… As Santa reached for the door handle, Mrs. Claus knelt down and gave Emily a kiss on the forehead. “Don’t worry, my dear. We’ll find the answer. I am sure of it.”
With that, Santa slowly opened the door, hoping no one had seen or heard anything. But they were all shocked to see the entire town gathered outside.
Mrs. Claus laughed. “There are no secrets here, my dear, no secrets.”

(From The Day After Christmas: Part II)

Part III A Journey of Discovery

Early the next morning, Emily was up, dressed, and wearing her backpack as she waited for Santa to arrive. She wondered how they would ever figure out why some places still held the Christmas spirit while others seemed to have lost it.

I hope I can be a help to Santa, but I’m not sure I’m cut out for adventure. As these thoughts percolated in her mind, a voice called out to her.

“Emily, time to go.”

The voice was familiar, of course. Everyone here in Christmas Town was familiar, but it was not the voice she expected. Glancing out her window, she saw the team of reindeer pawing at the ground, eager to fly—reindeer never tire of flying.

She saw the sleigh with its new all-season covering for flying on days other than Christmas—Santa preferred to fly in the traditional way on Christmas Eve.

But it’s who she saw driving that surprised her. Sitting up front in the driver’s seat was Mrs. Claus.

Emily ran outside, threw her backpack into the sleigh, and climbed aboard.

“Where’s Santa?”

Mrs. Claus smiled. “Santa does a wonderful job delivering presents. He’s marvelous at it. But for other things… let’s just say you and I are better suited to handle this than he is.”

“But I thought Santa managed everything.”

“Santa, my dear, is the face of the organization, but it’s all the elves and I who make the whole thing work. Now, are you ready for the first stop?”

“Yes, Mrs. Claus, I’m ready.”

“Okay, but there is one more thing you need to do before we takeoff.”

“What’s that?” Emily said.

“You need to call me Emma,” said Mrs. Claus, with a bit of a twinkle in her eye. “It’s short for Emily.”

Emily’s eyes grew wide. “You’re named Emily too?”

“Of course, my dear. And I’ll let you in on another secret.” She leaned over and whispered in Emily’s ear. “And my name before I married Santa was Frazier.”

Emily’s eyes grew twice as wide. “We’re related?”

Emily Frazier Claus smiled. “Not only related, my dear, but I am your great, great, great times one hundred great grandmother. And it’s time for the Frazier women to get to the bottom of this problem. We’ve been doing troubleshooting for years, keeping Santa on his toes. There’s nothing we can’t do; if we set our minds to it.”

She reached over and pulled Emily close to her. “Ready?”

“Ready Mrs.… I mean Emma.” With that, Emily punched the information into the GPS, then snuggled back next to Emma. I haven’t even left yet, and I already uncovered one surprise. I wonder what else I might discover.

In a flash, the reindeer leapt into the sky and they were off…

Part IV: The First Secret