Operation Christmas Cracker

Gathering Storms

By Christmas Eve the world is still.

Not the usual stillness that Joe always feels on the day, when the frenetic activity; the shopping and preparing and hosting and parties and work are over and family has arrived. Not that magical moment when time seems suspended in the hiatus between 'Christmas is coming' and 'Christmas is here'. When the wonder of the season is just a turn of the clock away. When peace and joy and love and calm, blessed calm, seem to envelope him.

No.

Not this year.

This Christmas Eve presents a different kind of interim. An interim between storm fronts where, for six states the worst of the storms have passed but the clean-up operation has not yet begun. Where others are still braced for more. More wind, more rain, more snow, more destruction.

He and Jill had long since abandoned the idea of spending Christmas at Camp David. For security reasons and logistically it made more sense for the president to be at the White House to direct operations, to be ready to sign any declarations that were needed. FEMA were working flat out as were rescue services and agencies across the federal government and he was in near constant communication with them.

'I'm sorry, baby', Joe said again on Friday night, after they hosted the promised party a day early and they had both agreed that they would stay put in DC.

'Joe, it's not your fault, honey. And this makes the most sense, plus it's the safest for everyone', she said. 'The kids will be here shortly, we'll still get to have Christmas with them and the majority of staff that were planning to travel have already left. We'll just have to see what tomorrow brings and make the best of it all', she said as they climbed into bed.

Saturday brought wind and rain and destruction. Travel chaos and dangerous conditions, homes ripped to pieces, roads and bridges washed away, flights canceled and rail lines flooded up and down the east coast. Joe had spent all day and most of the night dealing with the fallout, directing teams as best he could, getting updates and preparing for a national address to try to quell frightened and disappointed people all across the nation.

'I want to reassure my younger listeners; Santa Claus can travel', he said at the end of his Oval Office address, 'but he may be a little delayed in some places. I've directed the relevant federal agencies to keep airspace open for as long as he needs but you may have to be patient, even Santa is gonna find travel to some areas challenging this year', he declared, trying to give harassed parents whose plans were thrown into chaos a little leeway. The potus and flotus social media channels had been inundated with queries about Santa's travel and requests for the president and first lady to somehow calm anxious young minds.

After the address Jill spent hours on the phone with community and volunteer groups trying to assess their needs.

By midnight Joe had sent home as many of the team as he possibly could and he'd moved upstairs to the president's private office in the residence. By now it looked like some sort of frat house with coffee cups and delph holding crumbs and half eaten meals, vying for space with extra telephone sets and piles of notebooks and pens and binders crammed full of notes.

The older grandkids wanted to help out too so they had the idea to host a series of zoom calls for worried kids and volunteer groups where they'd read Christmas stories and sing carols and just try to keep morale up and spread some Christmas cheer. They were inundated with requests.

At 2.00am Joe hunted the kids off to bed, telling them he'd need their help again tomorrow. Jill finished her calls at the same time and then discussed the situation with the residence staff who were still on duty. Some couldn't leave, some didn't want to leave so in the end she came up with an ingenious solution that gave everyone the best of both worlds. Satisfied that she had done as much as she could, and aware that she would have as much to do again tomorrow she found Joe to tell him she was going to bed for a few hours.