The Year Santa Almost Canceled Christmas

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Twas the week before Christmas Eve, up at the Northpole, and last minute preparations were under way, theelves were polishing the sleigh

till it gleamed.The toys were separated onto piles for boys and girlsof different ages, it was quite a task, in the huge workshop finishing touches were being put onto others.

Santa was sitting by a roaring fire in the fireplace

going over his long, long list.

Mrs. Claus noticed his eyelids drooping, as he wasgetting sleepy due to the many long hours he worked inthe past eleven months. Overseeing the elves at work,and making sure not one single toy was left unfinished.

Mrs. Claus had just made each of them a steamingcup of hot chocolate,

Just the way Santa liked it with; tiny marsh mellowsfloating on top. She carried a cup to him along with a plateof fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, she knew he loved.

Mrs. Claus walked in

and placed thecookies and hot chocolate, on the table between theircomfy chairs, and leaning over gave Santa a kiss bringinghim awake.

“

I’ve brought us a nice treat,” she said, “I see” replied Santa as he reached for his hot chocolate and took a sip,“ah!, just what I needed, my dear.” They enjoyed their hotchocolate, and of course Santa dug into the cookies withgusto! He teased Mrs. Claus, that he was keeping inpractice for Christmas Eve, when he would enjoy cookies,around the world. Page 2

Their peaceful evening was suddenly interrupted,when at first tiny fist’s pounded on their door, followed bythe doorbell, which played the tune Santa Claus is comingto townMrs. Claus got up saying, “I’ll get it dear, you stay put”as she opened the large, heavy wooden door, the elvesrushed in.

They hurried over to stand in front of Santa and allstarted talking at once, Santa held up his hand saying“whoa!, boys slow down,” then he pointed to the eldest ofthe bunch, Elmer, “now Elmer supposed, you tell me whatall this is about?Santa it saddens me to tell you this but it seems thereindeer

have come down with “Reindeer Flu” over half of themare sick and I suspect the rest will be shortly.Mrs. Claus gasped, and Santa hung his head shakingit from side to side, as he looked up he had tears in his

eyes,

“no, no, this can not be” Santa said. Elmer told Santa,“we have a doctor tending to them, but he said they willnot fly this Christmas, they may be better, but still to weakto fly.Elmer coughed a bit, then clearing his throat he said,“Santa, tomorrow I will be calling a meeting of all theelves, to see if we can come up with ideas, and I willreport back to you as soon as we have a good one.”Santa said, “Alright Elmer, let them all know I amcounting on them,” “will do boss” as he back away,motioning the others to follow, and they quietly let

themselves out. Page 3

Santa and his wife, spent a long time talkingthat evening, she saw that he was very upset, over thislatest news, he had never in all his hundreds of years onthe job, disappointed the children of the world. He had afew scares along the way, but things always worked out,this time he was not so sure.She made another cup of hot chocolate for him, andlet it work its magic, when she saw him dozing in his chair.

winters nap, but they were never really long for Santa, hewas an early riser, always so much to be done.Bright and early the next morning, Elmer called themeeting to order in the grand hall,

next to the work shop. He told them all, of the veryserious problem they now had, and how they could not letSanta down or, he may have to cancel Christmas, heheard a groan rise up from the elves.And so girls and boys which, is what Santa called thembecause of their tiny size, we need to come up with ideasand fast! One spoke up and said, “I’ll get the word out tothe penguins, they are very good at spreading newsacross the North Pole. “That is a very good idea”, saidElmer, “get on that right away” and the elf left, the hall todo his part.Others had ideas but so far, he did not see any ofthem being of great help, so he said keep thinking, andreport to me, and then he ended the meeting.

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Later that day,

three penguins showedup, at the work shop looking for Elmer, and they were sentright to him. They told him that while they were spreadingthe terrible news about the reindeer being sick, they alsotalked about the possibility of the penguins pulling thesleigh. But it was decided that it simply would not work, asthey were too small and not strong enough for the task.

Elmer thanked them for Santa and also the elf colonyand he agreed it simply would not work, but he felt asolution would be found.

Elmer then went to report to Santa, that while asolution was not at hand, they were all working on it andwishing for a miracle at the same time.When he arrived at Santa’s he noticed how sad hewas, and he said he had been to visit the reindeer down atthe reindeer barn, and it was so sad that so many weresick.

“Santa,

I hate to see you so sad,” said Elmer, “Well this mayvery well be the first Christmas

without toys for all thechildren around the world.“No Santa, we will not let that happen, there has gotto be an answer, it simply has not come to us, but it will.” Page 5

“Do you think we should go ahead with the grandSnow Ball celebration we have on the 23rd. the night before you make your rounds on Christmas Eve.”“Well I know the elf colony looks forward to it everyyear, but will there be anything to celebrate this year?“Yes Santa, keep the faith, we’ll get through thiscrisis, just like we did all the others “alright then Elmer, theball goes on as usual.”The plans were well under way; the elves were busy

preparing for the annual “Snow Ball” where theyhad a great feast and merry making celebration beforeChristmas Eve. It was Santa’s chance to thank all his elves for all their hard work, once again in making all thetoys, getting the sleigh ready, and the reindeer fed andready to go however this year they were all uncertain, howthe sleigh was going to fly.The entire elf colony would attend the ball, theClauses included of course and they were really knockingthemselves out just in case a plan did not come up andSanta was still in a funk, they had to cheer him up if it wasthe last thing they did.

Page 6 The elves were bustling around in the grand hallmaking everything ready for the second biggest event ofthe year, the first being Christmas Eve of course.When there was a great pounding on the doors, butmuffled as if made by a giant hard snowball. Elmer said,“Keep working boys, I’ll get it” as he hurried to the doors.As he unlatched the big doors and they swung open,his eyes grew huge, and he took a few steps backwards,as a giant polar bear entered, he heard theother elves gasp!

