Seven Months Until Christmas

Elf Ernest News
Seven Months Until Christmas

Howdy! Tell all your friends – only 7 months now remain until Christmas!

Can you believe it?

We can’t. In fact, some are starting to feel a little anxious about that.

You see, next week we start moving some of the work teams from Santa’s old workshop to his new workshop.

The first ones to go are what we call the Glue Guys. These are elves who, as their name suggest, glue things together. They are, believe it or not, one of the biggest teams in the workshop. A lot of stuff these days gets glued and these guys do it all.

Why do they get to move first? Why not the carpenters, the riveters, the solderers, the electricians, the action figure technicians or the Department of Play Dough?

Well, there are two reasons and they both have to do with glue. You see, there is both hot glue and cold glue and working with them is very different. Hot glue has to flow and it moves through pipes and hoses after being heated up. In order for it to work and to make stuff stick together it has to maintain a certain temperature. It is all very technical and I guess it takes a long time to work out those things.

Cold glue can never stand in a pipe or a hose. It is only stored in seal containers and used in small quantities. That stuff is easy to move but not so easy to keep fresh. They have to make it at the right time it is needed and then use it within a certain date.

In all, the Glue Guys are going to need a few weeks to get up to speed. Half of them will remain in the old workshop, still gluing stuff together there, while the other half will move into the new workshop to get things up to speed.

All the departments kind of had to work like this. Santa has a whole plan that will take most of the summer to work through. He said we have to keep up production while we make the move so it is all a little tricky.

If we don’t pay attention to what we are doing it could very well mess up Christmas.

So that process has started and it makes a lot of elves nervous. But it is going well so far. I will keep you posted as the summer moves along.

— Elf Ernest

Eight Months Until Christmas

Elf Ernest News, North Pole, Santa Claus
Eight Months Until Christmas

Greetings! Welcome to what we call the “bottom of the year”.

We don’t know why it is but every year at this time and for the next six to eight weeks or so things kind of slow down for us at the North Pole.

Well, not for US. For YOU!

For some reason, the second half of April until about the middle of June we get less mail, fewer phone calls and, well, just less feedback from folks around the world.

It is kind like we disappear or people lose our phone number of something.

Santa has always says it is a change of season thing. In some parts of the world the winter is ending and the days are getting warmer and longer. In other parts of the world, it is autumn and the days are still warm but getting a little shorter.

It is a time of great weather and lots of activities that do not lead people to think much of Christmas.

I think that is an interesting theory.

Santa is right. When there is snow on the ground many tend to think of Christmas and Santa and the North Pole. But in other parts of the world people think of the beach and sun and hot days when it comes to Santa. But when the days are in between – not hot, but not cold – maybe that causes people to think of Christmas a little less.

I talked to Elf Hugo at the North Pole Post Office about it. He agrees a little bit. But he brought up a good point too. While not as much mail comes in for Santa the mail that does arrive is very different than the mail in November and December.

He said kids these days tend to write REALLY long letters to Santa at this time of the year. Again, Hugo can’t tell me why and we can’t exactly figure it out.

Well, wherever you are I want you to know that even if you might be a little distracted with other activities now, we are still thinking of you and working hard toward our Christmas goals. Things are going very well – as they tend to at this time of the year.

Next month I will catch you up on the plans for summer at the North Pole, including how we are going to help move Santa from his old workshop into his new workshop.

— Elf Ernest

9 Months Until Christmas

Elf Ernest News, News 2018
9 Months Until Christmas

Goodness gracious! Another month has gone by and now there are only nine months left until Christmas. And I’ve got news!

You would not believe how fast the walls went up on Santa’s new workshop. The walls and the roof are up and they are working inside almost around the clock now as they try to get things ready by our Christmas in July celebrations.

The place is massive. You could land a dozen sleighs in there, it is so roomy.

The place is so big that nearly every department is being expanded. In fact, entire new departments are being formed. Just yesterday Santa announced the formation of a department called the Department of Glitter, Sparkle and Glow.

I have no idea yet what that means.

But the elf put in charge of that department is someone you know well — Elf Butch.

Now, Butch might not sound like much of a sparkly kind of guy but he’s worked for some time in the wrapping department and he’s got what they call…um, style. He just does things with flair.

So he’s an interesting choice to be the one elf associated with Glitter, Sparkle and Glow at the North Pole. We’re wondering what his job will entail but so far he’s not saying much and Santa said we’d be hearing more about it later. In the meantime, Elf Butch has been tasked with finding 24 other elves to work the Department of Glitter, Sparkle and Glow with him. He’s interviewing right now and even though nobody knows what they do there are plenty of elves lining up to get a job there.

This is, after all, a new workshop department. Every elf wants to work in Santa’s Workshop. It takes a lot of years to get there. You’ve got to have incredible skills, no matter what department you work in.

In announcing this new department Santa said something really interesting. He said to expect a lot of elves in new positions by the time the new workshop opens in July. We don’t know if that means something only to workshop elves or to ALL the elves working for Santa.

Some elves are nervous about that.

Some really like the jobs they are in now. Others would love a chance at a better or a different job. Nobody really quite knows what to think about what Santa said.

No matter what happens you can bet we’ll be here to give you news on all the elf shuffling.

That is, if it is still my job to do so.

Until next month, friends!

— Elf Ernest