Ivan Tykovsky is a security guard at Hinkleman’s Department store and has come to despise the shopping element of Christmas. The holiday season means his workload of apprehending shoplifters and breaking up fights over merchandise increases.<br><br>When the Santa the store has booked shows up drunk, the six foot six, 240 pound, red-bearded Jewish giant is forced to stand in. Ivan isn’t happy about the idea, but there’s one compensation -- the diminutive Skip Mueller, an out-of-work actor who’s been hired as one of Santa’s elves. Skip comes to Ivan’s rescue, coaching the big man through his dealings with the children.<br><br>Ivan becomes an instant celebrity, and when a permanent replacement Santa is found, the store’s customers demand Ivan’s return. Will there be a special Christmas gift this year for a certain Jewish Santa and his special elf?

Santa? Seriously?

A half hour later the pair sat at a table in a local burger joint. Ivan was so grateful to Skip for getting him through the day that he would have taken the guy to any swanky restaurant Skip wanted. However, Ivan was happy that Skip chose this place, saying he liked burgers best. Ivan did, too.


They had gone over the day several times, laughing and joking about Ivan’s panic and the funny things that had happened—the two college-aged girls who wanted to sit on Santa’s lap and have a picture taken. They had both kissed him on the cheek just as the photographer snapped the picture, causing Santa to blush as red as his beard.


A group of teenage boys walked over to Ivan and Skip’s table. “You’re the Santa from Hinkleman’s, aren’t you?” one asked.


“Uh, yeah,” Ivan replied, taken by surprise. “How did you know?”


“You were on the six o’clock news,” another said.


“Oh,” Ivan said with a sigh. He groaned inwardly as he remembered that the remote TV crew had been at the store.


Chapter 6