NO BOW LOW BLOW!

Holly was organized, productive, and happy. She loved to figure out the best way to do a task, and was always willing to help out.

In short, she was an Elf.

This Christmas, Holly was an Elf with a new purpose, as Santa had put her in charge of The Wrapping Room--the place where all the toys and presents that appeared on the Wish Lists of all the Nice children would be wrapped in pretty paper, fastened with a ribbon, and topped with a lovely satin bow.

Holly Elf had taken to wrapping presents like--well, like an elf to wrapping presents. She started by sorting the presents by size (large, medium small, and tiny), then by shape (square, rectangular, tubular, rhomboid, and dodecahedral), And finally, by weight (light, not too heavy, heavy, very heavy, and you gotta be kidding me).

Once they were sorted, Holly decided she would wrap all the presents of a certain size first, then add the ribbons, then move on to the next size. She had just finished wrapping and ribboning her first grouping (large, square, heavy), and was now about to add the bows.

Except she couldn't find them. They weren't where she left them.

"Or at least," she said to herself, "they aren't where I thought I left them." This wasn't a big deal for Holly. She was the North Pole's champion at Hide and Seek for as long as anyone could remember. If something was missing, Holly could find it.

So Holly looked in the closet. And under the table. And behind a pile of presents waiting to be wrapped (medium, rectangular, light.) And behind another pile of unwrapped presents (small, tubular, not too heavy). And then behind a third pile of presents (tiny, rhomboid, very heavy). And then in the kitchen. And then in Santa's living room. And then...

"I can't find them," breathed Holly. "I can't find the bows for the presents! If I can't find them, then someone must have taken them!"

Who could have taken Holly's bows? And why? Keep reading The North Pole Times to find out!