Allow me to do a little set-up for this story. It features my usual characters, Mai Fisher and Alexei Bukharin, but in present day, when 74-year-old Alexei is retired and Mai, nearing 60, is head of the global espionage organization, The Directorate. Through a series of unusual circumstances (outlined in my 2017 NaNoWriMo rough draft), they end up as the adoptive parents of an orphaned, six-year-old Russian boy, the son and grandson of former adversaries. This is their first Christmas with the boy, now named Ivan Alexeivitch Bukharin.
Related Works: A War of Deception and the story “Spymaster” in Spy Flash II.
Note: Russian Orthodox Christmas is celebrated January 7. “Grandfather Frost” is somewhat of a Russian Santa Claus, and, yes, the title is a deliberate play on “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by by Clement Moore (or perhaps Henry Livingston, Jr., depending upon who you ask).
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