That was one of the biggest orders of all. It seemed like it had been
a month of Sundays
since they had started working on the
Big Apple
order. The parents of the children in New York were all
money bags
and the little boys and girls didn't really need presents from Santa Clause,
but Santa had a responsibility to provide gifts to all the little boys and girls.
This year the Elves had promised to
sharpen
their pencils
to schedule their work to get this order finished on time. Most people
never knew that even Santa had to come up with
cold hard cash
to buy all the supplies, and that Santa didn't have a credit card because there
weren't any banks who believed he even existed. This
year Santa said that maybe if the Elves
wished upon their lucky stars
they might get the vacation that they were always wanting and could never have. 
The Elves
took heart,
that although they didn't get to go on many vacations everyone including Santa
loved them and appreciated all their hard work.
Although Santa didn't pay the Elves, they were Elves (and everyone know Elves
have special powers) and so the Elves had money
burning a hole in
their pockets, but no where to spend it. 
Shouldn't they get to go on vacations? They tried to
convince Santa that they would have
have a ball
in the
Big Apple.
All they wanted to do was
blow this popsicle stand,
and everyone knows the North Pole is one giant popsicle stand. Vacation at the
North Pole was not as nice as you would think. They wanted a vacation that would allow them to see that
it's a whole other world out there.
They tried to convince Santa that they could do research on what kind of toys
all the little boys and girls would want for next year. They were very
disappointed that when
school
was out
and all the children got to go on summer vacation, they were at their busiest time
getting ready for next Christmas. There never seemed to be time for a
Elvin break! Santa tried to tell them that he
loved his Elves and would do anything for them because they were the
apple of
his eye. He sat down with the Elves for a
bite to eat.
He offered them all candy canes for desert but come on, candy canes were a
dime a dozen
in the North Pole. The Elves decided that they would all have a Big Mac, a large
milkshake, a large side of
fries and two apple pies with a muffin. Nobody else knew that McDonald's had
lots of restaurants at the North Pole. They truly were everywhere! When the food arrived they looked
at it and realized that perhaps their
eyes
were bigger than their stomachs. Mrs. Santa Claus wasn't there and
they all wondered why. "Speak of the devil,"
said Santa. Mrs. Claus said, "Cheerio".
They both though that was weird because who says Cheerio? They weren't
sure if Cheerio was from the
Canuck's
(from Canada) or the Brits (from England). They were pretty sure that Mrs. Claus
was from the North Pole, but the North Pole was pretty close to Canada. He told
Mrs. Claus
that the Elves had been giving him a
rough time
about never getting a vacation. He wanted them to know that
money was the root of all evil
, and having money
burning a hole in
their pockets was making them feel that they had to spend it. He told
them that for the rest of the world
money doesn't grew on trees
and people had to work hard for their money. Other people weren't like the Elves who
could actually make money grow on trees!
He thought it was important to show his Elves that he really appreciated them,
but that you couldn't
always have everything that you want. Santa told them that this time, he had
been
pulling
their chains. They were going to get their wish for a special vacation
but it would have to be just after Christmas. Santa said that he
kept
it a secret
until they were close to finishing all the orders. The Elves were on
on cloud nine
with the good news. 
The Elves knew that
nine times out of ten they never got any special appreciation from Santa but
this time they were going to get a special vacation.
In no time they were asking Santa questions about the vacation. They
were all talking at once and when Elves do that you can't imagine the confusion
and the noise. Santa finally told them to stop talking so that he could
explain. The Elves had been
night
owls
for the last six months and had been working extra hard to get all the toys
ready.
first hand,
that Santa had been working alongside them and was starting to look like a
bean pole.
Looking like a
bean pole
was not good for Santa's image. Who wants to see a skinny Santa. Santa
said that they would have to wait for Christmas morning to find out exactly what
he had planned for them. On Christmas morning all of their energies were at
rock bottom
because they had all been working like crazy to make all the little boys and
girls happy. It had been
a zoo in
Santa's Workshop. When Santa
hit town
back at the North Pole Christmas morning, he felt like having egg nog.
Santa wasn't a
bar star,
but after the night he'd had, he needed a treat. He had had a very
good day,
all the presents had been delivered on time without anything breaking. 
He
had managed to avoid being seen by any little boys and girls, but there had been
a few close calls where he had to hide behind sofas and curtains! A few
airline pilots had seen him, but with all the tracking and radar today, he
didn't see how he could ever avoid being detected in the skies! Santa could
get places
in a flash,
but modern technology was too much for even Santa to avoid. After Santa
had a rest, the Elves came to him and asked about their vacation.
Before you could say Jack Robinson
the North Pole was changed into a tropical paradise with beaches and palm trees.
The Elves thought that it was a
barrel of laughs
when they saw the polar bears wearing hats and flowered shirts. They
didn't know that Santa could do that! All the warm beaches and tropical
flowers were
eye candy
to the Elves who were used to seeing snow men and snow banks and snow plows and
SNOW! Santa said to them "one for the money two for the show three to get ready and four to go
now have a vacation WITHOUT SNOW!!" The Elves they thought that they
were as
American as apple pie
because they watched mostly American television! They had wanted to go to
the
Big Apple
for a vacation, but a beach vacation would suit them just fine. They loved
all the little boys and girls in the world, Santa and Mrs. Clause but right now
they mostly loved their well deserved vacation!
the Holiday Season story uses these exact same idioms. Check it out!
List of Idioms in this Story
