Four pairs of elfin eyes stared at poor Pepper in shocked awe after Santa had given her a stern talking to about the “swamp incident” and the “dangers of over-imbibing” on maple syrup.
“But…why did you drink so much maple syrup?” asked Lil.
“Er, it tasted good?” offered Pepper.
Lil tilted her head.
“I was…thirsty?” Pepper tried again.
Smarti raised a pencil thin eyebrow.
“Oh ok. She’d never had maple syrup!”
“Who on earth has never had maple syrup?!” Nim and Flaky exchanged incredulous looks.
“Lucile,” said Pepper miserably.
When all four elves stared blankly at her, she expounded.
“Lucile is…and this is going to sound crazy…she’s a giraffalope and she’s been helping me with the activities. We just got a bit carried away, that’s all.”
Silence blanketed the room as each elf stared at Pepper.
“Look,” she said uncomfortably. “I know it might seem like cheating, but there is nothing that says we can’t take a little help where–.”
“Leonard,” interrupted Nim. “He appeared that first night.”
“Gretyl,” said Flaky.
“Harold,” sighed Smarti.
Lil shook her head in wonder. “Mildred.”
Pepper’s eyes widened. “And they all appeared to you the first night?”
Four elves nodded.
Nim frowned. “How on earth do we each have a giraffalope at our houses?”
Lil puffed out her cheeks. “I’d never even heard of a giraffalope before this season.”
The others nodded in agreement.
“Something fishy is going on,” said Smarti.
“Maybe we should tell Santa and Mrs. Claus,” Flaky added.
“NO!” The other four elves shouted at once.
“Not yet, Flaky,” said Pepper. “Let’s just…wait a bit.”
Each elf flew off to their assigned homes in varying levels of distraction. What in the North Pole was going on?
“Er, what are you doing, Pepper?” Lucile the Giraffolope stood silently at the bathroom door watching Pepper as she shook, and shook, and shook a bottle green liquid over the toilet.
“Creating Christmas Cheer-Water!” Pepper chirped.
“Christmas…what?”
“Cheer-water, Lucile. You know, green water, red water, sparkly water.”
“Um…what is in that bottle?” Lucile pointed to the bright green, almost empty, bottle in Pepper’s hands.
“Food coloring!”
Lucile stilled, momentarily speechless. Then, swiftly twirled around and raced to the kitchen. Pepper turned back to the toilet, shrugged, and continued shaking the bottle until every last drop of food coloring stained the toilet water a bright, Christmas green.
“Hear me out, Pepper.” Lucile stood at the door again, holding a bottle of blue food coloring. “Swamp vs Lagoon.”
Pepper’s eyebrows creeped to her hairline. “I don’t know, Lucile. That doesn’t sound very Christmas-y.”
“Then we’ll make it a Christmas Lagoon! Ornaments, tiny Christmas trees, glitter, reindeer…the works!”
As she rattled off the list of items, Lucile pulled each one into the small bathroom and began running the tub water and dumping the blue food coloring in the bubbling water. “Uh oh! I’m out of blue, can you go to the kitchen and see if there is more?”
Pepper nodded uncertainly and flew to the kitchen, shaking her head uneasily. She searched through the cabinets but couldn’t find another bottle of blue food coloring…just red and yellow and…”Mmmm, Amber maple syrup. Maybe just a little taste…”.
Pepper found a straw and stuck it in the bottle.
SLURP! SLURP! SLUUUURP!
“What is that sound?” asked Lucile, peeking out of the bathroom.
Pepper glanced guiltily at the giraffalope. “Just a little snack.” She pointed to the now, nearly empty bottle.
Lucile shuffled over and peered at the label. “Maple Syrup? Is it good?”
Pepper’s jaw dropped. “You’ve never had maple syrup?!”
“Well…no. I haven’t been ali–around for very long.”
Pepper looked at Lucile quizicaly. “But I thought–.”
“Can I have a sip?” interrupted Lucile.
“Absolutely!” Pepper held the bottle while Lucile took her first-ever slurp of maple syrup.
Slurp. SLURP. SLUUUUUUURPPPP!
Eyes wide, mouth smiling, Lucile smacked her lips. “That was delicious!”
Pepper looked in horror at the now-empty bottle. “Uh-oh.”
