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Smarti was…disgruntled. He had been following all the rules, setting up organized, educational activities.
Leaving out healthy Christmas-themed snacks.
Keeping order in his assigned home.
He even put Harold, that irritating Giraffalope, in his place the first night. Smarti, need help? Pah!
But…Santa had pulled him aside at check-in and let him know that maybe, just perhaps, he should ‘loosen up’ a bit and ‘have some fun’. Smarti didn’t understand why Santa thought he wasn’t having fun. Of course he was having fun!
Wasn’t he?
With a heavier-than-usual sigh, Smarti turned back to perusing the bookshelf, looking for the perfect book to read to an audience of stuffed toys. He’d made the mistake of asking for advice from Nim, of all elves.
“Throw a party with all the stuffies!” Nim had said.
“Not going to happen. Much too noisy. Next?”
“Pillow fight?”
“And get feathers everywhere? Next!”
“Marshmallow forts?”
“Hm. Maybe….but, no. The potential for a sticky mess is just too high.”
“Fine!” Nim finally huffed. “Just line ‘em all up and read them a story then!”
“Now that’s an excellent idea, Nim!” Smarti smiled at Nim who threw his hands up in disgust.
And so, he’d taken Nim’s advice and decided a storytime activity with all the stuffies was the least…disruptive of the activities.
“Ooo,” whispered Harold. “Eric doesn’t like that one.”
Smarti rolled his eyes. “Oh. You…again.”
“He does like this one though.” Harold held up a copy of Harold and the Purple Crayon.
Smarti raised a brow. “What a coincidence.”
Harold smiled sheepishly. “Well, he does.”
“Fine, we’ll read Harold and the Purple Crayon.”
Harold the Giraffalope jumped up and down. “And I’ll act it out while you read!”
Smarti rolled his eyes. Again. “Whatever, just do try and be quiet.”
Smarti settled in front of his captive audience and started to read the story of Harold and his purple crayon. The Giraffalope shrugged, grabbed a purple marker, and acted out each and every page.
Later, as he was writing another rule in The Book, Smarti realized his mistake was in assuming that Harold the Giraffalope would know better than to draw all over the floors and walls.
“Do not write, draw, scribble, sketch, or otherwise mark up floors and walls!”
a pinch of homestead 