Inside Santa’s Workshop

 

“All I want for Christmas is a Hippopotamus,,,!” sang Alabaster as he was putting finishing touches on a toy. Tink looked at Alabaster, “You do realize this is the 3rd time in a row that you are singing that song, right?” Snowball gave Tink a wink and pushed a button on his toy of a chipmunk that was hula hooping.  The Chipmunk Christmas song of Alvin wanting a hula hoop drowned out Alabaster’s singing, much to his dismay!

Tink smiled and went back to was working on putting together a counting toy for kids. He was very happy in helping kids learn how to count. Working with numbers was his favorite thing to do. That was why he loved being Santa’s accountant, but today they needed all the elves to work on the toys! It was Christmas Eve and they were racing against the clock! 

Jinx had finished making the toy xylophone and was having fun playing it. After all he had to make sure that it worked. Jangle had a pair of headphones on that he was testing. Everyone was busy, and Chef Salvo was keeping the coffee flowing for them! He also had plenty of Eggnog available, for you had to have Eggnog at Christmas. Snowball  wasn’t a coffee drinker, but he was guzzling down the Eggnog. 

“Watch out that the reindeer don’t run over you with all that Eggnog that you are drinking. Remember what happened to Grandma!” Jinx said to him, and soon Alabaster was singing “Grandma got run over by a reindeer!” 

Snowball rolled his eyes, as he took another gulp and continued working on the next toy. They were making progress the list was getting scratched off and the toys for Santa’s sleigh were piling up higher and higher. They were all excited for the party they would have after all the toys were ready! Santa always gave them one gift on Christmas Eve. 

The cups of coffee and Eggnog kept coming and the music kept playing, accompanied by certain elves belting out their own Christmas tunes at times. Snowball started singing “White Christmas”, and Jinx looked at him saying, “Have you looked outside recently? You do remember we are at the North Pole, right, not Hawaii!” When Jinx said Hawaii, Alabaster started singing, “Mele Kalikimaka”. and they all started dreaming of being somewhere warm!

Finally each elf was working on their very last toy and they were all excited. The end was very near and then ,,, “What happened to all the gift wrap!” yelled Jangle.  His question was met by stunned silence as they all looked at the empty cardboard tubes of wrapping paper lying all around. What were they going to do now? 

“I have an idea!” said Snowball. “I will be right back.”  and before anyone could say anything, he was out the door. The elves looked at each other wondering what he was up too. While waiting for him they kept busy with bonking each other on the head, for what else did you do with cardboard tubes? 

Soon Snowball burst in the door carrying a big bag in his hand. What was in his bag? He walked to the center of the room and started pulling out rolls and rolls of colored toilet paper and throwing them to the other elves. There was enough to layer the gifts well. 

He walked over to his table with his friends and they all stared at him in surprise. “Where did you find so much toilet paper?” asked Jinx. “Oh, I always stock up on toilet paper, you never can have too much, right?” His friends just shook their heads, as they laughed. Alabaster grabbed a cardboard tube and bonked him on the head saying, “I deem you the Toilet Paper King!” 

It didn’t take long at all for them to finish up and a cheer arose as Jangle put the last gift on the pile, accidentally causing the stack to come crashing down. They all helped to restack the pile and then anxiously awaited Santa’s arrival for the party to begin. Santa soon would be walking in the door with his “HO! HO! HO!” and sack of gifts for his hardworking elves. When the song, “Santa Clause is coming to town” started. they all turned and looked toward the door. “My favorite song!” said Tink, as he danced to the music. 

Santa handed out the gifts and all the elves were delighted with a flitterygibbet toy of their own and then each of them got one more. Tink got a Sudoku book, Jangle got new sound cancelling headphones, so that he can rock away to his “Rocking around the Christmas Tree” music, Jinx got a new CD to add to his music collection, Alabaster got a book full of puns! The others wondered what Santa was thinking, for Alabaster didn’t need any help! Snowball got a new History book that he was eager to read. they also all had a small lump of coal hidden in their gifts. They wondered who else might have had a hand in wrapping their gifts! 

The party was fun, but it couldn’t last too long as they needed to get the toys loaded on Santa’s sleigh. Jinx, Jangle, Tink and the others started to head out of the party at the same time. Alabaster and Snowball were walking right behind Tink, when suddenly a reindeer came running towards them! They all jumped out of the way, well except for Snowball who hadn’t been looking. The reindeer knocked him down and ran right over him. 

He was dazed lying in the snow, feeling a little loopy, but the reindeer had lightly treaded on him so he wasn’t hurt too bad. Jinx said, “I tried to warn you about what happened to Grandma…when drinking too much Eggnog.”  The others started laughing as Alabaster once more burst into song. 

Later that night after Santa’s sleigh was loaded and all the elves had gathered to send him off into the sky, Candy Cane stayed outside looking at the stars in the sky, enjoying the magic of the Silent Night.