My sister and I were sound asleep in our room when we heard something on our roof. Ella woke up first. "Charlie! Charlie! Did you hear that?" She sounded scared. I told her I heard it, too. We ran to our dad's room and he was still sleeping.

"Dad! Dad!" I whispered.

"Wake up, Daddy!" Ella whispered as she shook him from the other side of the bed.

Our dad snorted, "What?"

"We heard a clatter," Ella told him.

"What, Ella?" Dad asked her while he looked at his watch. We heard the noise again. This time it was even louder.

"There, Daddy! A clatter!" We whispered loudly.

"Charlie, Ella, what are you talking about?"

"You know, "it came a big noise." It's coming from outside," I whispered.

"It's just the wind or something, kids. Come on, let's go back to bed." Dad was leading us back to bed and he heard the clatter, too.

"Somebody's on the roof," Dad said.

"We told you, Daddy," Ella added, then she thought, "Maybe it's Santa."

"Not now, Ella," Dad said. He placed Ella on his bed. "I want you to sit here and stay with Charlie." Dad assigned me to watch Ella and call 911 after he finds out who is making the noise on the roof. Ella and I ran back to our room. We heard Dad call out, "Hey, you!" and then a thud.

"Who do you think it could be on our roof, Charlie?" Ella asked me. "Do you think it could be Santa?"

"There's one way to find out, El. Come on," I told her. "Get dressed. Quickly!" I put on my blue jeans over my pajama pants and pulled on my socks and boots while Ella got her pink turtleneck and purple pants over her Kermit the Frog pajamas. I helped her put on her coat and boots and then we went out to meet Dad.

I opened the door and we couldn't believe what we saw. It was Santa Claus lying in the snow.

"You got him!" we cried to Dad.

"Kids, stay where you are," he said. "Charlie, Ella, would you listen to me? Stay up there!"

"It is Santa!" Ella cried. She tried to get closer, but Dad held her back. She looked up at him. "Is he...?"

"You killed him," I accused Dad.

"Did not!" He insisted. "And he's not Santa."

"Well, he was," I countered.

"Look what I found," Ella said. She held up a card that read "Santa Claus, North Pole."

Dad flipped the card over. "If something should happen to me, put on my suit. The reindeer will know what to do."

"What does this mean, Daddy?" Ella asked. Just then, we heard bells jingling. "Look!" Ella cried, pointing. Dad and I looked up. We couldn't believe our eyes. There was Santa's reindeer up on our roof with the sleigh. "Whoa," I whispered. Ella looked down and saw that Santa disappeared. "Dad! Charlie! He disappeared!"

"Whoa!" I said, surprised.

"He's naked somewhere, kids," said Dad. Ella covered her eyes.

"Are you gonna put on the suit like the card said?" I asked. "Are you?"

"No, Charlie," Dad replied. "No."

"Come on, Dad, we want to go, too!"

"Kids, we're not going anywhere."

"But, Daddy!" Ella whined. "You never do what we want to do," I added at the same time.

"Would you two please be quiet for a minute so I can figure this out?"

"Sorry, Daddy," Ella whispered. Dad began pacing around. "Reindeer up on the roof. Santa suit laying on the ground. Guy fell. Not my fault!" He mumbled. "Reindeer on the roof. Now, that is hard to explain." Ella tugged on my jacket. "Charlie, look."

"It's the ladder," I whispered. Dad turned and bumped his head on the ladder. We ran over to him. "Where in the world did this come from?!"

I climbed up the ladder. "Look here, guys. The Rose Suchak Ladder Company."

"Huh?"

"Out by the roof, there's a Rose Suchak ladder. Just like the poem." I continued climbing up the ladder. "Charlie! Come back down!" I heard Ella say. "Charlie, get down from there!" Dad yelled.

"Guys!" I yelled back. "You gotta see this!"

"Don't touch anything," Dad warned me. "It's great! Come on up, Ella!" I called down. Ella looked unsure. She never climbed up so high like I did before. "I'm just gonna call the police," Dad said. "I'll carry this stuff up there. Let them deal with it, okay? Whoa! This guy was huge!"

One of the reindeer, Comet, nuzzled my neck with his nose. "Dad, Ella, isn't this neat?"

"Get on my shoulders, Ella Bella," Dad said and she climbed on. "Hold on tight!" Ella nodded. They began to climb up the ladder together. "Charlie. Charlie! Stay away from those things," Dad continued. They're reindeer. You don't know where they've been. They all look like they've got key lime disease." Dad put Ella down and she walked over to Comet. "Nice reindeer," she said. While Ella stroked Comet's fur, he accidentally passed gas. "Eww!" Ella cried. She held her nose.

Dad turned and looked at him. "Woof. Easy, Rudolph," he said. Comet growled. "Excuse me, Comet."

"Dad, Ella!" I said as I got in the sleigh. "Check out, Santa's sleigh!" Ella climbed in and sat next to me.

"There's no such thing as Santa's sleigh," Dad said.

"Sure there is, Daddy," Ella replied. "You said you believed in Santa, right?"

"I did? I do!"

"Then, what about the reindeer?" I asked. "These are Santa's reindeer, aren't they?"

"I hope not," Dad replied. "These are, uh, a gift. Probably from the cable company. We're getting the Disney Channel now. Merry Christmas. Now, both of you hop out of there, please."

"Oh, no, Daddy," Ella whined. "We don't want to leave."

"Listen, you two, I'm not kidding," Dad said as he got in the sleigh. "LET'S GO!" All of a sudden, the sleigh began to move. Dad fell in the back and Ella hung on to me very tight. "Yeah! Let's go! Whoa!" Ella and I cheered. "Charlie, Ella! Hold on, kids!" Dad screamed. The reindeer began flying over our house and down to the next street in our neighborhood. A deliveryman was out driving his truck when he heard us coming. "Giddyap, Comet! Whoa, let's go!" "Daddy, climb up here!" Ella said. "There we go," Dad said as he climbed into the front seat. He turned to the driver and asked, "So, uh, if we go straight on this road, do we hit I-94?" The sleigh drove past the deliveryman and into the night sky. After a few twists and turns, we landed at a nearby house and came to a complete stop.