READY!

Santa munched on an apple as he walked through the reindeer barn. The reindeer were all relaxing. They had finished up their Reindeer Games for the year, and were resting until tomorrow night. Santa saw glints of gold in the stalls where the reindeer had proudly hung their medals. Santa stopped at one stall. "You can wear it now, Blitzen, but you'll have to take your gold medal off for the trip tomorrow night." Blitzen grinned sheepishly. Actually, Blitzen grinned reindeerishly. Reindeer aren't sheep.

Santa chuckled and tossed him the rest of his apple, which Blitzen wolfed down. Actually, Blitzen reindeered it down. Reindeer aren't wolf.

Santa left the barn and headed over to the staging area. His sleigh was parked right next to the wrapping room, and his bag was sitting next to it. "Excuse me, Santa," said Toby Elf, as he brushed past Santa and started climbing up the outside of the bag. Toby was wearing a harness and a miner's helmet, and was carrying a long, long piece of rope.

"Is there a problem, Toby?" asked Santa.

"Not really," said Toby as he reached the top of the sack. "It's just that things are getting a little crowded in section 452-f, and so I'm going to go and shift Grant Ashley's presents over a bit to the right. That should free up some space." He tossed one end of the rope down to a couple of strong-looking Elves, dropped the other end of the rope down into the back, and then clipped his harness to the rope. "I should be back by dinner." And with that, Toby flicked on the light on his helmet, and dropped down into the sack.

Santa continued his stroll through the North Pole: Bernard Elf was handling his last-minute emails, Smitty Elf and Twinkle Elf were making sure that every child on the Nice List (and there were a lot of them!) was getting a toy, and Mrs. Claus and Ali Elf were finishing up the last of the Christmas cookies.

"All is calm, all is bright," he said.

"What did you say, Santa?" it was Waldo Elf. He was sitting on a pile of extra wrapping paper, reading 'Rudolph Knows--the Unauthorized Biography.'

"Ho ho! Nothing really," said Santa. "I was just enjoying the fact that everything's going so well. It's going to be a great ride tomorrow!"

"I can't wait," said Waldo.

Santa smiled. "I don't mind waiting. Waiting makes it better when it gets here."

Are you waiting for Christmas to come, too? Enjoy the wait! It's half the fun! And keep reading The North Pole Times!