At the Pole, two days after Scott left, Bernard and Curtis have been keeping an eye on Toy Santa. They gave him a tour of the workshop. Throughout the tour, "Santa" was reading through the Christmas Handbook.

"Santa, I want you to look forward and put on a smiley face," Bernard advised. "Say hello to your elves."

"HO, HO, HO!" Toy Santa hollered. "YOU'RE ALL DOING A WONDERFUL JOB!"

Miles, one of the elves in charge of the toy cars and trucks department, approached him with an RC monster truck. "Santa. When you said the bigger wheels, is this what you meant?"

Toy Santa looked from Miles to Bernard, who nodded in encouragement, and then exclaimed, "HO, HO, HO! YOU'RE DOING A WONDERFUL JOB!" Miles smiled at his answer and returned to his workspace.

"Santa, you're doing great," Bernard encouraged the plastic replacement with a grin. "You could dial it down on the ho-ho-ho's, but otherwise you're gold."

"Okay," Curtis began as he started to egg Bernard on once Toy Santa returned to reading the Christmas Handbook. "Why don't you just say it? "You were right, Curtis. I was wrong.""

"OK, OK, I admit it," Bernard said as he rolled his eyes. He sighed and decided to give Curtis credit. "They're happy. They're working hard. Everything's going to be fine." He does seem right. All of the elves around him are smiling and working hard on building toys.

"This book is very interesting reading," Toy Santa said to Bernard and Curtis as he looked up from the book once more. It then occurred to Bernard that Toy Santa had been reading the Christmas Handbook the entire time. "There's a lot of rules they're not following."

"That's what I've been saying all along," Curtis claimed, trying to humor him. "Things have gotten a little too sloppy around here." Bernard shot a glance at the number two elf. He knew that Curtis was doing his best to humor him, but with Toy Santa being only made of plastic, he didn't understand teasing, joking, or sarcasm.

"Yes! Sloppiness means mistakes! MISTAKES AREN'T A GOOD THING!" Toy Santa complained, then he decided after closing the Christmas Handbook. "I might have to make some changes around here."

"What do you have in mind, boss?" Curtis asked as he led Toy Santa away while the toy gave Curtis his suggestions on how he should handle things at the Pole. Bernard sighed with worry.

Meanwhile, at the Miller house, Scott was getting ready for his first date. Like Laura and Ella promised, the mother and daughter made several phone calls and sent emails. On the day Ella was off from school, she called Sarah and asked her if she could also talk to some of their classmates to see if their moms are looking for a date. It didn't take long for Ella to hear from her classmates. Tessa from her science class said that she and her mom were too busy getting ready for their Christmas vacation at her grandparents' ranch in California. Deidre from music class said that her mom is not ready to date again after a recent divorce from her ex-husband. Gianna in homeroom is recently grieving over the loss of her grandmother and is getting ready to head to Pennsylvania for the funeral. And so on and so forth. Sarah didn't have much luck either.

"Thanks for trying, Sarah," Ella said sadly on the phone. "I'll see you tomorrow. Let me know if anything else comes up." She hung up the phone and sighed as her dad walked in the living room and sat down on the couch next to her.

"I just got off the phone with Sarah," Ella reported. "We didn't have any luck with this at all. Did anyone respond to Mom's messages?"

"Actually," answered Scott. "I'll be meeting her friend, Tracy, at some restaurant downtown tonight."

Ella's face brightened. "That's incredible news, Dad! Looks like we're on a great start. Maybe Tracy could be your Mrs. Claus."

"I hope so, Ella Bella," Scott replied.

Later that night, Scott changed into an outfit he borrowed from Neil's closet since most of his outfits back at the Pole were red and green. It didn't exactly turn out the way he had thought. It was one of the ugliest, loudest sweaters Neil ever owned: it was lime-green with white zig-zagged stripes.

"Neil," Scott sighed when he joined the psychiatrist, Laura, and Ella in the living room. Laura and Neil were reading while Ella was busily working on her science homework while sitting at the coffee table.

"Are you sure you don't have any other clothes I can borrow? I mean the idea of tonight is to attract a woman."

"What are you talking about?" Neil asked, looking up from his book.

"I look like a limesicle," Scott recoiled. "What do you think, Laura? Honestly, what do you think?"

"I think that it's what's inside that really counts." Laura nodded.

"I thought you like the sweater," Neil whispered to his wife.

"We'll talk about this later," Laura responded back.

Ella looked up from her science book and decided to add in, "Just be yourself, Daddy. No matter what you wear."

Scott sighed, accepting his fate. "Alright, I've gotta go. Can I borrow your car?"

"Well, I'm parked behind Neil." Laura pointed out. "Take the minivan. I just had it washed."

"The minivan?" Scott looked between Laura, Neil, and his daughter. "Well, wish me luck. With a needlepoint sweater and a minivan. I'll see you in about eight minutes!"

Ella got up from the couch and gave him a kiss on the cheek and squeezed his hand. "Good luck, Daddy."