Christmas celebrations are already well under way in this house. The advent calendars are out, the Christmas music is on, and we have a stack of Christmas (and Hanukkah) stories in our library bag. Nothing like a good story to help set the holiday mood right?

I had so much fun participating in Susanna Hill‘s Halloweensie contest that I decided to enter her Holiday Contest too. The challenge: write a children’s story in which wild weather impacts the holidays. In 350 words or less.  Here is my entry:

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Stranded

“Sugar!” muttered Dad. Sam looked up from his book.

“What’s wrong?”

“We’re stuck.” Sam looked out the car window. He couldn’t see anything but white. Every once in a while a large snowflake hit the window.

Dad called Ace Towing on his cell phone. “I see. Ok. Merry Christmas to you too.” But Dad didn’t sound very merry. “Sam,” he groaned, “we’re stranded.”

Stranded? But he still had to decorate the gingerbread house. And wrap Dad’s gift. “But what about Christmas?” Sam whispered.

Dad flipped on the radio. “…A wall of snow coming in off the lake has overwhelmed snowplows, leaving dozens of motorists stranded on Highway…” Dad turned off the radio.

Sam zipped up his coat and put his hat and mittens back on. He thought about their Christmas tree and sparkling decorations. He thought about the stockings that still needed to be hung for Santa. “But how will Santa find me?” Sam asked.

“Santa will leave presents at the house,” sighed Dad. But Sam knew all about Santa. Santa only came if you were sleeping. If you were visiting Grandma for Christmas, Santa would find you there. But Sam wasn’t visiting Grandma. Sam was stranded on Highway 1. Sam needed to tell Santa where he was. But how?

Sam watched the snow. If he weren’t stranded he’d be sipping hot cocoa and checking NORAD’s Santa tracker.

That’s it! He could call the Santa Tracker hotline and ask them to send Santa a message!

After some explaining Sam was on Dad’s phone with Sergeant Bleak at NORAD. Sergeant Bleak said he’d do his best to get Sam’s message to Santa.

Five hours later Sam woke up to a tap, tap, tap on the window. “Santa!” Sam cheered. Dad rolled down the car window. Santa passed them hot chocolate, warm cookies, and two warm blankets wrapped in ribbon.

“Hang tight,” said Santa, “the roads will be clear soon.” Sam waved as Santa disappeared into the falling snow. Then Sam and his Dad snuggled under the blankets, sang Christmas carols, sipped hot cocoa, and nibbled scrumptious cookies until the snowplows arrived.

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I hope you’re feeling warm, cozy, and Christmasy now. (Did you notice the writing on my Santa picture? No that’s not my signature. I jotted down “Carnivores, by Aaron Reynolds” to remind my self to order it on interlibrary loan. I think the littles will love it.)

Don’t forget to stop by Susanna’s blog to check out the other stories!