Christmas, or any of the other names for the festive period of celebrations that happen towards the end of the year, always seems to be starting earlier and earlier as the years go by. There are always a few people who notice this fact, but they are always ignored and passed off as mean-spirited. The majority of the populace were happy to accept the longer periods of celebration, and in fact welcomed it. The old ‘12 days of christmas’ tradition has long been forgotten, with many people now decorating their homes up to 2 months before Christmas actually begins. They also leave them up far longer after the fact. What is the cause for this growing trend? Why do so many otherwise apathetic families buy in so wholeheartedly to this obviously commercialised holiday period? Decorating their homes with shrines to a holiday so far removed from its root origins? Well my friends, stay tuned to this blog over the next few weeks as I document my attempt to search for some actual answers.

Alex rocked back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. This whole thing had started as a throwaway comment to his friends at the bar downstairs earlier that night, but it had sparked some insatiable need to have an unbiased look into the reasonings behind what people had now accepted as the… norm.

When he had been a kid, christmas was always as you’d expect. A time for toys, family and food. His family had never been religious, but they also blindly followed this “tradition” the same as everyone else. It wasn't until he was older that this oddity began to grate on him, and his tolerance for the festive period had waned. It had grown into a deep-seated sense of dread he couldn't explain. His friends and family had all just started treating him as the festive grump, and rather than keep trying to explain his reasoning he just nodded along and laughed it off with them.

But now that he had finally written his internal monologue down, it was as if something deeper had awakened. He just KNEW there was more to this than anyone else was willing or able to see and he was determined to explore what this meant, even if it came to nothing. Looking over at the clock on his bedside table he sighed. Yet again he had somehow spent the entire night awake, and he now had to get ready for work. Pushing himself up from his chair, he quickly shrugged on his uniform, dreading having to spend the whole day with a fake smile plastered on his face and the same christmas album on repeat for the next 12 hours. He took a quick glance in the mirror hanging by his door and smoothed out a few big creases.

“It really is getting earlier and earlier. It's not even December but every house on this block has all their decorations up. And i’ve been hawking this seasonal crap since the day after Halloween. Ridiculous!”

He knew that he wasn't the only retail worker that hated the festive period, but nobody seemed to get as worked up about it as he did. He genuinely loved working retail the rest of the year. He loved talking to new people, and he had always found himself really good at sales. Whilst his colleagues all just clocked in and out, following the company hard sales pitch, Alex actually engaged with his customers. He would find what made them tick, and match them to the product they needed, not what would make him the most commission. He was never top salesman, but he was always consistent. It was this that had gotten him the promotion to floor manager, but that hadn’t stopped him from still making sales. He fired himself a pair of finger-guns in the mirror “Oh well, armour on, let's go!” and headed out the door.

A few hours later, Alex noticed someone acting a little strange in his section. Giving them a more thorough look he noticed that they were wearing some sort of off-brand opposite colour palette santa suit, black fur and a deep midnight-purple. Their skin was pale white with an almost blue pearlescent sheen to it, and their features were incredibly angular. Interest peaked, he slowly ambled in their direction. As he drew nearer, they turned and stared directly at him. He shivered as those eyes, an impossible blue, pierced him.

“Hey there, is there anything I can help you with today?” he asked politely.

“Hello Alex. I think we can actually help each other. Follow me.” The stranger gave a wan smile, then turned and headed straight towards the exit.

“Erm… What? Excuse me! Yeah, I can't just leave mid-shift. And how do you know my name?!”

Saying nothing, the stranger just looked over their shoulder before exiting the store leaving Alex stood there, mouth agape. He looked around to see if there was anyone else nearby, but everyone else was busy with their own customers. He quickly rushed over to the manager's office.

“Hey Paul, I just need to pop out for a bit. My section is running smoothly and on target so I'm just gonna grab an early lunch.” and without waiting for the answer Alex rushed to follow the strange ‘not-santa’.

As he got out onto the street, he scanned both directions for a few seconds before seeing the Stranger partway down the road beckoning at him. Not wasting any time, he threaded his way through the crowds until he finally drew level with them.

