When we made it to the next house on the sleigh, I recognized it right away. It was my friend Sarah's house. She told me that she was going to wait up for Santa this year. That was before my Daddy put on his coat.

"This could be a really long night," my Daddy groaned.

"Do it again, Daddy. Please?" I asked nicely.

"I can't. The thing's empty."

Comet turned around and grunted at my Dad. "There's nothin' in the bag," he said. "Even if there was, d-didn't you notice there's no chimney? Where there's no chimney, there's no fireplace."

Comet growled at him. "Are you growling at me?" Dad asked. Comet nodded. "Look, Comet," Dad continued as he picked up the bag. It wasn't empty all like he thought. "Like I said, there is nothing left-That's so weird, 'cause I know when I did- that-" All of a sudden, he was lifted up in the air again. "No, no, no, no, no! Hold it! There's no chimney here," Dad said to the bag. "Can you hear me? No chimney, all right?"

"Lookin' good, Dad," said Charlie.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Dad said as he hovered over to a very narrow chimney. "Come on! Look at the size of this thing." Like the last one, he lowered and squeezed through it. While Dad delivered presents, Charlie and I talked about what's happened.

"Can you believe this, Ella?" Charlie said. "We're flying on Santa's sleigh and Dad is delivering the presents. This is the best Christmas ever!"

"Oh, yes, Charlie!" I agreed. "I sure hope Sarah got her Raggedy Ann doll."

Charlie looked at me puzzled. "How do you know that, El?"

"Because this is her house. Sarah told me that she asked for a Raggedy Ann doll when we were at school. She also said that she was going to give Santa carrot and celery sticks instead of cookies."

"That makes sense," Charlie said. "That way, he wouldn't get sick. Now, Dad is Santa."

Then, we heard our Dad come up from the chimney and got back in the sleigh. We continued delivering presents at each house from our neighborhood to different cities and countries we have never been to before. Charlie and I dozed off for a while, too.

After we woke up, Daddy said "Good morning" to us and the reindeer. "We're done, Comet!" he said. "Ho, ho, ho. Back to the house! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! When I wake up, I'm getting a CAT scan!"

"Daddy!" I laughed. "You're being silly again!"

The reindeer was going to take us home. Or so we thought. We were lead to a very strange place. It snowed everywhere. I looked around and then to Daddy. "Where are we? This isn't home."

"Is this okay, Dad?" asked my big brother.

"No, it's not okay!" he replied. Then, he called out to the reindeer. "Hey, does this look like home to you guys?" All of a sudden, the reindeer ran away. Our Dad yelled, "No, no, no, no, no! Hey, hey, hey!Where you goin'? Come back here! Aww!" I never saw my Daddy that mad before.

Then, we heard footsteps. We looked around to find out where they were coming from. I squinted my eyes through the snow and I saw somebody walking towards us. It was a boy who looked a little older than me, but not much older than Charlie. I nudged my Dad and pointed at the boy.

"Hey, hey! Hey, buddy!" Dad tried to get the boy's attention, but he didn't hear him. "Let me try, Daddy," I offered. I stood up on the seat of the sleigh, cupped my hands around my mouth, and shouted with all my might. "Hey! Can you hear us? We need your help!" The boy looked up at us and gave a little smile. He began to warm his hands and lifted something off the ground. It was red and white and it had a silver ball on top.

Daddy leaned toward me and asked, "What's that?"

"I don't know," I said.

"I think it's the North Pole, Dad," said Charlie.

"That's the North Pole?" Dad asked.

"The North Pole?" I mouthed. I couldn't believe it. I looked at Charlie. "Are we really?" He nodded.

Then, the sleigh began to lower down into some room. There were more people who looked kind of like Charlie and I gathering around. I sat up to get a better look. So did Charlie. Finally, we landed on the ground. Everyone stopped and looked at us for a bit and I waved at them. They looked so happy.

"Where are all the grown-ups?" Dad asked.

"This is so cool!" said Charlie. "Yeah!" I agreed.

"You two stay in the sleigh," Dad said. Then, he went off to ask for help.