THANKSGIVING AT THE NORTH POLE

The table was all set for Thanksgiving dinner.  Santa looked at it carefully. “Let’s see,” he thought to himself, “There’s the turkey, the banana pizza, the dressing, the beans, the potatoes, and the cranberry salad.” He looked around some more. “Where’s the pumpkin pie?” he asked himself.

Santa looked all around the room. He noticed a big orange spot on the floor. He leaned over and scraped up some with his finger. Then he smelled it. “So that’s what happened to the pumpkin pie, somebody was a little careless, and the pie dropped on the floor.”

Santa went to the kitchen and got some paper towels. In just a few minutes, he had cleaned up every bit of pumpkin from the floor.

Then he looked all around. He didn’t see any of the children who were visiting. But he heard the sound of sniffling coming from Joey’s room.

When he went in, he didn’t see anybody, but he still heard sniffling. It seemed to be coming from under the bed.

“Is that you under the bed, Joey?” Santa asked.

“Um hm.”

Santa sat down on the floor. Joey crawled out just a little bit, and looked up at Santa. Then he rubbed his eyes and sniffled again.

“I was walking through the dining room to see what we were having for dinner, but I couldn’t see the pie anywhere. Then I saw a big orange spot on the floor. When I smelled it, it smelled just like pumpkin pie. Do you think maybe somebody dropped the pie on the floor?

Joey nodded, and sniffled.

“Do you think it was an accident?”

 Joey nodded his head again, and sniffled.

“Do you think the person felt bad about it?”

Joey nodded his head twice this time.

“Do you think the person who dropped the pie was afraid I might be angry about it?”

Joey nodded, and sniffled.

“I’m not angry. People are much more important than pies are. Besides, everybody makes a mistake sometimes. I remember when I was a little boy. I was trying to get some flour from the cabinet but the flour spilled– all over me, and the counter and the floor. But we got it all cleaned up. There isn’t hardly anything that can’t be fixed.,”

Joey was looking at Santa with both eyes. He nodded again.

“I wonder if the person who dropped he pie would like a nice big hug.”

Joey finished crawling out from under the bed and crawled over to where Santa was sitting.  Santa held his arms out to hug Joey very tight. I love you, Joey.”

“I love you too, Santa.”

“I think we have time to take the sleigh and go to the grocery store to buy another pie. Would you like to come with me?”

Joey jumped to his feet and put on his jacket.  Off they went to the store, and came back with a beautiful pumpkin pie.

Santa looked at Joey. “Would it be all right with you if we didn’t tell anybody else about what happened today? Can we just keep that as our little secret?”

Joey smiled a big smile and nodded. Santa smiled back at him and winked.

     *      *      *      *      *      *

After dinner, Joey told Santa, “I’m glad we have a little secret together.”

“Me too, Joey. Nobody else ever needs to know.”