Despite the pandemic and the new Omicron blizzard that’s predicted, we got our family together for Christmas. I never imagined this holiday season year to be so fraught with uncertainty after two doses of vaccine and the boosters. We communicated often with our kids and relatives and vowed to all be as safe as possible in the run-up to the holiday. Everyone got a Covid test before coming to our house on Caton Road. We just couldn’t bear the thought of Christmas apart. On Christmas Eve I was in the shack waiting for my kids to arrive, including June, my granddaughter who is having her first Christmas. She’s ten months old.
I was about to go into the house when I heard something
outside. I had Jeff Beck’s 1971 album “Rough
and Ready” on the turntable. Christmas
music for old rockers. I hit mute and
listened closely.
The sound I heard was like shuffling and stamping and maybe
muted bells of some kind. At first, I thought it was my wind chimes, but it had
a different tone. I stepped out onto the shack porch and turned on the outside light. Just past our pin oak, on my neighbor’s lawn,
there was a contraption with animals near it.
I walked over to take a closer look.
Damned if it wasn’t a sleigh with nine reindeer in
harness. The nose of the lead reindeer glowed
a soft red. Their heads were down, nibbling
Tammy’s brown lawn. As they grazed the
bells on their leather belly bands jingled softly.
“Hey fellas, where’s the driver of this outfit?”
One of the reindeer hitched nearest the sleigh lifted his
head and looked at me with big eyes. Reindeer aren’t as big as you imagine when you
stand next to them. For all their magical
powers, flying around the globe in a single night, they seemed like small ordinary creatures.
I wondered if the reindeer that looked at me was
Blitzen. Rudolph gets all the fame you
know, because of the song, the marketing, and all the books. Prancer was once featured in a movie. But of the nine, I always liked Blitzen. Not that there is anything
wrong with Dasher, Dancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, or Donner, but Blitzen was mentioned
last in Clement Moore’s famous poem about Santa, The Night Before
Christmas. Rooting for the underdog, I
think.
As I was scratching the potential Blitzen’s head between his
antlers, which he enjoyed immensely, I heard a commotion on Tammy’s roof. With a streetlight behind him, I saw what had to be Santa’s silhouette come out of her chimney, straddle the ridge, walk to the gable end of the roof, throw a bag to the ground,
and shimmy down an old TV aerial tower onto the ground. Pretty spry for an old guy. He strode across the lawn towards me.
“HO, H0, H0. Merry
Christmas McClure.”
“HO, HO, HO yourself Santa.
I gotta say, even though I run into you every year, I never expected to
see you while you were working.”
“Yeah, well it’s a tad unorthodox but I’m ahead of schedule
and I’ve been wanting to see this shack you keep writing about and putting on
FaceBook.”
“Don’t tell me you’re on FaceBook Santa. Jesus, how many friends must you have
anyway?”
“No, I’m not on social media at all. Neither is Jesus by the way. But occasionally the elves share what they’re
looking at. They showed me that shack
lit up under a big moon. Couldn’t help
but admire this building when I saw it. But
you know, it’s smaller than it looks in the pictures.”
“I thought the same thing about the reindeer. Say, is this Blitzen here?”
“Yeah, it is. How’d
you know?”
“Well, he’s right up by the sleigh. I was thinking maybe Moore the poet put them
in order as they were hitched, front to back.
He never mentioned Rudolph by the way.”
Santa got close and talked in a low voice.
“Rudolph wasn’t part of the original team, and to tell the
truth, we don’t exactly need him. That “Rudolf
with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight” line was
completely made up in the song made famous by Gene Autry. I don’t need some reindeer to chart my
course. We did without Rudolf for 1700
years or so, then SURPRISE, so many people heard that song and believed in him
he shows up at the stable.”
“Sounds like Q.”
“You mean the supposed Q Anon guy? No, that myth is destructive. Rudolf here is harmless. He’s no better or worse than the rest of the
reindeer, but that shiny red nose is completely over-rated.”
As if Rudolf recognized his name, he raised his head and
blinked his nose at us. Donner was
getting jealous of all the attention Blitzen was getting and started rubbing
his antler against my leg. I stepped
away from the reindeer and turned my attention to the guy in red.
“You been doing OK McClure?”
“As well as can be expected, I guess. The Covid thing has me down, although my
family has not been badly affected.”
“How about the writing?
Did you get your book done?”
“It’s drafted, edited, and ready to go but for some reason, I’m
stalled out. Mostly just doing the occasional
blog post. I’m not sure what I’m
doing. Can’t pull the trigger and get it
published.”
“Maybe you don’t want the attention. Going public always invites criticism. You’d think nobody would be critical of Santa,
but I have my detractors you know. You
can’t let it bother you. You ought to
work through that McClure. You are
mortal you know. Life doesn’t go on
forever for you.”
“Will it go on forever for you?”
“As long as people believe in me and what I stand for. I suppose it could die out, but I have a pretty
good lock on the kids. Frankly, I’m more
worried about the health of the human beings on the planet than my own
existence.”
“You and me both Santa.
It’s the climate change I fear most. Do you know what’s weird about being old and mortal? When I think badly about the future, I’m not
always in it. You’d think that might be
a comfort, but I’m somehow more invested in what happens next than I used to be.”
“That shouldn’t be a surprise. I know why you feel that way, McClure. You’ve gone from thinking mainly about your
own life to imagining the future of others who will live beyond your time. In fact, that’s one of the reasons I stopped
here. A person very important in your
life is going to be on your driveway in about five minutes.”
“Who’s that?”
“Oh, come on McClure.
You’re not getting senile on me, are you? What’s been the biggest event in your family since last Christmas? Who’s new
among the circle of people you and your wife value most in life?”
“Oh. You mean June.”
“Duh.”
“And she’s about to be on my driveway? How do you know?”
“I swear McClure.
Have you been drinking? Santa knows
these things, and you know I know. I
thought perhaps you would introduce me to your granddaughter. Maybe get a picture? It’s her first Christmas after all.”
“Oh Santa, thank you.
That would be the best present in years.”
“June is your best present in years, McClure. I’ve been monitoring her behavior, and she’s been very good. And cute as a bug to boot. You’re a lucky Papa. I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks again Santa.”
“You’re welcome. Now
get her out here. I got places to go and
things to do. June’s Mom is unbuckling her
from her car seat right now.”
“I’ll text her.”
“The reindeer and all the trappings might scare her and confuse her Mom. You get June and I’ll get into this
shack of yours. Let’s do this.”
I met Moe by the garage and persuaded her to let me have June
for just a minute. Told her I had
something to show her in the shack. Would
only be a minute. She seemed puzzled but
handed her over. June had a big grin for
her Papa like she always does.
When I stepped into the shack Santa was sitting on the futon
looking splendid in his red velvet and white fur.
“Let’s see if this baby girl is going to let Santa hold her,”
Santa said.
I put June in his arms, she looked into his eyes, and a moment
was born. Old guys like me are known to
cry more easily than when they were young.
I was a little teary-eyed taking
the picture but got it done. Let this serve
as the McClure family’s Christmas card to you.
Merry Christmas
from the Shack.
2021
