Santa makes a pit stop

(A version of this short story ran in December 2023. The story takes a look at what happens when bad weather forces Santa Claus to make a brief stop on his Christmas Eve journey.)

Santa Claus looked down at the gauges on his sleigh. They were teetering close to the danger zone. The swirling snow was tossing and turning his little sleigh and the weather wasn’t getting any better for the foreseeable future. Santa shook his head, he was going to have to do something that he hadn’t had to do in 102 years. He was going to have to bring the sleigh down for a short stoppage, for at least enough time to let the snow squall and wind run its course.

Okay, Dasher and Dancer, let’s bring her down, he said pulling on the reins. The team of reindeer wouldn’t like it, they didn’t like veering from their mission, until the work was done, but he knew it would be better to be safe than sorry. 

Safety first

The deteriorating conditions and the pit stop reminded Santa the time he nearly got pelted with German anti-aircraft fire, flying over Europe during the height of World War II. Mrs. Claus had warned him to watch out, even suggesting he might want to skip Christmas altogether that year, but he wasn’t going to hear it. He had a job to do and by God he was going to do it. He and the reindeer survived alright, but the sleigh took a beating.

The snow and wind whipped Santa’s face and brought him back to the present. He pulled the reindeer below the cloud cover. In normal weather, anyone would be able to see them now. In this weather, though, he didn’t worry about anyone seeing them, it wasn’t fit for man or beast. 

He saw a small forest and a clearing to the east and further to the west he saw some lights. He brought the sleigh down smoothly under a grove of trees and pulled it to a stop. The reindeer would rest a little while he walked toward the lights and hopefully found some shelter from the wind.

Waiting out the storm

Santa gave each of the reindeer an apple from his bag, quick rubbed their ears, and told them that he would be back in a few minutes. He was going to keep them hitched and they would be back on their run in no time. 

With a “ho, ho, ho,” he headed off toward the lights. Santa couldn’t see much in the wind, but he kept his head low and was able to make out a sign that showed that it was a diner. And even better, it looked to be open.

He was used to trampling around the North Pole, but the snow was still tough going, especially without a pair of snowshoes. Despite everything, he was at the front of the diner in no time. In normal weather, the red and white neon sign, spelling out “Red’s Diner,” would be easy to pick out. In this snow, though, nothing was easy.

“Are you him?”

When Santa opened the diner door and walked in, he was greeted immediately by a waitress in a traditional white buttoned down shirt and red skirt. “Come on in and close that door before that wind blows you to kingdom come!”

While he dusted the snow off his pants and boots, Santa heard a man’s deeper voice ask, “Where’d you come from little man? The squall is so thick, we didn’t even see your head lights.”

Before Santa could say anything, the waitress’ face lit up like Fourth of July fireworks were being set off in the restaurant. “You’re him, you’re him, right? If I didn’t know any better, I would think you were him.”

Santa knew that he had to stop this line of questioning immediately.

“Oh, I get that a lot, everyone loves Santa” he said. “My name is Sam, I work as a truck driver for most of the year, but in December, I work as a mall Santa. It pays good money and is fun. I was called in late to work a mall about two hours from here.” he said. “I left straight from work to go to my son’s house. It was fine when I left, but sure enough, things went down hill fast. It’s brutal out there.”

“Oh, we get you, Sammy” said a big man in a blue shirt and white name tag on his left pocket identifying him as Frank. He was the guy who said they didn’t see his car lights approaching the diner. “Don’t worry about Suzy, she’s just a kid at heart this time of year.”

“You stop it Frankie, with that white beard and red suit, he looks like the real thing,” she said.

“Oh nothing wrong with that Suzy, I’m with you, we’re all little kids at heart, we just need a little faith,” Sam said. Suzy whispered a thank you to him.

The weather report

Santa or Sam, as he was now known, took a look around and besides Frank and Suzy, there was a man in a blue suit and tie and a sad-looking woman in the far corner who kept looking out the window.

Suzy handed Sam a strong cup of coffee to warm himself up and introduced him to the rest of the crew. Besides Frank, who was the owner and cook at the rinky-dink diner, there was James, a salesman who had flown into LaGuardia Airport and took to the road when his flight to Binghamton was cancelled. He was trying to get back to his wife before Christmas morning, but nearly got run off the road by the huge storm. The final member was Melody, who was on her way home from the hospital, she had been waylaid there longer than she wanted, when she got caught in the storm and had to pull over at the diner too. The two nodded to Sam from their seats.

James jumped into the conversation next, letting Sam know that he had been looking at the weather report on his laptop and it looked bleak. He surprisingly still had access to wifi. He feared having to spend the night at the diner. The National Weather Service and Accuweather were calling for the storm to stick around for another five hours.

