Santa's Early Practice Runs!

My dog Ozzy and I were watching "The Santa Clause" in HD on the Hallmark Channel earlier this evening. It reminded me of my childhhood and my family's annual trips to Ft. Pierce, Florida to spend Christmas with my paternal grandparents. We would load up in a station wagon and make the 7 hour trip, usually late in the day, and most of the trip would be after dark, thus there were few things to do to pass the time. My father often suggested we watch the sky for signs of Santa making "pracitce runs" in his sleigh.

Ozzy loves to listen to stories of my childhood, especially events such as Christmas. I told him we would spend hours scanning the sky through the car windows searching for the sleigh. Each aircraft with flashing red lights that crossed the night sky was identified as Rudolph with his bright red nose leading the sleigh. Those with additional white lights were identified as planes and eliminated as candidates. Ozzy was determined to give it a try, and although I felt it was still too early in the year, I allowed him to go outside and observe the night sky.

Several minutes passed, and Ozzy ran into the house with an excited expression. He said he had just seen Santa's Sleigh, and Rudolph's red nose clearly visible from our front yard. He went outside again to see if he could spot Santa a second time. Moments later he caught sight of the sleigh, and called for me to come outside and witness the spectacle with him I watched the craft move across the night sky, told Ozzy how fortunate he was to witness two of Santa's practice runs, and suggested we retire into the house. Ozzy insisted he be allowed to remain outside just a little longer so he could see Rudolph's nose once more.

A half hour passed without a report of another sighting. Worried, he came back into the house, and asked me why he wasn't able to see Santa a third time. Unable to answer to his satisfaction, Ozzy paused for a moment, and then asked " You don't think it's possible Santa was texting while driving and crashed the sleigh, do you"?