Santa on the Moon

Dear Virginia,

Yes, there is a Santa Claus

And he’s living on the moon

You see…

I had just dropped off the last present of the year

And I was heading back to the North Pole, but…

Then I thought…

What’s the rush?

So I flew my sleigh right up to the moon

I cut loose the reindeer

And they each floated to their own planet

And carved out a life for themselves there

Comet wound up on Mars

Dasher on Jupiter

Vixen on Venus

I took my first step on the moon

And I felt light

Lighter than I’ve ever felt

I watched the world go around and around

Days went by, weeks, years

And I wondered if anybody missed me

If Santa had become a thing of the past

A relic, a memory

Fog on a window

Wiped away by time

I built myself a little house

And little elves made out of moondust

I thought about Mrs. Claus often

But I knew she was strong

And that eventually she’d continue on without me

Maybe even delivering presents herself

Who knows?

I practiced hanging tinsel from the stars

Making it snow all throughout the Milky Way

Filling up Black Holes with candy canes and sugar plums

It seemed that even though I had left Christmas

Christmas couldn’t leave me

I would look down at Earth

And miss everyone

The children who now had children

And grandchildren

And great-grandchildren of their own

The chimneys

The snowmen

The nice, and even, the naughty

I missed everything and everyone

But I was certain that after so many years

I—and maybe even Christmas—was gone forever

Then, one night, while nestled in my bed

I heard a bump on the roof

And then another

And then another

I ran outside

And to what did my bleary, old eyes did appear

But presents

Hundreds and hundreds of presents

Floating in the sky above me

One by one they’d drop down

Onto my roof

Subverting gravity somehow

How is this possible, I thought

Then I picked up a present

That had fallen to the ground

And the tag read ‘To Santa’

I tore off the wrapping

And the opened the box

To find a beautiful red hat

And a pair of black gloves

Just like the ones I used to wear

I began opening other presents

Each one addressed ‘To Santa’
And on some—‘To Santa, With Love’

Each present was more thoughtful

And wonderful than the last

It took me days and days

But finally, I had opened each and every present

The surface of the moon was covered of opened boxes

And wrapping paper

The last present said—

‘To Santa, Wherever You Are, We Miss You’

And it was signed—

‘Virginia’

So Virgina

I’m writing you this letter

To tell you

I’m coming home

I whistled for the reindeer

And I expect they’ll be arriving

Sometime in the next few years

They’d be here sooner

But Prancer

Ran all the way to Pluto

So he’ll be awhile

But as soon as he gets here

We’ll be headed back down to Earth

I assume that all these years

The parents have been picking up slack
While I’ve been away

But no more of that

By my calculations, I estimate that I’ll be arriving

At midnight, on Christmas—2015

So get the chimneys ready

And put the cookies out

Because Santa Claus is comin’ to town