TWAS THE NIGHT AFTER CHRISTMAS & SANTA HAD A PROBLEM!

Looks like now that Christmas is over Santa is heading south.  Santa must get pretty tired of all the snow just like most of us would.  He is planning on getting some sunshine and doing all the fun things that come with warm weather.  Santa likes the snow sports and games too.  He is a great ice skater and loves to sled down the hills near his North Pole home. He has just had a lot of snow by the time Christmas is over and needs a warm weather break. 

When it comes to skiing, Santa is one of the   very best.  After all just imagine how many years he has had to practice.  Right now the "Days Until Xmas" calendar is blank.  That means Santa, the reindeer and all the elves are on a long vacation.  They have all worked so hard and are definitely ready for some time off!

Santa's elves are out having a great time sledding down the snow covered hills.  It's hard to imagine how hard they have worked all year to make all those toys for children around the world!  They certainly need and deserve some time off to have fun.  They will feel more like making great toys for next year if they get some rest.

When Santa and the reindeer fly off on Christmas Eve, the poor elves are just about worn out.  Very few people in the world work as hard as they do.  Some of the elves take a long nap, while others play with some of the left over toys.  One thing's for sure, they all love their work.  Who else in the world could make so many children happy?

After Santa's big night, he was catching up on some   badly needed sleep too.  Mrs. Claus and some of the elves were taking down the Christmas ornaments to be packed away for next year.  Santa was so tired he started to have a bad dream.  He dreamed he lost his job delivering toys at Christmas and saw himself looking for a new job.

Poor Santa dreamed he had to stand on a corner holding a sign that said he would work for cookies.  How awful it would be if Santa didn't have his cookies on Christmas Eve!  Then he dreamed he became a rapper to make cookie money for him and Mrs. Claus.  That was enough to wake Santa with a scare!  He just didn't think he would make a good rapper.

Mr. Penguin, the official bell ringer, was already sitting on a   beach in Florida sunning himself.  Even Frosty was enjoying the warm weather.  Of course he knew he wouldn't last long in this sunshine.  Frosty could always count on some nice kids to put him back together again every winter.  He was kind of like Santa Claus, he just seemed to show up every year.

Poor Santa, all his helpers were on a sunny beach and   he was having nightmares about working for cookies.  All he wanted was to relax and have one of those cute little drinks with an umbrella in it.  Then suddenly the worst of the worst happened!  Santa received an e-mail from his head elf telling him a little boy named Daniel Tyler, who had been extra good all year, had not received his Christmas gift!

   Santa remembered the letter from Daniel.  You see   the song really is true, "he can see you when your sleeping and knows when you're awake."  He even remembered meeting Daniel at a Shopping Mall and receiving his letter.  Santa patted Daniel on his head and told him how proud he was of him for being such a good boy all year.  He knew Daniel deserved the present he wanted and he planned to see that he got it. 

Everyone who was still left at the North Pole sprang back   into action.  This was something Santa just couldn't let happen.  The Chief Elf was getting everyone back into action.  This problem had to be fixed!  It also had to be done before New Years Eve.  Santa had never had a failure before and he wasn't about to start now!

Santa was up against the 2008 hour glass and the sand was moving quickly through.  As the old saying goes, "Time waits for no one."  Even the Baby New Year was marching right along.  So everyone pulled together and got to work.  If they could get out millions of toys on Christmas Eve, they could get out one, even with just a few of the crew to help.

The first thing Santa had to do was to find that letter from   Daniel.  He remembered Daniel wanted a race car track but it was important for Santa to know what kind.  Finally Mrs. Claus found Santa's famous checklist that tells him who's been naughty or nice and what they want for Christmas.  There, under the T's, was Daniel Tyler and the race set he wanted for Christmas.

Now the hunt was on to find Daniel's race track.  Santa asked    everyone to help.  All the elves and other helpers pitched in to find the special gift for Daniel.  They had a lot of presents to go through that were already started for next Christmas.  There were some, like one elf found, that still needed a lot of work before it would be ready to leave on Santa's sleigh next year.

They even found one little puppy who likes it at the North Pole so much, he had hidden on Christmas Eve and stayed to live with Santa.  The elves named him Polar Bear, because he loved the snow so much.  The elves went through big bags of toys.  Some so big they could hardly move them.  So far though, no one was having any luck.

Then, along came Benny, a penguin helper of Santa's,   Benny had found Daniel's race track gift.  The whole North Pole Toy Factory exploded in cheers and applause for Benny!  You would have thought it was midnight on New Years Eve!  Someone even started ringing the golden bells.  They were only rung on very special occasions.

Only two of Santa's reindeer had decided to stay home during the vacation   months, Dasher and Prancer.  Fortunately for Santa they were two of his fastest reindeer.  They were very excited, this was their favorite thing to do, to take Santa and his presents to children.  The elf in charge of the reindeer fed them lots of carrots and got them hooked up to the sleigh all ready to go.

The elves were waving and cheering for Santa.  He was a hero to all of them!  Santa waved back and off they went.  He planned to fly half way with the reindeer because he only had two and didn't want to get them two tired.  They were very special to him and Santa loved them very much.  He planned to take a plane the rest of the way to Daniels house.

Santa stopped in Lexington Kentucky and left the reindeer at the Keeneland Race Track and Stables.  Santa knew they would be in good hands there until he could get back to pick them up.  Right across the highway from Keeneland is the Lexington Airport, so he caught his plane and off he went to Daniels.  Daniel was so surprised when he got his present from Santa along with a big pat on the head for being such a good boy all year.

When Daniel opened his present it was exactly what he wanted.   He would play with it for years to come and never forget the special trip Santa had made just to get it to him.  Daniel surprised Santa too, with cookies and milk he had saved especially for him.  Santa thought about his dream and realized with wonderful children around like Daniel, he would never have to beg for work to buy cookies.  He felt like a very lucky Santa!

Suddenly, Santa realized that Daniel lived in Florida.  The state he had planned to visit this vacation.  Maybe he'd find Frosty and his Penguin friend and have one of those little umbrella drinks after all.  Florida was just as beautiful as he had imagined.  You see he was always coming during the night of Christmas Eve and didn't have time to stop and enjoy the beaches and nice weather.

There were no icicles here and Santa had just beaten   Father Time.  It was almost New Year's Eve.  It looked like Santa was going to celebrate on a warm beach in Florida this New Year's Eve after all!  The next day was New Year's Eve and Santa bought himself some sunglasses and rented a motor cycle to drive down the highway that run by the beaches.

When Santa drove by in his sunglasses and on the motorcycle, he   got more attention than anyone on the beach!  It was a beautiful day and he had talked to Mr. Penguin, they planned to meet for a New Year's Eve dinner that night and watch the sunset over the ocean.

Santa loved the beach and was having    a great time.  Mr. Penguin told him Frosty had melted away but had a wonderful time before he left.  He said to tell Santa he'd see him next winter at the North Pole.  As Santa and Mr. Penguin watched the sunset over the ocean they sipped their umbrella drinks and listen to the distant crowds cheering in the New Year at midnight.  Santa said to Mr. Penguin, "it's been a great year but next year will even be better!"

                   

SANTA PROVES THAT SOMETIMES REALLY GOOD THINGS CAN BE MADE OUT OF MISTAKES!