Audience is just left wondering By Michael Liedtke and George Avalos Knight Ridder Newspapers The holiday season always seems to encourage deep reflection and weigh down our minds with heavy questions. What are all those pillow-packing fellows with fake white beards trying to hide? Is Rudolph's blinking red nose just a random genetic mutation or a cleverly concealed mind-control device that will someday drive our children to buy "Burl Ives' Greatest Hits'" and commit other inexplicable acts? Can the corncob pipe-smoking snowman - alias "Frosty" - be trusted? Is the seemingly noble-hearted Snowden really Frosty's illegitimate son? Heavy questions have become holiday traditions for us - like sunflower seeds roasting on an open fire - but each year usually seems to yield a new mystery to ponder. This year's head-scratcher comes courtesy of the latest "X-Files" episode, "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas." Many of you no doubt are perplexed by the same question: What did Mulder and Scully get each other for Christmas? While there is much to like about "Ghosts" after the previous week's rather disappointing outing, the best part came at the end when the two partners exchanged gifts for the first time in their six-year alliance. Series creator Chris Carter, who wrote and directed this episode, presented us with a glimpse of childlike delight that Mulder and Scully shared as they swapped gifts, but he left the unwrapping to the imagination. That's like handing alien DNA to a sinister genetic scientist because, in case you haven't noticed by now, we have vivid imaginations. Here's what we think what Mulder may have given Scully in her oblong-shaped present: a salami or some other slab of meat from Hickory Farms; an "I Want to Believe" poster; an "Independence Day" poster taken from a seedy downtown alley; a small telescope to scan the heavens for UFOs; a nightstick; a lifetime supply of alien-slaying metallic picks. As for what was in that small, square present Scully handed Mulder, here's a few possibilities: a paperback version of "The Day after Roswell"; a bee trap; an audio book version of "Communion" by Whitley Streiber; a videotape of the movie "Contact"; Martha Stewart's hints for furnishing a bachelor pad; an "E.T." action figure; a picture frame with a photograph of the two agents; a box of Choco Droppings, the candy that Scully ate in a cockroach-infested convenience store during the third season. What we learned: Mulder and Scully are coming to grips with how much they mean to each other. In some ways, "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" is the culmination of a four-part exploration into the Mulder-Scully relationship that began with "Triangle" and continued with the two "Dreamland" episodes. Here's what sets "Ghosts" apart from the previous three shows: The experience in the Maryland mansion haunted by the apparitions of Maurice and Lyda clearly stuck with our heroes and even seemed to enlighten them. We still don't know if "Triangle" really happened and, as far as Mulder and Scully are concerned, the "Dreamland" episodes never happened. Is Mulder the "brooding, but heroic young man" that he described to Scully early in the show or "a lonely man chasing paramasturbatory illusions" as Maurice colored him? And, as Mulder hinted, is Scully the "sublime beauty with a light that (seems) to follow her," or a co-dependent whose "only joy in life is proving (Mulder) wrong," as Lyda assessed. We think the FBI agents are moving closer to becoming the romantic figures sketched by Mulder than the pathetic losers delineated by the ghosts. If this haunting had occurred sometime before Duane Barry abducted Scully in the second season, Maurice and Lyda might have succeeded in tricking the agents into killing each other. But these are two very different people from those early days. Mulder is realizing that there is a life to be lived on Earth even as he chases the extraterrestrial; Scully has become much more than a dutiful satellite orbiting Mulder. As they come to terms with their own personal foibles, Mulder and Scully seem to recognize that their kinship runs much deeper than a professional bond. Consider how Mulder and Scully escaped the trap the ghosts set for them on Christmas Eve. When all hope seemed lost, their mutual love and trust saved them. Although we haven't seen an alien since the season opener, Mulder and Scully are getting ever closer to discovering the truth about themselves and securing a powerful weapon in their crusade to save the world. WHAT WE DON'T KNOW: Did Mulder ask Scully to the haunted mansion because he wanted to stake out the house or was he just looking for an excuse to be with his partner on Christmas Eve? Will Mulder and Scully be back at the mall on Dec. 26 to return the gifts? QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Do you realize how seriously disturbed this man is?" Maurice asks Scully as they discuss her relationship with Mulder. POSTED BY CarriePl on ATXF