Walking through the courtyard on my way to meet my wife, I heard a lively conversation among some of the elves. “That will never happen!” I heard one yell and quickly made my way towards the group.

“What’s going on here?” I demanded.

Startled to hear my voice, all the elves turned toward me and went silent.

“Well?”

Quentin, director of research and development, stepped forward. “We were just talking about the possibility that in the near future you might have to start making deliveries on Mars.”

“Ho, Ho, Ho,” I laughed. “It’s hard enough delivering to almost 2 billion children on this planet.”

“I’m telling you, Santa, that’s the future, and it’s closer to reality than you think.”

I shook my head and stared at Quentin. Some of the elves nodded in agreement while others tried to hold back their chuckles.

Quentin returned my stare and folded his arms.  “Think about this. Remember when you first started? You only took things to families in your home town.”

“Of course, everyone knows that and the story of the man with three daughters. What does that have to do with this?”

“Did you ever think when you started that you would do this in other towns?”

“Not really, but . . .”

Quentin was quick to interrupt me. “And did you ever think that you would deliver things to children in other countries?”

“No, but . . .”

Quentin held up his hand as the elves grew restless and began talking. “Wait a minute. Did any of us ever think Santa would have flying reindeer and deliver gifts all over the world in just one night?”

The elves and I realized that Quentin was right. “OK,” I said, “we get that, but what’s your point?”

“Well…. then how do you know that we won’t be making toys for children living on Mars? That possibility is closer than we realize!”

I stroked my beard and thought about the past and what the future could bring. “I see what you mean, but only a handful of robotic, unmanned spacecraft have landed on Mars. A spaceship for human travel has yet to be built. Then look at the distance. A one-way trip to Mars is about 140 million miles and would take at least 9 months for someone to get there. So, I think we have plenty of time to work out the challenges of Christmas delivery to Mars.”

Lyra giggled. “Santa’s right of course, but it’s kind of fun to think about it. After all, since Mars is pretty far away and further from the sun, that makes a year there longer than an earth year.”

“Hum,” said Skippy as he scratched his chin, “families couldn’t celebrate Christmas as often, so the work load here would be more spread out.”

“Good point,” I replied, excited about this new possibility. “But we would have to find an efficient way to get there and back. If it’s nine months both ways, I might miss Christmas here.”

“OMG,” shouted Lyra. “Can you imagine Santa in a space suit?”

“They probably don’t make them that big, do they?” Skippy added.

I chuckled. “By that time, space suits might not even be necessary.”

Quinten again held up his hand as all of us began making jokes about travel to Mars. “Seriously, if colonies on Mars begin, families will be expecting Christmas. Not only do we have to get Santa there safely, but also gifts for the children. Would the Magic Green Fairy Dust work in space to tele-transport them from the North Pole to Santa’s bag?”

“Maybe if the fairy dust worked, we could use it on Santa to get him there too,” Jingles hollered.

“What about the reindeer and sleigh?” Fizzlepop wondered. “Would we need to send all them there as well?”

“Maybe we could create a North Pole outpost on Mars and make everything there,” Lyra insisted.

As the elves continued to add their thoughts and ask questions, I excused myself and headed to the mail room to see Anya.

I shook my head as I heard the elves ask more questions. ‘Will Santa be able to manipulate time like he does on earth? Will they have chimneys for him to get into their homes?’

When I entered the mail room, I saw my wife sitting at her desk. “Afternoon dear.”

Anya looked up. “You’re a little late, aren’t you?”

“Sorry about that. I was stopped by a group of elves talking about Christmas deliveries on Mars.”

My wife pushed back her chair and laughed. “Of course that would seem logical to them. After all, their ancestors came to earth through a worm hole in space. But if you think I’m going to let you start traveling in space, you have another thought coming.”

Notes From Santa

I hope you enjoyed today’s story. Stories are posted on the 1^st and 3^rd Saturday of each month, except December. Santa’s next story will be posted on Saturday May 18, 2024.  If you have any comments or if there is something you would like me to tell you about, please feel free to leave me a comment. Until the next time . . .

To read more about Santa Deliveries please check out:

The Last Deliveries – January 6, 2020
Santa’s Improved Sleigh – March 16, 2020
Christmas Deliveries – December 28, 2020
Sleigh Problems – January 4, 2021
Modern Christmas Deliveries – March 1, 2022
Sleigh Day – November 4, 2023

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Illustration created with Microsoft Copilot