Neil and Laura were in the kitchen wondering if Charlie and Ella are safe when they heard the door open.
"Mom?" Charlie called.
"Mommy! Neil!" Ella called after him. "We're home!"
"Charlie! Ella!" Neil exclaimed in relief at the sight of his stepchildren and he gave each of them a hug. Laura exclaimed, "Oh my God, Charlie! Ella! Sweethearts, come here. Come here." Both of the kids hugged their mother while she placed Ella on her hip. "Oh, my sweethearts. You're home," Laura mumbled happily. "Oh, I've missed you both so much! How are you? We were so worried."
"I missed you, too, Mommy," Ella said.
"Mom, we're fine! It's okay," Charlie reassured his mother.
"I don't have a lot of time," Scott claimed after he looked out the window and found police cars approaching the house.
"Did you leave the gifts Charlie and I made under the tree?" The five year old asked her father.
"You bet I did," promised Santa.
"We better go!" Charlie said as he started to walk out of the living room. He motioned for his sister to come with him. "Come on, Ella!" The girl took her brother's hand.
"No!" Laura said immediately. "No, no, no. Wait, kids!"
"No, no, no, it's okay, Laura," Scott promised her, giving himself a chance to take care of things for a change. "Actually, kids. I think it's a much better idea that you two stay here with your Mom and Neil."
"Really?" Laura asked, surprised.
"But, Daddy..." Ella began to argue.
"No buts, Ella Madellaine," Scott said. Ella was surprised. She never heard her father use her middle name before. "I can't be selfish. I can't be with you and your brother all the time. We're a family. You two, me, your mom..." He looked over at Neil, who was leaning on the wall. "And Neil. And they need to be with you, too."
"We'll miss you too much!" Ella wailed. She hugged her father tight and began to sob. So did Charlie. Scott hugged both his children and motioned them over to the couch. He sat down and looked into their eyes.
"Listen to me. There's a lot of kids out there, okay? Millions of kids," Scott explained. "They...they all believe in me. They're counting on me and I'm not going to let them down. I got a lot of work to do."
"So Ella and I can't be selfish either," Charlie snuffled.
"You both gave me a wonderful gift, Charlie. Listen, a wonderful gift," Santa explained to his son. "You and Ella believed in me when nobody else did. You two helped make me Santa. Selfish? Come on. You two are the least selfish people I know."
"We love you, Santa Claus," Charlie and Ella said tearfully.
"I love you, kids," replied Scott . He looked over at Laura after he wiped the children's tears. "Laura, what do you think? Christmas Eve, I'll spend it with Charlie and Ella?"
"Oh my God," remarked Laura. Her eyes welled up with tears and her voice was shaky. "It's you. It really is you. You really are...Santa Claus."
"Pretty cool, huh?" Scott asked. "And your parents thought I'd never amount to anything."
"Oh, wait," Laura said. "Don't go yet. I have something for you." She turned around to head upstairs. "It's Santa!" she told Neil in an excited and whispered voice.
Neil couldn't believe what was happening. He walked over to Scott and stared at him. Neil's face lit up when he realized who Scott really is.
"Santa?" he asked Scott.
"It's okay, Neil," replied Scott.
Neil turned away and put his hands over his face just as Laura rushed back downstairs with a file in her hand.
"Here," Laura said as she held up the file. "It's um...well, it's...it's my Christmas present for you. It's the...um...It's the custody papers." She threw them in the fire. "And I want you to come and see Charlie and Ella as often as you can."
"You can count on it," Scott told her. "Thanks, Laura. Merry Christmas."
Just then, Bernard came in the room. "What's all this boo-hooing goin' on here?" Neil backed up in surprise at the sight of the elf. "Hey, how you doin'?"
"It's nothing, Bernard," Scott replied. "I'm just saying goodbye to Charlie and Ella."
"What goodbye? Kids, you still have your snowglobes, right?"
"Yeah," Charlie and Ella answered.
"Well, all you gotta do...is shake it whenever you want to see your Dad."
"Really?" Charlie and Ella looked at each other with wide eyes. Ella gasped quietly in surprise.
"He come back to see you two...anytime day or night. Hey, have I ever steered ya wrong?"
Charlie and Ella shook their heads.
