They raced out to the garage.
The sleigh shone with a light all of its own.
“Let’s sit in it,” whispered James.
“We can’t use it until Christmas,” said Sara.
“I know THAT,” replied James, “but it won’t hurt just to sit in it.”
“OK,” said Sara and they hopped up into it. They covered their legs with the blanket and buckled the seat belts. They looked small and cozy there.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if it could fly like Santa Claus does?” said James. “Then we could go straight up into the sky!” S ara commented that they didn’t have any reindeer, but in spite of herself, felt caught up in James’ fantasy.
“Let’s make a wish!” she said.
So they both said, “We wish, we wish,
“This sleigh could fly
“Right up into the nighttime sky!”
As they said this, slowly the garage door opened, the sleigh glowed and moved toward the open door, and with a great big slide on the new fallen snow it suddenly lifted in a steep ascent into the night sky.
They held on for dear life!
Sara was the first to speak. She said: “Oh, oh, my!”
James clapped his hands in glee. “We’re flying! We’re flying!” he yelled.
Sara peered down and confirmed what James had said.
It was cold and brisk. The snow had stopped but not before it had blanketed the earth with its whiteness.
“Look at all the lights on the houses!” exclaimed James.
The whole earth as far as one could see glittered — a sea of multi-colored lights twinkling against the snowy landscape.
The sky was full of stars — the North Star the brightest.
On rode the sleigh unmindful of not being propelled by anything.
Over rooftops.
Over lawns with decorated trees.
Over sparkling houses and streets.
Smooth and fast.
Sara and James became fascinated by everything they saw.
All of a sudden in the distance they saw a sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer.
“Oh, no!” exclaimed Sara. “No way! I am going slowly mad.” She shook her head but the sleigh and the eight tiny reindeer were still there.
“Santa Claus!” yelled James. “I see Santa Claus! Look, Sara!”
“I know,” said Sara, wishing that she never saw what she thought she saw.
“Look! He’s stopping on that roof and going down that chimney!”
Sara nodded.
“James,” she said, “we’d better get home. If that guy’s around, it wouldn’t be great for us if he saw us running around like this.”
James said, “How do we do that?”
Sara didn’t know. Besides, it had started to snow again, blotting out the lights below. All they could see was the snow coming down and the sleigh moving through the massive flakes.
“Whoa, sleigh!” cried James. “Stop. Take us home.” But the sleigh kept on its merry course.
All of a sudden, Sara said, “We made a wish to have it get us here. Maybe we have to make a wish to have it take us home.”
“Yeah! I bet that’s it!” cried James.
So they both said in unison: “We wish, we wish this sleigh could fly US HOME!”
Nothing happened. Sara was worried. It was getting colder and nothing could be seen but the flakes of snow falling in increasing amounts.
“Maybe, it wants a rhyme,” she muttered. So they said,
“We ask you, sleigh, don’t let us roam, but take us to our cozy HOME!’
With this, the sleigh turned around and headed home.
Dad went into the garage to get the kids as it was getting late.
He let out a great big yelp!
Mom came running.
Both looked at the glowing space where the sleigh had been.
Mom put her hand over her mouth and her eyes got big.
“Are you not seeing what I’m not seeing?” whispered Mom, hoping that by her whispering the empty space wouldn’t be there.
“Let’s open the garage door and look around,” said Dad, not knowing what else to do. They did. Mom went around one side of the house, and Dad went around the other.
As they did, the sleigh flew into the garage and stopped in the same spot it was in before. Sara and James were just unbuckling themselves when their parents rushed into the garage and stared at them.
Four pairs of eyes met four pairs of eyes.
“Explain,” said Dad.
So they did, tumbling over their words as they went, to their unbelieving parents. But the sleigh was cold and wet, and so were they.
James went to bed as fast as he could get there — his Barney nightshirt on backwards.
“Santa Claus — I’ve got to get to bed before he sees me,” he kept mumbling to himself.
Sara sat on the sofa between her parents. Now that she was warm and cozy she felt better. Except for that nagging Santa Claus bit. Was he or wasn’t he real? She didn’t want to push the question too far. She sipped her hot chocolate as the TV played Christmas music and flashed pretty winter scenes.
Finally, she said to her parents, “I think I’ll go to bed.”
They hugged and kissed her as the TV played “Santa Claus is coming to town.”
Christmas Day dawned and there was a light snow in the morning. In the afternoon it cleared and they all went for a ride in the sleigh. They had a great time!
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