Normally Santa was feeling pretty good about Christmas. After all, it was his special day. A real Red Letter Day. You know, the day on the calendar that is outlined in red. Days like your birthday, Thanksgiving, Valentines day etc. He was afraid it was going to be different this year and he was feeling really blue (although he was dressed in his usual red outfit with all the white trimmings.) The reason he was feeling blue, was that he didn't like the sound of the weather forecast. It was supposed to be raining cats and dogs. All that rain would mean that the snow would get washed away. No one knows snow like Santa! Then his elves told him that they couldn't finish all the presents before Christmas. If he didn't feel blue before he sure did now. But he suspected that they were just snowing him or giving him a snow job. What it really meant was that they were hoping to go on a vacation to Hawaii or Arizona or anywhere warm because the elves really knew snow well and frankly, they were getting tired of shoveling it. The elves longed to be snowbirds. Living at the North Pole year around was getting to the elves, even though they knew that if they became , snowbirds all the little girls and boys wouldn't get their presents. So even though they tried to snow Santa, they knew that in the end they would feel too blue to ruin Santa's Red Letter day and had to admit that the only ones who got snowed were themselves. Before they had a chance to tell Santa the truth....(Choose where you want the story to go)

The Elves don't quit?

Santa gets angry?

The Elves don't give up

The jig is up ............ the cats' out of the bag

When the elves tried to snow Santa about becoming snowbirds , he said why don't I give you a hand . He saw the funny smile on the head elf's face. This was a dead giveaway that the he had something else on his mind. Santa said, "give me a hint , is there something up?" The head elf said that the elves were just snowing Santa and that they were not to going to give up on their jobs. Even though they would love nothing better than to be snowbirds . They all felt really guilty about Santa offering to give them a hand and helping them to do their job. The head elf knew that Santa had to give his best at making a list, never mind checking it twice and he certainly wouldn't have time to find out which of the little boys and girls were naughty and which were nice! So the head elf gave up trying to snow Santa into thinking the presents wouldn't be ready in time. He said that even though the lands of gentle breezes were calling to him at this time, neither he or the elves would become snowbirds this year. Santa said, "HO, HO, HO, just give me a ring if you need my help." and with that, the jolly old elf went back to checking his lists. Before he left he said to the head elf, " I know you'll give it your best and I'll even give you odds that you'll all work that much harder now that you have this snowbird nonsense out of your heads! You had me worried for a minute!

Finish the Story

Santa Get's Angry

Before they had a chance to tell Santa that they were just trying to snow him. Santa looked at the head elf and said "You're nothing but a lazy bones and it's heads or tails if I'm going to fire you! HO to you!" The head elf said, "Don't be such a hot head Santa. Just relax and keep your hair on. Please don't sack me, I'm not a lazy bones, just keep your head on and don't do anything foolish." Santa had always thought that the head elf was a good head, but he wasn't so sure anymore. After taking a few minutes to think about it he said to the head elf, "let's think about this, after all two heads are better than one." He thought maybe that the elves were having difficulties keeping their heads above water and maybe it really was heads or tails as to whether the elves would really be able to get the job done. He said "Maybe I was hot head and you're not a lazy bones and you're just snowed under. I need to keep my cool. He realized that the head elf had always been a good head and had always found completing all the presents on time had been a piece of cake for him. Now his best friend was looking like a sad sack! Santa felt that maybe he had flown off the handle. He and the head elf had always been good friends. He found it hard to believe that the head elf was really going to have a difficult time this one time. He started to get suspicious that something was up. Santa always had a heart of gold and now that he had cooled off, He said to the elf ,

you just take the cake

or I'll give you a fair shake

Take the Cake

"You just take the cake, I'm up to your bag of tricks." I think that you are just trying to pull my leg aren't you. The jig is up, tell me what is going on. The head elf was so relieved that Santa wasn't mad at him anymore! He knew that he had been lucky. You're right Santa. We were just trying to snow you. You are too smart for us. You know that I would take a bullet for you. Now let's talk about the special features in those dolls that you have ordered. We didn't know if we could build them the new way. It made us think outside the box. After all it's hard to teach an old dog a new trick. But we finally realized that we could use a new method. It's a piece of cake to build them now and the icing on the cake is that it takes less time your way. I guess you can teach an old dog a new trick after all. It's been a dog's age since we went out and had a coffee. Let's take a break! That snow keeps falling and so does the temperature. I think it's going to be a three dog night!

Finish the Story

Fair Shake

Fair Shake I've been paying you the big bucks for quite a while now and you've always been able to get the work done. If you really can't get the work done then perhaps I need to find a way to help you out. I've put all my eggs in one basket by relying upon you, but if you need to, I'll hire another head elf and maybe get some of the work completed at another workshop. The ball's in your court. "Do you want me to do that?" The head elf said, "Be my guest get yourself another workshop. Maybe you should just take away my job! After all, a new broom sweeps clean and maybe a new head elf will be able to get the gifts made on time." Santa realized that he couldn't just find another workshop that easily. He knew that by talking to the head elf this way that he had just added insult to injury. His old friend had said things that made Santa say things that had hurt the head elf's feelings. He didn't want to get rid of the head elf and he didn't want to find another workshop to complete the toys. He realized that the whole problem was nothing but a hill of beans. He had simply added fuel to the fire by saying things hurtful. If he had only been more understanding the head elf wouldn't be so angry and be thinking that Santa was a bird brain! He really hadn't given the head elf a fair shake after all. With that he said to the head elf, "I'm really sorry. Is there anything I can do to make things better between us?" The head elf realized that he too had added fuel to the fire and said, "I'm sorry too Santa, I can get all the gifts finished in time, I was just feeling a little tired and wanted some sympathy, let's all get to work and get those presents finished."

Finish the Story

Santa is Happy as a Clam

Despite all of the worries about being able to deliver his presents, Christmas really turned out to be perfect. It was not a slow day. Getting all the presents to all the boys and girls had not been a snap. At times the air had been blue and it seemed like getting finished might be a long shot. All the elves, Mrs. Claus and Santa had put their noses to the grindstone and completed all the presents on time. Santa had harnessed up all the reindeer to the sleigh. Rudolph did his usual guiding of the sleigh and the presents had all been delivered on time. All the children were happy and all the parents had worked around the clock to make Christmas Day a real red letter day. Santa no longer felt blue in his red and white suit. The rain never happened which meant that Santa didn't get. He also wasn't all wet! He knew his elves needed a holiday from the snow so even though they had tried to snow him, he sent them south for a two week vacation. All the elves went bananas and became snowbirds after all. (Imagine an elf that turns into a banana and a snowbird at the same time. They looked really funny)

Read the Story again and choose a different story