Santa's sleigh tangles with jet fighter

ST. MICHAELS, Md., Dec. 25 (UPI) -- A Maryland couple say a tableau showing a crash between Santa's sleigh and a Cold War-era plane piloted by Scrooge is on display at their St. Michaels farm.

The scene depicts the aftereffects of a midair collision between Santa's sleigh and a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter from the fictitious St. Michaels Air National Guard piloted by "Captain Scrooge," The Baltimore Sun reported Friday.

Santa's sleigh full of toys has been impaled by the jet's nose, with presents strewn all over the place. Rudolf is stuck in the fuselage, the other reindeer linger nearby and the pilot is off to one side tinkering with a broken Radio Flyer wagon.

There's a sign on a fence proclaiming, "Oops!"

"It's a happy thing," Tom Blair said. "I meant for it to be humorous and non-offensive. I've probably got 99 extremely positive comments and one slightly critical comment."

Tom and Alice Blair say this is the latest in a series of unconventional displays they put up throughout the year, including Halloween and Memorial Day.

Tom, a businessman and author who collects and flies vintage World War II planes, said he wanted to bring in one of his planes for this season's tableaux, the Sun reported.

"I was thinking, 'What could I do with this?' and I had the idea of it impaling Santa's sleigh and Santa pulling Rudolph from the air intake," he said.