Santa's Lazy Elf

         It wasn't long before Christmas Eve, and all the wishes from the
world over, were piling up on poor Santa.
         "We have a lot more wishes from the children this year than last, and they have all been so good.  We can't forget any of them," said Santa, as he sat down at their, cozy little kitchen table.
         "Oh Santa, you say that every year!  How can you say all the children have been good?  Little David Weederhouse put a tack on his grandmother's chair, and Con-choy Singso was caught red-handed putting his neighbor's cat down the well," replied Santa's wife as she set a steaming cup of hot cocoa and a slice of pie on the table in front of him.
         "I know!  I know!  But both children said they were sorry!  And the cat wasn't hurt badly."
         "Oh there are many more.  You're just too soft," she said, poking him in the side causing him to chuckle heartily. "You could find good in the devil himself."
         "You're probably right my dear," he agreed as he took his last bite of pie. "Well, I must get back to work. It's almost Christmas Eve and I haven't even finished sorting out all the Christmas wishes yet.” He got up and brushed some pie crumbs out of his snowy white beard, then tapped his pipe on the table before lighting it.
         "Tell me," said Mrs. Claus, "how is young Jingles doing this year?"
         "Just like last year!  No help at all!  I put him in charge of making snowflakes yesterday and found him asleep on a bed of angel hair a short time later!  I have never had such a lazy elf before!  I just don't know what to do with him," said Santa shaking his head.
         "Oh Santa!  He just thinks too much and it makes him tired," said Mrs. Claus.
         "Now who is finding good where there isn't any?" asked Santa.
         "I guess we're both too soft," she admitted with a warm smile, "but I think if you gave Jingles a new, more important job, he would see that you trusted and believed in him and he would do a good job!  Santa, you say you have more wishes than you can handle.  Why don't you give some of them to Jingles and let him fill each wish himself?" 
          "That's an important job!  Far too important to entrust to one I can't depend on," Santa grumbled.
         "Come on Santa! Give young Jingles another chance.  I know he'll do better if you show him you believe in him," she pleaded.
         "Okay.  Okay my dear, if it will make you happy. Now I must get back to work."
         "Then you will tell Jingles about his new job right away?" she asked.
        "Yes my dear.  If I can wake him up," he answered as he opened the door leading to his work shop.
         "Santa, the hobby horses we made yesterday are refusing to rock!" cried one of the elves as Santa entered the workshop.
         "Well, we can't have that.  What's a hobby horse if it refuses to rock?  I will have to talk to them right away.  Oh yes, have you seen young Jingles?" asked Santa.
         "You mean lazy Jingles!  He's probably asleep in your sleigh again," replied the elf.
         "Well tell him I want to see him.  I have a very important job for him to do," said Santa.
         "Okay Santa.  I'll tell him," agreed the elf as he ran off to find Jingles.  As he thought, Jingles was curled up, snug as a bug in a rug, fast asleep in the back of Santa's sleigh. "Wake up!  Wake up!" cried the elf, as he shook poor sleepy Jingles, until he opened his eyes.  "How can you sleep when there is so much to be done?  Come now.  It's almost Christmas Eve, and Santa has a job for you."
         "I wasn't sleeping, I was thinking!  Someday I will be very important, and everyone will want to know what it is I think of all day!" answered Jingles, as he jumped out of the Sleigh.
          "Thinking, huh?  Well it's none of my concern, but you better hurry.  Santa is waiting for you," he added, then hurried off talking to him self about all that had to be done.
         "I thought Santa was still mad at me for falling asleep while I was making snowflakes yesterday.  I didn't mean to fall asleep, but thinking about making all those silly snowflakes made me so tired, I just couldn't help myself. Well, I'll do better this time.  I wonder what he wants me to do?  Something very important that will take a great deal of thought, I'll bet!  He knows what a great thinker I am," said Jingles, then ran off to find Santa. When Jingles found Santa, he was still talking with the hobby horses trying to find out why they refused to rock.
         "I don't care for rocking," said one of the horses, "it makes me dizzy."
         "Oh that will pass.  It's just because you're new and you’re not used to it.  The children that have wished for you are going to be very disappointed if they receive hobby horses that won't rock!  Won't you please try? pleaded Santa.
         "Okay Santa.  We'll try," promised the hobby horses.
         With that settled Santa turned his attention to Jingles who had found himself a bed of straw and fallen asleep once again.
        "Wake up Jingles!" Santa yelled in a stern voice.
         "Yes sir," cried Jingles, as he sprang to his feet startled by the sudden outburst.
         "Mrs. Claus has asked me to give you another chance.  I don't know why, but I agreed," said Santa. "The job she suggested is a very important one and must be done quickly, but with the utmost care! I want you to go to my workshop upstairs where the children's wishes are collected.  There you will sort out and fill as many wishes as you can.  This is the most important job at the North Pole, so if you don't think you can do it tell me now, and I will find you another job," he concluded.
         "I will do the best job ever!  You'll see Santa!" promised Jingles.
       "I know you will, my little friend.  Now let's hurry. We have no time to waste," said Santa, as he turned backed to the hobby horses to see how they were doing.
        Jingles was quite proud of himself for being asked to do such an important job as to fill wishes.  That job was usually left to Santa himself!  It was going to take a lot of thought and hard work, but Jingles felt confident as he hurried up the stairs to Santa's workshop.
               Let it be known, that when a child makes a Christmas wish it sails through the air looking for a magic wish bubble.  When it finds one, it fills the bubble with a bright magical glow.  Then the magic bubbles take the wishes to the North Pole, where it comes to rest on the roof of Santa’s workshop.  Then special elves, who work as wish collectors, gather them all together and pile them in the workshop.  That's when Santa himself looks in his big book to see if the child, who made the wish, has been good or bad.  If the child had been good, he would fulfill the wish they had made and the bubble would leave in search of another wish.
         When Jingles entered the wish workshop, he was surprised by all the wishes that had piled up.  There were so many they completely filled one corner of the room spilling out into the center and under the work bench.  Jingles was so overwhelmed by the number of wishes to be filled that just thinking about them made him very tired. "All these wishes are making me so tired, but I cannot let myself fall asleep!  Santa is depending on me," he said to himself. "Perhaps if I sing while I work, the noise will help keep me awake."
         He sat down at the work bench, making up his song, as he went along. Bubbles! Bubbles! Everywhere-- each one’s wish of hope to share. I must fill each wish with the utmost care…  He took the first bubble and opened it.  It was a wish from Cathy Barber.  She wished for Santa to bring her a beautiful new walking doll. The next wish was from little Michael Stevens, who wanted a new two-wheel bike. And the next was from Michael's little brother, Aaron Stevens, who had wished for a new puppy. Another for a train and yet another for a fire truck.  He looked up each name in Santa's big book checking each one off as he went along.                           Free for Christmas to anyone who E-mailes me and asks for it.