Santa Claus is sitting in his workshop, looking through the long list of each child’s letter. He sits on his soft snowflake cushion with a worried expression. “I need more people on the bad list, so I don’t have to make these many gifts,” he thinks. He sits there thinking for a while…
Back in Florida, Cathy and Eliana, two best friends, are writing their very own wishlists.
“There’s too many things!” Cathy groans. They sit there for a few minutes longer, jotting something down when it comes to mind. They finally leave the library after a few more minutes.
Santa sits in his chair lost in thought. He walks over to his snow globe and peers down into the real world. “Hmmm,” he thinks. Then, an idea occurs in his mind.
“Prepare the sleigh for tonight. I have a little bit of business to do!” he shouts out to his workers.
“Be aware Cathy, I am coming. He He He!” he cackles, seeing Cathy and Eliana cheerfully walking back to their houses. “None of you will be happy like that after what I do,” he says to himself, acting as if they were right there listening to him.
The next day, Cathy and Eliana are walking to school. They had a regular day at school until… recess! They walk on the black top, when Cathy suddenly shouts out, “Hey penguin!” Eliana gets annoyed and walks quietly over to the bench. Cathy comes over to her and says it was just for fun but Eliana just keeps quiet.
“You didn’t have to humiliate me in front of everyone, did you?” she finally says.
“I didn’t me-” starts Cathy but Eliana cuts her off.
“You know what you are, just an egghead. You cry on such little things, you are so sensitive, and I can’t believe I was ever friends with you,” Cathy says and stomps away.
Eliana stares back in shock at her friend. “What is going on with her?” she thinks to herself.
“I don’t even want to be your friend!” she yells back at her ex-best friend.
Meanwhile Santa watches and hums, joyfully thinking “Now I have a reason to put Cathy on the bad list.” He’s so proud of his work that he goes to the kitchen and congratulates himself with a cookie.
The next day at school Cathy and Eliana avoid each other. They sit at different tables during lunch and they walk home alone, feeling very lonely without a friend to accompany them. They both lay in bed all day too lonely to do anything else. Eliana writes one more thing in her list: But most of all, Santa, I wish to have my best friend back. Cathy writes something similar. They both finally post their letters to the North Pole gloomily.
Santa is in bed dreaming about Eliana coming over to his house, taking the bad list and scribbling something on it. He soon realizes that it was his name! “NO!” he shouts but it’s too late, Eliana gives a wicked laugh and vanishes. He wakes up suddenly, wiping the sweat off his face and breathing heavily.
“What happened?” A muffled voice comes from behind him.
“Huh? Huh? Oh nothing, I just needed a glass of water,” he says, not realizing he made her wake up too. He gets up to get a glass of water and then goes to look at his bad list. He sighs with relief, seeing that his name is not on there. Santa goes back to sleep.
Cathy is not happy with her actions and really hopes for her friend back. Cathy lays in bed all night, wishing Santa would grant her wish. She finally falls asleep, too tired to do anything.
Meanwhile Santa receives these two girls’ letters and is thinking “At least I have a reason to not grant any of these wishes.”
Mrs. Claus interrupts his thoughts by bringing in his breakfast. She sits down and looks at the bad list and her eyes stop on Cathy’s name. “Isn’t she that sweet girl that would give you extra cookies on Christmas Eve? Why is her name on the bad list? What did she do?” she asks.
“Um- It was probably an accident.” Santa stutters, lying.
Meanwhile, both Eliana and Cathy are on their way to apologize to each other. They meet in the middle of the way and both start speaking to each other.
“I’m sorry for calling you short,” Cathy finally says after they were both quiet.
“And I’m sorry for making a big deal out of it,” Eliana replies. They hug each other.
Santa buries his face into his hands, not happy with what he had done. That night he delivers gifts all around the world, giving extra gifts to two houses.
The next morning Eliana and Cathy both wake up and run downstairs to meet each other. They don’t care what or how many gifts they got. They are just glad that Santa had granted their one and only wish: Being friends again!