Title: Santa Claus of Hazzard

Rating: G (K)

Description: The Dukes are gonna have a very merry Christmas indeed... including a visit from Santa himself.

Setting: Duke household way back when the Dukes were young

A/N: This is my first Dukes Christmas special... Be on the lookout for more in the near future.

Santa Claus of Hazzard

Now, you may or may not believe in a Santa Claus. He's one of the great mysteries of Christmas, and none say for sure whether or not he exists. It's always a debate whether or not to tell kids that he exists.

In the Duke household, the kids grew up believing in good ol' Saint Nick, and every year he came around to deliver presents without fail…

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"Now kids, you'd all better get on off to bed so Santa can bring your presents," Uncle Jesse warned his niece and nephews. "Because he knows when you're sleeping, and he knows when you're awake!"

Sitting around the dinner table after a late Christmas Eve snack, all three little Duke children smiled.

"We'll go off to bed right away, Uncle Jesse," little Daisy assured.

"Well, not right away," Jesse corrected. "You'd all be off to brush your little teeth first. We don't need no rotten teeth for Christmas, now do we?"

"No, sir," they chorused, already off and running towards the bathroom.

Jesse smiled as Daisy, Bo and Luke all scampered off, thinking of how special they were to him. All three of them were like his own children instead of his orphaned niece and nephews.

Luke, the oldest, was just now reaching ten years of age, and already becoming a young man. Jesse felt the little guy had too much practicality in his little dark-haired head for his own good, but he was smart, and had a good heart that outweighed the no-nonsense head.

Little Daisy was nine, pretty and the little angel of the family. Being in a house with five men, she was getting an upbringing definitely tinted towards masculinity, but despite all of her talents in "guy things" like shooting and fishing, she kept her little girly personality well. That was easy to see by the way she already captured boys' hearts with her drop dead good looks, inherited from her late mother.

And the youngest was Bo. Just now seven years old, he was a smooth talker, and a little too gullible, especially when it came to his older cousin Luke, who teased him like a brother. He was going to turn out to be quite a charmer when he grew up; Jesse could see it clear as day.

Well, kids, Uncle Jesse loves y'all, he thought at them. Merry Christmas.

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"Y'all know Santa ain't real," Luke said around his toothbrush and a mouthful of toothpaste.

"What?" Daisy exclaimed, whirling to face her older cousin. "'Course he's real."

Luke adamantly shook his head. "No, he ain't. I figured that out recently. Grown-ups just tell kids that so they go to bed early on Christmas Eve."

Bo said nothing into the argument, but just kept on silently brushing away at his teeth and listening.

"You sayin' Uncle Jesse lies to us?" Daisy angrily retorted.

"No, he just sorta bends the truth a little."

"Well, now—"

Bo saw his spirited cousin Daisy about to launch into a long argument with Luke, and decided to intervene. "Hey, what does it matter? Someone could just stay up and see if Santa's really real."

"Fine," Luke replied. "And since it was your suggestion, you can do it."

"And remember Bo," Daisy added, wagging her finger, "he knows when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake!"

Jeez, Bo, what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into now? he thought.

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The living room's grandfather clock was chiming midnight when Santa Claus, in all of his red clothed glory, gently tip-toed his way into the Dukes' main room, sliding his big sack of presents from his shoulder.

"Santa?" came a gentle, surprised voice from across the room, near the doorway to the farmhouse's bedrooms.

Turning his head, Santa saw through his thick glasses young Bo Duke standing there, staring at him intently. "Well now, what is it, Bo?" he asked.

"I was supposed to stay up and see if you were real," the boy replied.

"If I was real?" He gave a deep laugh that shook his whole body. "Now, why ever would you do that, child?"

"Luke said you weren't real. He was wrong."

Smiling, Santa nodded. "Yes, that he was."

"Luke, Daisy!" he hollered. "Come quick, Santa's here!"

Within moments, a sleepy Daisy and a groggy Luke were hurrying into the living room. When Daisy saw Santa, she immediately shrieked in delight. Luke, on the other hand, skeptically crossed his arms.

"That ain't Santa, it's just some ol' coot pretending to be," he insisted. "I bet his beard ain't even real."

"It is real, young disbeliever," Santa announced. "You just come over here and give it a tug."

Warily, Luke stalked over and reached up to give the man's beard a tug…

"Ow!" Santa loudly exclaimed.

The suddenness of it caused Luke to jump. "What?"

Tilting his head and rubbing his chin with a black-gloved hand, Santa said, "That hurt, Luke!"

"Well I think you've just discovered the beard is real," Daisy retorted. "And that he knows your name. So why won't you believe he's Santa Claus?"

"Because he ain't," Luke insisted.

"Well then I guess you won't be getting any presents then," Santa said, turning to leave.

"No!" Luke immediately protested. "I still want my presents."

Reaching out, Santa "magically" made a big black bag of presents appear from behind a chair.

"See!" Bo exclaimed excitedly. "He is real! He can make things appear and disappear!"

"Well, alright, then. I suppose he is real." Luke's voice was reluctant, but admitting.

"Ha," Daisy declared, flamboyantly flaunting her success. "I told you he was real!"

"If you're really Santa Claus, you're really delivering presents, and you really can grant wishes, right?" Luke said to Santa Claus.

"To a certain extent," the old man replied.

"Could you give our Uncle Jesse something special?" Bo asked earnestly. "He's so special, and we all love him, but we don't have anything to give."

Touched by the child's words, Santa smiled. "That's all your Uncle wants: your love. The best gifts are from the heart."

"We understand," the three children replied.

"Now then, you'd best get back off to bed, kids, so you can wake up bright and early to open your presents," Santa said, shooing the children back towards their respective bedrooms. "And you, little Luke, were very wrong, and I don't think you'll be telling those little fibs again. Will you?"

"No, sir," young Luke promised, obediently hurrying with the others back into his room.

Uncle Jesse—garbed in his usual Christmas Eve red suit, complete with a red hat and black gloves and boots—just watched his little nephews and niece leave, a smile on his face. Yes, he only became Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, but he loved those kids like his own every day of the year.

THE END

Merry Christmas, Y'all!