vernon began to lead me in a different direction.

"I heard you used to dance."

I laughed, embarrassed. Sunny. I looked at her, and she waved at me and winked. She told.

"Yeah, I did, actually."

"Would you like to skate with me?" He faced me and didn't wait for an answer, putting his hands on my waist.

It was a little hard at first, but it all started to come back to me. As we skated together, I closed my eyes. Just like with Dad.

Suddenly, "I'll Be Home for Christmas" began to play on the speakers, and I was filled with lonliness and sorrow again. Why does this keep happening?

Still thinking of my Dad, I fully embraced Vernon and began to quietly sob, burrying my face into his shoulder.

He didn't seem to mind as he tightened his grip and rubbed my back.

"I'm sorry."

"You're fine, don't worry, Myra."

I looked up at Vernon, who looked as if he were also on the verge of tears. I began to wonder what was bothering him that day.

"Vernon?"

"Hm?" He looked at me with a smile, obviously trying to hide his feelings.

"Thank you for being a good friend to me."

He laughed a bit. "Likewise."

I looked at Jihoo and Jin. Seeing me and Vernon, he looked a little awkward, but he smiled at me when he saw me.

I let go of Vernon. "Thank you for showing me the meaning of Christmas."

"It was nothing," he lied. Because wasn't that his goal the whole time?

Then we skate towards my brother and friend and enjoyed ourselves the rest of the night.

"Myra! Myra, wake up!"

I rolled over my bed with a growl. "Jihoo, I told you not to wake me up early. Can I sleep?"

"But look at all these gifts we got! Come on!" He grabbed my hand and tried to pull me with him. I sighed, and with a smile, rose out of bed and followed my brother to the tree.

After opening presents, I got dressed and started cooking. Family and friends were going to be over, and I wanted them to be impressed.

Time flew, and people started filing into the house.

We all exchanged gifts and ate our food to keep busy while others were coming.

I got excited when Jin came. "Hey, I got something for you!" I smiled. "I had a hard time picking it out, but but I hope you like it."

I handed it to him, and he hugged it as if it were the best present he'd receive that day.

"Here, I also have something for you." He shyly handed me the gift.

I looked around. "I want to open this, but I want to wait until Vernon gets here." I looked around. "Have you seen him? I have something for him, too. I hope he likes it." I bounced, excited ofr the three of us to open gifts together.

Jin rose an eyebrow. "Vernon?"

I laughed. "Yeah, you know, annoying, funny, cute, you always hang out with him..."

Jin let out huge sigh and I realized that something was wrong.

"Jin... did something happen with Vernon?"

He looked down. "That explains why he told me to give this to you." He handed me another present, which I received, still confused.

"Jin...?"

He took a deep breath. "I thought he had told you... but I guess I was wrong. His parents were fighting with his aunt and uncle over a custody case. His parents won." He looked me in the eye. "He went back to New York last night, despite the air traffic. I thought you knew..."

I stood there stunned. Vernon, the jolly kid who only wanted to make me happy, left me without a word. The boy who had brought the Christmas spirit back to me went back to New York.

The kid who showed me that Christmas is about being around those you love, who had become a good friend to our family, he never told me about his.

I felt terrible. I hasn't known that he had his own problems.

"Are you okay?"

I nodded at my friend and we made our way to the couch.

"Should I open it? I can't even send my own gift."

"I think he wants you to, ya know."

With a deep breath I opened it. It was a booklet, made with recycled paper, with intricate designs on the cover. It must be special. Or expensive.

I opened the first page, and written in Korean was a note.

Hey, Myra.

I know that you are wondering why I didn't tell you I left. If Jin hasn't told you, he should now.

I wanted to leave you seeing your smile. So don't be sad, okay? I'll be fine.

I wish I could see you now. You're so different from the day we first met, and it's only been a week. You were so grumpy and mean, but now you're always smiling and excited to spend the holidays with your family and friends. I wish I could come over and eat some of your food again, and that I could talk with your brother and cousin once more. And I would love to see your whole family. I hadn't even gotten the chance to see your Dad's pictures! But I can tell that he was a great man, especially since he has such a great daughter as you.

I know that you have a present for me because I'm fabulous kekeke. But seriously if you do, don't bother sending it and don't bother throwing it away either. We'll meet again, and I want to know what you got me. Haha

Send your family my love.

And tell Jackson to grow up. haha

Sincerely, your friend,

Vernon

PS If you didn't buy me a present, it would be a good idea kekeke

Jin and I laughed. "Seriously, he needs to grow up himself." I said.

Jin looked at me and wiped the tears off my face. I hadn't even noticed I was crying.

"Don't cry, Myra. Smile, okay? There's nothing to be sad about."

I nodded and laughed again. "Okay. Yeah, you're right. Ok, open your present."

Jin did as I said and smiled when he saw what it was. "Wow, an Egyptian cookbook! I love it!" He laughed. "I'll definitely use this."

"Good!"

"Okay, now open yours."

Excitedly, I did as I was told and my jaw dropped when I discovered what it was. "Ah, you bought it!"

Jin turned the pages of the poem book so I could see it. "You seemed like you really wanted it when we were at Barnes&Noble, so I figured you'd like it if I got it for you."

I nodded. "Thank you. I love it." We looked at each other happily.

"What did you get him, by the way?" he asked curiously.

I smiled, holding the gift close to me. "My poem booklet."

FIN

Thank you for reading! I hope you had as much fun reading this story as I did writing it!

Please, subscribe, upvote, and comment! And spread the holiday cheer!

Happy Holidays!