Lucile smiled. “Don’t worry. They keep a ton of canned goods stocked downstairs. I bet there is more.”
The two friends crept quietly to the basement store room where they found not one or two more bottles of maple syrup. But an ENTIRE box of bottles of maple syrup.
“This is different,” said Pepper. “It’s Golden rather than Amber. Not as good, but still pretty tasty. I’ll bring a bottle from the North Pole tomorrow to replace the one we drank.”
Lucile eyed the bottle. “Maybe we should try it. Just to make sure it’s really maple syrup.”
Pepper smiled. “What else would be in a bottle labeled ‘maple syrup’. Lucile?”
Lucile grinned and opened the bottle. Then another. Hours later, by the third bottle, Pepper was zipping and zooming around the basement singing Christmas carols and Lucile lay on the floor in a pure sugar coma.
Landing next to the drowsy giraffalope, Pepper frowned. “Did we forget something, Lucile?”
Splish. Splash. Splosh.
Drops of water fell from the ceiling and dripped on Lucile’s head. She sat up, stretched, and yawned. “I don’t know—THE SWAMP!”
Racing up the stairs, the elf and giraffalope gasped in horror as they watched gallons and gallons of blue-dyed water whoosh into the hall.
“Uh oh,” said Lucile.
Pepper sobbed. “I guess this is my first entry into The Book.”
“When creating a swamp vs lagoon in the bathroom, don’t drink maple syrup!”
Flaky crouched, terrified to move a muscle. Where was she? It wasn’t as though Flaky spooked easily, but Gretyl the Giraffalope was so hyper and she moved so quickly, zooming and spinning around like an excited puppy. It was unnerving.
“Pssst. What are we hiding from?”
Flaky jumped a foot. Gretyl appeared at her shoulder, bouncing on her toes, trying…and failing…to be quiet.
“What’s wrong?” Gretyl asked. “Did you see a ghost?”
“N-no,” breathed Flaky. “Just you.”
For a brief second, so quick Flaky may have imagined it, Gretyl looked…hurt by her words. She quickly recovered, however, and launched into an interrogation that would have had the Elf Resources Department, or ER, hiring the giraffalope on the spot.
“STOP!” Flaky couldn’t take it anymore.
The hurt in Gretyl’s eyes was unmistakable now. Now she’d done it.
“I’m sorry, Gretyl. It’s just…you’re kind of, a lot.”
A sudden dawning understanding crossed Gretyl’s face. “Of course, Flaky. I should have known. They told me–.” Gretyl stopped talking suddenly, looking aghast.
“Who told you…what?”
Gretyl cleared her throat. “Oh you know. They…them. Those. So, what are we going to do tonight?”
Flaky, fear forgotten, looked at Gretyl suspiciously. Something was up.
“But, you said–.”
“Ziplining!”
Nonplussed, Flaky could only stare in confusion.
“We should do a zipline. Sabine will love it.”
Flaky brightened. The first few nights had not gone well. No messes or catastrophes, but nothing had truly excited Sabine. Sure she enjoyed the hot chocolate bar, new Christmas PJs, and gingerbread house kit. But she wasn’t bouncing out of bed, searching for Flaky as soon as she got up. Maybe a zipline would be just the thing to do that.
“Worth a try,” Flaky murmured.
Gretyl helped Flaky rig a zipline from the top of the tree to Sabine’s stockings.
“You should test it out,” said Gretyl.
“Me? Oh, I don’t know.”
“Flaky, you have to test your work. That’s the point of this zipline. It’s not as though Sabine will be able to do it. She’s much too heavy.”
Gretyl had a point, but Flaky hadn’t considered that she would be the one ziplining.
“Oh-Okay.” Flaky warily climbed to the top of the tree and positioned herself at the height of the zipline. One, two, THREE!
“Wheeeeeeee!” Thump!
“Well?” asked Gretyl after Flaky landed with a plop in the stocking.
“That was…amazing! You have to try it!”
Flaky and Gretyl took turns zipping down to the stockings. Giggles and squeals filled the air until Gretyl slipped, getting tangled in the line. Flaky flew in to rescue her—resulting in stockings being knocked over, ornaments swinging, and garland tangled around the room.
“Oh deer,” said Flaky.
“Oh deer indeed,” agreed Gretyl.
