Sometimes the guest of honor is late. Sometimes a shoe goes flying. The show goes on anyway.
Every child knows the feeling. You wait and wait for something wonderful, and then it does not happen the way you pictured it. Lori Ann Kozicky Goldstein’s Where’s Santa? The Sleigh Belle Dancers’ Mission and the Magic Shoe, a Christmas picture book inspired by a real holiday dance team, builds its whole story around that moment. The dancers are ready, the audience is waiting, Santa’s red chair sits empty on the stage, and Santa is nowhere to be found. What the dancers do next is the heart of the book, and it is a lesson worth sharing with every young reader this season.
Every holiday has a moment that does not go as planned: How do you help a child keep smiling when the big surprise is running late?
A Perfect Plan and an Empty Chair
The story opens backstage, where Lulu Chasse, a very active Sleigh Belle Dancer, is busy on the phone with Santa himself. She is making sure every detail is in place for his grand arrival during the holiday performance, and she is determined to make the event one that everyone will remember. The illustration shows her perched on a wooden stool in her sparkling red costume, an old-fashioned red telephone pressed to her ear and a “Holiday Show” banner hanging above the dressing room mirror. It is a picture of pure anticipation, and young readers will recognize the feeling right away.
Then comes the event itself. The Sleigh Belle Dancers line up in a neat row, ready to begin their much-anticipated performance, and excitement fills the air. But as the minutes pass, there is one big problem. Santa is nowhere to be found. The book does not rush past what happens next. The dancers begin to wonder where he could be, and their excitement quickly turns to disappointment. In the illustration, the smiles are gone, hands are folded, and Santa’s red-and-gold chair, with its little name card, sits empty beside the tree. Holiday stories rarely give children permission to feel let down, and this page quietly does.
Smiles On, Music Up
Here is the turning point. The Sleigh Belle Dancers do not let the disappointment stop them. With smiles on their faces and hope in their hearts, they keep dancing, keeping the holiday spirit alive as they eagerly await Santa’s arrival. They have not given up on Santa, and they have not given up on their audience either. The next illustration shows the whole line mid-step with arms raised high, while the crowd claps along at the edge of the stage.
That choice is the lesson in a nutshell. The dancers cannot make Santa appear, but they can decide how to spend the waiting. The story even leaves room for hope with a line children love to hear read aloud: perhaps, just perhaps, Santa will make his grand entrance before their final dance. Disappointment and hope sit side by side on the same page, which is exactly how they show up in real life.
Whoosh! When a Mistake Turns Into Laughter
Just when things are back on track, the story adds a second surprise. Lulu is dancing her heart out, giving it everything she has, when suddenly, whoosh, her shoe flies off her foot, sails through the air, and lands smack in the middle of the crowd. For a moment, everyone freezes. Then laughter and cheers fill the room. The illustration catches Lulu mid-step with one bare foot and wide eyes, while her red shoe tumbles away in a trail of sparkles.
Every child who has ever tripped at a recital, forgotten a line in a school play, or spilled juice at a holiday dinner will feel this page. Lulu looks down at her foot, wondering how she is going to keep dancing, and readers wonder with her. Yet the room does not respond with embarrassment. It responds with joy. In this story, the mistake becomes the beginning of something wonderful. A tiny puff of Christmas magic appears out of nowhere and swirls around the shoe, gold sparkles float toward the ceiling, and a warm smell of cinnamon and pine fills the room. Moments later, Santa himself is standing right there in a burst of golden light, with Lulu’s glowing shoe at his feet.
- Can you remember a time when you kept going even though something went wrong?
- What helps your family keep smiling while you wait for something special?
Turning the Story Into a Conversation
For parents, grandparents, and teachers, this book opens the door to easy, gentle conversations. Pause on the page where Santa is missing and ask how the dancers might be feeling. Point to their faces in the illustration and name the feeling together, whether that is worried, sad, or disappointed. Then turn the page and ask what the dancers decided to do instead. Children often find it easier to talk about a character’s feelings first, and their own feelings soon after.
Lulu’s flying shoe makes a natural follow-up. Ask your child what they would do if their shoe flew off in the middle of a show, and let the giggles come. The answer the book offers is simple and reassuring: keep going, laugh a little, and stay open to surprises. By the final pages, Lulu is overjoyed to be reunited with her magical shoe, slipping it back on while sitting in Santa’s red chair, and the evening has turned out more wonderful than anyone planned. That is a message worth reading again every December.
A missing guest can dim the excitement…
A flying shoe can bring the laughter back…
A team that keeps dancing makes room for the magic…In Where’s Santa? The Sleigh Belle Dancers’ Mission and the Magic Shoe, Lori Ann Kozicky Goldstein shows children that the show goes on, and that the best surprises often arrive when we keep dancing!