The mystery of all of the problems with Santa’s sleigh has been solved.

It. Was. Santa.

I kid you not.

When Elf Harold reported that the investigation into the sleigh by North Pole Security had been canceled I smelled a rat. Something like this just doesn’t go away so easily.

When the word went out that Santa was scheduled to meet with the Research and Development Department, and then with Flight Command, I decided to take a chance and see if Santa would talk to me.

I saw him at the Eggnog Faire today (it’s a thing here at the North Pole). When he saw me coming for him he immediately invited me to sit with him.

He told me he would tell me everything – if I promised to hold the story until he had a chance to talk to the elves in R&D, Flight Command, and even the teams at the Sleigh Barn.

I felt that was a reasonable request.

I’m told that has happened – and that now I can tell you.

Here is the transcript of my conversation with Santa just as it took place:

T: Santa, what happened to the test flights of Santa’s sleigh?
S: I messed with the sleigh designs. I had my reasons, but the whole thing is my fault, Trixie. I did it on purpose.

T: Why, Santa?
S: That’s a bit complicated to explain, Trixie and I cannot tell you everything. I’m concerned that a lot of elves won’t understand. But let’s just start with the fact that I wanted a lesson learned by our key sleigh people. I wanted them to see that there are more important things in Operation Merry Christmas than technical details. Sometimes in focusing on good things we lose sight of the most important things. That’s the lesson.

T: Ok, you’re right. I don’t understand.
S: Over the past several years the intense focus on the sleigh has been about going faster and setting records. That has been my fault because I’ve always made it clear that I want to go faster and set better times when I fly on Christmas Eve. It’s kind of a fun or even competitive thing for me. And I let it go too far. Last year, I talked to them about it, hoping they’d lighten up a little bit but it didn’t really happen. Part of the reason it didn’t happen is that they were successful. The sleighs of the past few years have been wonderful – cutting edge – oh, they did wonderful work. I felt a good challenge might center them on the important things.

T: So you sabotaged the project to humble the elves working on your sleigh?
S: Oh boy. Now you’re making me out to be some kind of meanie.

T: I’m trying to understand how this happened and why, Santa. Those elves knocked themselves out these past eight or nine months and everything they tried failed. The more they tried to improve things the more spectacular their failures.
S: Yes, I realize that. I’m not a big believer in things always going smoothly, Trixie. Things sometimes go wrong. Tension is sometimes a healthy thing. Adversity teaches us so many lessons. But I wasn’t trying to make things difficult for them. I was trying to make them more flexible. I was trying to get them to expand their thinking, to embrace new possibilities. I was trying to get them to see there are more than certain ways to do things. I was trying to get them to stay focused on the most important stuff. And frankly, how long it takes me to get around the world is pretty low on the list of important things to think about.

T: So this wasn’t about setting new speed records?
S: No, not at all.

T: I still don’t understand. I’m trying Santa. But I’m not getting this. How did you engineer the failures of the sleigh design?
S: Oh, that was easy. I had access to all the systems. The software they used was accessible to me because I’m Santa. I just went in and reverse a few numbers, slightly altering some things that would be hard to notice. And most of the time they were not noticed. So, they tweaked it to work and I tweaked it to fail. What we ended up with was a sleigh of imperfect design that ultimately couldn’t perform.

T: Why did you do that?
S: I did that because I wanted to see some creative, out-of-the-box thinking and action that would cause them to explore new ways of doing things.

T: Why didn’t you just tell them that you wanted to see that from them?
S: I did, Trixie.

T: When?
S: Last year during their reviews. We came out of Christmas 2021 on a high – it was a very successful run. But I told them in their department meetings, I discussed it with their department heads, and I had it addressed in each review with every elf.

T: And that failed?
S: No. It didn’t fail. In the end, it came out just right.

T: Explain.
S: Well, on Christmas Eve the assumption after the last test flight was that I was going to use last year’s sleigh in substitution. And that was a good assumption because that was the written backup plan. That decision was made last January and I signed it.

