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He already felt a little vulnerable. That day his wife called him "fat" for the third time because he had been on a diet for four months as ordered by the doctor. Then he received the call.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Claus."

It was Eric, his agent, with a somber tone.

"In the afternoon, Eric! It's almost that time of the year again!" Santa Claus smiled.

"Yes, about that...there is no easy way...the thing is..." Eric muttered to himself, then cleared his throat. "Look, everyone is still uncertain about the pandemic. In the current climate, we can't let you fly over the roof and throw gifts into the chimney. What will the governments of the world say? What will people say?"

"Eric," Santa Claus sounded confused. "What are you talking about? We have established all procedures to keep the elves healthy and inspected, and to ensure that the gifts are not contaminated-masks, gloves, disinfection, alienation, cleaning, more cleaning, singing while they wash their hands with soap" Jingle Bells", wait. There is no need to cancel Christmas!"

There was an awkward pause.

"They won't cancel Christmas-anyway, this Christmas... is more of yours. Think of it as an extended holiday. They say they don't need any gifts next Christmas, maybe. I will Send in all the official information. Take a break, Santa! Or have you considered retiring early? Anyway, enjoy your vacation!" Eric hung up.

Santa Claus was shocked and a little confused, and his thoughts started to spin. Doesn't power trust his health and safety record? The elves have worked hard this year, what will he tell them? And'retirement'? ! But he has always been 62 years old!

He went to bed but barely slept. When he woke up, he barely touched his meat pie. That morning, Mrs. Claus seemed to know not to call him "fat."

In the next few hours, his frustration turned into despair. His mind was still running fast, he walked out of the snow and walked a few miles, thinking all the time:'Why don't they let me do my job? I like to give gifts to all my good kids once a year! But... maybe once a year is not enough? What should I do for the rest of this year? The elves make gifts, and I stand there... happily supervising them. I always tell myself that I am a good boss...We are like family. But in fact, I haven't done anything for most of my life! Now I can't even give gifts on Christmas Eve! The night I was really useful was taken away by me!

"I bet people won't even notice. They are so busy with their lives and preparing Christmas dinners that they don't notice the weird underfilled socks in the morning...unless...unless...unless the socks are full! if What do they do if they fill in by themselves?! I won’t need me in the future!

'This is terrible. If I can't spend Christmas Eve again, what is my place in the world? What is my purpose? I mean-take my sleigh across the night sky to perform? I bet that no one will notice this-or they will say that Rudolph's nose is a star. This is terrible! I am done! I might as well go bungee jumping! There is no rope. Santa blushed and was a little out of breath, sitting on the snow, his suit soaked with moisture on the ground, tears rolled down his cheeks. He grabbed a handful of snow, squeezed his icy fist on his fist, made it firm, and finally vanished. At that moment, he heard her voice.

"Are you okay, dear?"

"Just... leave me a while, and I will come in soon," Santa Claus managed to spit out these words in sobbing breaths. Mrs. Claus should be happy that he has been walking, he thought bitterly. At least this will help transfer some calories, and then she can stop addressing him.

"Oh, dear," the voice said softly. "I don't think I can leave you, Santa. You are not suitable for being alone."

Come to think of it, this doesn't sound like his wife. Santa wiped away his tears, trying to see the creatures in front of him more clearly. A snowman? Santa wants to know: "What is the snowman talking to me? Has anyone put vodka in my sherry?

"That's better. I don't want to see Santa Claus getting upset when Christmas is so close!" The creature gestured in the cold air with a branch, and then rubbed its carrot with another branch. nose.

Santa blinked again. Yes... Button eyes are looking at him with deep tenderness. The snowman smiled at him. In other words, the Snow Girl is smiling at him. Or the snowman now? Santa Claus is a little out of touch.

"Don't worry about what you call me," Xue Nu said. "Let us worry more about what you were thinking before!"

great. A talking psychic snow girl. As if such a thing existed, Santa Claus smiled mockingly.

"You are not dreaming, Santa Claus. You are very awake. You also did not imagine me—I exist. In the infinitely possible multiverse, anything can happen. I have transferred from my dimension to your dimension, come help you."

"How do you know I need help?"

"Mental strength……?"

"Can they span dimensions?"

"How do I know you are real?" Santa Claus asked incredulously. But ignoring his doubts, Xue Nu helped him up until he stood up, and the two of them walked and talked.

"This year is the year when you become a legend," Xuenv said after a while, "the year when people realize that they can do your work by themselves. This dimension doesn't need you anymore."

Santa's shoulders dropped, and the things he feared most appeared in his mind. "I really don't need it anymore," he sighed sadly.

"You forgot one thing, Santa-you are now a legend. An inspiration to everyone! It is because of you that people want to fill up their children's socks and bring them happiness."

"But in the next few centuries, no one will know that I really existed."

"But you do exist now! You will continue to exist in the Arctic-until you need to adapt and find a new home due to global warming..."

"Can we go back to the moment when you made me feel forgotten by the world I have helped me for so long?"

"Look," Xue Nu replied patiently infinitely, "Let me introduce you to someone who can help you resolve your doubts and inner turmoil." They continued through a hilly snow, and suddenly met a little rabbit.