The Book: “Do try fun activities. Don’t turn the living room into an elf-sized obstacle course!”
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!”
“Oh that was so much fun!” squealed Lil. “My girls absolutely adored the hot cocoa bar!”
“My kid was unimpressed,” grumbled Smarti.
“Maybe it was because you set up an oatmeal bar,” giggled Pepper. “Not nearly as fun as chocolate.”
Smarti huffed. “Oatmeal is a much healthier option.”
“Mine built a snowman out of marshmallows,” said Flaky.
Nim remained quiet, unsure how to tell Santa about the mess he, and Leonard, had made. Should he tell Santa about Leonard at all? Was help allowed?
“Nim?” questioned Santa with a smile. “How did you do?”
“Oh, well…my kids were delighted with the hot cocoa…mess.”
“Mess?” asked Santa.
“Er, yes. You see, Leon–I mean I may have mixed up a few ingredients and made a bit of a jumble.”
Santa chortled. “Well, it’s the first night. There are bound to be a few messes here and there. I’m sure tonight will go much better.”
The others patted Nim on the back sympathetically, making him feel even worse about how his first night had gone.
“Cheer up, Nim,” said Pepper. “Tonight’s a clean plate with no crumbs.”
Nim smiled weakly.
***
Lil tiptoed into her house and peeked around the living room. Toys littered the floor, but all was quiet.
“Mildred?” Lil whispered into the darkness. “Are you here?”
“RIGHT HERE!”
Lil jumped a foot in the air when a small green Giraffalope tapped her on the shoulder.
“Oh, did I frighten you?”
“Frighten me?? You scared the sugar plums out of me!”
“Oops!” Mildred giggled.
Lil smiled, catching her breath and gazing around the room. “I had planned a big baking day for tomorrow, but I heard the girls’ mom say there was an inspector coming to the daycare and I don’t want to risk making a mess. Not that I would make a mess of course.”
“Of course not!” said Mildred with a wink. “So what are you thinking?”
“Well, I thought maybe we could help by finishing up the tree decorations.”
“Great idea!”
Mildred and Lil zipped over to the Christmas tree. A few boxes lay open on the floor with decorations that had not yet been put on the tree.
“Ok!” began Lil. “First, let’s get the rest of these ornaments on.”
They worked together to put the remaining bells and balls haphazardly on the tree, then stood back to admire their handiwork.
“Something is missing,” said Lil.
Mildred pointed at a pile of tinsel under the tree. “What about that?”
Lil grinned. “Perfect!”
She flew to the pile of tinsel and grabbed one end, then zoomed to the top of the tree and started wrapping. She flew around and around, twisting the tinsel over the branches until she landed with a ‘thump!’ on the floor.
“Beautiful!” said Mildred in awe.
“Whew!” said Lil. “All that spinning was so much fun!”
Mildred grinned. “Wanna spin some more?”
“Oh I don’t th–.”
Before Lil could blink, Mildred had grabbed her and thrown her onto a sit and spin near the toy room. Without a pause, she began spinning and spinning and SPINNING Lil on the toy.
“Mildred! Please stop!”
Taking Lil at her word, Mildred, with the strength of a full grown Giraffalope, stopped the sit and spin sending Lil careering into the Christmas tree. Ornaments exploded off the tree and tinsel flew everywhere
Lil caught her breath and clambered out of a pile of tinsel, surveying the damage.
“Oops,” said Mildred with a frown.
Lil sighed. I guess I have my first entry in the book.
“Use toys carefully—especially near fragile decorations!”
“OW!” whisper-shouted Nim as he hopped on one foot wincing at the sharp pain shooting through his toes.
Rrrrrufff!
A small dog, blonde and fluffy scrabbled in his cage, trying to find the source of the noise Nim was making.
On his tender tippy toes, Nim made his way to the kennel, shushing the pup and frantically waving his hands. “Good dog, nice dog. No need to be alarmed.”
The little dog’s tail wagged furiously and his pudgy face smiled in greeting.
“Whew!” said Nim. “Disaster averted.”
Taking a deep breath, Nim gazed around the room, taking in his surroundings. Blankets were strewn haphazardly on the couches and stuffed animals littered the floor. The home was well-lived in and cozy.
