When he realized it would take forever to steal all the suits from the stores or houses in the whole town, he figured that was too much work, so his plan was now to steal the suits of all the new Santa Clauses! What a plan!

The newest Santa was an old man with white hair and beard. Paul disliked him very much because he was too nice to the kids and he pretended to be the real Santa. After stealing all the other Santa's suits, he broke in the new Santa's locker and stole his suit.

What a surprise he got when Santa came out of the changing room in another Santa suit. Paul was upset. Where did Santa get another suit so quickly? He went in with no bag and he, Paul took the last suit.

The next day Paul stole Santa's suits again but this time he hid in the locker room to see what the old man was up to. When Santa arrived he opened the locker and there was a new suit. When Paul checked his back pack there were only a bundle of old rags there!

Paul went home quite puzzled so decided to give the closet a check just to make sure all the other suits were there. Alas, when he opened the closet, several hangers with old rags were there. All the suits he'd stolen had turned to rags.

"How is this possible?" he said to himself.

"I know, next time I steal the suit, I'll just wear it!"

On Christmas Eve Paul hid in the locker again and this time he put on the Santa suit. It felt good on him and made him feel special. When Santa came in, he opened the locker and hesitated. Paul was happy but suddenly Santa pulled a new red suit from the locker and put them on! When Paul looked down on himself he was dressed in some ratty old clothes.

Santa walked over to his hiding place and said, "Don't you know you can't steal a Santa suit?"

"How did you do that?" Paul asked, still suffering from shock.

"I didn't do anything," Santa replied.

"Then how come you have the suit and I don't?"

"It's magic,"

Santa began: "The suit always find the owner. Santa Claus is chosen by the suit, you don't choose it. That suit will never grow old and it can never be lost. If I leave it at the bus station it will find me. Paul, Santa isn't about dressing up and making nice, it's about who you are inside all year round. It's a job but not a job, if you know what I mean. It doesn't start in December and end in December. Being Santa Claus is your life until the suit retires you.

"You remember when you were a little boy how much you wanted that video game and you got the bicycle instead?"

"I never told anyone that. How did you know?"

Santa looked Paul straight in the eye and that's when Paul knew. This is the real Santa, he thought. The old man's cheeks were rosy red and his tummy grew as he finished suiting up. But the eyes were the dead give away as they twinkled when he spoke. No one could fake that.

Since that Christmas Eve night, Paul stopped drinking. The next Christmas he got his job back, but what he didn't know, is that in a few years he would be wearing the same suit he had been trying to steal .