If you have used our postal service this year, then thank you.

We look forward to receiving more letters next year.

Head Elf was saying that he doesn’t remember another year like this, the present pile is nearly as big as a football pitch.

We are having to have a pratice of loading up the sleigh to make sure Santa can get all the presents on it. There should be enough room so you don’t need to worry.

Everyone here is getting really excited that the big day is nearly here, are you??

We have got 4 sacks of letters that have to be posted so they arrive on that day.

We have been going through our records and this date is,  by far,  the most popular date ever for sending out the letters.

We were trying to work out that perhaps it is because there will only be 15 days left until the big day!

Must go now as another delivery has just come in and we must go to sort out all the letters.

If only we could use the scooters  aswell, then it could make our job easier.

We are expecting a rush this weekend as it is the first one in December,  so we expect to get another few sacks of mail.

Santa really enjoys reading all the mail, some of the letters are so funny.

He takes the box back to his workshop.
Resting it on the bench he studies all the sides carefully. He was sure that there’s going to be a hole.

Leaving the box in his workshop he walks out and fetches his tea, walking back he feels totally deflated. He had found a box, he can’t get it open.
There’s somthing inside and he wants it.

It’s like the box is saying…  Want it ?
Can’t have it !!

Want it ??     Can’t have it !!
Father Christmas has another tactic at times like this he strolls into his kitchen and reached for his cookie jar.
Pushing off the lid he reaches inside, and pulls out a piece of paper.
On it he reads…..

Sorry Boss.. no cookies allowed !!!
Your friend  
Elve Is

Elve Is, is one of the Elves where the toy factory is located.
Unsurprisingly his friends call him Elvis for short !

Father Christmas is not impressed, he sighs as he replaces the paper in the jar and puts the lid back on.
Smiling to himself he reaches on top of the cupboard.
He pull down a tin and opens the lid.
The label on the lid read Ginger Creams.
Yum, yum thinks Father Christmas!!
He pulls back the delicate wrapping only to find another note inside…

Very Tasty….. you know you’re not allowed biscuits, Doctor’s Orders !!
Your friend
Elve Is

Again he replaces the note in the tin and then the lid and pushes it back on top of the cupboard.
Picking up an apple, he feels very deflated.
I just want a biscuit he thinks, just one little round, crunchy biscuit !!
Ah.. well.. never mind….
He bites into he crunchy red apple and makes his way back to the workshop.

As he enters the workshop he is greeted by that little wooden box, sitting on his workbench.
He addresses the box as though it were a person.
…and you can stop be so awkward too…
..I mean to open you and find out what is inside!!

He picks up the box and shakes it in his hand.
He can definitely feel something inside it.

He drops the box back onto the workbench.
As he does that he can hear a few grains of sand falling off the box, onto the paper sitting on the bench.

Must have been plastered, completely covered by the sand the thinks to himself.
Maybe that’s why he can’t find the hole.
Gently he bangs the box on the bench.
He brushes the box and blows on it too.
Carefully examining the box he’s dismayed to not discover the little hole he’d been looking for.
Never mind he thinks, I’ll pick the lock!!
He turns the box over and inspects the keyhole.
The keyhole is not what you’d expect.
It isn’t really a hole at all.
When you look at it very closely, you realise that it’s just an indent in the wood that’s made up of darker wood….. with a small hole in it !!

Smiling he reaches for the wire and pushes it into the hole.
It decsends for about 2cm and then jams solid.
He can’t pull it out or put it in….. that’s not right he thinks to himself.
The Japanese Puzzle Boxes he gave that little boy were different.
The wire slid in for a much longer way, releasing a little flap on the box.

He bangs the box on the bench, thinking that a few grains of sand must be jamming the path of the wire, preventing him obtaining the prize inside the box.

As it is almost lunch-time and mainly due to the fact that his apple was not very filling, he strolls into the kitchen to fix himself a lunchtime snack. As he eats all he can think of is the small wooden box. Why can’t he get it open ?

Finishing his lunch he pours himself a large home-made lemonade and heads back to his workshop.
The lemonade is wonderfully cold and tangy.
When he arrives back at his workbench he puts down the lemonade and looks at the wire, still jammed in the end of the box.
He’s frustrated and in a very brief moment of anger he bangs it hard on the work bench, more sand falls out of the box, onto the bench. Father Christmas turns the box over to see where the sand fell out from, as he does that the wire falls out onto the bench.
Father Christmas beams from ear to ear, the sand must have jammed the wire.
Taking the box in his hand he firmly bang the box on the side of his work bench two or three times.
Even more sand trickles out of the box.
“Of course, it must have needed to dry out” says Father Christmas out loud as if someone else was in the room.
Father Christmas picks up the wire again and plunges it carefully into the hole in the box. the wire descends much deeper into he box this time. Expectantly Father Christmas turns the box over and over in his hand. Why hasn’t the flap opened up ??

Father Christmas looks again at the box and realises that there is now another hole in the box.
He has a rummage in the jars on the shelf beside him, and pulls out another piece of wire.
Blowing hard on the hole in the box, he inserts the second piece of wire, it descends easily, deep into the box, as it does the side of the box move a little.
Father Christmas slides the side of the box and out pops a triangular key.