"Oh dear!" Santa Claus immediately rushed to the rabbit, worried: "Little guy, you shouldn't be here! You will freeze to death!"

The rabbit sniffed, and jumped directly over Santa Claus's outstretched arm—just jumped onto Snow Girl's shoulder.

"Allow me to introduce you to the Christmas Bunny!" Snow Girl declared triumphantly.

In the past twenty-four hours, Santa was confused for the second time. "You mean the Easter Bunny?" Santa corrected the Snow Girl, being careful not to misplace the identity of the famous prototype.

"No, no," the rabbit replied. "I am a Christmas bunny."

"Where is the Easter Bunny?"

"Cousin far away," the rabbit boasted: "Anyway, listen: a long time ago... Thousands of years before you came-I had your job. Until one day, I was laid off. No need for me. It's over. , It's over, let's go! Finito... depressing. I began to question everything! Who am I? Why am I? Where am I?"

Santa Claus and Snow Girl glanced at each other. "How did you overcome the loss and doubt?" Xue Nu asked.

"Well, one day, I was thinking about the meaning of life: what happens when you lose your livelihood, your goal, your life, your reputation? When your legend is no longer even a legend, you think so , So insignificant? I am very depressed, of course. At some point every Christmas, my generosity is praised, and no one will recognize me in the next second! But I don’t just count on one thing..." Christmas Bunny dramatically There was a pause. Santa Claus wished he wasn't sitting in the snow. His lower body became extremely cold. He also hopes that this rabbit can continue. The Snow Girl frowned. The rabbit continued, "...and what I didn't expect is...all of this is meaningless! Then why worry?" The Christmas Bunny took a bite of Xue Niang's nose, having fun.

"It's no use?" Santa Claus uttered these words in disbelief. "Is that right?"

"Exactly!" The Christmas Bunny exclaimed and sat up straight again, twitching her nose excitedly, and Mrs. Xue sighed carefully. "I thought—it was meaningless. Then it was as you thought—is it? Then I thought—yes! Of course it is... and I'm still alive!"

"Great. Thank you very much."

"Did you not see? Before we appeared, we were actually nothing. We do not exist. Once we cease to exist, we will become nothingness again... We will cease to exist. But when we exist? Well, There is a chance to catch life before the curve flattens out! Now is all we have. This is all we will have. We worry about the past and the future-our meaning and our longevity-but we forget that we can and We have to realize our meaning now. When I can no longer give gifts to children every Christmas, and therefore be deprived of the opportunity to please others on a global scale and seal my reputation forever, I realize that "all "Time" will soon become "no time". Everything will end. But as if I didn't exist after death, so I didn't exist before I was born. I was just lucky to live. This realization in turn It means that I focus on what I can do now and live a happy and fulfilling life. What makes me happy? No matter what, as long as I do it, I will have goals, I will feel happy, and I will live the most good life!"

Santa Claus thought for a while, then turned to Snow Girl. "Isn't this just a defense of hedonism?" he asked.

The rabbit replied triumphantly: "I think so." Then he dressed himself up with all his attention.

While sliding across a clear ice, Rudolph nodded to the Christmas bunny on Snow Girl’s shoulders: "Good parrot!" When his current former employee waved to him, Santa Claus frowned and slid with both feet. Then disappear into the distance. Rudolph is famous for his irony throughout the Arctic.

"Ignore him," Xue Nu said softly, and then gave her own explanation of the meaning of life: "I prefer to look at life like this: If you had you, now, here...we live in an infinitely possible multiverse, Then there will be you elsewhere and elsewhere! My theory is that when you no longer exist in one dimension, you will exist in another dimension again at some point. This is inevitable."

"Okay...but I will be the same person...have the same consciousness? Will I know my history?" Santa Claus stroked his beard.

"I don't know!" Xue Nu said. She watched the Christmas bunny leaping off her shoulder and walking towards a group of skating polar bears gathered around the igloo. "Choose yours, I guess. Use the present," she said with a smile. After speaking, she fell down and instantly turned into a puddle of water, dripping through the snow.

Santa thought about this strange experience for a while, until he got tired of the igloo and the polar bear started looking at him. He walked towards his house again. After returning home, he kissed Mrs. Claus on the cheek before heading to the factory workshop.

He attracted the attention of the elves. They immediately stopped packing the gifts made in those years. "From now on, there is only one gift to be distributed," Santa Claus continued, "That is now! The children may be this Christmas Eve, next, and never need us again-but I have a new idea and Let us take a new route! So let us continue our new business: every day of the year, we will bring a little bit of joy on MerryMoments.com!"

Rudolph sighed and rolled his eyes. "Keep on realizing your dreams, Santa Claus," he thought cynically. People will never buy it. He can only see Santa’s new slogan: "Live in the present, love in the present." When Santa passed by him, he took out his mobile phone and left with a happily smile. 'Watch out! 'Rudolph texted the Easter Bunny: "We need a plan B."

Samantha Neave recently graduated from the Open University and enjoys reading and writing poetry, philosophy and novels.

More articles in this issue

Terry Eagleton "The Meaning of Life"

Revisiting the people on the Clapham complex

Loren Fishman's cartoon

Mike Shiell's cartoon (1)

Space exploration: the single most important moral command of mankind

Novel crime

The meaning of life: tribute to the late Douglas Adams

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