Bernard and Curtis were observing the workshop when they hear Toy Santa bellow, "HI! MERRY CHRISTMAS! HO, HO, HO!"

With the hustle and bustle going on and no one hearing him, Toy Santa pulled a lever which made all of the machines stop. Even Bernard and Curtis looked up from their work to see what Toy Santa was up to.

Why is he wearing a general's uniform? Bernard thought to himself.

"Can I have your attention? Stop the work, please. Everybody stop the work," Toy Santa ordered. "I have a little announcement to make. From this moment forward, we're not gonna make any more toys."

Cries of "No more toys?!" filled the workshop.

"The children of the world don't deserve these presents. They're running rampant with naughtiness. So, this Christmas we're gonna give those greedy kids exactly what they deserve." Toy Santa snapped as he took out something from a huge red bag. "A beautiful, high-quality yet low-sulphur variety of coal!"

"Coal?!" All of the elves cried again. How could ALL the children around the world deserve this?

"QUIET!" Toy Santa yelled. "We have to focus, all of us, on the goals ahead. And just to make sure that that happens…" One of the Naughty and Nice elves gave him an air horn. "I...I hate to blow my own horn."

Toy Santa pressed the button and the elves gasped as the gigantic toy soldiers entered the workshop. There were so many that the elves began backing away from them. Screams of fright filled the workshop.

"Stay where you are!" Bernard said, trying to comfort the elves. "Don't be afraid!"

"Back!" Curtis said as he tries protecting the group of elves he was with. "Back! Back! Back!"

"I was up late, couldn't sleep," Toy Santa explained over the screams of the frightened elves. "Milk wouldn't do it, cocoa is a little sweet, so I decided to make an army of toy soldiers. They don't have a good sense of humor like me. I would do what they ask you. Which is what I'm going to tell you!"

Bernard had enough of Toy Santa's antics and decided to finally tell the elves the truth. "Don't listen to him!" He shouted. "This guy's not Santa!"

The elves screamed and cried once more, "He's not Santa?!"

"He's a toy!" Bernard continued, just as the impostor of Christmas motioned for his soldiers to take him away. "He has a rubber face and a plastic tushy!" The toy soldiers grabbed the Head Elf as he cried out, "Trust me! Don't let him ruin Christmas!"

"Thank you for those kind words, Bernard! Well, now that we all have an understanding, have a joyous and merry Christmas!"

Toy Santa laughed evilly as he and two of the soldiers dumped out two carts full of coal. With Christmas in chaos and Bernard captured by the soldiers, Curtis knew that it's up to him to figure out a plan to get the real Santa back.


Back in Lakeside, Scott was telling Ella, Laura, and Neil about his date with Carol during breakfast. When Scott arrived home from the party, Ella had already fallen asleep while waiting for him. So, he decided to wait until that morning. Neil and Laura were shocked when they heard the news and as for Ella, she was surprised that her plan worked and was also happy for her father.

"I don't know how it happened. She grew on me," Scott said. "We grew on each other. There was growth."

"That's great, Dad!" Ella replied. "You finally found your Mrs. Claus!"

"And just in time," Laura added.

"How did she take it when you told her?" Neil asked. "I bet it was quite a shock."

Ella knew that Neil was asking if her dad told Carol that he was Santa.

"Well, actually..." Scott admitted. "I didn't tell her."

"You didn't tell her you're Santa Claus?!" Neil shouted.

"Well, it's not something you tell a woman on a first date unless you want a restraining order."

"Plus, you're still getting to know Carol, Dad," Ella said.

"I'm going to have to agree with Scott, Neil," Laura said. "It's not like saying to your girlfriend you got a cat or wear socks with sandals."

"That was just a phase I was going through," Scott remarked after taking a sip of coffee.

"It was just a vivid memory," said Laura.

"But you never forget. See? She never forgets."

Neil cleared his throat. "Alright, this is what you do: take her out for a lovely dinner."

"But nothing with a drive-thru," Ella added in.

"Then you take her home, sit with her by the warm fire with a big glass of eggnog, then you perform some incredible feat of magic," Neil finished.

"Yeah, then I'll take the act to Vegas and we'll make millions," Scott replied sarcastically. "Look, I'm not a magician. Second, I'm out of magic. It's on zero." He showed the three his watch.

"What?" Neil and Ella said at the same time.

"What does that mean?" Laura asked her ex. "Is something going to happen to Christmas?"

"Dad, didn't you say that if you don't get married, then all of the kids will stop believing in you?" Ella asked her father. "What does your watch have anything to do with that?"