The big bear spoke then in a booming voice, “I am theKing of the polar bears, here at the North Pole and I haveheard about the illness, of your reindeer and I am herewith an idea to propose to you.“You, you are?” stammered Elmer, “and what mightthat be?” “Yes” was what he heard from a chorus of elvesbehind him. “I believe that my bears which I will selectfrom the younger strong ones will pull your sleigh for you ifyou agree?”

Elmer’s face lit up like the Christmas trees inthe grand hall, “that would be wonderful,

very wonderfulindeed, stated Elmer, ‘this may be the very miracle we’vebeen hoping for, and I will take this information to ourboss, right away.Thank you, thank you, you may have just savedChristmas after all. Applause went up from the crowd ofelves, for the huge polar bear, who was now retreating. Page 7

Elmer hurried as fast as he could,

to Santa Claus’s house, he rang the bell, and knocked onthe heavy door, and when Santa answered, he was so outof breath he collapsed on the floor at Santa’s feet.Santa helped him up and into a chair, called to Mrs.Claus to bring a cup of hot chocolate

for Elmer, and hurry please! When Elmer had a fewsips, he was finally able to tell his boss of the excitingnews, of the visitor to the grand hall, and about the polar

bears pulling the sleigh on Christmas Eve.After he got the story out, he asked “Santa do youthink it’s possible? Can those bears pull the sleigh? Canyou make them fly? Santa replied, “With my magic goldendust, I will make them fly.”

Before he left, Santa gave Elmer a big high five,

and he roared with laughter, he was himself once again.He closed the door, turned the music up, that had beenplaying softly, took Mrs. Claus by the hand and starteddancing, and chuckling the whole time, the children of theworld would not be disappointed this Christmas after all.He would deliver all the toys to the children on ChristmasEve and be home for Christmas with his wife.

After dancing had worn them down, they settled intheir comfortable chairs in front of the roaring fireplace,had another cup of hot chocolate, and toasted to anotherwonderful Christmas together., now that all was indeedwell, even the reindeer were improving, but still not able tofly on Christmas Eve. Page 8

The good news rippled across the North Pole that allwas well, the penguins carried the tale to all the seacreatures, and the polar bears carried the tale to the rest.Santa left word to the elves that they were to invite theking of the polar bears to the annual “Snowball” as theguest of honor.All were welcome to this party animals and elves alike, this is the first year the reindeer,

remained in their barn, so the flu would not spread toothers. Santa would be sure they had a special treatand not be totally left out of the celebration.

And so the day of the annual ‘Snowball” has arrived,bells were ringing all over the North Pole, wonderfulscents filled the air, laughing and merriment were heard onthe wind.

As day turned to night lights were seen shinningbrightly in all colors and candles blinked in windows.

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The grand hall was full and a joyoussound was heard as Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived as theyentered Santa noticed that mistletoe was hung over thegreat doors, and he stopped to give his Mrs. a kiss, henever passed up this chance.

Santa and Mrs. Claus were seated but before they gotsettled, the big doors to the hall swung open and in walkedthe guest of honor, the King of the polar bears and his sonthe Prince.

Santa got up and went to greet them and bestow thewreath of honor on the King.

The King sat at his place of honor, and one by one allwent up to thank him, he was very pleased.

The merriment began,

they all took turns singing Christmas Carols, the elves sang,

even the penguins sang songs of Christmas.

They danced around the Christmas tree’s in the greathall, and even Santa kicked up his heels to a lively

“Jingle Bells” before long the “Snowball” was endingand the guest of honor was leaving, the prince handed anote to Elmer as he passed, Elmer who was clearlypooped from all the activity of the day,

but he sat down and looked at the note, which was alist of the polar bears names, who would be pulling thesleigh, for Santa.

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He couldn’t help but smile; he thanked the Prince, andtold him, he would see that Santa got it before his longflight around the world.

And so the Snowball has ended, and even Santa andMrs. Claus have headed home, which was not very farfrom the grand hall. When they arrived home, Santatossed another log on the fire,

and said, “Let’s sit here awhile, my dear” she noddedher head,

Picking up here knitting, and she was putting thefinishing touches on a scarf for Elmer the oldest elf, forChristmas.“Tomorrow night is the big night, and I believeeverything will go just fine, now.” at that moment the doorbell and lively tune, rang out and Santa got up to goanswer.It was three of the elves

with the note, Elmer gave them to bring to Santa, helet them in and went again to sit by the fire, Mrs. Clauswent to get them all some hot chocolate, and then leftthem to their business.

And finally Christmas Eve day arrived, the elves hadthe sleigh runners waxed

and ready to be loaded with the gifts. The polar bearswere arriving and being fed a hardy meal, beforethe long night.

Santa’s heaviest suit was put out for him,

to keep him warm, and Mrs. Claus had a big

thermos of hot chocolate, ready for him to take along, it went goodwith all the cookies he ate along the way.

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Christmas Eve the sleigh was loaded up with toys.Santa talked to each of the bears before he got intothe sleigh, and the elves got them harnessed and ready togo.

As Santa did each year he would circle the NorthPole one time, and could be heard calling their names,this year it was: On Dashal, on Danka, on Prankster, onVictor, on Comic, on Cupie, on Donny, on Blitzer, to thetop of the world as he sprinkled the magic golden fairydust over them they flew over the roof tops up, up, andaway and his great chuckle drifted away on the wind.The elves cheered and wished their boss, well. Mrs.Claus waved from her window. This would be a Christmasremember by all who lived at the North Pole, as the yearthe Polar bears saved Christmas, by pulling the sleigh. The End Written By Suzanne Martin for kids of all ages.