A children's book about choosing a new Santa. |
Santa Jr. One year on his birthday when Santa was very old he was very depressed. (Santa was born on December 25 for those of you who don’t know.) Santa and his wife had never had children, and they were now way to old to ever have one. What started Santa thinking about it was his valet Pringle. A valet (pronounced val-LAY) is a personal helper. Pringle had just got news that his wife had just had their third son. Seeing how sad Santa was, Pringle asked him what was wrong. Santa admitted that he was sad because he and his wife had never had any children. That gave Pringle an idea. He asked Santa if he could be excused for the rest of the afternoon. Santa gave him a sad smile and told him that he should be with his wife at a time like this. Santa told Pringle that since it was Thursday, he could have the rest of the weekend off. Pringle thanked Santa and went to talk to his wife about his idea. Bright and early Monday morning Pringle went to talk to Santa. Pringle told Santa that they had decided to name their new baby Chris Kringle Pringle. Now Santa was known to many different people by many different names, but the elves had always called him Chris Kringle. A tear was in Santa’s eye when he thanked Pringle for naming his new son after him, and told him it made him almost as happy as having a son himself would have. Santa and Mrs. Santa loved Chris and he spent a lot of time with them. To be honest he spent a lot more time with them than he did with his own family. So much so that when he did go home his brothers and sisters would tease him and call him Santa Junior. Thanks to his brothers and sisters, even at school everyone called him Santa Jr. (Jr. is a short way to spell Junior.) He didn’t really mind being called Santa Jr., oh he loved his family, but at home he was only one of a large number of brothers and sisters. Seldom had he ever gotten much individual attention from his parents. He saw his dad a lot when his dad was working helping Santa, but that wasn’t the same. And his mother was always busy, especially having to care for so many children. As time went on he spent more and more time with the Kringles and less and less time with the Pringles. Santa Jr. grew into a fine young elf, but as he got older and bigger and stronger, Santa and Mrs. Santa grew increasingly weaker and more fragile. Last year Mrs. Santa fell on the ice and broke her hip. Santa Jr. took good care of her till she could get up and about again. But her hip pained her and she had to walk with a walker. And Santa, once vigorous and robust, was now suffering from arthritis. He couldn’t even help out in the toy workshop anymore his hands hurt so badly. Santa Jr. was very concerned for Santa. Christmas was coming up in a little while and he was afraid Santa would have trouble. How could he ever lift that heavy bag full of toys, or guide the reindeer with his sore hands? Santa Jr. was trying to figure out how to talk to Santa on the subject with out embarrassing him or hurting his feelings. While he was trying to decide how to approach Santa on the subject, Santa came up, put a gnarled old hand on his shoulder, and asked to talk to him. Santa told him that whenever a Santa got to old to continue to make and deliver toys, it was time to pass the job to someone younger. Santa went on to say that the job was usually passed from father to son, but that since he had no son, he had to find someone else to entrust the job to. Santa sat down in his big old oak rocking chair in the corner by the fireplace, bringing himself eye to eye with the young elf standing in front of him. Then Santa told him the last thing he expected to hear. Santa said that he hadn’t been able to find a single person that had all of the qualities that a good Santa needed. When Santa Jr. asked what qualities he was looking for Santa smiled. He said that the first thing a Santa needed was a jolly disposition, he said that a grumpy or sad Santa just wouldn’t do. Second a Santa needed to be generous and understanding. It wouldn’t do to give a child coal just for blowing his nose on his sleeve or other such small misbehaviors. Obviously he had to love children and get along well with elves and reindeer. And it simply had to be someone that had no problem with pets or heights or tight chimneys. A good sense of direction and a good memory were a definite plus; as was a good tolerance of cold weather and the ability to handle a sleigh well, even in a blizzard. Santa asked him if he would help him this Christmas, to both prepare the gifts and to find a qualified replacement Santa. Santa Jr. felt humbled and honored that Santa would trust him with something as important as helping choose the next Santa. Of course he would help Santa; in fact he was relieved Santa recognized that he was no longer able to handle the whole workload alone. Santa Jr. had been concerned about Santa’s worsening condition for a long time, so Santa Jr. happily agreed to help Santa in any way he could. Christmas Eve dawned cold and overcast. Santa Jr. spent the whole day helping Santa prepare. He loaded the toys, fed and watered the reindeer, and even checked out the sleigh to be sure it was in perfect shape for the big night. Santa