Logan was just about to leave the kitchen and have a look around on the mansion grounds that night when he heard the door from the hall open behind him. Turning, he found himself face-to-face with a sad little girl.

“Megan? What’s wrong, kitten?”

She hopped up on one of the stools at the center island counter and threw down a piece of paper and a pencil. Then she folded her arms and rested her chin on them, staring at him with her big yellow eyes. Logan was very familiar with that pout. He had seen it on Marie’s face too many times not to know that the little girl in front of him wanted something. He sat down on a stool opposite hers and put his arms on the counter and put his chin on them and stared back at her on the same level. She sighed. He sighed. Then she began to giggle and he knew he had her.

“Now are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” He winked at her.

“Oh, Logan. I want to write a letter to Santa, but I’m not sure how to write it.”

“Just tell him what you want.”

“No, it’s not that. I’ve already written *that* letter. This one’s different. I need to ask him for some things that aren’t for me and I need to know if that’s ok to do.”

“Kiddo, I’ve never written to Santa, so I’m not sure I’m the right one to ask.”

She stared at him. “You’ve never written to him? Ever?”

He shook his head, not knowing what to say.

“Well then we’ll both have to work through this together, because I think I need to write this and you need to learn how to write a letter to Santa. Just tell me what you think about what I say. Will you write while I talk?”

He nodded and held the pencil over the paper while she began.

“Dear Santa. I already wrote you a letter telling you what I want this year. This letter’s different because I wanted to ask you for some things for other people. Mom and Dad said that there were people in the world who didn’t ask for so many things, they just worked hard to get them and I was hoping you could help out some of the people around here that I think need things they don’t ask for. Did you get all that? Write neatly, Santa’s pretty old and I don’t want him to not be able to read this.

“Ready? First, I think that professor Xavier needs to get a new wife. He looks lonely. I know he could probably use a new pair of legs, but I think that’s a God thing. You can find him a new wife, I know.

“I found out that Jubilee doesn’t have any parents anymore. They died. Can you find her new parents? If you can’t, that’s okay. I can share mine. Well, sometimes. I mean, she’s older and may not need them as much as I do. But I will share if you can’t find new ones. How are you doing? Need me to stop for a minute?

“Okay. I think you should bring everyone here at the mansion a little puppy. I mean I think you should bring a puppy here to the mansion. A lot of my friends need someone to talk to who can listen and I read that dogs sometimes visit people in hospitals and cheer them up by doing that. I think we could use a dog like that around here. Not that this is a hospital or anything. On second thought, scratch that. Autumn and Diamonique might start fighting over the puppy and then there'd be trouble. Can you bring everyone here a stuffed dog? One for everybody, I mean. That way there wouldn’t be fighting. Make mine white with black spots.

“That should do it, Logan. What do you think? Should we send it? Do you think I shouldn’t have told him what kind of stuffed dog I wanted? Why are you smiling like that?”

He finished writing and looked up. “I put down everything, Megan. Sure, I think you should send it. I think Santa would get a kick out of it. Got an envelope?”

“It’s back in my room. So you think it’s okay? He won’t have a problem with it?”

“No, kitten, no problems at all.” He rose and helped her down off the stool.

“Aren’t you going to write yours?”

“I’ll think about it. Scoot off to bed, squirt. You have class in the morning and I’m going to be a mean teacher tomorrow. You fall asleep and I’ll wake you up the hard way.” He growled at her.

She giggled and gave him a hug and he left through the outside door. She hopped back up on the stool and scribbled a few more lines on the paper…

P.S. Santa, bring an extra big stuffed dog for Logan. Maybe that will help him sleep better at night. And see if you can get Rogue to give him a big hug. I know he likes that but won’t ask for it.

Thanks,
Megan