“What the actual fuck is going on? I want answers. Who put you up to this? Was it Dale? I bet it was Dale… Prick always likes to push my buttons this time of year…” Alex blustered, slightly out of breath.

“Alex, nobody put me up to anything. You’ve been registering on our systems more and more over the last few years, but until this morning there had never been enough cohesion for us to establish a link and punch our way through the veil. What did you do this morning?” They enquired urgently.

“Register… Veil…? I have no idea what the hell you’re going on about, and all I did this morning was write a blog entry about how the holidays suck, and are starting to suck more every year!” He responded angrily, drawing more than a few querying glances in their direction, which the stranger noticed before saying;#

“This isn’t the place for this. Too many unknowns in the vicinity. I will answer all of your questions, I promise, but I need you to come with me. Please!”

With that the stranger dashed off again, sparing a pleading glance back over their shoulder at Alex. He reluctantly followed, and for the next 5 minutes or so they headed in the direction of the city warehouse district. Every so often Alex would halfheartedly mumble something about needing to get back to work, and people wondering where he is, but he made no actual effort to head back to the store. Abruptly they stopped outside of a warehouse that didn’t quite seem to fit in. It was boarded up, the same as all the other warehouses in this area, but every square inch of the exterior was covered in the tackiest winter themed graffiti. Snowflakes in all shades of white and blue were most prominent, but an assortment of terribly proportioned pictures of santas elves, snowmen and reindeer were also dotted around. Taking all of this in Alex shivered, suddenly realising that the surrounding temperature had dropped what felt like 10-15 degrees compared to the busy city. It was cold enough that a sheen of frost covered everything in the vicinity.

“Where in the hell did you bring me to? If all you wanted to show me was some abandoned cold storage warehouse that looks like its been doodled on by a group of toddlers, I could have saved you the trip…” Alex remarked tersely.

“I have brought you to exactly where you need to be. Inside this warehouse is the answer to all of your questions, and more, but I cannot force you to enter, you must genuinely wish to follow me inside.”

“Genuinely want to follow you inside what I am now fairly certain is a meat locker where you will kill me and take my organs? Yeeeeah… I think I’m going to pass on that offer. Thanks though!” He replied sarcastically before taking a couple of steps away from the now slightly intimidating stranger.

“I do not wish you harm. Far from it Alex. Allow me to show you something as a gesture of faith.” the stranger begins to whisper in a language Alex doesn’t recognise, before pointing at the ground beside them. A small pile of snow begins to form and take shape into what Alex could only describe as a tiny muscular snowman. It flexed at Alex before dropping back to the ground and vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.

“Okay, now that was a neat trick, making it pose for me was a nice touch. I still fail to see how this was meant to make me trust you not to kill me in there though?”

“It was meant to help peak your curiosity, and help you begin to see. Look again at the warehouse and tell me if anything has changed.” they instructed.

Alex did as he was asked and looked back up at the warehouse. It took a few moments, but before his eyes he saw that the snowflakes and images seemed to almost blur, and then when they came back into focus they had gone from crude drawings to photorealistic pictures.

“What the…? What just happened?” He spluttered.

“This warehouse is actually a gateway to the Frigid Domain. I know that doesn’t make sense yet either, but it will. I am about to open the doorway itself. Again, you must truly wish to follow me before you enter.” they warned as they turned to the door and touched a knot in the wood. The door itself flowed apart like water, and the stranger walked through. A bright white-blue flash accompanied by a huge gust of cutting wind caused Alex to take a step back before he leaned forward to get a better view. Nothing was visible through the doorway other than what appeared to be a bright light.

Alex tentatively took a step forward, calling out “I’m coming in, but if you do want to kill me be aware that I will scream!” before passing through the doorway. He automatically shut his eyes to block out the glaring light, and as soon as he was entirely inside, the door flowed shut again, and froze as hard as steel. Finally the light subsided enough for him to open his eyes. What he saw left him shaken to his core.