Kopa got up early and ran outside—it was Christmas morning!
“Dad! Mom! Kiara! Wake up! It’s Christmas!” he cried, running past the tree and out onto the great Ramp of Pride Rock.
Kopa gasped with delight. Snow lay thick and smooth over the whole Pridelands. Rarely did it get cold enough in the temperate grasslands in the southeast regions of the Magic Kingdom to have a white Christmas, but this year was a special year. Kopa huffed into the air and saw his breath freeze like smoke in the air. He dashed back inside, grabbed his scarf, and dashed back out to run around in the snow as his dad and mom were yawning awake.
The day after Thanksgiving, Kopa had wondered if would get to spend Christmas with his family. He had also wished for snow, too, while he was at it, but while he was wishing he saw a bright star gleaming in the sky.
“Star light, star bright,” he’d whispered, “first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight: I wish I could spend Christmas with my family this year.”
Now as Kopa ran around in the snow, diving into the soft frozen piles and making snowpiles, Kopa had everything he could have wanted to see on Christmas morning. The most important wish he’d wished for had been granted—Kopa was allowed to spend Christmas with his family. That had actually been a challenge—he had responsibilities now, and it had taken a lot of work to get the time off he needed, but with the help of his two fencing masters, Chris Carnovo the tyrannosaur and Sir André, his loyal knight, he’d managed to get everything taken care of and now he was going to be spending a magical white Christmas with—
My family…Kopa thought, and as he stared out in the distance, his face suddenly fell. As the sun rose, painting the sky into a beautiful rainbow of colors with its golden rays, Kopa realized that, as a matter of fact, he didn’t have everything he wanted.
Chris and André weren’t there.
Uncle Chris and Uncle André.
That’s what he’d started calling them. It had happened sometime around Halloween. He didn’t know why—they weren’t his actual uncles—but it still just felt…right. After all they’d been through—after all they’d done for him—
Which meant that not having them there on Christmas didn’t quite feel right.
Kopa hung his head, when suddenly he heard something in the distance.
“🎶We wish you a Merry Christmas, We wish you a Merry Christmas, We wish you a Merry Christmas, and a🎵—André, you’re not singing.”
“Well, maybe if you helped me carry something I’D FEEL LIKE SINGING!”
“My arms are too short, you know that.”
“If you’d brought a wagon like I’d suggested we wouldn’t be having this conversation!”
Kopa’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Uncle Chris! Uncle André!” he cried, and bounded back towards Pride Rock.
Kopa saw Chris and André, wearing their nicest Dickensian suits and ran up to meet them. “Merry Christmas, Your Majesty,” the tyrannosaur said, sweeping off his top-hat and bowing to the young lion.
“Bah humbug,” Sir André grumbled, struggling under the weight of a massive turkey, and two bags of groceries and what looked like Santa’s bag slung over his shoulder.
“Uncle Chris! Uncle André! You came!” Kopa said.
“Of course,” Chris said. “We wouldn’t miss Christmas morning with our favorite nephew.”
“I’m you’re only nephew,” Kopa joked, quoting his dad’s movie.
André struggled so set everything down, wiped his brow, then returned his top hat and knelt before Kopa. “All the more reason to be protective,” he quoted, a smile on his face. “And we have to make sure that His Grace is well protected from having a blue Christmas.”
Kopa hugged his two uncles and volunteered to help grab a bag from André, then the three of them walked back to Pride Rock to enjoy a very, very Merry Christmas.
Note from the Author: The Author wishes everyone on Tumblr a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (and a Happy Hannukah to our Jewish friends and a Happy Kwanza to our African-American friends who celebrate it—and if I missed your culture’s holiday, you have my warmest wishes as well).
