T'was the night before Christmas...

...actually, no, no it wasn't.

The story actually began on May 1, 1960, when Gary Powers' U-2 was shot down by Soviet Air Defenses. This event sent shockwaves across the world admist the tensions of the Cold War, but we weren't the only ones who heard about the incident. Up in the North Pole, Santa Claus heard about this as well, and was quite concerned. Prior to this point, only interceptor aircraft were a problem, and they never even got close. But these missiles seemed like a new threat.

Now, I know what you're thinking, why would Santa be concerned? He only flies once a year, and given how fast he goes, pretty much nothing human could actually catch him. The answer is that yes, he is absurdly fast, but so much so that he likes to cruise around the world and aura farm after dropping everyone's presents off, and that wouldn't be easy if he has to deal with long-range missiles with the potential or capability to hunt him down.

So Santa, ever clever, thought of a solution: if his trusty old reindeer could best any technology not too long ago, then surely a more modern ride would be virtually invincible to modern technologies.

So the day after Thanksgiving (the APPROPRIATE time to start celebrating Christmas, smh what is with this Halloween-to-Christmas propaganda), he snuck into an American boneyard and sto-... politely borrowed an old F-86, and took it to his engineering division for ✨magical restoration and improvements✨.

And now, this is where it t'was finally the night before Christmas. After nearly a month of work, the Sabre was ready for action, and Santa came to say:

"Why are its stripes still yellow"
"We couldn't get them red and green time sir"
"..."

Despite the slight mishap, the show must go on! Santa took to the skies in his new Sabre, and after the presents were delivered in like half a second, the aura farming could begin... and the rest is history.

So in short, now you know how Santa bypasses air defenses on Christmas Eve lol

Merry Christmas! :D