Santa's Dilemma

by

Pepper L. Bauer and Cub Scout Pack 208

At 35 below zero, the arctic night was crystal-clear in Northern Minnesota. Stars decorated the coal black sky like thousands of Christmas Twinkie lights. The brilliant light from the unobstructed moon revealed the frozen expanse of a lake nestled in a cocoon of towering pines. Smoke curled from the chimney of a small cabin practically buried in the three foot of reflective snow that blanketed the ground like a diamond comforter.

Inside the cozy cabin, at a Christmas Eve gathering, four people sat around a coffee table and sipped hot cocoa in comfortable silence. They had known each other for years and had the kind of easy friendship that lent itself to relaxed conversation. No one felt obligated to fill the quiet gaps in the dialogue with inane chatter.

The oldest of the three friends was 24 year old Pam. Her passion was basketball, and she played in the local night basketball league, but her livelihood was plumbing. For extra money during the holidays, she worked nights at the local department store as a fragrance salesperson, pushing cheap knockoffs of expensive Christmas perfume. All the extra work hours cut into Pam's basketball time and made her very grouchy, but her friends understood.

Being the oldest, Pam watched over the other kids whether they wanted her to or not. They considered her sort of a mother figure. She seemed to relish the role.

The next oldest of the four friends was Jerry. At nineteen, he was big, strong and had dreams of a professional football career. At holiday time, he was always very "unjolly"; in fact, one might say crabby. His friends accused him of being a relative of Scrooge.

Sixteen year old Gale was tall as a building, very nice, and enjoyed food very much. He was an awesome magician, and was in great demand to entertain at parties.

The youngest of the four friends was ten year old Brett. For some unknown reason he preferred to be called Brad, so his friends obliged. His youthful dream was to become a war hero, and he played incessantly with his army men, planning complicated strategies in great detail. His favorite sport was basketball, and Pam was his hero. He tagged along with her whenever he could.

Brett/Brad was bummed because he spent all week trying to find just the right present for his brother, and couldn't find it anywhere. Now, it was Christmas Eve and it was too late.

As evening progressed into night, the four chums enthusiastically discussed what they hoped Santa would leave them under the tree. Everyone had something special that they desperately wanted. It would ruin Christmas if Santa didn't come through.

With stimulating conversation and good food, no one seemed to notice the lateness of the hour. Pam finally looked at her watch and sat up with a start. "Look at the time," she exclaimed! "We need to get back to town and in our beds before Santa comes."

"We're probably too late already. He won't leave us anything," whined the pessimistic and crabby Jerry.

The young people jumped up, said good-bye to the party hosts, grabbed their winter gear, and headed out into the frigid night for the long trek through the forest to the village. They were bundled up like little Pillsbury Doughboys and so they didn't really feel the frosty air.

The path home was easy to follow with the moon beaming down on it like a celestial spotlight. Still in party mode, the four friends laughed, sang Christmas carols and threw snow balls at each other as they wound their way through the woods and towards their beckoning beds.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the world below, Santa was in big trouble.

The Earth is a big place. There is invariably some bad weather or natural disasters somewhere along Santa's trip, and he always worked that possibility into his calculations; but this year was just bizarre. So far, he had encountered tornadoes, drenching rain, dangerous lightening, blizzards, blinding fog, (even with Rudolph's nose), and as if things weren't bad enough, he survived an earthquake while in Turkey.

Santa was exhausted; and so were his reindeer. He was almost done, but still had a village in Northern Minnesota to deliver to. He hated to disappoint the people that lived there, but Santa didn't think he and the poor reindeer could deliver all the presents and still have the energy to make it back to the North Pole.

Santa circled the frozen Northwoods around the town while trying to decide whether to head for home while he still could. Suddenly his decision was made for him. The reindeer went limp from fatigue and slowly spiraled down to earth, gently crash-landing in the three foot of snow.

Santa lay flat on his back in a mound of fluffy white, staring up at the stars. In all the eons the "Jolly Old Elf" had delivered gifts, he had never quit before he was finished. The prospect was depressing, but he couldn't think of anything else to do.

Hearing a groan, Santa turned his head and saw Blitzen, flat on his back with his feet sticking straight up in the air. The other reindeer were in similar positions, legs askew. Rudolph was partially buried in the snow, red nose glowing up eerily through the crystally white.

Santa sighed and closed his eyes. It was all over.