Jr. was in the middle of double checking Santa’s list for him, (everyone knows it has to be checked twice,) when Santa called him into his office. Imagine Santa Jr.’s surprise when Santa asked him to actually go along with him to help deliver the children’s presents. Santa Jr. had just finished harnessing the reindeer to the sleigh and was starting to double check the route they would be taking when Mrs. Santa sent for him. When he went to ask her if she needed help, she said that she had called him to give him his Christmas present. Mrs. Santa handed him a large box wrapped in rich green foil with a big golden ribbon and bow. Santa Jr. couldn’t help crying when he opened it and found an exact replica of Santa’s beautiful red suit that was exactly his size. When he started to protest she told him that the children were expecting Santa and that it wouldn’t do to disappoint them. A few minutes later he met Santa at the sleigh. As he helped the old gentleman up, one of the elves holding the reindeer steady commented that now he even LOOKED like Santa Jr. That comment caused him to blush, and he really hoped Santa hadn’t heard it. When Santa handed him the reins he frowned, thinking that the poor fellow’s hands must really be hurting after the long day of preparation. When they arrived at the first house, Santa asked Santa Jr. to take the gifts down the chimney for him. He quickly agreed fearing that Santa had tired himself out with all of the Christmas preparations. Throughout that whole long night Santa Jr. continued helping Santa; in fact the later it got the more of Santa’s chores he took on. By the end of the night he was doing almost everything for him. When they arrived back at the north-pole Santa Jr. noticed that Santa had a satisfied smile on his face. He knew how much pleasure the Christmas Eve gift deliveries gave Santa, but he couldn’t help but think that the old gentleman was also glad that the long hard job was finely done. With the help of her walker, Mrs. Santa came up to greet them and ask how everything had gone. The sweet old lady smiled and nodded when Santa declared the evening a great success. The next morning Santa Jr. slept a bit later than usual. It had been a long night, and he had taken on most of the work himself. But he would have done anything in his power to lighten the load on the elderly man he cared so much about. A few minutes later an elf arrived with a message it was from Santa asking him to meet him in his office. When he arrived he was surprised to find several people besides Santa there also, his parents, Mrs. Santa, and the head elves from all of the different areas that elves help Santa with. There was Shingle from building maintenance, Dingle who was in charge of the Reindeer, Jingle the head toymaker, even Mingle who was the head of Elven Resources. As well as the heads of all of the rest of the groups of elves that help Santa do such a big job. Santa called the meeting to order, explaining that he had called them all together to discuss who should be the next Santa. He said that last night had proven to him that he was no longer able to handle all of the duties of being Santa by himself. He also took this chance to thank Santa Jr. for assisting him, saying he couldn’t have done it without his help. And that he only wished that he could find a human being to be the next Santa that was as qualified for the job as he was. Santa Jr. was humbled and bit proud at the lavish praise of the kind old gentleman. Santa asked Ingle, the elf who had been studying the human prospects for a new Santa if he had found anyone promising. Ingle told him that he had examined several possible candidates. However all of them had been rejected for one reason or another. Some were too old, some were too young, and some had bad health, while still others had obligations that they just couldn’t leave behind. After an exhaustive search, no one suitable had been found. He went on to say that there was one person that had all of the qualifications that they were looking for. However that person had not been considered for the job. When Santa asked in frustration why such a good candidate had been ignored, he was told that it was because he was an elf. Before anyone could argue, Ingle listed all of the attributes that a Santa needed, and asked if anyone could think of someone who exactly fit the needs. Slowly, one by one, everyone turned and looked at Santa Jr. Santa Jr. strongly protested that he couldn’t do Santa’s job. Santas had always been humans. How could a small elf possibly do the work of a human? Santa put his knurled old hand on Santa Jr.’s shoulder, and told him that he would have plenty of help. Santa also gently reminded him that he was too old to continue to do the job, and that Santa Jr. was his only hope of retiring any time soon. Put that way Santa Jr. had no choice but to agree. After all, expecting the tired, worn out old man to continue to doing such a hard job was unthinkable. He had to do it, For Santa’s sake. Santa Jr. went on to become one of the best and most famous Santas that ever was. In fact he was the Santa that Clement Moore immortalized in his classic poem “The night before Christmas”. He was the reason Moore described Santa as “a jolly old elf”. |