Today is Christmas. I hope everyone is safe and celebrating with their loved ones in whatever way fits your situation.
Last night Drew and I pulled the classic parent’s Christmas Eve. Of course both kids didn’t go down when we wanted them to. That meant that we started our Christmas magic work well after eleven.
We put together a mini-slide, and a baby jumper. We put all the presents under the tree (because you don’t leave presents out when a two-year-old is hanging around!) and we stuffed the stockings. We took big bites out of over-sprinkled sugar cookies and left out some partially drank milk.
We went to bed tired, but satisfied, ready for the magic that we created.
The whole thing mixed with an idea I’d been toying with. Instead of skipping this Friday I decided to put out this piece to honor all the moms (and dads) that stay up late to make Christmas magic.
Enjoy!
The Sleigh Crash of 2020
Jill N Davies
“This is Santa to North Pole. Santa to North Pole. We’ve got a Jingle Mayday situation. I repeat, a Jingle Mayday Situation.”
The sleigh’s intercom crackled, barely audible above the howling wind as they plummeted. The team had been flying at about 38,000 feet when the anomaly hit, but the mountaintops were visible between the clouds now.
Santa gripped the reigns and called out, “Whoa there, whoa. Easy Blitzen. Calm Donner, calm! Steady.”
It wouldn’t do much, but if Santa could keep the reindeer calm, the crash wouldn’t be so bad.
“Santa? Is that you?”
There was so much static that the voice was hard to make out.
“This is Santa alright. We’ve got a Jingle Mayday. I need a reading on the anomaly over Wyoming,” Santa said.
Static. Icy wind scraped past the sleigh and reindeer, nearly ripping Santa’s cap off.
“Anomaly confirmed. A magnitude 8.0 flare from the North Pole that’s shorted our systems. We’re going to need to do a full magic reboot,” the call elf confirmed.
There was no time for a full magic reboot. The sleigh was going down.
“Carry on with the reboot and send a sky signal when it goes through, I’m going to have to bring ‘er down below the Tetons,” Santa said.
“Roger. Over and out,” the elf confirmed, then added, “And Santa?”
“Still here,” Santa replied, banking left and urging the reindeer into an updraft to catch some lift and slow their descent.
“Gluckliche reise.”
The comm went dead, signifying the beginning of the reboot. They were on their own now.
“Alright my precious dears, this is what separates the ladies from the boys!” Santa shouted over the wind.
The reindeer set into a gallop as the sleigh zoomed precariously close to the ground. There was about 18 inches of fresh snow cover. That would help.
The sleigh’s runners hit the ground before the deer. Cupid bellowed in protest as his hooves came earthside. As the rest of the reindeer hit the ground running the sleigh skidded precariously, tilting on the left runner.
“Gee, easy!” Santa shouted, shifting right.
The reindeer shifted course, pulling with steady force.
It should have been enough, but at the last second the sack toppled. The entirety of its contents spilling down the hillside and with it came the sleigh. Presents meant for the children of the western united states littered the hillside as Santa fought to steer the upturned sleigh out of harm’s way.
“Dasher, Haw!” Santa screamed, before releasing the team.
The sleigh narrowly missed the galloping deer before they turned left and ran into a heard of Buffalo. Santa would have to round them up later, but that was an easy task compared to retrieving the gifts…
The sleigh came to a stop about 100 meters out from the hill, in a snowy field. Brushing the snow from the fur-lined velvet, Santa stood and looked around. There was a ranch house in the distance, marked by the yellow glow of a light in the back room. If there was any hope of getting the gifts collected and the reindeer rounded up, it lay with whoever was working under that light.
Santa reached deep into the sack, feeling around for what remained before pulling out a teardrop-shaped gift, wrapped in a golden bow.
“Sorry, Danny boy, but I’m going to need these,” Santa said, ripping the paper off a pair of slick new snowshoes.
“By the time you get them, I’ll make sure they’re good as new.”
With the snowshoes, the trip to the back door was a bit faster, but the Christmas clock was ticking and there’d yet to be a sign of a successful magic reboot. No time to waste, Santa gave a quiet but firm knock on the door. There was a long pause. Santa could imagine the person inside, pausing to listen and considering the merits of answering. Santa knocked again.
The door opened, allowing a slice of light to escape into the night.
“Hi Judy, I’m sorry to bother you but we’ve got a sort of emergency out here,” Santa said to the tired, blinking woman. Behind her, an assortment of gifts lay in varying states of wrapping.
Judy opened her mouth as if to say something, then hesitated.
“The sleigh went down and I’ve lost the better part of the West Coast’s gift on the mountainside,” Santa explained.
“Are you… Santa?” Judy asked.
“That’s right,” Santa confirmed.
“Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just—you’re not what—I mean, no beard!” Judy faltered, bringing her hand up into a beard gesture.
Santa laughed. “You mean you didn’t know Santa was a woman?”
Judy nodded, blushing.
“It’s a common misconception, but yes, Santa is a woman—most of the time, anyway,” Santa confirmed.
Being a mom, and no stranger to the unexpected, Judy processed the surprise and abandoned her holiday efforts.
“Alright then. You said your sleigh crashed? What do you need?”
“The North Pole magic is down for the time being, so we’ve got to collect the gifts by hand. Oh, and the reindeer ran off into the Buffalo,” Santa explained.
“I’ll notify the moms. I don’t know how many will respond, considering how late it is, but if they’re up, they’ll come,” Judy said, pulling her phone from her robe pocket.
Hannah was up. Antonia and Cathy were too. Patsy was sleeping, but she kept her phone by the bedside. The notification would wake her up and she’d be along presently.
Judy pulled her heavy parka over her robe and slipped into her boots. Her phone chimed. She looked down at it and said, “May’s going to ride out with the dogs to round up the reindeer. Isabella’s on her way up the hill.”
Together they made their way back toward the sleigh. A bright flash of light crossed overhead, spreading a magical green that danced in the starlight. The magic was back. Between that and the moms Christmas would surely be saved.
The End
Want me to read it to you? Check out my IGTV Video
Want something with a bit more meat on the bones? I write short stories for reedsy. You can check out my entries:
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I’ve been published in a winter anthology. Check out my short story Shipwrecked Santa in Angry Eagle’s winter anthology, Apocalyptic Winter- Book 2. You can get your copy on Amazon today
If you’ve got an idea for a flash fiction story send it to me at author@jillndavies.com
Tune in next week for more Flash Fiction.
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