Neil still couldn't believe what was happening. Bernard was marveling at Neil's sweater and tried to look for the tag to check if one of the elves made it. "Laura," Neil gasped happily. "He's sucking us into his delusions! Look at the elaborate measures he's taken." When Neil was not looking, Bernard disappeared just like magic.
"Neil, relax," Laura said to her husband. "I'll explain it to you later."
Neil turned back to notice Bernard was gone. "Where'd he go?" He began to search for him until Ella said that Bernard went back to the North Pole.
A while later, police cars and a crowd of parents and their children showed up to the Miller house. They were anxious to find out what's happening. When Laura tried to convince the police chief that everything was fine, the SWAT team entered the house.
"That's my ex-husband and he's already up the chimney!" Laura called after them.
"Leave Santa alone!" Ella cried.
"Chief, look up there," said one of the officers. Everyone marveled at the sight of Santa and his sleigh flying in the air. "Oh, wow!", "Look!", "Santa Claus!", "Up there, do you see him?" is what all of the children and parents were saying.
"Goodbye, Charlie. Goodbye, Ella," Scott called from the sleigh. His son and daughter waved to him. "Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good night!"
Neil bent down next to the kids and apologized for not believing them.
"That's okay, Neil," Ella said.
"You were just denying your inner child," Charlie added, making Laura laugh.
"You're going to make a great psychiatrist one day, Charlie," Neil told his stepson.
"No. I think I'm going to go into the family business." Charlie turned to his sister. "What about you, Ella?" She nodded and then looked at the sky. She tugged Charlie's sleeve and pointed to see the sleigh coming back towards them.
"Look out below!" Scott had returned for a moment to give his children, Laura, and Neil their Christmas presents. Charlie got a new soccer ball, Ella got a Snoopy plush animal, and Laura and Neil got the presents they wanted when they were children: a "Mystery Date" game and an Oscar Meyer Weenie Whistle.
After the sleigh flew away, Laura and Neil talked to the police and everyone went home. Ella told her mother that she wanted something to eat. It was very late so Laura fixed two plates (one for Ella, one for Charlie) of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with carrot sticks, almonds, and a mug of hot chocolate. After dinner, Charlie went upstairs while Ella stayed with Laura and Neil marveling at their presents. Laura told Ella that she will teach her how to play "Mystery Date" after she turns six and Neil told Ella why he wanted the Weenie Whistle when he was three years old. He told her that he wanted the whistle ever since he watched the Oscar Meyer commercials. Neil even let her blow the whistle for a bit before Charlie dashed downstairs with his snowglobe.
"I'll go see what Charlie's doing," Ella said when she got down from her chair and grabbed her coat.
"Tell him to come inside, honey," Laura called.
"I will, Mommy," Ella responded. She found her brother standing outside. "Charlie? Mommy said you have to come inside. What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to see if Dad will come back," Charlie answered. "Bernard said..."
"I know, Charlie. If we want to see Dad, all we have to do is shake our snowglobes. Is it working?"
"No, not yet. Want to try?"
Ella nodded. Charlie handed her the snowglobe and she tried shaking it.
"Ella, Charlie, come inside!" Laura called.
"Mom, Charlie's snowglobe is not working!" Ella complained. She shook it one more time. It didn't work. "Oh, sugar," she mumbled. Charlie placed his arm around her and started walking back to the house when they heard someone call out, "Hey, Sport! Ella Bella!"
Ella gasped and she and Charlie turned around. It was Scott.
"Daddy!"
"Dad!"
"You guys miss me already? I've been gone, what? Twenty-five minutes?" Santa joked. "Give me a break. I was on my way to Cleveland. Come here and give me a hug." The children ran and hugged their father. "Do you want to go for a quick ride?"
"Please, Mommy, can we go?" Ella begged.
"Go on, get out of here!" Laura approved.
"All right, kids," said Santa after he hoisted his daughter on his shoulders and his son in his arm. "Hold on." The bag began to rise and they were lifted into the air. "On our way!"
"Bye, Mom!" Charlie called.
Laura waved to her children and watched them go in the sleigh. "Just...just a quick one," she called. "And, uh, not over any oceans, Scott."
"We'll be careful, Mommy! Merry Christmas!" Ella added.
"Let's be off. Lots to do in one night," Santa said as he chuckled with a warm-hearted "Ho-ho-ho!"