Scott explained to his daughter that when Bernard first gave him the watch, he was warned that every time he uses his magic, the level drops and once all his magic is gone, he can't return to the Pole. He then stated he first used his magic when he was talking to Pamela and how he promised her a wonderful Christmas.

"So, you used the rest of your magic on Carol?" Ella asked. "When you gave her a ride in a sleigh to the Christmas party at Charlie's school and the baby doll?"

"Not just that, Ella Bella," Scott admitted. "I also used my magic at the Christmas party doing the Secret Santa."

"Well, Dad," Ella began. "You need to go with your gut and tell Carol the truth. Do what Neil suggested first and then when the time is right throughout the date, tell her. You can even give her hints about what you do as Santa."

Later that night, Scott and Carol were at her house after a night out on the town. Like Neil suggested, Scott took her out to dinner and then went for a walk to look at the Christmas lights and Christmas displays in store windows.

"I had such a great time tonight, Scott," she said as she came into the living room holding a tray filled with a plate of cookies and two glasses of eggnog. "Walking around, looking in storefront windows. I haven't done that in longer than I can remember." She gave him a glass of eggnog.

"Thanks. My favorite part was the store window that had Santa's workshop in it," Scott said as he took a sip of eggnog. "It looked like a pretty cool place, didn't it?"

"You have so much kid in you," Carol remarked.

"Is that good or bad?" Scott asked.

"No, it's good," Carol replied. "It's really good."

"I have a lot of kid in me," Scott smiled.

Carol laughed for a moment until they heard snowballs pelted at her window. Scott and Carol rushed to the door to put a stop to it.

"I got this," Scott said to Carol as she watched from behind him. Then he called out, "Hey! Attention you hooligans behind that snow bank! You have snowballed the wrong house. Drop the snowballs, kick them away from the snow suits and keep the mittens where I can see them. Go to your homes. Uh...pelt the ones you love. And a Merry Christmas!"


What Scott and Carol didn't know was that it was Charlie and two of his friends who threw the snowballs at her house. When Charlie heard his dad's voice, he was stunned.

"Your dad is hanging with Principal Newman?" Danielle asked him. "Is he dating her?"

"That is really gross, man," said his other friend.

"Shut up," Charlie said to his friend. He felt like he'd been betrayed.


Once Scott was back inside, he decided that it was time to tell Carol the truth about being Santa Claus.

"Carol," Scott sighed as she sat back down on the couch. "There are things about me you should know. Some personal things."

"We don't need to rush things, Scott," Carol said dreamily.

"I think you need to know these things."

Feeling concerned, Carol sat right up on the couch. "Okay?"

"Um...Remember the mistletoe, how it just showed up?"

"Yes," Carol said with a nod.

"And the sleigh. How magical that was?"

Carol nodded again.

"Secret Santa Claus? That was me." Carol nodded for the third time as she waited for what Scott wanted to reveal to her. "I'm not this size much. I'm usually much bigger than this," he confessed.

"So am I sometimes," Carol joked.

"I have a big white beard that's beautiful."

"I don't," Carol joked again.

"I work a long way from home. When I get back home, I sleep for a long time."

"See, okay, it's not so bad so far," Carol said, smiling. "You work far away from home and you sleep a lot. You've never been to prison and you don't wear socks with sandals."

"Well...I'm Santa Claus," Scott announced.

Carol was stunned. "What?"

"The suit, the red suit's real. The North Pole is a place. There are elves. They make toys. They're beautiful and it's real. I exist," Scott continued.

"That's not funny, Scott," Carol said as she shook her head. She wasn't smiling anymore.

"It's magical," he insisted.

"Cut it out."

"I'm telling the truth, Carol."

"I told you something personalfrom my childhood and now you're making a joke out of it and it's not funny. It hurts."

"I know how hard this is to believe, but connect the dots," Scott tried to explain. "Think about what's happened with me. Think about the little girl."

"I know what's going on," Carol said slas she got to her feet. "You felt something for me and now you're acting like a mental patient because you're scared."

"I'm not scared," Scott insisted again, calling after her as Carol walked towards the door. "I deliver gifts in a sleigh pulled by reindeer. I go down chimneys with burning logs and I still deliver gifts. I'm not scared. That's not what this is."

"If you're trying to push me away, and it's working," Carol said as she gave him his coat.

"Carol, don't make me leave, please." With that, she opened the door and waited for Scott to leave. Once he was out the door, Carol felt tears rolling down her face. Scott was also disappointed. He found and lost his Mrs. Claus.