CLAUS-TROPHOBIA!

Waldo Elf strolled through the North Pole. "Here comes Santa Claus!" he sang as Santa rounded a corner in front of him. Then he sang "Here comes Santa Claus!" as Santa came out of the Post office. Then he sang "Here Comes Santa Claus!" as Santa came out of the workshop, and the stables, and the Wrapping Room...

"Hey!" he cried, "There's too many Santas!"

"418 too many Santas, by my count," said Adamup Elf, Santa's Chief Counting Elf, as he ushered another half dozen Santa's out of Mrs. Claus' kitchen, "I've counted many things in my day, but this is the strangest!"

"Ho ho ho! It certainly is!" replied Santa, tugging on his gloves.

"Ho ho ho! They all followed me back from the Santa conventions I went to yesterday!" said an entirely different Santa, who was brushing his beard.

"Ho ho ho! We need to figure out why all these Santa Helpers think they're me!" called yet another Santa, who was adjusting his hat.

"Ho ho ho! And then we'll have to figure out how to wake them up and get them back so that they can talk to the children for me!" was what a fourth Santa said.

"Ho ho ho! But you're not the real Santa!" said a fifth.

"Ho ho ho! That's right! I'm the real Santa!" called out a sixth.

Soon the square was filled with cries of "No, me! Ho ho!" and "Ho ho ho! No you're not!" from the hundreds of Santas, all thinking they're the real Santa Claus!

As the Santas argued and laughed and laughed and argued, a group of Elves stood in the doorway to the toy shop, among them Bernard Elf, Gizmo Elf, and Mrs Claus. "What happened to them?" asked Smitty Elf. "Why do they all think they're Santa?"

Bernard Elf looked very serious. "I don't know. Here's some more things I don't know: How are we going to change them back? And which one of these 419 Santas is the real Santa Claus?"

That's three very important questions that need answers! Find out what those answers will be when you read tomorrow's edition of The North Pole Times!