• I wrote this story over the course of a week. I was supposed to be on a writing break for the month of December 2021, but I ended up emailing chapters to some of my friends as I wrote. They encouraged me to publish it. 

• This story was inspired by a reader/friend who mused about Santa being a stalker and how it would make a good romance. 

• The working title was "Santa smut." 

• Caspar was named for one of the Magi/Three Kings/Wise Men who visited Baby Jesus. His last name, Payne, is a medieval corruption of Latin, meaning "pagan" or "rustic countryman." 

• The title comes from a 16th-century English Christmas carol, "The Coventry Carol," about King Herod and the Massacre of the Innocents. Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL has nothing to do with it, beyond likening Caspar to Scrooge. It's definitely not a retelling in any way whatsoever.