Cast member and executive producer Anthony Anderson (R) gestures next to co-stars Laurence Fishburne (L) and Tracee Ellis Ross
IN PHOTO: Cast member and executive producer Anthony Anderson (R) gestures next to co-stars Laurence Fishburne (L) and Tracee Ellis Ross at a panel for the ABC television series "Black-ish" during the Television Critics Association Cable Summer Press Tour in Beverly Hills, California July 15, 2014. Reuters

Christmas is in the air and in ABC's new comedy series "Black-ish," the Christmas special is all about Santa Claus. Andre Johnson is determined to prove that a black Santa can work in a white Christmas.

Andre has been working for the same advertising agency for years and for as long as he can remember, his colleague Fred Garner always plays the part of Santa Claus during the company Christmas parties. Fred is an overweight low level account manager in the company and is relatively insignificant for 364 days of the year. However, during Christmas time, the tubby middle aged white man becomes the star of the show when he puts on the red suit to hand out presents to the employees' kids at the Christmas party.

Just before Christmas this year, Fred dropped dead while at the lunch table, leaving the company without a Santa Claus for the party. Andre has a special connection with Santa. He feels that this is his chance to shine and show his kids the significance that Santa should have in every family's Christmas celebration. Andre started to pitch for the job and even pointed out that the White House was always perceived to be a place for white people only until very recently. He sets out to encourage his boss to think outside the box when choosing the company's new Santa Claus.

When his boss returns from Fred's funeral, he announces that he has chosen the company's HR manager, Angelica Rodriguez to be the new Santa. Andre is appalled that his boss chose a Mexican woman to do the job. Andre speaks to Angelica and notices that she has an odd rendition of Santa's "Ho,ho,ho!" He points it out to his boss who doesn't like Angelica's laugh either and decides to give Andre the job.

At the party, Andre thinks that he's got his mission accomplished. It is finally announced that he is this year's Santa Claus. The children squeal hearing that. Unfortunately, he looks around and finds no gifts. Angelica then comes over and reminds him that the company Santa is also in charge of doing a toy drive to generate gifts for the children. Since he didn't do it, there were no gifts to give.

The children are left disappointed and Andre is accused of ruining Christmas for everyone. Andre then springs into action and recruits his children to help him out. They all head out to the toy store and clean out the shelves. They set out to deliver gifts one by one to all the employees' homes so that Andre can live to say that he isn't the first and the worst black Santa ever.

Contact the writer at: ishcaparras@yahoo.com