Scott Calvin's first night as St. Nick in The Santa Clause was infinitely more taxing than it might seem. In The Santa Clause, Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) puts on Santa's suit after he slides off his roof on Christmas Eve, finishing Santa's deliveries for the evening with his son Charlie (Eric Lloyd). When they arrive the North Pole, Scott is shocked to discover that, per the rules of "The Santa Clause", he has become the successor to the previous Santa.
The adventures of Scott and Charlie in The Santa Clause is shown as a mostly comedic journey of Scott learning to be Santa on the fly. In truth, Scott's very first ride in Santa's sleigh would have been a very rough crash course in what Santa's Christmas Eve trip across the world entails. With Scott as an inexperienced Santa, his workload for the evening would have been immense, and he would have had to deal with numerous other challenges, as well.
Scott Calvin Had To Visit A LOT Of Houses
When Santa slides off Scott's roof, it is not clear how far he was into his deliveries for that evening, and depending on where Scott interrupted him, that could have left the new Santa with an enormous burden to fulfill across the planet. Even if Scott got lucky and his town of Lakeside, Illinois was Santa's last stop for the evening, that still would have left hundreds or even thousands of homes in Scott's very first night as Santa. That would also be a lot to ask of Charlie as co-pilot of Santa's sleigh.
Disney+'s mini-series The Santa Clauses sheds some light on Santa's Christmas Eve travels by showing him zooming through portals to travel the world more quickly. Such a supernatural shortcut is pretty close to Charlie's own theory of Santa manipulating the space-time continuum on Christmas Eve. Still, Scott would have had no idea how any such magic worked that night, leaving he and Charlie at the mercy of wherever Santa's reindeer took them.
Scott Being Lactose Intolerant Created Another Problem
Leaving cookies and milk for Santa Claus is a Christmas Eve tradition around the world. However, it would also be a problem for the lactose intolerant Scott, who likely left countless glasses of milk and plates of cookies untouched that evening. Scott did have the chance to explain his lactose intolerance to Sara (played by Melissa King in The Santa Clause and Casey Wilson in The Santa Clauses). Still, many other kids would have been left scratching their heads on Christmas morning wondering why Santa turned down the cookies and milk they left out for him.
By the next Christmas, Scott has fully adapted to being Santa, with Sara even accommodating his lactose intolerance with soy milk (though Scott seems to no longer need it as Santa). Nonetheless, Scott's Santa origin story was a night in which running into barking dogs and gun-owning homeowners were the least of his worries. Indeed, with Scott Calvin dealing with so much stress in his first night delivering toys for every kid on the nice list, The Santa Clause is arguably a horror movie.