For Jared, there were no stocking hung by the chimney with care, no visions of dancing sugar plums, no, none of the niceties of a Christmas celebration.
He remained on four feet, a shaggy sheepdog desperately trying to prevent some maniac with a pair of spiky horns from stuffing him inside a magical sack. Suddenly, there arose such a clatter, both sheepdog and Krampus turned from their struggle to see what was the matter.
Jared flicked his gaze high over the rooftop of the school, when to his wondering eyes appeared a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.
In his bewildered brain, the boy who had been transformed by a magical amulet before running afoul of an ancient Egyptian god, woofed once. "Santa Claus?"
The Krampus growled in its thick German accent. "It must be St. Nick!"
The driver had parked his sleigh, in a handicapped spot behind the cafeteria, no less. "Whoa, there, Krampus!" The new arrival cautioned.
Jared sniffed the air and watched the man. He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
"You know that I get first crack at the children," the man said with a chuckle with an edge to it. "If they've been bad, you can have them. If they've been good..."
Jared sat on his haunches and dug at a flea.
"der Greis," the Krampus muttered. "He's obviously a bad one." He moved close to Saint Nicholas for a conspiratorial whisper, pointing toward Jared's lower belly.
"You don't say!" Saint Nicholas said with a shocked tone. He scowled toward the dog. "That is bad!"
Jared felt awkward with all the pointing and whispering. "You don't understand," he pled. "I'm a boy! Some awful Egyptian god turned me into a dog."
The Krampus flicked his tongue out a couple of times for good measure. "Or is he a dog pretending to be a boy?" the demon reasoned. "Let's punish him."
Saint Nicholas frowned.
"How else do we explain that?" The Krampus said and pointed again at the sheepdog's furry belly.
"A pervert?" Saint Nicholas retorted and glared in a less than jolly manner.
"I'm not a pervert!" Jared barked, choosing the forget what he had been on the verge of doing before the untimely interruption by the Krampus.
"He is," the Krampus hissed. "Oh, let me have him. He's got such a lovely energy."
Jared turned pleading puppy dog eyes on Santa. His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry! His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, and the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.
His frown, however, could chase away Christmas cheer faster than a "Bah, Humbug."
"Well, boy," the elf asked. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
Jared found that his shaggy instincts wanted to get at the pawing reindeer in the school parking lot instead of communicating with the Christmas Eve visitor.
"Speak, boy!" Saint Nicholas commanded. "Do you think I have all night? I've places to be..."
Jared whimpered and tried to collect his thoughts.
"Oh, let me have him and be done with this," the Krampus whined.
"You mind the rules," Saint Nicholas warned. He turned back to the sheepdog, but glanced at an old-fashioned pocket watch. "I have to resume my journey soon. Do you have anything to say?"