Without giving away his sources, Sam told James that his “weather app” actually showed that the wind would lighten up in twenty minutes, and the snow would continue for another hour-and-half, but then stop altogether, before starting up again later on Christmas Day. “I have it on good authority, you’re going to make it home with time to spare.”

James smiled faintly, happy to hear the news, but uncertain to believe the newest arrival. “After the day I’ve had, it’s hard to believe anyone, but for some reason I believe you, Sam. I sure hope you’re right,” James said.

Peace be with you

They looked mildly surprised at Sam. “We all seem to have our worries this time of year. I know I do. Whether it’s work or our health, sometimes, you just need to give them up to God. I know it’s hard, it’s hard for me, but it all works out in the end. God has a purpose for all of us.”

They all looked at him, trying to figure out what he was getting at, and then Melody who was now on her feet, spoke up. “I just got some bad news. My cancer’s back and I don’t know how I’m going to face it.”

Everyone looked shocked to hear Melody speak for the first time. She seemed to be the most surprised. “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I just said that,” she said. Her face was as white as the snow coming down outside and she had her hand over her mouth.

It was deathly quiet in the diner and then Suzy walked over to Melody, her sneakers squeaking on the linoleum, and gave her a loving hug. “I’m so sorry to hear that honey,” she told the woman.

When they separated, Sam said, “Oh, Melody, I’m so sorry for you. Life can be hard and you’ve had it tougher than most, but I have good feelings for you. Yes, yes, a good feeling. You’re going to come out of this stronger than ever. You just need to remember that you’re strong and you are loved.”

His comment was intimately familiar, like Melody and him were lifelong friends. No one knew what to do, but then the strangest thing happened. Melody started laughing. Not just a giggle or ha-ha laugh, but a hysterical belly laugh. The others started laughing too. They were all looking at each other and laughing out loud. Finally they stopped and it was Melody’s turn now. She wiped the tears from her eyes and went over to Sam and gave him a hug.

“I don’t know how you knew what to say to me, but that’s exactly what I needed to hear right now. I needed to be reminded that I have my family, my friends, and that I’m going get through this. Thank you so much for putting a mirror up to my face.”

Sam or Santa just shook it off, like he had conversations like this every day of his life.

A break in the snow

Suzy went back to fill up her James’ coffee cup and everyone was settling down when Frank noticed it first. “Look at that, the wind and snow seem to be letting up a little.” he said.

It was still coming down hard, but you could see a slight difference. That was Sam’s cue. He put $5 on the counter for his coffee and thanked everyone for their hospitality. “I know it’s still miserable out there, but before I came in, I found some snow chains in the back of my truck. I’m going to put them on and dust off my truck again. If the snow keeps letting up like this, I’m going to make a run for it.”

Frank, Suzy, Jame, and Melody all got up to give Sam a hug goodbye and looked at each other amazed, they seemed to care deeply for the man, but weren’t really sure why or even how it happened. They all told him to drive safe and to take care of himself.

Before turning to head out, Sam gave Suzy a smile and a wink and asked, “What does Santa say again? Oh, yea, that’s right: ‘Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.'” Everyone laughed. It was a funny goodbye. With that, Sam left the diner.

The others went back to their seats. It wasn’t long, maybe two or three minutes, when the snow really started to slow and the others started to think about leaving themselves. Suzy was the first on her feet and pointed to a red duffel bag where Sam had been sitting. No one had seen him bring the bag into the diner.

Frank ran to the door to catch Sam before he drove off, but he didn’t see anything out the window. He opened the door and ran out to the parking lot, checking both ends of the lot, but came running back in with a strange look on his face, “It’s empty, just our four cars, there’s no one out there, there’s no tracks in the snow, nothing. It’s like he just disappeared.”

What just happened?

“Maybe there’s a cell phone number inside the bag?” James said. However, when they looked inside, it was empty, except for four delicately wrapped presents with each of their names spelled out in calligraphy.

For James, there was a shiny diamond bracelet for him to give as a thank you gift to his wife. For Frank, a colorful apron that said, “The Chef Knows Best.” For Suzy, a box with a dozen red roses and a small silver sleigh bell. And finally for Melody, there was a prayer journal and with her name inscribed and the quote “Every day is a chance to create a memory and to love a little more.”

They looked at each with tears in their eyes, shaking their heads in shock.

Frank was the most stunned. He took out a handkerchief and dabbed his eyes. “You mean Sam is the real deal? He’s really Santa?”

James said, “I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see with my own eyes.”

Melody said, “He knew what was in my heart. It couldn’t be, it really couldn’t be, could it?”

Finally Suzy spoke for all of them: “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going to go home. I’m going to hug my family, get into some warm clothes, and you know what, I’m going to choose to believe. I don’t care what anybody says, I believe!”

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