First Story:
Ororo Munroe is flying across the continent towards the X-Men’s new home in San Francisco. She passes over the ruins of the Xavier Institute in Westchester, New York where the remains of a destroyed Sentinel can still be seen. She also passes over Chicago, Illinois, the hometown of her dear friend Kitty Pryde. She thinks to herself that these are difficult times for all of them but that despite the happenings in the world, that this is a time when many choose to travel great distances to be among family.
She arrives in San Francisco and lands on a balcony near Wolverine. He greets her with a smile and asks if she’s “Home for the holidays”. Ororo thinks to herself that both she and Logan have called many places “home” over the years: New York, Cairo, Australia but that now her home is in Wakanda. Despite this, she knows in her heart that she will always have a home with the X-Men… wherever they may reside. She looks down at the crowd gathered in the square below them. Humans and mutants are working together to prepare for a multicultural holiday celebration. Ororo is amazed to witness the manner in which the citizens of San Francisco have embraced the mutants who now live among them. She comments on this to Logan who says with expected gruffness “Not there yet. But it will be.”
At that moment, Iceman zooms past on an ice slide. He is wearing a top hat and a garland of holly is draped across his torso like a pageant queen’s sash. A trio of children are holding on to the end of it and enjoying a ride on his slide. He hurls a snowball which hits Wolvie in the face and asks if he’s going to just supervise all day or help out. He greets Ororo cheerily, welcoming her home. She comments on Bobby’s holiday spirit and Logan notes that everyone is getting into the holidays this year. “We figured we oughta give back a little” he says adding that this place needs to be a home for everyone. Nearby, Warpath is carrying a giant fir tree and Meltdown is hanging decorations.
Suddenly, a gigantic menorah comes loose from the crane that this is placing it in the courtyard. Colossus rushes forward to catch it and saves several people from being smashed as it falls. Ororo sees this and asks Logan how Piotr is holding up. He tells her that Colossus is putting on a smile and pouring himself into work.
Ororo flies out over the crowd and cannot help but smile at the spirit of cooperation and brotherhood she witnesses. She knows that this type of acceptance is characteristic of San Francisco, but she also feels it is the spirit of the season as well. In the crowd, mutants and humans are interacting as they decorate and prepare for the holiday festivities. She realizes that for some, the holidays are a difficult time when their thoughts turn to those who are not there to share in the joy. She thinks of Cyclops, whose son Cable is traveling through time to protect the first mutant child born since M-Day.
Logan hacks away the unneeded branches of a Christmas tree with his claws but he’s thinking of Professor X who is currently estranged from the rest of the X-Men. Then there is Colossus, who cannot help but think of his beloved Kitty Pryde as he repairs the minor damage done to the giant menorah. Ororo remembers how much Kitty loved all the holidays, despite being Jewish herself.
The preparations continue. Nightcrawler teleports in with sculptures for a nativity scene. Bling sets up candles for Kwanzaa while Nezhno exchanges gifts and Kwanzaa greetings with a young boy.
Cannonball, Mercury, Pixie and Angel are trimming a tree using their mutant powers to the delight of the humans watching. Ororo remembers that this is a time of miracles, symbolized by the menorah that Kitty held so dear. The candles of the menorah tie into the Jewish story of Hanukah when candles in the temple burned for seven days longer than they should have during difficult times. The menorah reminds them all that even in difficult times faith and hope endure. Colossus lifts the giant menorah into place in the center of the stage erected for the occasion.
Dazzler appears to perform for the crowd. She calls on the crowd to make some noise to fuel her light-based powers. The crowd happily obliges her and she breaks out in song. Ororo tells Piotr that Kitty would have loved this. Piotr smiles as he takes Ororo’s hand and replies “You are mistaken, Ororo. She will love it.” Despite her absence, Colossus has not given up hope that his Katya will somehow survive her current circumstances and return. Dazzler then says that her next song is for all those who are not with them tonight but are with them in spirit. She breaks into a gentle rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”.
Ororo recalls that when Kitty first joined the X-Men, it was winter and her holiday spirit was infectious. She made them watch all the holiday movies for days on end. Kitty’s favorite was “Meet Me in St. Louis” in which the family had to leave everything they loved and start anew. Despite the tragedy of it all, there was an undeniable message of hope in the film.
Ororo looks up at Piotr who can’t help but smile listening to Alison’s song. Storm realizes that it was Kitty who taught her about the holiday spirit and the importance of family at this time of year. She knows that they can all feel Kitty’s physical absence but that her spirit is with them. As Dazzler’s song reaches its crescendo, her mutant power lights up the night sky. Ororo hopes that Kitty and all those separated from their loved ones can see this light, born out of love and hope, wherever they may be and that it fills with them with hope and faith that they will soon be reunited with their families. The light of Dazzler’s performance shines brightly, visible even from the depths of space.
Fourth Story:
Santa Claus stands on a field of snow, his fist adorned with the Infinity Gauntlet and his eyes ablaze with drunken power! He challenges the Illuminati “You want the Infinity Gauntlet back!?!? Come and take it, you little girls!” The members of the Illuminati surround Santa and attack. Dr. Strange tells the others that he knew it was a bad idea to let Santa use the Gauntlet. Reed Richards tells Strange to calm down and that they need to reflect on how they got into this mess to begin with.
Twenty minutes earlier, Iron Man thanks the other members of this elite and secret group for gathering at his request. He informs them that Santa Claus needs their help. Professor X relays a message to Santa from Black Bolt “You never brought me my Speak N Spell”. Iron Man asks if everyone brought their Infinity Gems. They all hand them over to a very sheepish Santa who explains that he’d never ask such a favor but he just found out that all of his reindeer were Skrulls in disguise! The Illuminati assure him that they understand as they hand over the Gems.
Dr. Strange says that he was there for all that and it would be more helpful to hear ideas on how to deal with Santa now. Namor throws a snowball at Santa with all his Atlantean strength. This knocks Santa off his feet and the Infinity Gauntlet comes off. Namor exclaims “By Neptune’s nether regions, I did it!” and Santa cries “By Blitzen’s nether regions! I dropped it!” Santa momentarily laments the loss of such power and then seems confused. Xavier explains that he had a bad reaction to the Gauntlet’s power. Santa is embarrassed by all this and still has no solution to his lost reindeer and how he will possibly be able to make his deliveries. Iron Man offers a solution and mere moments later, Santa takes to the skies. His sleigh is being pulled by robotic reindeer designed by Tony Stark! Reed begins to make a comment but Professor X interrupts and says that Black Bolt was just thinking the same thing “Tony, it’s pretty freaking weird that you had robotic reindeer just lying around.”
Santa calls out to his new robo-reindeer and calls out “Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!” as Namor says to himself “I am the king… of all snowball throwers!”
