As many of you know, I was supposed to launch my book Yes, There Is a Santa … And I’ve Seen Him Many Times last Saturday as a tag on to the Ho Ho Hometown Christmas festivities in Dover-Foxcroft. The old man himself was to be in the parade, then zip back up to North Pole where he would log into my Zoom virtual meeting and be available to chat with those boys and girls who signed up. Well. It didn’t happen.

Mid-Maine was blanketed with a snow bomb cyclone. The Piscataquis County Chamber of Commerce opted to postpone its festivities — which included a visit by Santa to light to Dover-Foxcroft Christmas tree. The Commons at Central Hall, which was hosting my launch/reading event, quickly followed, which was a good thing because power would have been lost about midway into the program and I would still have had to inch my way back to Dexter along a darkened, dozen mile, two lane Route 7 through the wind whipped bluster of the storm. Safely tucked in my apartment, for the next 22 hours or so, the dog and I nuzzled under blankets. She had her dry food and I had my go-to staple, peanut butter. I did a little {and I mean a very little} reading by hurricane lamp. We both caught up on our zzzs as we listened to the wind whistle.

Monday morning, however, I found myself dialing Santa. {Yes, I do have his contact information. No, don’t ask.} I wanted to make sure he didn’t get stuck in the storm. The conversation went something like this …

“Good morning Santa.”

“Morning Joe. What’s up?”

“Just checking on you. I wanted to make sure you were okay and didn’t get caught in the storm.”

“I’m fine. A little snow never bothers us. Remember that time in Illinois? What was it, 1975? Crazy year.”

“Yes it was. Like I said I just wanted to check in with you. I thought we would chat Saturday, but, of course, that didn’t happen.”

“Yeah. You were pitching your book while I flew back to the North Pole, right?”

“That was the plan.”

“It kind of got disrupted, didn’t it. Fine book, by the way. Fine book.”

“Have you read it?”

“No. I haven’t had the chance yet. It’s busy up here this time of year. But the Mrs. did. She enjoyed it.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“It’s probably a blessing things were postponed in town.”

“Yeah. It would have been terrible having the kids standing outside during the parade.”

“That too,” said Santa. “But we had a little incident up here earlier in the day.”

“Oh???”

“We were doing some practice takeoffs with Gertrude.”

“Gertrude?”

“Yeah, Comet’s leg was bothering him so we hitched up Gertrude … just in case we needed her for the Christmas run.”

“Is Comet okay? What happened with Gertrude?”

“I think Comet will be okay. Doc wants him to take it easy for a few days. Gertie’s fine. She just slipped on takeoff and the sleigh just starting shaking like crazy.”

“Didn’t the gyros keep it steady?””That was the problem. We discovered the housing holding the gyros had loosened, so they weren’t steady … and neither was the sleigh.”

“What did you do?”

“Turned around, of course. The elf mechanics went to work fixing it.”

“You have quite a crew there Santa. At least you didn’t have to call out North Pole AAA.”

Santa howled with one of his patented belly laughs. “Been there. Done that, didn’t we.”

“Yeah. Never a good feeling when you see flashing lights in your driveway.”

“Is that story in your book?”

“Yup!”

“We sure did have some good times,” added Santa.

There was a knock at his door. “Excuse me, Joe”. I could hear him talking to one his elves. He put the phone to his air again and said, “That was Alf. There’s a problem in the workshop. It’s been good talking to you.”

“Yes it was,” I replied. “I was just checking on you. I’ll talk to you this Saturday.”

“You betcha! Have a Ho! Ho! Holiday week. Talk to you soon.”

That was my Monday morning. Santa was right. We have had many a conversation over the years. Some of them are included in my first person account of meeting Santa in Yes, There Is a Santa … And I Have Met Him Personally Many Times.

I will read excerpts from the book this Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and followup with additional anecdotes at 4 p.m. Dec. 19. After reading, I will personally introduce you to Santa so you can share your Christmas list with him … or just chat with him. You can sign up for the free Zoom meeting by pre-registering at CentralHallCommons.org In addition, you will receive a free keepsake gift! And there are other activities and suggestions as well.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: God put Santa Claus on earth to remind us Christmas is ‘sposed to be a happy time. — Bil Keane