Joan sat up in the back of the car. She had been sleeping. How long had it been? It had been two hours, according to the clock, but she found that hard to believe. “Where are we?” she asked.
“We’re about three light years from the planet Arctica,” Santa Jim replied.
Jim insisted on wearing his Santa suit the whole way. Joan had repeatedly warned him about being uncomfortable, but he didn’t seem to mind.
They were going to the place known as North Pole, on the planet Arctica, to meet the “real” Santa! This is how they worded it when they told the kids so they could be managed through the entire trip, but Joan just wanted the trip to be over.
Joan was worried about the children. They were getting older, and more skeptical now. She hoped they would stay in a clean galaxy, such as their own Holiday Galaxy, rather than moving somewhere such as Vegas Galaxy. The people there were scary, with names like “Crazy Al” and “Xena.”
She merely wanted her babies to be good, respectable people. Lucy was 15, and Joshua was 13. They were beginning to ask why Santa looked like different people, and why the person known as Easter Bunny trips and sometimes falls. Joan was devastated when she found out the truth at the age of 23. She couldn’t wait that long to tell her own children. They would hate her the way she had hated her own mother. That hatred didn’t leave her until she was 40.
Jim had it easy. He found out the truth before his parents had a chance to tell him about Santa and North Pole. He had barely reached the age at which he could understand such things. He was on the Turkey Train, going to Grandma’s for Thanksgiving, when he heard someone talking about dressing up for his yearly duty in North Pole. He just happened to be sitting behind Santa himself, dressed as a regular guy. Little Jimmy’s parents were furious with Santa for ruining the surprise for their poor son. It would have been the first year his parents would tell him about Santa, and take him to North Pole.
Santa was fired, and required to change his name back to Joe. Jimmy’s father, Paul, was then given the new title of Santa of Holiday Galaxy. It had been a huge scandal among all the adults, and everyone felt sorry for poor little Jimmy. They all felt that giving Jimmy’s father the new title was a fitting solution. Normally, becoming Santa is a cutthroat, secret competition.
Nobody realized at the time, just how lucky little Jimmy really was. He never had to go through the greatest agony that all Holiday Galaxy residents must go through. He only had to go through a small amount of pain, learning the truth about Easter Bunny.
The kids, of course, had no idea that they were related to Santa. This was a very important rule in Holiday Galaxy. Children related to Santa must never learn the truth, until Santa retires, even if he doesn’t retire until the children are in their 80’s. The devastation could cause them to announce the news to other children. All the other people in the Santa family’s lives who are “in the know” will go to great lengths to keep it a secret from those who do not know.
Some people initially thought that Jim was taking a risk dressing up as Santa each year, perhaps giving the children the impression that maybe Santa himself could be just a regular guy dressing as Santa. The problem was that the children would be even more suspicious if he didn’t do it, as he’d been doing it ever since he first learned about Santa.
There had been discussions for years about outlawing the dressing up as Santa or Easter Bunny, but it never happened. Too many people complained that if dressing up as Holiday characters was completely illegal, then kids could become even more suspicious on Halloween, when they are able to dress as other characters or people they admire. They could also be suspicious if it was illegal on days outside of Halloween, because why would it be allowed on Halloween, but not on Christmas?
They landed in North Pole a few hours later, in the spot marked on their Galaxy GPS. There were what looked like millions of other cars, neatly lined up, with housing stations every couple of miles apart. Housing complexes and communities in North Pole were a magical sight to behold. The parking structures were spread out over many miles on the surface, and entire neighborhoods and shopping complexes, as large as 100 square miles, floated as if they were part of a gigantic layer cake. Luckily, there were flight tunnels directing them to empty spaces, so there was no danger of running into the multitude of sky elevators and sky subways.
They had reserved a spot early, so the flying tunnel sensors took their car number and sent it to the computer to find their information and direct them to the correct parking space. Their space was on the bottom level, giving them direct access to Santa’s Village.
Jim unlocked the door to their room with his fingerprint, and opened the door. It was Santa! The children screamed and ran inside, nearly tackling Santa to the ground with their hugs.
“What the…” Jim said.
“You’re daddy is the biggest Santa fan, and dresses like me every year. He’s always been the nicest, since he was a child, ho ho ho!!!” Santa cried.
The children looked at their father and screamed with joy, “YAY!!”
Lucy ran up and hugged Jim. “You’re the best daddy in the world! Santa loves you!”
Jim looked confused. “I don’t understand. What are you doing here?”
“Santa needs to talk to your daddy in private for a minute, OK?” Santa said to the teenage children.
Jim walked over, and Santa pulled him into one of the bedrooms and closed the door. “Jim, I can’t do this anymore. After this year I’m retiring. You’ve always loved Santa, and I set it up so you can become Santa with no competition,” Santa said.
“No competition? That doesn’t seem fair, dad. Nobody else gets a chance then. This isn’t some kind of royal family,” Jim replied.
“Well, you can have your competition, but it’s going to be a waste of time. You’re the kid all the adults talk about. The one who never got to believe in Santa, but remained loyal for all these years. It doesn’t matter what happens in the competition, you’re the one everyone has already decided to vote for. A competition won’t change anything.”
“Really?” Jim seemed surprised. “I didn’t know people talked about me, or already had me in mind. Hell, I didn’t even know you were retiring!”
“Whoa, I taught you better than that. You do remember what the Christ in Christmas means, right? You shouldn’t say the ‘H’ word on Christmas. You do know that everyone in Holiday Galaxy gets to go to Heaven, right? The ‘H’ place is for Vegas Galaxy and the last Santa.”
“It’s just a figure of speech, Jes…. uh… sheesh!” Jim caught himself before committing blasphemy.
Most citizens of Holiday Galaxy no longer believed in religion. Jim’s father, on the other hand, was one of the few hold-outs for Christianity. Holidays themselves had become the religion. Jim’s father believed it didn’t really matter, since they were all good people, and that was good enough to get them into Heaven.
“Well, it’s yours if you want it. This is my last year, and I’ve already made the arrangements, if you want to take it on without having to fight for it,” Santa said.
Jim thought for awhile, and realized this may be a great opportunity to tell his children the truth. As soon as Christmas was over, and Santa had retired and become Paul again, Jim would no longer be required to keep the secret. If he were to be the next Santa, maybe it would lessen the blow. If he was to be Santa, it was the only option anyway, as he couldn’t bear pretending to have to work on Christmas, and to have to wear lenses and another mask under his costume so his children would not catch on.
Jim stood up straight. “OK, I’ll do it then. I just want a few months after your retirement to tell my kids and let them get over it before I take the position.”
“I already made those arrangements. See how well I know you? I knew exactly how you would react,” Santa said, smiling.
Jim slowly cracked a smile, then started laughing. They walked back into the living room, knowingly smiling.
“OK, kids, I’ve got to go get the presents ready. Are you ready for some gifts?” Santa asked.
“I asked for a new TV/Picture Wall for my bedroom!” Lucy exclaimed, jumping up.
“I wanted a new air cycle!” exclaimed Joshua.
“Santa already knows what you want. It’s going to be an extra-special Christmas this year,” Santa said, winking.
Santa slapped Jim’s back, and walked out of the room, yelling “Ho ho ho!” as he walked down the halls, drawing children and unknowing adults out of their rooms after him.