Father Christmas picks up the key and examines it. He has never seen anything like it before. It is triangular with one longer shaft on it, into which the bumpy pattern you’d expect to find on a key is cut.

He put the key into his pocket and picks up his lemonade.
Smiling with total satisfaction, like an athlete that has just won a hard fought race, he heads into the garden and relaxes in his deck chair.
The morning’s excitement  problem solving, combined with the warmth of the day and the repetitive lapping sound of the tide, gently ease Father Christmas into an afternoon snooze.
He wakes up a short while later, his lemonade has spilt on the floor.
Silly wally, he mumbles – you really must learn to put your drink down before you nod off…..
Still it was a great achievement to have that key.
He reaches in his pocket to take another  look at the key, but it’s gone!

The elves have been talking amongst themselves and were saying that they can’t believe how many presents they have to make this year.

With now only a few weeks left till Christmas, it is going to be really busy every day. We do like to keep busy and it does make the day go quickly.

There have been so many different toys that have been asked for and some of them are quite big, hopefully we will be able to fit them all on the sledge.

Keep on being good and we update you soon with our progress.

The click of the kettle boiling, disturbs his train of thought and the faces of the children fade away.

As he sits in his wooden arm chair sipping his tea, he ponders what he’ll have for breakfast.
In his mind, he sees plates of bacon and eggs, with beans and hash browns, rounds of toast and more tea.
He sighs as he pats his well rounded figure, the moment has past and he knows that it’ll be porridge and toast again.
After all it will only be a few weeks until he has to head north back to the factory.
After that there’s only a weeks or two before the big push to get everything ready for Christmas.

Having finished his breakfast he walks back through the cottage to his bedroom.
You may be forgiven for thinking that Father Christmas dresses in his usual red suit all the time.
He really does love that suit, it’s like a comfy old pair of slippers that you can’t do without.
But down here in the bright sunshine, it’s too warm for that thick red suit!

He has a range of lovely shirts and T-Shirts that are much more suited to warm sunny weather.
The worst part about not wearing his red suit, is choosing what he will wear each day. He misses that red suit when he’s on his holidays !

He opens his wardrobe takes the nearest shirt and quickly begins to get dressed.
As he is just folding his pyjamas, a sudden noise from outside his open window distract him and he leans out, to see what is going on.
On the beach he can see two big crabs fighting over a bottle near to some driftwood on the beach.
If you’ve never been to Christmas Island, you may not know that it’s famous for red crabs.
There are lots and lots of them all living there.
What’s worse is they walk all over the island, they’re not confined to the beach.
They get everywhere!

That’s why there’s a little fence all around the cottage, it’s not to keep the visitors out.
It’s to keep the crabs out.
Imagine those pinchy little pests invading your house in the night….
Some crabs are quite big and they’re very happy to drag your things back to their little burrows.
Worse still they can stretch up on their back legs and then pinch quite high up.
You wouldn’t want any toes sticking out of the bed, would you !!
The fence and gate around the little cottage fixed that though !

Father Christmas strolls out of the little cottage and along the brief track down onto the beech.
His approach does not disturb the fighting crabs and so he picks up a stick from the edge of the beach as he walks towards them.

The crabs aren’t really interested in the bottle, it just happened to be in the way as they wave their claws at each other and sometimes hit each other with a leg or claw.
He uses his stick to move the bottle out of the way picks it up.

Father Christmas tries to keep his little beach tidy.
It’s amazing how much rubbish he collects, just drifting in to his little part of the island.
As he walks a little further along the beach something twinkles in the sunlight.
He bends down and picks up one of his spoons. Pesky crabs he mutters to himself.

As he turns around his toe kicks the corner of something hard.
Stupid crabs he mutters, what now….
He lifts his foot to see the corner of a small wooden box sticking out of the sand.
It takes him a few minutes to dig the sand back from the edges of the box.
Soon he can see the small, battered box which he picks up and heads towards his cottage.

As he walks the crabs are retreating. The warm sun is not great when you’re living in a shell.
Dried out leg joints can’t be fun for a crab, so they hide in their burrows during the warmest parts of the day.

Father Christmas shuts his gate, behind him and goes back into his cottage.
Placing the box on the kitchen table he sits in his large wooden chair.

Excitedly he brushes the sand off the front and looks to see if he can work out how to open the box.
Although there’s a type of key hole, he cant see any hinges, or work out where the lid is.

He places the box carefully on the table and does what he always does at times like this…
… he makes a cup of tea !

Sipping his tea he ponders that little wooden box.
He shakes it and it feels like there’s something inside.
Who knows what it could be, he must get it open, he can smell a mystery….

Having asked Santa about it, the Head Elf suggested writing a story about his adventures while Santa was on his holdiays.

Santa went to Christmas Island to enjoy the sunshine for a few months and in the coming days, we will be putting on to  the website his story.

You can read about it on this site as well.

The production line in the factory is now in full flow.

It is going to be a really good year with all these presents we are making. I am just going to have a quick cup of tea and then I can get to read some more letters.

Keep on being good.

The boys seem to have asked for loads of different toys this year but the Nintendo DS has got a few requests.

Scribe Elf will let you know next week the most asked for toys.