Charlie was a simple boy. He just wanted to be left alone. Christmas was always the time of year he most dreaded. It was thing after thing after thing. Dress up. Do your hair. Talk to Grandma. Talk to Uncle Richard. Write Santa Hu a letter…

There was always so much to do that it took all the fun out of everything. Even opening presents became a chore because people wanted him to like his presents so much that he had to pretend that he liked them more than he did.

“Charlie!” Mom called. “You have to do the dishes before your uncle and aunt get here!”

“Just a minute!” Charlie yelled through his bedroom door. He put his face in his bed and sighed.

Charlie didn’t really believe in Santa Hu, especially with how bad the gifts usually were, but this year he decided to write what he really felt because at least his parents would read it and get the idea.

He got out of bed and went to his desk, pulling out a sheet of paper. He began his letter:

“Dear Santa Hu,

For Christmas this year I want to be left alone. I don’t want to smile for pictures. I don’t want any presents. I just want to be allowed to eat some chips and read some books in my bedroom, without Aunt Lydia kissing me and telling me how cute I am.

Sincerely,

Charlie.”

Charlie stared at the mostly empty page, somehow feeling that it was still incomplete. He picked up his pen again.

“p.s. I hope I didn’t ruin your Christmas by being sad.”

Some part of Charlie, it seemed, still thought that Santa Hu might be real. And he didn’t want to get on Santa Hu’s bad list.

As Charlie stared at the page, he gasped as words began to appear on it, written in someone else’s penmanship.

Are you sure about that?

Charlie rubbed his eyes. Was he dreaming? “Who are you?” he wrote back.

Who do you think I am?

“Santa Hu?” Charlie wrote.

That’s me! Now, I can’t stop your Aunt Lydia from kissing you, but I can offer you something I think you’ll like. Use this letter to write down your good actions, and you’ll get APEX points. With these points, you can buy whatever you want by writing that down, too. You can choose what actions you want to write: taking a bath, doing your homework, or nothing at all. Each good action will earn you points that you can use for anything at all. I’ll give you some points to start, enough to get yourself some chips and a few books. Try it.

Charlie’s heart raced. Still feeling skeptical, he wrote, “Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.”

Immediately, like the paper was magically sketching itself, a picture of a bowl of ice cream appeared — getting more detailed, filling with color, and then it was there sitting on the page right in front of his eyes! Real ice cream, with all the minty chips that he loved inside.

Charlie poked the ice cream. It was cold. It was real. He brought his finger to his tongue, and it tasted amazing!

He moved the bowl off the page, and read the message that had appeared underneath.

I thought you wanted chips! But no matter, I hope you like the ice cream. Your balance has been reduced from 4000 CPX to 3350 CPX. Merry Christmas!

-Santa Hu

Charlie couldn’t believe it. Santa was real. Carefully, Charlie folded the sheet of paper and put it in his pocket before he shot out of his room, heading right to do his dirty dishes.

“Hey Ma! Do you want help with the laundry, too?”