Santa Claus hung in suspended animation.
Light as bright as a thousand suns surrounded him.
A noise that sounded like massive tidal waves crashing against stone walls pounded his ears.
Gale force winds began to blow. Santa’s red felt hat almost flew off and his long snow white beard swirled about. The wind blew so hard that Santa’s face formed a grimace as his skin was pulled back.
Santa flailed his arms as he tried to grab something, anything to hold on to. But there was nothing.
Then he began to fall.
Down and down and down he went. Arms and legs stretched out, Santa formed a plump, red X as he plummeted through the formless light.
The wind screeched as it rushed past Santa’s ears. Somewhere in the distance, muddled by the roar, he thought he heard voices.
As he descended, Santa Claus began to spin in circles. He spiraled faster and faster, completely out of control. Then he became dizzy and his mind began to spiral as well.
“This is kinda like skydiving,” Santa thought. “Except I don’t have a parachute and I don’t see any ground to land on.” Santa thought back to when Blitzen had talked him into skydiving. When the time came Santa was petrified and Blitzen had to shove the big guy out of the sleigh. At first Santa was angry. Very angry. Livid with rage, you might say. But when Santa noticed the beauty of the land below him, he calmed down. The evergreen trees had a light dusting of snow on them; the mountains stood majestic in the distance; the clearing where he was to land still had green grass. Santa smiled at the sight of it all in his mind.
The voices Santa thought he heard before became clearer. He could tell now it was the reindeer, talking and laughing. He could picture them standing around holding cups of eggnog while enjoying one of the parties they had at the North Pole after all the toys were delivered on Christmas Eve. They began to sing Christmas carols. Mrs. Claus and some of the elves joined in. Santa didn’t like to sing so he just watched and listened. He enjoyed that.
Santa always enjoyed the parties. It was good to relax after a hard year’s work of making toys, and then a very long night of delivering them to boys and girls all over the world.
The downward spiral of Santa Claus continued, but he wasn’t paying attention to his descent. No worries. He gave it no thought at all. He was busy looking at the pictures in his mind.
All those Christmas Eves with the reindeer. Gosh, they worked hard, pulling that sleigh with me in it. I could probably stand to lose a few pounds. Might make their job easier. They had to be so strong, especially flying into the face of hurricane winds or during blizzards. The blizzards were tough on them. The blinding snow. Didn’t matter. We could still land. Good radar. The crawl down the chimneys. The little ones fast asleep by the trees decorated for the holidays. Plates of cookies and glasses of milk. Up the chimney again. Another roof. Another chimney. Ornaments on the trees sparkling in the light from the twinkle in Santa’s eyes. Up the chimneys. Down the chimneys. Rooftops. Snow. Sleet. Rain. Wind. Toys. Cookies. Milk.
Snowsleetrainwindicehailcoldsnowsleetrainwindicehailcoldornamentstoysboysgirls.
Santa smiled at the remembrance of it all. Every last moment of it. Every last moment.
As he fell Santa began to spin so quickly he became a blur.
His mind went blank.
The light was gone.
The noise was gone.
There was now only darkness, a silent darkness.
To be continued...
Light as bright as a thousand suns surrounded him.
A noise that sounded like massive tidal waves crashing against stone walls pounded his ears.
Gale force winds began to blow. Santa’s red felt hat almost flew off and his long snow white beard swirled about. The wind blew so hard that Santa’s face formed a grimace as his skin was pulled back.
Santa flailed his arms as he tried to grab something, anything to hold on to. But there was nothing.
Then he began to fall.
Down and down and down he went. Arms and legs stretched out, Santa formed a plump, red X as he plummeted through the formless light.
The wind screeched as it rushed past Santa’s ears. Somewhere in the distance, muddled by the roar, he thought he heard voices.
As he descended, Santa Claus began to spin in circles. He spiraled faster and faster, completely out of control. Then he became dizzy and his mind began to spiral as well.
“This is kinda like skydiving,” Santa thought. “Except I don’t have a parachute and I don’t see any ground to land on.” Santa thought back to when Blitzen had talked him into skydiving. When the time came Santa was petrified and Blitzen had to shove the big guy out of the sleigh. At first Santa was angry. Very angry. Livid with rage, you might say. But when Santa noticed the beauty of the land below him, he calmed down. The evergreen trees had a light dusting of snow on them; the mountains stood majestic in the distance; the clearing where he was to land still had green grass. Santa smiled at the sight of it all in his mind.
The voices Santa thought he heard before became clearer. He could tell now it was the reindeer, talking and laughing. He could picture them standing around holding cups of eggnog while enjoying one of the parties they had at the North Pole after all the toys were delivered on Christmas Eve. They began to sing Christmas carols. Mrs. Claus and some of the elves joined in. Santa didn’t like to sing so he just watched and listened. He enjoyed that.
Santa always enjoyed the parties. It was good to relax after a hard year’s work of making toys, and then a very long night of delivering them to boys and girls all over the world.
The downward spiral of Santa Claus continued, but he wasn’t paying attention to his descent. No worries. He gave it no thought at all. He was busy looking at the pictures in his mind.
All those Christmas Eves with the reindeer. Gosh, they worked hard, pulling that sleigh with me in it. I could probably stand to lose a few pounds. Might make their job easier. They had to be so strong, especially flying into the face of hurricane winds or during blizzards. The blizzards were tough on them. The blinding snow. Didn’t matter. We could still land. Good radar. The crawl down the chimneys. The little ones fast asleep by the trees decorated for the holidays. Plates of cookies and glasses of milk. Up the chimney again. Another roof. Another chimney. Ornaments on the trees sparkling in the light from the twinkle in Santa’s eyes. Up the chimneys. Down the chimneys. Rooftops. Snow. Sleet. Rain. Wind. Toys. Cookies. Milk.
Snowsleetrainwindicehailcoldsnowsleetrainwindicehailcoldornamentstoysboysgirls.
Santa smiled at the remembrance of it all. Every last moment of it. Every last moment.
As he fell Santa began to spin so quickly he became a blur.
His mind went blank.
The light was gone.
The noise was gone.
There was now only darkness, a silent darkness.
To be continued...
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