Baja Humbug Helps Santa Bring Christmas to the Children

In the sleepy little town of Mulege, Mexico, the children know the story of the Christ Child being born on Christmas day and they also know the story of Santa and his sleigh, but most of them don’t believe that Santa actually comes to their town because there is no snow and there are no chimmeys to come down because the weather never gets that hot.

As the number of children in the world kept getting bigger and bigger, Santa’s elves became overwhelmed. There just wasn’t enough time to deliver all the gifts to all the boys and girls.

In some cases, Santa asked parents to help in the Christmas eve rounds he made, so that all the gifts would arrive on time.

Some Mexican children are lucky to receive one gift for Christmas and there are homes in the back country where children receive no gifts at all. They are just too difficult to reach in the rancheros.

Now there was this one Christmas in particular that had been very difficult in Mulege. The town had been hit by a big hurricane which brought tons of water down the river which ran through town.

The river rose 30 feet above it normal level and swept 200 homes along with it. Most of the town was submerged in water, over the roof tops.

Normally the children in the town had little extra for Christmas but this year, the families were lucky if they could replace the clothes and bedding which had been lost in the flood. There was no extra money for such things as Christmas gifts.

Still in the minds and hearts of the little children there was hope that maybe Santa would come.

There was also an old car in this town which had been brought by some American many years ago and he used it to travel off the road. It was a Baja Bug or volkwagon beatle rebuilt with large tires in the rear and a steel plate under the engine to prevent from damage when it ran on the rough mountain roads.

The Baja Bug hadn’t been used for years and while it managed to survive the hurricane and flood, no one wanted to use it because it was far to slow for the modern fast paced world it lived in.

Then the year of the flood, a stranger came down from Merced California and took a liking to the bug. He worked on the engine and put new brakes on the wheels. He took it on test drives through the out back and after a few break downs, the bug was working fine.

He even gave it a name of its own. The Baja Humbug.

It was bright blue and had a sassy blue sun visor to keep it shaded during the hotest days.

Now the Baja Humbug was no ordinary car because it had a life of its own and could feel and think just like any other person. The only problem was it could not speak. If it could have, then it would tell many stories about the past.

Baja Humbug was built in Germany in 1959 and shipped to the United States. Now it was 50 years old and could remember life as it was in the United States when it was brand new. It was first owned by a student who went to college in Sacramento.

It was sold many times and served many masters, but for years lay idle in the back of a house. Then the owner sold it to a car buff who wanted to rebuild it and take it to Baja Mexico. In those days, Baja Bugs were used to race on the dirt roads from Encenada to Cabo, Mexico.

The Baja Bug had made the race a few times before being replaced by a more modern off the road vehicle with giant shocks and tires that were suspended high off the ground.

When the latest owner repaired Baja Humbug, it was very happy and bouced around on its new tires. It was just like a kid again. But since it was raced anymore, it felt useless.

The one day in mid December, the owner was asked if he could provide a vehicle to be in a Christmas parade. He had a truck and that didn’t seem right and he had the Baja Humbug which seem perfect.

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Baja Humbug 2

The Rest Of The Story

So Baja Humbug was shined all up and driven to the parade. When it got to the line up, Santa was all dressed up in his Christmas finery, but there was no sleigh or reindeer and no proper vehicle for him to ride in.

The owner of the Baja Humbug said he would offer to drive Santa.

“But that little car is far too small,” said Santa. “Besides, how will I throw candy and little gifts to the Children?”

“That’s easy,” said the owner. The Baja Humbug had a sun roof which Santa could poke his head out of and throw all the candy and gifts he wanted.

“Well that seems like it would work,” said Santa who was running out of options. It was either use the Baja Bug or walk.

So Santa and Baja Humbug entered the parade and threw lots of candy and gifts to all the chidren in the town of Mulege. And they were very happy because for many that would be the only Christmas gift they would receive.

There were many other children out of town that would receive no Christmas gifts or candy at all this year.

Baja Humbug knew of these children because in past years she had been driven to a lot of their homes the back country but she had no way of telling Santa about them.

After the Christmas parade, Baja Humbug was driven home and parked in behind the Mexican palapa (house) where the American lived.

There were still several bags of candy and gifts left over after the parade. The owner hadn’t known what to do with them and thought he might save them for next year.

Things went back to normal in the little town of Mulege and Christmas Day inched closer and closer.

Baja Humbug hadn’t been driven since the Christmas Parade and it was tired of just sitting in the parking area with nothing to do. It was still bright and shiny from being cleaned for the parade.

Baja Humbug had never tried to run on her own without a driver. That was far too dangerous. If there was only someone who could steer, she could take them out into the back country and visit all the children.

She wanted to go so badly. That the night before Christmas just as everyone was laying down to sleep. She started her motor and reeved the engine a couple of times.

There was no response.

Then Baja Humbug beeped her horn a couple of times. Beep Beep she went. Then Beep Beep again.

Suddenly the owner came out the back door wandering what was going on.

“Is someone out there? How’s hooking their horn?” he asked.

But he could see no one and the motor was still running in the Baja Humbug.

“I don’t know how this happened but for some reason the motor is running in Baja Humbug,” the owner said.

He got behind the wheel and without touching the gas or the stick shift, the  bug slipped into gear and headed out of the parking area. The owner was in a state of shock but he had to hold on and steer the car.

“Well I’ll be,” he said as he shut the door tight and steered down the road.

At the first crossing he turned off the paved road and headed for the mountains.

He had nothing to do that evening and now he was curious what the Baja Humbug was up to.

They road through the hills of Mexico for an hour before coming to the first house. It had children playing in the yard and they ran up to the blue bug.

He grabbed a handful of candy and threw it out the window. The children scrabbled with joy.

With the blink of an eye the Baja Humbug was off to the next ranch and the same thing happened.

A gang of children and dogs ran for the bug as soon as it approached. When the candy and gifts were thrown out the chidren scrambled and the adults yelled  “Gracias, gracias...Santa”.

Now the owner was getting into the spirit of things, yelling back to the families, “Merry Christmas, ho, ho , ho”

And so it went through the evening covering hundreds of little ranches tucked into the mountain passes. Many had never seen Santa or had any Christmas, much less candy and gifts.

At last the Baja Humbug was running out of gas and almost all the candy and gifts were gone. Just a few more ranches on the way home and that would be all for tonight.

The owner was having the time of his life. He had never seen so many happy children and his arm was sore from throwing gifts and candy.

Baja Humbug pulled back into her familiar parking spot. She yawned wide and let out her last exhaust and the motor quit.

The owner was so surprised by the whole evening that he didn’t know what to tell people the next day, but he said, You know a funny thing happened last night.

My Baja Humbug...then he had a second thought. No one will beleive this story. I better not tell it or people will think I am crazy.

So he never mentioned it to anyone, but there is a legend in the town of Mulege about Santa arriving in a little blue bug the night before Christmas to bring candy and gifts to the children in far off places.