Rounding a corner on the path, Brett/Brad was the first to spot something unusual in the clearing just beyond the trees. Being the youngest and full of youthful exuberance, he ploughed through the snow towards the sleigh wreck as fast as his little legs could go.

"Hey guys, look over here," he shouted as he pushed his body through the piles of resisting powder. The rest of the foursome followed his path.

Santa heard the voices and raised his head. Maybe all wasn't lost after all. He weakly waved his hand. "Hello, hello," he called.

With Jerry and Gale being the strongest and tallest of the friends, they easily outdistanced the other two and reached Santa first. Grabbing his arms they pulled him up out of the snow and began to brush the cold flakes off his red and white suit.

After Pam and Brad/Brett arrived, everyone started helping the reindeer up and rubbing them down. Gale had some cookies in his pocket that he snitched from the party to eat later. He fished them out and started feeding cookies to the reindeer. They smacked their lips, pawed the ground, and Rudolph's nose became noticeably brighter.

After the entire group was on it's feet and feeling a little better, Santa explained his dilemma to the young people. He finished his story by asking for help. "If anyone has any ideas how I can finish my rounds before morning, please let me know."

Santa, the reindeer, and the four friends paced back and forth while they thought, creating hard, beaten down paths in the fluff. Finally, Brett/Brad shouted, "I got it!" He jumped up and down with excitement. "We can get hold of my Cub Scout pack and they can help deliver the presents."

Everyone stopped pacing and gawked at the youngest member of the bunch. "That's a great idea," Santa exclaimed.

"But how do we contact them?" Jerry whined. "We're out here in the middle of nowhere. It'll take too long."

Pam reached into her purse and pulled out a cell-phone. "Someone has to watch over you guys," she responded to their inquiring looks. "I always carry this in case we get in trouble. If Brad can remember any Cub Scout's number, we can start a "calling tree" and get everyone called in record time. While the scouts are making their way out here to get the gifts, we can pick them all up off the ground and organize them into households."

Santa smiled. This might work after all.

Brett/Brad made his phone-call and got the ball rolling. The rest of the group started gathering the presents up off the ground and out of the snowdrifts. Pam organized the effort and soon piles of brightly colored packages decorated the sparkling white field.

As each Cub Scout arrived at the clearing, they were given a group of gifts to deliver to homes in town. Finally, only a couple piles were still on the ground.

Pam frowned as she looked at the few festive bundles still scattered about. Some of the presents were missing. They must have fallen out of the sleigh as it came spiraling down, and heaven knew where they ended up. She hated for anyone to wake up on Christmas with nothing under the tree.

Sighing, Pam looked at her own Christmas present found stuck in a pine. She was sure it was the new basketball she had hoped for: beautiful, new, "state of the art", and autographed by Michael Jordan himself. She bit her lip, walked over, and placed her package in one of the incomplete piles. She hastily wrote a child's name on it, and gave the bundles to a waiting Cub Scout before she could change her mind.

One by one, Brett/Brad, Jerry, and Gale, followed Pam's example and replaced missing gifts with their own. At last they looked around and heaved a well-earned sigh of relief. They were done.

Santa, the reindeer, and the four very tired friends grabbed the harness on the sleigh and dragging it slowly behind them, walked the path into town. Daylight was faintly painting the sky with its promise as they arrived at Pam's house. Everyone went in, including the reindeer.

"You kids need to call your parents," she advised. "I had the Cub Scouts tell them what was going on so they wouldn't worry, but you should tell them we're done and you'll be right home. And Santa, you should get hold of Mrs. Claus. While you're doing that, I'll make some hot chocolate." "Maybe I can find some carrots for you guys," she addressed the deer. They snorted and clicked their hooves on the wooden floor.

Later, as the jolly band collapsed wherever they could find a perch to drink their chocolate, a warm, happy feeling welled up in every one of them. It started in their toes, and crept up their bodies until it reached the top of their heads and made their scalps tingle.

"I have never felt so content in my life," Pam commented. "I don't feel grouchy anymore."

Jerry spoke, this time without whining. "I even feel sort of jolly," he said with wonder.

Brett/Brad looked at Gale and smiled. He didn't feel bummed and tense about not finding the perfect present for his brother anymore. He would share his precious army men with him.

As Gale hauled more goodies out of his pockets and shared them with everyone, the same thought was on all their minds. Maybe the old cliche is true. Perhaps, it IS better to give than receive.