“Suppose I try it. By the Aurora Borealis, I will try it!”
And then and there Santa Claus began his vacation.
He closed up his workshop, locked the door, and hung the key in the attic. He turned his reindeer loose and told them to go south where they could get fresh grass, for he would not need them for a year and a day. Then he made himself comfortable beside his fire, and brought out all the books and the papers he had been wanting to read for the last fifty years or more, and settled down to enjoy himself. He never gave one thought to the world or what it would do without him; therefore, it never occurred to him to wonder if the news would get in the papers. But you know and I know that in time everything that happens gets into the papers; so the news spread at last all over the world that Santa Claus was taking a vacation and that there would be no Christmas next year. And what do you think happened then?
First of all the Christmas trees stopped growing. “What’s the use?” they whispered one to another. “We sha’n’t be wanted this year, so we needn’t work to put out new shoots or keep especially green and smart-looking.” And the holly and the mistletoe heard them, and they said: “Well, why should we bother, either, to get our berries ready as long as we shall not be needed for decoration? Making berries takes a lot of time, and we might just as well spend it gossiping.”
Next, the storekeepers began to grumble, and each said to himself, “Well, if Christmas isn’t coming this year why should I spend my time making my shop-windows gay with gifts and pretty things?” And the pastry cooks and the confectioners said they certainly would not bother making plum-puddings, Christmas pies, or candy canes.
Soon the children heard about it. For a long while they would not believe it, not until Christmas-time came round again. But when they saw the Christmas trees looking so short and shabby, and the Christmas greens without their berries, and the streets quiet and dull, and the shop-windows without the pretty things in them, they grew sober and quiet, too. And in less time than I can tell you the whole world grew stuffy and stupid and silent and unlovely. Yes, the whole world!
Now, in a very small house in a very small town that stands just midway between the North Pole and the equator and half-way between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans (you can find the town for yourself on any map if you look for it with these directions) there lived a small boy. He was sturdy and strong, and he had learned two great lessons—never to be afraid and never to give up. He saw what was happening all over the world, because everybody believed that Christmas had been lost, and he said one day to his mother:
“Mother, little mother, I’ve been thinking this long while if Santa Claus could see how things are going with every one down here he would bring Christmas back, after all. Let me go and tell him?”
“Boy, little boy,” said his mother, “tell me first how you will find your way there. Remember there are no sign-posts along the road that leads to Santa Claus.”
But the boy squared his shoulders and took a firm grip of his pockets and said he, “Why, that’s easy! I’ll ask the way and keep on till I get there.”