T: So what happened?
S: I changed my mind.

T: Just like that?
S: Just like that.

T: You can do that?
S: I did do that.

T: How did they react when you did that?
S: They said what they always say to me. They all said “Yes, sir”.

T: You knew some were upset though, didn’t you?
S: I did. I would have been against it too if I were them. But they are all great elves. Every one of them. They reacted exactly right, even though their hearts told them differently. Then the miracle happened.

T: What miracle?
S: The creative, out-of-the-box thinking I was looking for. It happened and it succeeded in a spectacular fashion.

T: Explain. I don’t understand.
S: I picked the one sleigh nobody wanted and everyone assumes I picked it because I’m fond of that sleigh. But that’s not why I picked that sleigh.

T: Why did you pick that sleigh?
S: Because it was the one sleigh everyone would agree as the worst possible choice. They knew I could never set any records in that sleigh. It’s old, it’s huge, it’s heavy. The thing is a beast and it handles like a pig. It’s hard to maneuver on snow but it really is a bugger in climates with no snow. When loaded fully it flies pretty well but with constantly shifting loads it’s inconsistent at best. I’ve loved that sleigh because of what it looks like and how comfortable it is for me but from a practical standpoint that big body design – which only lasted for a couple of years in the 1970s – is not a great choice.

T: So…how did this bad choice turn into a miracle?
S: Well, they had to get creative and do it fast. They had to retune the bells. They got that done. They had to reconfigure the flight plan using really old data, and they got that done. They had to put modern communication equipment and even computer systems that were non-existent in 1972 into the dash of that sleigh and they got that done beautifully. Everything that really needed to happen to get the job done they did quickly. No test flights. Everything just ran on faith and it ran beautifully.

T: So you saw what you wanted to see?
S: Yes. Don’t you see it, Trixie? Faith and belief is at the very heart of Christmas. We give when we sometimes don’t have much to give – and it works out. Giving isn’t about stuff, it’s about all you can do. The best things we give is when we give our best.

T: So, you’re saying that all the time and work and lost effort of Santa’s sleigh was all about teaching elves how to give better?
S: Yes.

T: The test flight that crashed. Do you take responsibility for that? Did the corrupted design lead to that crash?
S: No, that was a combination of factors out of the control of the pilot. But the sleigh was air worthy. I never compromised safety in the things I did.

T: What did you think when that sleigh went down?
S: I was pretty worried for a while.

T: Santa – how did you get that old sleigh to go so fast? Did you think the new record you set this year was possible?
S: I believed it was. You see, I remembered my flight in that sleigh from so many years ago. It was a good sleigh, despite it’s flaws. I believed in it. I also believed in the reindeer. I told each of them before we ever left that I needed a little more from them. They didn’t hesitate for even a second. From start to finish, the reindeer were all heart and soul.

T: Was it harder on the reindeer to pull that old sleigh?
S: No. Not at all. They could have pulled the Empire State building that night. They gave it all. They were unstoppable. It took my breath away, that take off.

T: So even you were surprised?
S: Yes, more than anyone. I almost fell back in the seat, it was so fast.

T: You weren’t expecting that?
S: Not at all.

T: What do you suppose those guys in R&D and at the sleigh barn were thinking after you took off in that old sleigh?
S: They were pretty down. I talked to them long and hard before launch. But I know they felt like they failed — that they had let me down. I wanted to admit to them right then and there that it was all my doing but I thought better of it.

T: You thought better of it?
S: Yes. They had to see my belief. They had to see what the reindeer did. They had to see the unexpected result. They had to see that everything turned out as it happened. If I had told them, then they would have been looking for that old sleigh to fail. But they weren’t. They needed to hope beyond hope that it worked. They needed to see that the efforts of the last few hours were better than the efforts for the whole year and that it was enough.

T: Could you have flown the sleigh they designed?
S: Yes, absolutely. It wasn’t much different than the year before. I would have been fine. But their hearts would have been in a different place than it is right now. Now you watch what they do in 2023. The sleigh is going to be a big story, you watch. Expect big things from whatever it is they come up with, Trixie. Mark it down.

