Santa and the Missing Sled

Jim the elf uses Santa's sled

Santa and the Missing Sled

Santa sat at his desk scrutinizing the situation. This morning he couldn’t find his new sled. Sally the Elf had told him that Jim the Elf and the two reindeers, Rudolf and Comet, went for a ride in the new sled. She didn’t know where they were going. They left three days ago and tonight is the night before Christmas. Santa had no idea what to do.

 Finally, out of desperation, Santa sunk into Jim’s room. He saw some letters on the desk. Among the letters was one from Judy The Elf. In the letter were arrangements for Jim the Elf to visit her, before Christmas, for a few days. Santa recalled Jim’s girlfriend, Judy The Elf, from last Christmas. Just for the fun of it, she wrapped up dirty socks in place of T-shirts. There were many complaints, so Santa had to fire her. Then she moved to Canada, to live with her mother. Santa had a bad feeling about firing her, but he felt it was necessary.

Santa left Jims room and returned to his desk. He looked at the naughty list to find the address for Judy The Elf. It read Judy The Elf; 517 Maple Street; Pleasantville, Canada. He remembered a dog lived there. From his journal, he found that he missed giving Judy a present 17 years ago. Because of this, he thought, maybe, he had something to do with Judy being so mischievous.  He knew the only way to keep those little brats in line was to bribe them with presents.

 

The only sled, that could be fixed to fly, was a 1952 model. Even if it could be repaired, Santa knew, it was not fast enough to get around the world and delivery all those presents in one night. So Santa decided to fix up the old sled, use it to go to Canada, and find the new sled. Santa revived the old 1952 sled. He harnessed up Dixon, Blitzen, Vixen, Cupid and Prancer.  Then taped a battery powered led light bulb to Prancers nose to guide the sled. Santa left the North Pole and went south to Canada.

 

He arrived at the Canada border. Here he maneuvered the sled to avoid the missiles shoot at him. He found this easy to do since he has been dodging missiles every Christmas since 1943.

On arriving above Pleasantville, he flew over the housetops and down Maple Street. He attempted to see the street numbers on the houses as he flew by. He glimpsed a mail box at the end of a sidewalk leading to a house. He noticed something odd about the mailbox, so he slowed the sled to look a second time. On the mailbox, in big letters, was Judy’s last name “The Elves”.  A big dog jumped at the sled. Now, he knew this was Judy’s house.

 

 Santa circled the house, with the dog chasing along, and landed in the back yard. The dog hurdled at the sled trying to jump in. Santa grabbed his bag, and then wedged it between him and the attacking hound. The dog bounced off the bag and plunged onto the ground. He recuperated and leaped at the bag.  

Mom The Elf ran out the back door and called to the dog.  “Wolf, Get over here.”

Wolf stopped the assault and paced to Judy’s mom. 

Mom The Elf said, “Hello Santa. What happen to you 32 years ago? I never got my present.”

 Santa muttered to himself, “Lucky anyone gets their present at his house, with that dog around. He must be as old as me.”

Mom The Elf said, ”What.”

Santa, ”I was saying how sad I was to get rid of Judy.”

Mon The Elf, “Oh, yea. With all those big toy manufactures you have to lay off a few people now and then.”

Santa, “Is Judy home?”

Mon The Elf, “No, She’s at the mall with Jim.”

Santa, “The Mall. Where is that?”

Judy’s Mom replied, “It’s a mile down Main Street. Main Street is two blocks over from here. The bus goes right out to the mall. It runs every hour.”

Then Mom The Elf opened the back door and let Wolf in.  Then she entered the house. Santa knew it was getting late and he still had to find the new sled. He looked at his watch and saw it was twenty after three.  Santa walked to the bus stop. He waited 45 minutes for the bus. Santa became annoyed because of the long wait.  The bus finally arrived; he boarded, and rode down Main Street. After 15 minutes the bus arrived at the mall. Santa hastily entered the mall.

Just inside the door, a mall worker said to him coarsely, ”Hey Santa.  It’s not break time get back to work.”

Santa looked at him harshly and hurried toward the center of the mall. After reaching the malls center, he noticed the food court was there. There was a donut shop, to his right. He looked at his watch and it was four twenty five. He reasoned that he had time for a donut. So he purchased three donuts and a cup of eggnog. After eating, he noticed Jim sitting at a table on the other side of the food court. Judy was not with him.

He rushed to Jim and hastily said, “The sled has to be at the North Pole by 8:30. The elves must have the time to load the sled. I need the sled”

Jim replies, “Judy wants her job back. If she gets her job back, your get your sled back.”

 Santa felt bad about firing Judy, so he promptly said, “She can have here job back. We have to hurry.  It’s close to 5 o’clock.”

Jim, ”I’ll get the sled back in time.”

Santa, “Where’s Judy?”

 Jim, “They’re having a special Christmas Eve sale at Snow Cloths. It starts at five o’clock. Judy is over there.”

Jim and Santa went to Snow Cloths. The special sale had already started. The store was full of women, so they stood outside looking for Judy through the windows. They finally spotted her. She was half way to the back. She was grabbing onto a shirt that a lady was pulling on. They tugged at the shirt until the lady gave up. Judy crouched the shirt under her arm with the other cloths already there. Then she made her way to the cash register line, grasping her cloths all the way. After 20 minutes she had the cloths paid for and left the store.

She saw Santa, ignored him and approached Jim,  “These are really good jeans.” while holding up a pair of jeans. “I can’t believe how much they cost.”

Jim replied by saying, ”Santa saids you can have your job back.”

Then Judy acknowledged Santa’s presences by saying, “Thank You. Santa.”

 Judy turns to Jim and said, “That’s all I want. Do you want to get anything.”

Jim, “No.”

Judy, “Lets go back to my house.”

  Judy, Jim, and Santa went out the back door. In the back parking lot was the sled and Rudolph and Comet. Jim chased off the kids that were climbing in and around the sled. He and Judy climbed in. Santa started to get in, and recognized there was not enough room for him.

He murmured to himself a little and said to Jim and Judy, “I’ll take the bus.”

 Jim and Judy flew of in the sled, while Santa walked to the bus stop. In just 20 minutes the bus arrived. Santa boarded and found a seat.

As soon as he sat down a little girl can up to him and said, “Hi Santa. I’m Susie. Thanks you for the doll you gave me last year. This year I need a bicycle and a trampoline.”

Santa said, “The little girls that have been nice get presents. Have you been nice this year.”

She answers, “Yes I have.”

Her mother, who was sitting two seats behind Santa, didn’t like the direction the conversation was going.

She hollered to her daughter,  ”Don’t bother that man. The real Santa is at the North Pole. Get back here.”

On the way up Main Street several other children told Santa what they wanted for Christmas and that they were good the whole year. Santa was becoming edgy. He was thinking about getting back to the North Pole. While all these children were around saying how good they were. Every kid wanting all of their presents. As if they deserved them. 

About five blocks from his stop. He lost his patience and shouted at a little kid, “Why don’t you shut up. You’re just as bad as the rest.”

The driver stopped the bus, opened the door and said to Santa, “That’s enough Santa. Get off the bus.”

Santa, while grumbling under his breath, trudged off the bus. He then walked the rest of the way to Judy’s house. When he arrived it was six thirty. He was a mental mess. Mom The Elf gave him two glasses of warm chocolate milk to calm him down.

It was ten after seven when he convinced Jim to leave for the North Pole.  Jim and Judy took the new sled to the North Pole. Santa followed in the1952 old sled.  After flying threw a snowstorm, Santa arrived at 11:52. The elves had the new sled loaded and ready to go. They helped Santa into his suit and sent him on his way.