In our barn the sounds of toy building was reaching a feverish pitch. Even the reindeer were growing more and more restive clattering and stomping in anticipation of the big event. At sunrise on Christmas Eve I shuffled downstairs rubbing my eyes and trying to wake up after another noisy night. I poured a cup of coffee and wandered into the living room, where there was a familiar ‘jolly old elf’ in a red suit.

“Morning, Santa,” I mumbled.

“I have a map.” Santa was all business. He unrolled a map of the state of Maine. I noticed there were four red dots marked on the northwestern part of the state.

“This is where you’ll need to station your people.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I’ve got the locations on Bald Mountain, Bigelow, Mahoosuc and Little Moose marked on the map. “Your folks will need to have a big fire going on the summit of each of these mountains at exactly 10:00 p.m. tonight. Keep ‘em going until 11:00 in case I’m running a little late. Sometimes it takes a bit to get the reindeer settled down.” He handed the map to me.

“Hmm,” I said holding the map before me. “These are all Maine Public Reserve lands.” I continued to gaze at the map as Santa’s words sunk in. I looked up.

“Santa are you saying that I’m supposed to make sure there are fires tonight at these points so you can find your way on Christmas Eve? These are in the middle of nowhere! They’re on top of mountains that are knee deep in the snow. There aren’t any roads to these places. It would take hours to get up there. Only a really experienced winter hiker could do it. Why can’t you just use a map and compass or GPS?”

“Not accurate enough,” he said. “If I’m going to get to the house of every good little boy and girl I need exact locations of known points to calculate my route. The only way to do that is using both the earth and the stars. That means I’ve got to be able to see the stars. There are too many lights at night every place else. Northern Maine is perfect. It’s a direct shot from the North Pole. It’s got mountains to site off of and it’s the only place in the country where there aren’t any lights to confuse me or block out the stars. Normally I’d have this all taken care of before Christmas. But the loss of the Santa Sleigh Suit put me behind. This is the only way.”

I turned and reached for the phone. After a month of hosting Santa and his elves, I was learning to be prepared. The Outing Chair of Maine Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club had some of our best winter hikers on alert. It was time to save Christmas.

I glanced back, but Santa was gone—I caught sight of his black boots as he disappeared up the chimney.

******

By 9:00 a.m. we were organized with four teams gathering gear and packing for a long day and night. Winter hiking requires careful planning. This would involve night travel as well. Happily the weather was clear with no snow in the forecast. Layers of clothing, snowshoes, crampons, headlights, extra batteries, food, water, sleeping bags—everything we would need and many things we hoped we wouldn’t went into the packs. Each team had at least one hiker familiar with the routes they would be taking. I’d elected to go to Little Moose near Greenville.

We didn’t arrive at the roadhead until dusk but the snow reflected the light of the stars and moon and made travel easier than I anticipated. We snowshoed to the top and laid wood for the fire. It was beautiful. Hiking through snow under the stars feels like magic. Even more so on Christmas Eve. At 10:00 p.m. the fire was blazing and it wasn’t long before we heard the jingle of bells and

What to our wondering eyes should appear?

But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.

By now you know the rest. Most people think it was just a regular Christmas like every other. But it wasn’t. It was a Christmas like no other. None of us will ever forget it. Or the last part that happened just as the little team slid past the face of the moon— “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night

—Until next year.”

Uh oh.

*****

A Southern Maine Christmas Carol: Part I
Santa Rents Some Empty Office Space

Part II Santa is a Bad Tenant

Part III Disaster Strikes: Christmas Imperiled

Part IV The Search for Santa’s Sleigh Suit

More news stories from Southern Maine