The ghost of last Christmas stumbled through the alley and into the vestibule of the apartment. She was tired, and favored one leg, and her eyes were the color of the Antarctic skies. It was a thick, heavy wood door, so she knocked twice, then leaned against it until someone opened it from inside.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome in, come in,\u201d the stranger said. He was a big man with a big smile. \u201cIt\u2019s too cold out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inside, a fire burned at the hearth. Around it, an assortment of other ghosts huddled and warmed their hands with hot cocoa. They all looked up at the newcomer. She stared back and didn\u2019t move.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not quite the night before Christmas,\u201d the stranger said, pulling up a chair for her. How so many chairs fit into a single room, she might never understand. \u201cHow was your holiday last year?\u201d<\/p>\n
The ghost shook herself from her stupor. \u201cIt was beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAye,\u201d one of the other ghosts said, \u201cthey often are.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBeautiful, but not always easy,\u201d the stranger said. \u201cCocoa? Or would you perhaps prefer tea? Coffee?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are we?\u201d the ghost asked.<\/p>\n
The stranger smiled. \u201cThat\u2019s a good question. A very good question. Look around you, what do you see?\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked around. \u201cBooks,\u201d she said, because there were a lot of them. \u201cCandles. Wreathes. A nativity set as old as any I\u2019ve ever seen, and I\u2019ve seen a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else?\u201d the stranger asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cMistletoe. Paper reindeers. A Coca-Cola advertisement from 1936.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re missing the most obvious thing,\u201d the stranger said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see ghosts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cChristmas ghosts,\u201d the stranger said. The ghost nodded. The other ghosts in the room laughed and offered words of encouragement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are the ghosts,\u201d the stranger said, \u201cof Christmases past.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ghost shook her head. \u201cBut that\u2019s not what I am. I\u2019m a Ghost of Christmas Present.\u201d<\/p>\n
The stranger smiled. He glanced at his watch, which told not the time but the date, and counted down to the most important of them all. \u201cYou were last year, yes. This year\u2019s Ghost of Christmas Present isn\u2019t quite born yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh.\u201d The ghost sat in the chair. \u201cAre we all Ghosts of Christmases Past, then?\u201d Nobody answered her, not with words, but she knew it was true.<\/p>\n
The stranger smiled. \u201cI\u2019ll get you some cocoa.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the stranger was gone, the Ghosts of Christmases Past introduced themselves by name, by their ghostly names, which they wouldn\u2019t even give to the children of gods. They shared their stories, and they told her about the adventures still to come..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"