But that's all right. This gives me all day today to compose today's holiday classic blog. It's hard to believe that this story that I will be featuring is over thirty years old, and was released right around the same year that I began reading Archie comics!
And since I've already featured Archie and Jughead in their own individual stories so far, I figure I'd make this one all about Betty and Veronica!
This is a story that first appeared around Christmas 1987 - in "Betty and Veronica #8". And no, it didn't take 45 years for Betty and Veronica to get their own title. This was the reboot after "Archie's Girls Betty and Veronica" ended its run at issue #347 earlier in the year.
So here's the question? How many of you wrote a letter to Santa Claus asking for a particular toy or game, and never got it? I think we can all attest to the fact that this happened to us at least once. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I asked for a computer book just like the one Penny had on "Inspector Gadget" and how I never got one. Though, eventually when I got my iPad, I realized that it was kind of the same thing. The point is, we've all experienced some disappointment at Christmas.
This is a story about Santa Claus wanting to do the right thing by granting the Christmas wish of someone whose letter got lost in the mail. And you'll never guess who wrote the letter!
The story is called "The Christmas Wish", and it's discovered by Rumpel, one of Santa's many elves that Betty Cooper's letter to Santa from several years ago was left unanswered! It appears as though it took a detour and ended up not arriving at Santa's workshop until nine or ten years after it was written! Santa is naturally embarrassed that such a mistake could happen, and vows to make her wish come true - even though Betty's in high school now.
True to Betty Cooper form, Betty's Christmas wish when she was seven was to make the dreams of her two best friends come true. Betty always did have a heart of gold.
One of those friends was Veronica Lodge, who at the time wanted one of each doll ever made. Now, would this be at the time that Veronica was seven, or the present time she is in? Because a lot of dolls were made in between 1977 and 1987. Either way, since Betty asked for Veronica's wish to come true, Santa must oblige.
The other friend that Betty wanted to grant a Christmas wish to was Archie Andrews. And I'm not sure if Archie stole Jughead's list or what, but his request was to have enough cookies to match his body weight at that time. Glad that clarified things...but still. 62 pounds of chocolate chip cookies? That's like five cases of Chips Ahoy!
So Santa and Rumpel set off on Christmas Eve, making special stops along the way at Veronica and Betty's houses. Rumpel is wondering why Santa is delivering the cookies to Betty's house when Archie was the one who wanted the cookies, but it seems as though Santa has a plan in motion that he's not quite ready to reveal to Rumpel just yet.
Christmas morning arrives, and Veronica is just waking up. It seems as though she has huge plans for the holiday. Opening presents, spending quality time with Archie...it's turning out to be a beautiful day...at least until Mr. Lodge calls out to Veronica to rush outside.
When Santa makes a promise, he delivers. And Veronica now has enough dolls to open up her own Toys R Us right on her front lawn! That would have been a fantastic gift when Veronica was seven years old. But now that Veronica is a mature seventeen, she is too old to play with dolls, and now wants them off the property at all costs. Wow, talk about ungrateful!
Fortunately, Mr. Lodge has an idea to help get the dolls out of there. He tells Veronica that he has already called a local television station and they have broadcast a story where they are telling any child that if they want a free doll to go down to Lodge Mansion and pick one up. It sounds like a good idea and Veronica is all for it.
However, what Veronica doesn't realize is the number of kids that live in Riverdale. Needless to say, when Archie arrives to take Veronica out on a Christmas date, the mob of people outside of Lodge Mansion looks like it would have back in 1996 when people were fighting over the Tickle-Me-Elmo doll. It's so huge that Archie is unable to access any of the entrances to Lodge Mansion. And given how large Lodge Mansion is, that mob must make the Black Friday crowd at Target seem small in comparison!
So far, Riverdale's children are having a great Christmas. Veronica, not so much. I get the feeling she must have been on Santa's naughty list in 1987.
Archie is left wondering what to do, so he begins to head home...but he stops when he smells the aroma of freshly baked cookies...and the scent seems to be coming from Betty's house.
Wait a minute...you're telling me that Betty had to BAKE 62 pounds of Archie's cookies by HERSELF? What the heck? Did Betty end up on the naughty list too? I really don't understand Santa's logic here. What was he trying to do? Even Rumpel seems a bit confused by Santa's logic. He asks Santa if maybe what he should have done was grant Betty's wish NOW as opposed to what she wanted ten years ago. But with a twinkle in his eye, and a smile on his face, he says...
Ah, so Santa really wanted to reward Betty for her unselfish attitude by allowing her to grant her Christmas wish...by giving Archie and Veronica what they wanted years ago. By keeping Veronica distracted with the demolition doll derby outside her house, it allows Betty to spend Christmas Day with Archie instead. Wow, that Santa Claus. Don't ever underestimate him or his logic.
Anyway, that is a wrap on Day #5. I hope you're in for a special treat for Day #6 tomorrow...because we're going all the way back to the 1940s for this tale!
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