- Father Mouse: [voiceover] Here's our first example of how you've ruined everyone's Christmas with your opinions.
- Father Mouse: Merry Christmas, Mr. Trundle.
- Joshua Trundle: Not very merry, I'm afraid.
- Father Mouse: You were right, of course. And it's my fault, my family's.
- Joshua Trundle: How so?
- Father Mouse: My older boy, Albert. First he insulted Santa and then... I can hardly say it.
- Joshua Trundle: Go on.
- Father Mouse: I'm afraid he got into your clock to see how it worked, and then...
- Joshua Trundle: Kerplunk.
- Father Mouse: Kerplowie.
- Joshua Trundle: So... that was it.
- Father Mouse: The boy has repented; he's trying to make amends right now.
- Father Mouse: You don't know as much as you think because you only think with your head. So you have a lot of trouble believing in things you can't see or touch.
- Albert: Like for instance, what things?
- Albert: That's it! That's it, Father. I'll fix the clock by midnight, then maybe Santa will...
- Father Mouse: You believe in Santa?
- Albert: I don't know. I don't know. But I've learned that I still got a lot to learn.
- Father Mouse: But son, you don't know how to fix a clock.
- Albert: That's all right, Father. Copernicus knew.
- Albert: [after Father Mouse has shown him Davy Thomas] But these are just kids. Grownups never believe in Santa.
- Father Mouse: Don't quite know everything, do you?
- Father Mouse: [voiceover at first, then we see him] "'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse."
- [looking up]
- Father Mouse: Well, *I'm* stirring. If only I could sleep; if only I knew. We've got trouble, the boss and me; *big* trouble. I mean, how would you feel if there was only three minutes till Christmas, and you didn't know whether...?
- [he gets out of bed and paces the room]
- Father Mouse: As we say when approaching a tall piece of cheddar - better start from the top.
- [he stops pacing]
- Father Mouse: The trouble began two months ago when the mailman came.
- Father Mouse: Albert.
- Albert: Yes, Father.
- Father Mouse: There's something we have to talk about.
- Albert: I said, "Yes, Father".
- Father Mouse: "Yes, Father", what?
- Albert: I wrote the letter. My friends and I, that is. "All of us".
- Mother Mouse: [reading the letter, not yet aware that Albert is its author] Dear Editor, Santa Claus is a fraudulent myth rooted in unconscious fantasies and emerging as a deceitful lie.
- Father Mouse: P.S., the reindeer are phony, too.
- Mother Mouse: Signed, "all of us".
- Father Mouse: No wonder Santa's angry.
- Mother Mouse: Who would send him a letter like *that*?
- Boy Mouse: Big words. It sounds like the Mayor.
- Father Mouse: Long words... long words... long words!
- Father Mouse: [voiceover] The same thing was happening *all* over town as boys and girls got their letters back from Santa. No one knew what it meant, but we grownups knew one thing for sure: we were gonna do *everything* we could to find out.
- Father Mouse: [voiceover at first, then we see him] Which brings us to where we were: three minutes...
- [as Father Mouse holds up his alarm clock, we hear an ominous chime, which is a signal that it's almost Christmas]
- Father Mouse: Three seconds to Christmas!
- [we now hear carolers singing "Silent Night"]
- Father Mouse: No chimes. No song. No Santa.
- Father Mouse: [after Albert tries out Mr. Trundle's model clock] What's the matter with you? You wanna wake everyone up?
- Albert: That's pretty neat. Does it work in a gear and pinion principle or an AC synchronous motor?
- Father Mouse: Well, it's more of a - a gear, what? Synchronous uh, who?
- Albert: Ever since Copernicus, Dad, it was known that...
- Father Mouse: Never mind, never mind, you may know algebra, son, but this time, the whole town's counting on this clock.
- Mayor: And now Mr. Trundle, if you will start your magnificent clock and its song that will make Santa Claus our friend again.
- Joshua Trundle: With pleasure.
- Father Mouse: [voiceover] After the clock went kerplowie, life changed for Mr. Trundle. No one trusted him anymore.
- Joshua Trundle: [as some grumpy customers leave with their clocks] Please. Come back. I'm still a good clock maker, really I am.
- Father Mouse: [voiceover] Winter came and things got tough for the Trundles, and if you think they had it bad... we'd have swapped our whiskers for a peanut shell or a round ripe apple seed, but meals don't fall from empty tables. Then finally it was Christmas Eve.
- Father Mouse: [voiceover] While the people were storming the Village Hall and the mayor was wishing he was somewhere else, *I* decided to give Mouse Bell a whirl and get the word from up north.
- Mayor: You may build your clock, Mr. Trundle. And may the enchanting tones of its melody *soar* to the pinnacle of celestial heights where... oh heck, get started.
- Father Mouse: There's Davy Thomas. The best artist in school, he made that picture of Santa when he thought that Santa cared.
- Father Mouse: Mr. Trundle's been hard at work making a special clock.
- [pointing to the model clock]
- Father Mouse: There's the model. When the clock strikes twelve on Christmas Eve, it'll play a song welcoming Santa. Does that sound like a man who doesn't believe?
- Albert: A song?
- [jumping onto the clock's face]
- Albert: Is that when the hands come together like this?
- [he turns the minute hand to 12, and music emits]
- Father Mouse: [seeing Albert crying] What is it?
- Albert: My fault... all my fault... I've ruined everyone's Christmas.
- Father Mouse: I know. I know you wrote the letter, Albert. You told us so, and that was honest of you. But as you said, it *was* your opinion.
- Albert: No, that isn't it. Something else.
- Father Mouse: What else?
- Albert: Mr... Mr. Trundle's clock - at the village hall. I... I wanted to see how it worked, so I climbed into it and...
- Father Mouse: Kerplunk?
- Albert: Kerplowie...
- Father Mouse: You broke the clock?
- Albert: I - I didn't mean it, Father; I'm sorry... so sorry...
- Father Mouse: It's not enough to be sorry; when you've done something wrong, you have to correct the thing you did.
- Joshua Trundle: [singing; repeated lines] So you hope, and I'll hurry; you pray, and I'll plan. We'll do what's necessary 'cause even a miracle needs a hand.
- Father Mouse: [singing] There's more to the world than meets the eye when doubts in your mind give your heart a try. Let up a little on the "wonder why" and give your heart a try.
- Boy Mouse: [seeing their letters they wrote to Santa are tossed down to them in the mail] Hey, wait a minute. This isn't for us, it's for Santa.
- Girl Mouse: So's this.
- Mother Mouse: And this.
- Father Mouse: And this.
- Boy Mouse: I spilled that ink. These are the letters we wrote to Santa.
- Father Mouse: The letters we wrote to Santa - returned?
- Joshua Trundle: [first lines; voiceover until we see him during the last four lines] "'Twas--the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in the hopes that St. Nicholas would soon be there. The children were nestled, all snug in their beds, while visions of sugarplums danced in their heads. And mama in her kerchief, and I in my cap, had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap". Ah.
- [looking up as he inhales briefly but mildly]
- Joshua Trundle: If only I could sleep. If only I knew.