T:  Santa, how did those elves respond when you told them all this?
S: Dead silence was the response. There were some numb stares, for sure. And I’m pretty sure a few of them are angry. I hope they get over it.

T: Do you think there will be some lasting effects from all this?
S: Gee, I hope so.

T: What if you have some elves who don’t like all this and quit?
S: Well, I’d hate to see that. But I’d understand. It’s not my practice to mess with things like this, Trixie. Mrs. Claus is not too happy with me. I never thought it would go as far as it did. Frankly, I thought they would have started to see it before things ever reached the point that they did on Christmas Eve.

T: So it was or was not your intention to fly the old sleigh?
S: That was never my intention. That was a snap decision. In fact, I thought I had failed with this whole thing when I wasn’t discovered after that test flight crashed in the Pacific. I really thought that event was going to be enough to trigger our teams to thinking in the spirit I wanted them to think. This is really some advanced Christmas stuff to learn, Trixie. There’s a degree of perfectionism in Christmas that I think too many people get caught up in. Even elves. Even me, heck, I’m not immune from falling into that trap. It happens.

T: What do you mean by perfectionism in Christmas?
S: You know how some people get all bent if their Christmas tree doesn’t look a certain way? Or if their lights aren’t just so? Of if their cookies come out a little flat, their eggnog a little sour, or the stockings are hung just a little off? Have you noticed how little, unimportant things can ruin a Christmas for some people?

T: Well, yeah. I’ve seen it. Not everybody gets hung up on stuff though, Santa.
S: No, but many do. But my point is that there’s no such thing as a perfect Christmas just as there is no such thing as a perfect person. We’re all flawed, and wonderfully so. Christmas doesn’t have to be perfect to be perfect.

T: So the big lesson here is that they worked with precision all year and then had to give all that up and focus in an entirely heart-filled, belief-filled, faith-filled way at the last minute and that it worked out?
S: Yeah.

T: I can see why Mrs. Claus is upset a little bit, Santa.
S: You can see that but you can’t see my point?

T: I see your point. It just seems like a really hard way to learn it.
S: I think the best things we learn come from learning it hard.

T: Is that the theory we are sticking with in this thing?
S: It’s the best I’ve got at the moment.

T: Hahaha – okay, Santa. Fair enough. Does that mean you’re saying you won’t do this type of thing again?
S: Yeah, I guess I’m trying to say I could have thought this through better. But, it worked out. At least I think it did.

T: How close was North Pole Security to figuring this out?
S: Real close. But you just don’t accuse Santa of something sneaky like that.

T: What would have happened if they figured it out?
S: I would have told the truth. At the end of the day, I’m not ashamed of what I did. I’m trying to be a responsible Santa. Working with elves is a little like raising children. I can’t see elves as employees. I just can’t. They are thinking human beings. They want to do well, they try hard. They really want to please. I want us all to learn so, as Santa, I sometimes have to think outside of the box as well. Try new things. Seek better results. At the end of the day I have to demand that of myself while I try to get the same from them. I was imperfect at this one. But I wasn’t wrong.

T: So what’s the lesson here for Santa?
S: The lesson is that love powers what we do. Not sleighs. Not presents. Not tracker elves. Not cookies or eggnog or Christmas trees or stockings. Love is behind all that stuff and more. When we are powered by love first and leave things like science and schedules and lists and anxiety and rushing around and fretting over the unimportant details, when we leave all that stuff behind, and just focus on love, everything works out.

T: Operation Merry Christmas did work out in 2022, didn’t it?
S: Yes, spectacularly so. The past few years have been hard on the world. So much sadness. So much suffering. So many people hurting from the things of life. I think Operation Merry Christmas, at least for one day, made everyone set that aside this year. If I could give the world anything, Trixie, it would be a smile. That’s it. Just a warm, how-ya-doin’ kind of feeling that you’ve got a friend, that life is good, that love is the most important thing.