It was a week before Christmas
when I heard a knock on the door. I went to answer, but seeing
no one through the peephole, I went back to my chair. A minute
later, I heard another, more insistent, rap. This time I opened
the door and looked out. I was about to shut the door again when
I heard a loud “Hello! Hello!” and, looking down, saw a small
man with pointed ears and a long green cap. An elf!
“Are you
Kelly?” the little man asked expectantly. He
seemed about to burst with excitement.
“Yes,” I said, a bit
uncertainly, not sure why there was an overly enthusiastic elf
on my doorstep who knew my name.
“Great!” he yelled, pushed me
aside and going inside. He looked around with apparent awe.
“Wow, this is the first time I’ve been out of the North Pole,”
he said, still looking around. “I’m here on a mission for Santa
Claus,” the little man said, puffing out his chest ever so
slightly as he whipped out a notepad and climbed up on the sofa.
“His computer hard drive crashed and he lost his Naughty and
Nice list.” The elf seemed simply delighted by this tragedy. “So
I’m here on a mission to determine whether you’ve been Naughty
or Nice.”
“So what have you done this
year to deserve to be on the Nice list?” he asked, his pen posed
above the notepad expectantly.
“I, uh, I’m not sure,” I said,
uncertain as to what deeds Santa would find worthy to be on his
good list. The little man smiled broadly. “Well, just tell me
about everything you did this year and I’ll write it all down.”
He whipped out his pen and looked at me expectantly. “This is
going to be so much fun!” he exclaimed. “Tell me everything!”
"The
highlight of my year was becoming an aunt.
My
sister Amy had a little girl named Emma in July. She was 8 lbs.,
4 oz. when she was born and she's beautiful! This will be her
first Christmas, and we're all excited about it."
“Uh huh,” the little elf said,
scribbling in his pad. “Wow. That's cool. What else happened to you this year?”
“The
most fun thing I did this year was take a trip to the Grand Canyon with
my boyfriend Sam and our friends Beth and John. We spent a week
there, just enjoying the sites and taking in all the beauty. It
was a lot of fun and very relaxing. Too bad I had to go back to
work after it was over! But I hired an assistant in May, so at
least my work load has been lighter, and I'm working at home one
day a week now, so I can't complain.”
He was nodding his head and
writing furiously. “Go on, go on,” he said. “This is great. I’m
so glad Santa’s computer crashed. I never get to meet new people
and find out about their lives like this. Tell me more.”
"Sam
and I went to Philadelphia over Thanksgiving to see his parents
and brother. It was nice to have a chance to see his family
because we haven't seen them in almost a year because it's such
a long drive and too expensive to fly. Also, Sam started a new
job in September, so he didn't have much vacation time yet. All
in all, we had a really good year."
“Thank you so much!” he said
when I had finished. Then he closed the notepad and jumped off
the couch. “It was great meeting you. But now I've gotta run.
I’ve got 500 more people to interview. This has been great.
Well, we’ll be in touch,” he said, turning toward the front door
and heading toward it.
“But wait!” I said, jumping in
front of him. “Which list am I on?"
The elf smiled and looked at
me as if I were daft. “Only Santa can decide that, silly,” he
said. “You just have to do your best and then see what happens.”
And with that, he pulled open the door, whistled loudly and
jumped on the back of a lone majestic reindeer that seemed to
appear out of nowhere.
“Be nice!” he yelled as he
flew off into the dark winter sky, becoming a small speck as
they lifted higher and then disappearing completely into the
night.
