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Nim paced back and forth in the living room, chewing on his fingernails. His face was flushed, and his normally jolly demeanor was replaced by pure panic.
“Help! It’s Joe’s birthday tomorrow!” he blurted out, throwing his hands in the air.
Within moments, and seemingly out of nowhere, the Elves of Christmas assembled. Lil stood by, eager to get started. Pepper practically bounced in place, radiating enthusiasm. Flaky twirled on her toes with an airy smile. Smarti had already pulled out a notebook and pen, ready to take charge.
Nim’s eyes rounded. “H-How…?”
“Emergency protocol,” said Smarti, his tone clipped and efficient. “Santa and Mrs. Claus set it up in case of an emergency. This counts. What’s the plan?”
Nim quickly shook his head and moaned. “That’s the problem! I don’t have one! We have to do something amazing, but there can’t be any messes, chaos, or—”
“Messes?!” Flaky interrupted, her eyes sparkling with an idea. “What if we create an indoor snowstorm and—”.
“No!” Nim said, cutting her off before she could finish. “Absolutely no messes.”
Lil piped up. “We need to bake a cake! A birthday isn’t complete without one.”
“Organized fun is essential,” Smarti added, jotting a few notes on his clipboard. “We’ll create a detailed schedule of events.”
“Oh, let’s make a balloon arch!” Pepper exclaimed, clapping her hands. “I saw one on Sprite-a-gram. It was perfectly whimsical!”
Flaky raised her hand timidly. “Um, I could set up a zipline. Gretyl taught me.”
“Wait!” Nim shouted, throwing his arms wide. “No ziplines, no chaos, and no snowstorms!” He paused, his voice dropping to a panicked whisper. “We need to keep this clean, simple, and disaster-free.”
For a moment, all was silent. The elves glanced at one another, unsure of what to suggest next.
And then:
“The boys both love snowball fights!” Leonard the Giraffalope’s cheerful voice broke the stillness as he trotted into the room.
Nim spun around, his face a mixture of disbelief and horror. “How could you? I just said no messes!”
But it was too late. At being given permission to make a birthday mess, the elves’ faces lit up with excitement.
“A snowball fight!” Pepper squealed. “That’s perfect!”
Flaky clapped her hands. “I can whip up a blizzard in no time!”
“No!” Nim shouted, but his voice was drowned out by the flurry of activity.
Within minutes, the living room was transformed.
Flaky conjured a miniature blizzard, blanketing the room in sparkling, fluffy snow.
Lacking balloons, Pepper set up a snow-white arch made of toilet paper rolls, which doubled as a bunker.
Smarti marked out the snowball “battle zones” with string and made rules for the game (though no one was paying attention to him).
Lil shaped perfectly round snowballs, stacking them into neat piles.
Leonard gleefully tied a balloon to each antler. “This is going to be epic!”
Nim sat on the couch, head in his hands. “This is the opposite of clean and simple,” he muttered.
“Relax, Nim,” Pepper said, tossing a snowball into the air and catching it.
Just then, the clock chimed softly—Joe and his family were waking up.
“Everybody freeze!” Nim hissed.
The elves and Leonard dove for cover, leaving the living room looking like a winter wonderland. Snow glittered in the morning light, and the birthday decorations gleamed with festive cheer.
As the family wandered into the room, gasping with delight, Nim let out a small sigh of relief. Maybe—just maybe—it hadn’t been a total disaster.
a pinch of homestead 