“Seems like a nice family,” he said to himself. “Now, where to set up the hot cocoa bar…”.
“Hot cocoa?”
Nim jumped straight into the air, falling back to the floor with a loud THUNK! He spun around to face a small, odd-looking, stuffed reindeer. Or, was it a giraffe? “Wh-what, er I mean who are you?”
“I’m Leonard, and as for what I am, I think that is fairly obvious.”
“Is it?” asked Nim before he could stop himself.
Leonard sighed, seemingly annoyed. “Yes. Obviously, I’m a giraffalope.”
Nim gaped at Leonard’s annoyed expression. “Oh, I’m so sor–.”
And then Leonard let loose the most delightful laugh Nim had ever heard.
“You should see your face! I’m only joking. Of course you don’t know what I am. Joe made me at a Build-a-Bear, brought me home, and named me. I’m the only one of my kind.” Leonard puffed his chest, smiling proudly.
Nim smiled. “Nice to meet you Leonard. I’m Nim.”
“Oh I know who you are,” said Leonard with a small smile.
Nim frowned. “You do?”
“Of course! San–.” Leonard stopped, eyes wide, and cleared his throat. “What’s in that bag?”
Nim gave his head a little shake, curious about the small giraffalope. “How do you know—.”
“Is that a hot chocolate bar? Can I help you set it up?”
Nim thought it over. There was nothing in The Book that prohibited outside help, but…
Sensing Nim’s hesitation, Leonard added, “I know the house pretty well, and am very familiar with the boys.”
Nim smiled. “Deal!”
Leonard quickly gave Nim a tour of the house, pointing out the boys’ rooms. Then, they got to work organizing the hot cocoa bar. Nim let Leonard take charge of the toppings, while he set to work making the chocolate. After a few hours of hard work, they stood back to look at their creation.
Nim frowned. “Er, Leonard…I don’t think this is quite right.
“What do you mean?”
Nim gazed over the scene. Sprinkles were scattered across the table, puffs of whipped cream circled the mugs and a giant pile of marshmallows was melted into an unidentifiable blob.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Nim sighed. The house was waking and they had no time to fix the mess Leonard had made.
“I guess we’ll have our first entry in The Book,” he mumbled.
“Oh? What is that?” asked Leonard.
“When creating a hot cocoa bar, don’t make a mess!”
Five elves of varying size shuffled their feet nervously as they waited in Santa’s cozy office for the man himself. Mrs. Claus, who had summoned them to this urgent meeting, smiled down at them with a twinkle in her kind eyes.
“No need to be anxious, my dears. Santa and I have a wonderful opportunity for you all.”
Santa announced his presence with a loud bang as he stomped his boots on the rug outside his office, looking a bit ruffled. “Darn that Vixen! Why he has to do his business right in the path to my office I’ll never under—oh, hello.”
Pulling himself together and leaving his soiled boots at the door, Santa padded to his desk and, with a happy sigh, sank into his overstuffed chair.
“Have you told them yet, Mrs. C.?”
“No my dear, I was waiting for you to share the good news.”
Santa smiled down happily at the 5 elves, each wearing a unique expression on their face.
Nim, taking the reindeer by the antlers, was the first to speak. “I think we are all a bit bewildered by your summons Santa, Sir. Why the secrecy?”
Lil, twisting her fingers rapidly, breathlessly blurted. “Yes Santa. We are all wondering what this could be about. I thought maybe I was in trouble for spilling the flour all over the floor, but then thought, no, Mrs. Claus would have reprimanded me rather than jumping in and making flour angels with me, so then I thought maybe we were both in trouble and so—.”
Smarti, rolling his eyes and giving Lil a stern look, interrupted. “I think what Lil is trying to say is…why the summons? Why the secrecy?”
“The winds whisper their secrets to me,” said Flaky. Smarti glared at him and rolled his eyes dramatically.
Pepper, who had been bouncing ceaselessly on her toes, jumped in. “So Santa, what is going on? Do we have a new assignment? When can we start?”
Santa and Mrs. Claus exchanged an amused look.
“Go ahead dear, as you can see they are all eager to learn about their new project.”
Santa smiled. “Well friends, Mrs. C and I are launching a new program. We’re calling it “The Elves of Christmas”. The program is meant to be a reminder to the children of the joys of the season and a break for parents during this busy time of year.”
