The Magical Night

Twas the day before Christmas and all through the North Pole all the elves were working as the final hour drew near.  Well, perhaps not all the elves!

Snowflake was walking through the Toy Factory and he heard a strange sound amidst the happy chatter of the other elves and the whirring sound of the toys.  He looked around and soon spotted the source.  Over at the table in the corner.  Jinx and Jangle were snoring away with their heads on the table.  Snowflake thought he would have some fun and grabbed some cymbals that were nearby and crashed them together. He had never seen Jinx and Jangle jump so high before!   He quickly scurried away as they were looking around, rubbing their eyes, wondering what had happened.

“Well, I am awake now, how about you Jangle?”  Jangle just shook his head as he was still waiting for his heart to stop beating so hard.

“Lets get back to work, for today is the Big Day!  Tonight we may get our first team of our own reindeer!”   Jinx said with an excited tone to his voice.

“Oh I can’t wait!!” replied Jangle,  ” Surely this will be our year!”

“Yes, our year indeed!”,  Jinx was talking as he was testing the wind up “Pop goes the Weasel” toy.  He wasn’t paying attention and when the weasel popped up he jumped, making Jangle laugh.

“That weasel gets you all the time, doesn’t it!”

“Oh don’t pay attention to me, concentrate on your reading!”, Jinx replied.

Jangle was reading “Twas the Night Before Christmas”,  making sure all the reindeer’s names were correctly spelled.

They steadily worked through the day, singing as they worked.  Jinx was even dancing a little jig as he worked.  They both had trouble containing their excitement awaiting the big announcement from Santa about the reindeer teams.

At last the end of the day came.  Jangle had approved the final book and Jinx had turned the last “Pop Goes the Weasel” toy.  They both had cautiously fixed the tuba like toy that had sprayed sparkly confetti all over Jinx before.

Everyone was standing outside awaiting the arrival of Santa and all the teams of reindeer.  Jinx was still dancing a jig in nervous anticipation.  “Patience my friend”, said Jangle.  “Take a deep breath and smile!”

At that moment Jinx’s foot slipped as he was was dancing and down he went into a pile of snow.  “Poor Jinx”,  Snowflake said,  as he threw a snowball at him when he was down.  “Yes Poor Jinx!” someone else cried as another snowball flew through the air.  Soon Jinx and Jangle and the other elves were involved in a massive snowball battle.

It came to a stop when they heard Santa’s  cheery, loud “HO-HO-HO!”  They all quickly brushed themselves off and turned their attention to jolly Santa.  He smiled and surprised them all as he pulled out a few snowballs from under his big red coat and let them fly into the crowd. After all, Santa enjoyed a good sense of humor too!

Splat!  The snowballs hit Jinx and Jangle.  Their friend Frost was standing nearby but had moved away just in time.  He smiled at them and said, ” Poor Jinx”, “Poor Jangle.”

Santa let out a deep belly laugh and then cleared his throat to give the big news.  “It is that time again.  Time to call out the names of the reindeer teams.  I know all of you are excited.  Just remember even if you don’t get a team, you are still very important!  There is still important work that we need you to do here.  Keep your heads up and your turn will come.  Thank you all for all the hard work that you do!  Now without further adieu I will call out the names of the teams for you.

Oh,  Jinx and Jangle’s hands were getting sweaty due to their nerves.  Their eyes were pinched shut as they listened to the names being called.  There was only one more team left.  Who would the drivers be?

Santa paused and everyone was silent.  He then spoke and said, ” For this last team of drivers I have thought very long and hard about it!  I consider this one of my most favorite teams of reindeer, next to mine of course.   I needed just the right drivers for this team.”

He took a deep breath and said, ” I hope that I made the right decision and don’t end up smacking my head, but please give a round of applause for 2 elves that have been waiting a long time for this chance.   They have worked very hard amidst some mishaps along the way….”

In  hearing these words, Jinx and Jangle’s eyes flew open.   They  looked at each other, “mishaps along the way”, he had to be talking about them!

“Jinx and Jangle Congratulations on your own team of very special Reindeer!”

Everyone started clapping and Jinx and Jangle jumped for joy and ran up to Santa with words of gratitude pouring out of them!

Their time had finally come!  They had made it!!  This was going to be such a special night!  A night that they would be sure to remember.  It would be perfect,  for what could possibly go wrong!

Santa gave them their map of directions and was busy instructing them on the names of the reindeer and telling them some  little facts about each one.  He was giving little hints of how to keep the reindeer going,  for sometimes they could surprise you and decide that they wanted a nap in the middle of the journey.  But there was no time to nap on Christmas Eve.  Some of them could be stubborn at times, and needed a little enticing.  He told them about the one reindeer who enjoyed jokes and how he could be tricky.

Jinx and Jangle’s faces were beaming and they were trying to pay attention, honest they were, but their hearts were so excited.  Their minds kept dreaming about the night and how amazing it would feel driving their own team of reindeer.   They could hear Santa talking, but their minds were talking louder.

“Well that is all you need to know,  you should be ready now,   any questions?”  There was silence as Santa looked at Jinx and Jangle.  “Jinx, Jangle, did you hear me?  Any questions?  You were paying attention right?”

“What?  Oh Santa, yes, yes indeed! Heard every word.  We are ready!  You can count on us sir!”

Santa smiled, telling himself not to worry.  Yes, his reindeer were in good hands he was sure of it!  What could possibly go wrong?  He shook their hands and patted the reindeer goodbye telling them to be good to their new drivers.  He thought he caught a glint of mischief in the one reindeer’s eye.  It was good that he warned Jinx and Jangle about him.

Jinx and Jangle  watched Santa leave and turned to each other with glee!  What a magical night it would be,  a magical night indeed!