Kissing Santa Clause

The North Pole is Cold

          The clouds started to get darker and thicker on their journey.  The wind was more harsh and the snow was coming down harder. Santa, the reindeer, and Hermeys mother seemed unfazed, while Hermey was starting to shiver. His winter jacket barely did anything, and his teeth started to chatter. He inched his way up to where his mother and Santa were and started to talk. "You'll get used to the cold," Santa chirped, "your mother definitely did." Vanessa laughs and nudged Santa over the comment. Hermey tried to squeeze between them for warmth, but they moved closer to each other, oblivious to the shaking boy. His fathers words "it'll be cold in the North Pole" replay in his head, while he thinks about the fireplace that he left behind. Hermey thinks that his father and Sarah are are cuddled up by the fire, with hot cocoa. His imagination warms him up a little, by being a small distraction from the harsh weather. He is taken out of his imagination of wishing he was there in the warmth with them, when the realization dawned upon that he will probably never go back. Now Hermey feels even colder.
         What feels like a cold eternity later, he then sees bright lights shining down below. He gets up from scrunching himself up into a ball, and goes to the edge of the sleigh. He looks down to see some buildings with a ton of lights. "Like what you see? This is your new home!" Hermeys mother cheers. She clings onto Santas arm and snuggles close. Hermey looks down in wonder and he gets closer to their destination. His excitement reignites as he gets closer to the warm lights, forgetting the struggles from the journey. 
           Once they land, Hermey jumps out first, and lands in the snow. He remembers the cold from the journey, and thinks how that was a walk in the park compared to the snow he just plummeted in. Its at least 2 feet deep, and he wasn't wearing his snow pants, so the snow soaked through his thin jeans. Santa holds Vanessa's hand as they exit the sleigh, the snow not bothering them at all as it reaches their shins. Santa then turns around to unhook the reindeer and let them go back to their lives. They gallop away, shouting their goodbyes, none acknowledging Hermey.
          Santa grabs onto Vanessa's hand and leads her into one of the buildings. Hermey rushes to catch up to them and they all enter the log cabin. The inside was slightly underwhelming. It was wooden all around, with a Christmas tree in the corner. Two rocking chairs, cushioned red and green, and a fluffy white rug. No TV in sight. He questions that and Santa just responds "there's no cable or WiFi this far out." Hermey panics inside, as he wonders how he will be able to watch his cartoons. He can't watch movies or play video games either! Maybe the elves will make him one? He hopes. He tries to distract him from this terrible news by trying to look more around the room. He spots something that relieves him a little.
           There was a fire place and Hermey ran straight to it. He huddled up next to it, and tried to warm himself up. He ignored whatever his new dad and his mom were up to, he just focused on the warmth. Once he got feeling back into his legs, feet, and hands, he started to feel sleepy. His eyelids were heavy and he fell asleep.
          Hermey woke up to the sound of one of the bedroom doors closing. He turns around and through his blurry vision, he made out the figures to be his mother and Santa. Santa was in jeans and a white tee shirt, not his usual red outfit
His beard was shaggier than it was earlier. His mothers button down was only partially buttoned and untucked from her jeans. She looks messier than she did when they left. Maybe they took a nap too, Hermey thought. He rubbed his eyes and started to sit up. "I'm glad you're awake! We need to show you your room!" His mom exclaimed. Hermey stood right up, excited to see his new room. His old room was blue, and had cool car stickers on the wall and stars on the ceiling. He hopes his new room will be like that, or even better! Maybe he had dentist stuff in there that he can play with, or maybe its full of new toys, or maybe it was painted green instead of blue! He couldn't wait, so he ran to his mother who was walking out the door to get Hermeys suitcases.
        Once they got to the sleigh, it was covered in snow, and all over Hermeys stuff! Santa follows, now wearing a red flannel over his t shirt, and he sighs. "I should've put the sleigh in the shed...but I was too excited for my Christmas present." He winked at Vanessa who giggled and got blushed. Hermey wonders what Santa got for Christmas, because he's usually the one to give gifts, not get them. He guesses Santa deserves gifts too. He wonders what present Santa could even have wanted, while the man himself gets to work unburying Hermeys stuff. Once the suitcases are free, Vanessa takes them and starts to bring them to another building. Santa continues to work at the snow on the sleigh while Hermey follows his mother.
          "Why are we going here? Isn't that Santa's house," Hermey asked, pointing to the log cabin. "Thats Santa's house, it only has his room. Your room is with the elves! Isn't that exciting?"
          Hermey sees a bigger log cabin, and gets excited again. He thinks his room is going to be big. He enters the building, where it's just wooden walls and doors. They enter one on the first floor and its...empty. There's a closet and a bed with a pillow and blanket. Hermeys mother puts the soggy suitcases in the middle of the room. "We'll get you more decorations and furniture later," Vanessa sighs. "Just let me know if you need help unpacking!" She exclaims as she leaves the room, closing the door behind her.
          Hermey falls to the floor, tears welding into his eyes. There's no toys, no colored walls, and he doesn't even live in the same house as his mom. He lives with the stupid elves, that he hasn't even seen yet! This move was nothing like he expected, he wishes he was back home because things keep getting worse. He misses his dad, sister, toys, room. He has nothing here. Even his mom and his hero have been ignoring him, leaving him in this empty, brown room, while he suffers alone. And worst of all about the move is that the North Pole is cold. Too cold.