“That’s right,” added Mrs. Claus. “After careful consideration, we have chosen you five to run our beta test.”
“You’ll experiment and get the kinks out before we roll it out to the rest of the world,” said Santa.
“How fun!” Nim smiled.
“How exciting!” Lil grinned.
Smarti remained stoic and asked, “Will there be rules?”
Flaky stared vacantly at the floor.
Pepper bounced on her toes, gleefully gabbling..
“To answer your question, Smarti,” said Mrs. Claus. “We will have a Code of Conduct to follow and will be sure to add any other rules, tips, or tricks that are likely to come up during this beta test.”
“What sort of activities?” Pepper asked Santa.
“Each night, you will go to your assigned home and set up a craft, baking activity, game, or whatever reasonable surprise your imagination comes up with.”
“Section 1, Rule 1.1 for The Book,” said Smarti. “All activities should be organized and mess-free.”
“Er, yes, Smarti,” said Mrs. Claus. “We’ll be sure to put that down, but there is a more important rule that you all must follow.”
Smarti scoffed. “More important than cleanliness?”
“Absolutely,” said Mrs. Claus. “Your charges cannot see you move and they absolutely can never, ever touch you.”
“Why?” asked Flaky.
“Because,” said Santa. “You’ll lose your magic.”
Five elves stared quietly at each other, trying to imagine a life without magic.
“Fine,” Smarti finally said. “Rule 1.1: Don’t let the kids touch you or see you move. Rule 1.2: No messes of any kind.”
“Sure.” Mrs. Claus smiled. “I’ll make sure to get that down.
“Ok crew,” boomed Santa. “If there are no more questions, it’s time for your assigned houses.”
Mrs. Claus handed each elf a folder with their charge’s name, address, and basic information.
“Wait a moment,” said Smarti. “My kid is on the naughty list? Should we really be rewarding bad behavior?”
“Part of this program is to straighten out children who have made it to The Naughty List. Since you have some experience working with rebellion, due to your time in the Toy Shop Daycare Center, we thought it was the best fit.”
“Yes, good idea.” Smarti nodded with an expression, approaching excitement, that worried Santa.
Looking at each elf in turn, Santa felt a sudden bout of nerves well up. Or, perhaps that was the 4th cup of cocoa he had at lunch.
“Ok team, time to launch the Elves of Christmas beta test!”
“Stripes! We’ve got them! We’ve got the whiskers!!”
All four excited elves came bursting into the cottage, knocking a peppermint lamp down and shattering a lightbulb full of sprinkles. Glitter, followed behind at a more dignified pace, her eyes bright and shining.
“Well done!” Stripes held out his paw. “Let me see them, please.”
Stripes examined the whiskers closely. “Hmm. Very strange.”
“What’s strange?” asked Nim excitedly.
“Yes, that is odd as well,” continued Stripes, turning the whiskers in the light.
“What’s odd?” demanded Figgy.
“And this…this here, very interesting.”
“Stripes!” cried Pixie and Lil as one.
“Look closely” Stripes waved his paw over the whiskers.
The elves bent their heads to get a better look and noticed the whiskers were shimmering slightly.
“What is that?” asked Lil.
“It’s the Northern Lights.”
“Er…come again?” asked Nim.
“The swirling lights represent the Northern Lights, and you know what that means.”
Nim and Pixie shrugged while Figgy and Lil shook their heads. Glitter remained curiously silent as Stripes’ sharp green gaze bored into her.
“What’s he talking about, Glitter?” asked Lil with a frown.
As Glitter took the whiskers, she let out a resigned huff. “It means I have to go home.”
“Oh that will be fun! We’ll get to meet your folks and —”. Figgy stopped short at the expression on Glitter’s face and decided to drop it or risk being incinerated by her glare.
“Alright,” said Glitter as she turned to leave. “Let’s get this over with.”
“A note of warning before you go.” Stripes’ ominous tone stopped Nim and Lil in their tracks. “Sparkly Sprinkles knows you are in search of this mailbox. I sent her on a decoy path, but she’s clever and won’t be fooled for long. Be careful.”
Nim and Lil nodded their thank you and followed the others down the path that would lead them to the missing mailbox and the lost letters it contained.
