By Way of an Apology - to Robin
The CBB -> St Clare's House
#1: By Way of an Apology - to Robin Author: CBB Secret Santa,  PostPosted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 8:19 pm

Robin’s Secret Santa was feeling terribly guilty. She had neglected Robin shamefully of late. Every time another ‘thank you’ message appeared on the Secret Santa thread, she felt a renewed twinge of guilt. There were so many of them – and saying thank you for such original presents, too! How did people come up with such good ideas? There had been all sorts: holidays in exotic places, wonderful food, interesting pets, and all manner of other things – even one or two people (usually handsome and male, and frequently connected with the medical profession).

Truth to tell, Santa was worried. She wasn’t used to having to choose presents. Normally, she only had to deliver them! You had to be organized, you had to be good at packing the sleigh, you had to have a reasonable aim to drop off the presents at the right house from 20,000 feet – but you didn’t have to have ideas. People wrote to you and told you what they wanted, and you delivered it. And, since the advent of online shopping, the post office did half the work for you anyway!

It was just as well, Santa reflected, that magical folk such as herself did not have to worry about making a living. The North Pole store cupboards always seemed to be fully stocked, no matter how much was taken out of them (and Santa was known to have a voracious appetite). The Elves never needed paying, and yet never went on strike. Santa had tentatively raised the matter with them once, thinking that it might be a good idea to modernize, and that not paying her workers really constituted exploitation in this day and age. The Elves had reluctantly agreed to form a trade union, but, when the time had come to talk about wages, they had assured her that they had no need of money. Just to be on the safe side, she had signed a collective contract with them, including a provision on renegotiating salaries at the Elves’ request at any time, but the Elves had never mentioned it since.

Even the reindeer didn’t cost anything to keep, as their hay baskets seemed to possess the same properties as the store cupboards. They were remarkably efficient to run, too – you’d have thought all the flying would have made them ravenously hungry, but they seemed to manage quite nicely on their hay and whatever bits of carrot were left out for them by eager children on Christmas Eve. And every year, of course, when they returned from the present run, Santa would give each of them a sugar lump. She wasn’t quite sure whether reindeer actually liked sugar lumps, but none of them had complained yet (and you could always tell when Rudolph was angry – his nose glowed even redder than normal, if a red nose on a reindeer could be said to be normal at all).

But running the North Pole didn’t require any thought, not really. Things ran themselves, on the whole, and although there was the odd mix-up now and then – like the time she had delivered a packet of Bird’s Eye Petits Pois on top of a grow-bag to one very sweet, if somewhat confused, little girl (but honestly, if the child didn’t know peace from peas, it really wasn’t Santa’s fault, even if it had fleetingly occurred to her that ‘peas on earth’ was a slightly strange request for a Christmas present) – there were rarely any serious problems.

She had a serious problem now, though. She hadn’t sent Robin any presents for ages, and advent was nearly over. She sat at her desk late into the night, wracking her brains for inspiration, but none came. The Elves went to bed, and gradually silence descended all around her. The fire in the grate flickered, while outside snow fell gently. Santa sighed. But then, a photograph on her desk caught her eye, and the elusive idea finally arrived...

...And when Robin awoke on Christmas morning and opened her presents, she found a happy and peaceful Christmas, surrounded by her friends and family, and good luck and happiness for them all for the year ahead. And, right at the bottom of her stocking, a few little green peas in a plant pot of soil.


Merry Christmas, Robin, and I'm sorry there haven't been more presents... Embarassed

Last edited by CBB Secret Santa on Wed Dec 21, 2005 9:05 am; edited 2 times in total

 

#2:  Author: Liane, Location: Manchester PostPosted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 8:34 pm

A very original drabble Santa, and nice presents too.

 

#3:  Author: Vikki, Location: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!! PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 12:43 am

That was brilliant Santa!!

 

#4:  Author: Alice, Location: London, England PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 12:51 am

A lovely drabble Santa - it's nice to have a glimpse of how things work at the North Pole.

 

#5:  Author: MaryR, Location: Sale Cheshire PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 9:37 am

(but honestly, if the child didn’t know peace from peas, it really wasn’t Santa’s fault, even if it had fleetingly occurred to her that ‘peas on earth’ was a slightly strange request for a Christmas present)

Brilliant, Santa. Absolutely brilliant - and Robin is very lucky. Laughing

 

#6:  Author: Rosy, Location: Gloucestershire-London-Aberystwyth PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 10:17 am

Lucky Robin. What a sweet drabble!

 

#7:  Author: gaityr, Location: Singapore PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 4:32 pm

What a lovely, original drabble, Santa. Lucky Robin!
Laughing @ the peas and peace thing.

 

#8:  Author: Robin, Location: London PostPosted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 6:49 pm

Thanks Santa!
Very Happy

 

#9:  Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent, England PostPosted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 3:05 pm

Thanks, Secret Santa. That was lovely for Robin. It was lovely to read about how Santa works everything out.

 

#10: Re: By Way of an Apology - to Robin Author: RuthY, Location: Anyone's guess PostPosted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 9:45 pm

CBB Secret Santa wrote:
(but honestly, if the child didn’t know peace from peas, it really wasn’t Santa’s fault, even if it had fleetingly occurred to her that ‘peas on earth’ was a slightly strange request for a Christmas present)


Loved this part. great, funny and original story Santa

 

#11:  Author: Róisín, Location: Vancouver for now PostPosted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 2:17 pm

Love the elves' trade union. Lucky Robin. Thank you Santa!

 

The CBB -> St Clare's House


output generated using printer-friendly topic mod, All times are GMT

Page 1 of 1

Powered by phpBB 2.0.6 © 2001,2002 phpBB Group