Last year I blogged about not really understanding Year Without a Santa Claus (the one with Snow Miser and Heat Miser). It's easy to read the thing as one big dream sequence that happens entirely in Santa's head.

Well, we just watched it again last night and I still don't get it. Let's break it down.

Santa wakes up sick. Ok. Doctor comes and confirms it, he should be at home resting instead of flying around the world. Santa then gets it into his head (from the doctor) that nobody believes in him anymore. Thus he decides to take the year off, citing that he is sick.

Mrs Claus then hatches a plan to prove that there is still Christmas spirit in the world. This will result in Santa going to work, apparently. But...he's sick, right? Doesn't she want him to rest and get well? I think that the whole "Santa has the flu" storyline just goes nowhere. They keep emphasizing it, he blows his nose like a trumpet throughout the story, but no one really cares. As far as they're concerned, Santa taking a sick day is the worst thing in the world.

Now, here comes a part I never really thought of before. Mrs Claus *forces* Jingle and Jangle to go down to Southtown and find some Christmas spirit. Watch them as they get on Vixen. They don't want to go, but she gives them no choice. Nice. She then totally throws them under the bus to Santa when she says, "They thought they'd go find some Christmas spirit." What? No they didn't. You made them! No one ever actually takes her to task for that little act.

Ok, so, moving on. Santa then immediately flies down to help them, and runs into Iggy's family, where the Dad sings about believing in Santa Claus, apparently because he actually met Santa when he was a child. Does Santa remember him? Nobody says. But at this point is Santa convinced that there is still Christmas spirit in the world? Has he decided to go to work? If not, what's he gonna do, go home and relax that day when he knows for a fact that Iggy has been converted and is at home waiting for him?

For that matter, somebody explain to me how children can say "Santa is taking a holiday" and "I don't believe in Santa" at the same time? Does that make any sense?

When Jingle and Jangle get to visit the Mayor, he makes them a deal. If they can make it snow in Southtown, then he will take that as proof that Santa exists. They will then celebrate by...giving Santa the day off. Huh? They're down there in the first place to prove that he exists so that he won't take the day off, but then they're going to give him a holiday anyway. Now I'm just totally lost. How was that supposed to work when they got back to the North Pole? "Santa! Santa! People really do believe in you, you can go to work this Christmas! Only don't, because the kids don't want you to come!"

Blah blah blah, Mrs Claus and her posse go to see Mother Nature, who makes it all happen. And here I contend that there's a bug in the actual production, since she turns to Snow Miser and says "You will let it snow in Southtown" and Heat Miser is told "You will allow one spring day at the North Pole." She either should have said "You will make it snow" or "You will be allowed", because the way she said it, it's backwards. It's not Heat Miser's job to "allow" a spring day at the North Pole, or Snow Miser's to let it snow in Southtown.

So then all the children have a big party to celebrate the fact that Santa's not coming. Believe it or not, I sort of get this, it's the part of the show that makes the most sense. They've seen proof that Santa exists, and now they're showing how much they love him by letting him know that he can take a break, and that they'll still love him next year. That part of the story is cool.

But then there's the little Blue Christmas girl. What's up with her? Are we expected to believe that none of the children are really happy, and that she's the only one gutsy enough to speak up? Or is she the only unhappy one, and Santa's willing to screw up the whole plan because the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many? For that matter ,exactly what is she unhappy with? The whole celebration / parade of gifts is the idea of the world's children, not Santa. So shouldn't she be addressing them and saying "Hey, I'll be sad if you tell Santa not to come"? And if she does that, doesn't it negate the whole "We love you so much we wanted you to know that it's ok if you don't come" thing? Is she greedy for a new PS3?

Or maybe she's addressing Santa's original idea to stay home because there's no Christmas spirit. So basically her letter is entirely unrelated to the whole Jingle/Jangle plan, and she independently heard that Santa was coming so she wrote him a note that says "If you don't come, I'll be sad." Again, this is one of the few parts that makes any sense. If you assume that the beginning is accurate - word got out that Santa wasn't coming - and then jump to the part where Santa gets this letter, it all makes sense. Everything in the middle is actually a big nothing.

Then comes the final musical number where Santa wakes up (again) and says "I dreamed unhappy things." We then go to credits over a chorus of "There'll be no year without a Santa Claus." So that backs up my whole "fever dream" theory. But Santa wasn't even in most of the action, so how could he dream the whole Miser brothers sequence?

Ok, lunch hour is over, I'm going back to work.