As Sparkly ventured deeper into the snowy woods, the lone snow spirit followed her, undetected in the swirls of the gentle snowfall and determined to lead Sparkly astray.
The wind whispered through the trees as she trudged along, trying to make up for lost time. Behind her, the snow spirit twirled and whirled, creating whispers in the wind.
Hasshheeep shaaset ksssshhhh
Sparkly stopped suddenly. “Who’s there?”
The wind howled in response.
In the distance a soft glow beckoned Sparkly. She squinted, and through the snowy haze, she saw what appeared to be a cozy cottage made of…gingerbread. The sweet aroma of ginger and cinnamon wafted through the air making her stomach grumble.
The snow spirit whipped the wind into Sparkly’s face, swirling and pushing her toward the cozy candy cottage.
As Sparkly approached the delectable looking cottage, the snow spirit added an extra touch of magic. The cottage’s windows twinkled with warm, inviting light, and the sound of festive music floated through the air…a refuge from the cold.
Sparkly hesitated, but another growl from her stomach had her knocking loudly on the door. Slowly, ever so slowly, the graham cracker door creaked open to reveal a sweet tooth’s delight. Candy cane pillars, gumdrop chandeliers, and frosting-covered furniture filled the room, coated in sparkling sugar of every color.
Sparkly’s stomach gave another mighty growl.
“And who do we have here?” Stripes the Candy Cane Cat slinked from the shadows, a light purr rumbling the room.
The mischievous snow spirit, still unseen, whispered softly to Stripes, revealing Sparkly’s identity.
“Ah,” said Stripes, listening to the spirit. “You must be Sparkly Sprinkles from the North Pole Gazette.”
Eyes widening, then narrowing with suspicion, Sparkly crossed her arms and said, “I don’t believe we’ve met before Mr. …Cat?”
“While it is true, we have not met, I do know you and your news column. My name is Stripes.”
Sparkly relaxed a bit. A fan. She was good with fans. She smiled widely and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Well, it’s always such a pleasure to meet one of my fans.”
“Hmm,” pondered Stripes. “Did I say I was a fan?”
Sparkly’s smile fell and her stomach once again grumbled. She looked longingly at the candy couch cushion.
“Where are my manners,” murmured Stripes. “Please, help yourself to any furniture or decoration.”
Sparkly hesitated at first, but soon found herself eating licorice lamps and peppermint placemats until she was so stuffed, she closed her eyes and sat back in a large comfy cotton candy stuffed chair and fell into a deep, sound sleep
“There,” Stripes smiled at the snow spirit. “We bought the elves some time.”
Sparkly Sprinkles sat at the back of the Frosty Snowman hunched over a large glass of Jingle Juice, grumbling under her breath.
“Those, those jiggersnots! Gone without a trace and leaving me without a story to tell.”
“What’s that Sparkly?” asked Sam, the tall-for-an-elf barkeep. “Ready for another round?”
She smiled a saccharine-sweet smile and then downed the rest of her glass, holding it out to the barkeep. “Fill it again, Sam.”
Sparkly was never more angry than when she was foiled and couldn’t spin a story. The premier Mischief Makers had been giving her fodder for telling tall tales and distorting events for days. But now, they were gone, leaving behind replacements who were altogether too agreeable and boring to be genuinely captivating. What Sparkly craved was a breakthrough, a hint that would lead her straight to them…and that meddlesome reindeer.
“…heard Santa has some sort of mystery to solve before Christmas Eve.”
Sparkly’s ears perked. A mystery?
“Yeah, I heard something about that too, Herb. Elphy Elphster was talking about it in the hot springs a few days ago.”
“He was talking to you about it, Norm?” asked the incredulous elf.
“Nah,” said Norm. “It was so foggy in there, he didn’t see me. But I heard him say something about a journey to find a secret box way up North.”
“A secret box?” asked Herb in hushed tones.
“Yeah, but there’s all kinds of obstacles to go through before you can get at it. But the first place to go through is the Whisper—.”
“Happy Elfday to you! Happy Elfday to you! Happy Elfday dear Herb-y…happy Elfday to you!”
The rest of the conversation was abandoned in the merriment of Herb buying a round of Jingle Juice sippers for the crowd.
But Sparkly smiled. Finally, she had a lead to follow.
a pinch of homestead 