trouble in santa’s workshop
It was almost Christmas Eve and Santa was doing a final check in the toy factory to make sure the elves were almost done building all the toys. Everything looked good. Almost all of the toys were ready to go out to the children’s homes on Christmas Eve. Santa was very pleased with what he saw. All the elves were happy too because all of their work was almost done and ready to be put on Santa’s sled for delivery.
Santa walked over to the last workshop to see what was going on over there. This workshop was the shop where the wooden rocking horses were made. When Santa stepped into the shop, he saw the three elves in charge of building the rocking horses. Two were sitting on chairs, relaxing and drinking hot chocolate, and one was laying on the work bench taking a nap. Santa said, “Good afternoon,” to the elves. “Hello,” the two of them who were drinking hot chocolate cheerfully said to Santa. The one elf who was sleeping just grunted.
Santa looked around the workshop to see the finished rocking horses, but he couldn’t see not even one. He asked the elves, “Where are all the rocking horses?” The elves just looked back and forth at each other but didn’t say a word. Santa face was getting a little red as he was starting to lose his patience because no one was answering him. He said, “I’ll ask you all again, where did you put the rocking horses?”
The first little elf, Jack, looked at Santa and said, “Uh…Santa….Sir….uh….we didn’t finish the rocking horses.” Santa couldn’t believe what he heard. “What?! There are no rocking horses? Why? What happened? Your workshop was in charge of making all the wooden rocking horses!”
One of the other elves, Holly, who was standing next to Jack, cleared her throat and quietly said, “We’re so sorry Santa. We did make all the rockers for the horses, but no one told us we were supposed to make the horses too. The work order only said ‘horse rockers’, not ‘rocking horses’. I guess we just misunderstood what we were supposed to do. ” Santa just stood there and didn’t know what to say. Finally, he was able to speak. “I can see how you would be confused the way the work order was written, but this is a big problem! Christmas Eve is tomorrow night and I have to be able to deliver those rocking horses to all the children who asked for one,” Santa let out a big sigh and said, “So you say that you have the rockers, but no horses to put them on....let me think what we can do.”
After a few minutes passed, Santa looked at the elves, shook his head and said, “The only way I think this problem can be solved is if the three of you stay up all night working on building the horses. The children cannot be disappointed. When the children who asked for one look for the rocking horses under their Christmas trees on Christmas morning, there absolutely needs to be rocking horses there for them. We just can’t disappoint them. So there’s no time to waste. You all better get moving so you can get those horses made in time!” Santa heard Mrs. Claus calling for him, so he turned to the elves and said, “I will come back to help you after I eat my supper, but in the meantime, you all better get started.” Then Santa left to go eat his dinner.
Holly looked at Jack and said, “I feel so bad. We didn’t know we were supposed to make the whole rocking horse. Can we do this?” Jack looked at Holly, shrugged his shoulders and said, “I don’t know, but I do know that if we don’t get moving, we won’t get them done, so let’s get going.”
As Holly and Jack started to walk over to the woodpile for wood to start on the horses, they looked over and saw the other elf, Chip, still napping. Jack said, “Chip, come on buddy! Get up and come help us. We have a lot of work to get done before tomorrow.” Chip rubbed his sleepy eyes as he walked over to where Holly and Jack were going through a pile of wood. “What’s up?” Chip asked. “We’ll explain more later, but it turns out we were supposed to make the whole rocking horse, not just the rockers, and Santa wants us to finish making all of them by morning,” explained Holly. “Oh boy,” said Chip, “I’m glad I took that nap because it looks like we’re going to be up all night.”
Holly, Jack and Chip worked very hard and already had two horses completely made, except for being attached to the rockers by the time Santa returned. All three of the elves were very hungry, so they were very happy to see that Santa brought a big bag full of sandwiches, cookies and pop. Santa said, “Mrs. Claus knew you would be hungry, so she made some food for you. Take a break. Go sit down and eat so you will have the energy you need to make the rest of the horses. I filled my belly so now I have the energy to help you too!”
Holly, Jack and Chip ate their food and were ready to get back to work. As they started back on building the horses, the shop door opened and a big group of little elves came marching through the door. “Good evening,” said Jingle, the head elf. “We heard you needed help, so here we are! What can we do to help?” Holly, Jack, Chip and even Santa looked at each and smiled the biggest smiles they could. Holly ran over to Jingle and gave him the biggest hug. Then she asked them if they would be okay with painting the horses. “Yes, we are okay with anything you need help with!” Then they each grabbed a paint brush and different color paints and started painting all the horses that were finished.
With all that help, Holly, Jack and Chip saw things were moving along quickly. They would now have all the rocking horses ready in time to be put on Santa’s sleigh and Santa will be able to put them under the children’s Christmas trees for Christmas morning. The children will be able to rock on their horses all Christmas Day! Oh, how happy Holly, Jack and Chip were to have all this help.
Everyone worked through the night and by morning, all the rocking horses had been carved, painted and attached to rockers. The only thing left to do was to put them onto Santa’s sleigh. Everyone helped to get the rocking horses onto the sled and made sure they were tied down real tight so they wouldn’t fall off. Santa checked the sleigh and was very pleased that everything looked good. It looked like all presents were ready to be delivered to the children that night. Santa thanked everyone for all the help they had given. “Without everyone working together,” Santa said, “I don’t think the rocking horses would have been finished on time. You all will be making a lot of children very happy!”
Santa then told all the elves to get to bed so they could get at least a little sleep in before having to do the final checks tonight. After a nice long nap and then a filling dinner, the elves will have to do one last double check of Santa’s list to make sure the toys all the children asked for are on the sled. They also will have to harness the reindeer to the sleigh and make sure that they are hooked up good and tight.
Finally, Christmas Eve was here. Santa had to leave on time so he would have time to get all the presents delivered by Christmas morning. He wanted to make sure that when the children woke up, their presents would already be under the tree so that it would be a happy day for everyone!
Santa walked over to the barn where his sleigh with presents was hooked up to the reindeer, ready to go. He was looking real good in his red suit and Mrs. Claus had also trimmed his long white beard for the occasion. He was very happy because all the toys, including the rocking horses, were ready for the children and Santa knew these gifts would make the children happy, which makes him very happy too.
As Santa climbed into the sleigh, he looked around at all the elves, smiled and said, “Thank you all very much for doing such a great job. Now it’s time for you to relax!” He then smiled at Mrs. Claus as he said, “When I get back home tomorrow morning, we will all celebrate and enjoy the delicious Christmas dinner that Mrs. Claus is making for us!” He sat down on red cushioned bench of the sleigh, then looked at everyone again and said, “But remember, we can only take it easy for a little bit of time. We will need to start working again in a few days because, before you know it, it will be Christmas again!” He picked up the reins and asked the reindeer if they were ready to go. They turned around and shook their heads up and down to let Santa know that they were ready and off they went up into the sky.
So when you are opening your gifts on Christmas, remember all the work that Santa and his elves enjoy doing all year long so everyone can enjoy Christmas as much as Santa does!
I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and let’s all hope that next year Holly, Jack and Chip will remember to build all of the rocking horses and not just the rockers!
