When Håkan opened his eyes the next morning, he was no longer the doubting man from yesterday. No, today, he was something entirely different. A hero. A hero on a mission to save Christmas. He felt a childish determination swell in his chest and leapt athletically out of bed. His feet landed squarely in his reindeer slippers, and he wiggled his toes happily. It was almost as if he draped an imaginary cape over his shoulders. He stretched, felt the wind in his hair – despite the window being closed – and envisioned himself taking on the greatest task Vrångö had ever seen.
“We’re going to save Christmas, pig!” Håkan declared loudly to himself, punching his fist into his palm for emphasis.
The pig, who had been snoozing at the foot of the bed, raised an eyebrow – if pigs even have eyebrows – and nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes, we! Save Christmas, we! Yes, wait, we were… uh, we were on our way to find that… you know… that Santa, the one who does… yeah, that thing… we’re going to find Santa and get him to make Christmas… make it good, we will! Krut and Håkan!”
Håkan took a deep breath, feeling the strange sense of being on the verge of something big.
Krut looked at him with his big, bewildered eyes. “We fix, we say… now we must go,” he said and started marching forward with determined steps, as if he’d been on his way before Håkan even knew what they were doing.
Out the door they went, with Krut leading like a talking weather vane, and Håkan struggled to keep up. “Wait, don’t walk so fast!” Håkan complained. “I’m getting tired!”
Krut came to a sudden stop, so abrupt that Håkan accidentally nudged him in the rump.
“Ouch! Watch where you’re going, you clumsy oaf!” squeaked Krut, but his mood quickly improved as he pulled out a basket of gingerbread cookies from seemingly nowhere. “Here, have a gingerbread cookie. Take two! Gingerbread is br… gingerbread and glitter, we like! The magic is in the cookies. And the glitter! Glitter in the corners, glitter in the world, we love glitter.”
“We need Berske,” Krut announced suddenly, as if even he was surprised to say it. “He knows, he sees! And he likes… people happy. Even if he doesn’t always like to show it.” Krut giggled to himself and nervously scratched behind his ear with a hoof, almost tripping over a loose stone.
“Who’s Berske?” Håkan asked, unsure if he’d heard correctly. He wasn’t entirely convinced he could handle more strange companions just now.
“Gnome,” Krut replied quickly. “An elf. Hardly ever seen. Lots of duties, lots of work. But he likes Christmas… sometimes.” Krut gestured with his hooves, as if trying to describe something big and important.
“So, he lives here? In the barn?” Håkan asked, beginning to understand why they were heading there.
Krut nodded eagerly. “He’s always been here. And we’re going there because we need him, yes!”
Håkan felt a bit nervous. An elf? A house gnome? For him, Santa had always been a large, jolly man with red, soft clothes. Pulled by reindeer and with a sleigh full of presents. Weren’t gnomes known to be a bit… grumpy? He shuddered but threw his imaginary cape over his shoulders again and placed his hands on his hips. Who was he to back down now? Christmas needed saving, and he was the right man for the job!
Oh, hooray, could it actually be a good Christmas after all? It seems like Krut has a plan, at least. Are you starting to get curious about who this Håkan really is? He’s our CEO here at Kajkanten and the one who started the hotel a little over 10 years ago. You can read more about Håkan here.
If you’ve visited us at Kajkanten, you’ve probably met him too – his favorite thing to do (besides saving Christmas) is welcoming our wonderful guests!