Saint Nicholas's Bones (short story)

Saint Nicholas's Bones was the twenty-third short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: The History of Christmas. It was written by Xanna Eve Chown. It featured the Second Doctor and Victoria Waterfield.

Summary
While Brothers Grimaldius and Lupus attend to their duties at Saint Nicholas's church, the Doctor and Victoria sit in a pub. When a man tells Victoria the story of Saint Nicholas, the Doctor chimes in with his personal experiences with Saint Nicholas, annoying the man.

Sailors from Bari attack the monks at the church, stealing the bones of Saint Nicholas. Meanwhile, other sailors enter the pub, and the Doctor, seeming to expect them, asks to see their captain. They are suspicious of him, but after he buys them several drinks, they tell him where their ship is. The Doctor sneaks on board and switches the real bones for plastic ones.

The Doctor suggests to Victoria that they take Saint Nicholas's bones to the North Pole to bury them.

Characters

 * Second Doctor
 * Victoria Waterfield
 * Brother Grimaldius
 * Brother Lupus
 * Disigius
 * Matthew

Worldbuilding

 * The Doctor plays "Silent Night" on his recorder but Victoria thinks he's playing "The Holly and the Ivy".
 * Jamie is sleeping in the TARDIS while the Doctor and Victoria have this adventure.
 * Saint Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra 700 years before the story, set in 1087. The Doctor had met him and was present at his funeral.
 * Saint Nicholas would become known as Father Christmas and Santa Claus.
 * The Doctor is mistaken for a Venetian spy by the theft sailors; they come from Bari, Italy.

Continuity

 * The Doctor had and would have had different kinds of meetings with Saint Nicholas, here referenced as the original Santa Claus. (PROSE: A Christmas Story onwards)