Operation Merry Christmas Begins in 5 weeks! Holy smokes, that’s soon! Next week is Halloween!

And I still don’t have a costume.

I’m getting worried, gang. A couple of days ago I noticed something, okay? I noticed that a lot of people here at the North Pole have started to kind of disappear. Seriously. They go inside their homes, their garages and barns and workshops, and they are hidden away for hours at a time. They are working on costumes.

This place is just silly with the whole Halloween thing. Elves just love dressing up. Only Christmas is bigger than Halloween at the North Pole. So many elves are talking about how excited they are and what they are going to do. But I still don’t have a single idea.

Anyway. I might join the kitchen staff for Halloween if I can’t come up with a costume. That’s where the action is.

I was talking to Mrs. Claus about this. She kind of oversees almost anything having to do with food for parties at the North Pole. She was giving instructions on the cupcakes to be used for the big Halloween party. I’ve had those cupcakes before and I have to tell you, they are incredible.

They are like works of art. Some are just too pretty to even eat. I had one last year where the top of the cupcake was frosted with this very light icing that when it dried was nearly as thin as paper. It was shaped like a flower and the colors of it changed in different kinds of light. I could not stop staring at it.

So I asked Mrs. Claus how they were made and she invited me to a special meeting she had with some of the chefs in the North Pole kitchen.

It was fun but very technical. Half the time I didn’t know what those elves were even saying — like they were speaking another language or something. But once they got done talking and actually started making and decorating cupcakes is when the real fun began. It was a yummy time. Anyway. I tried my hand at it and I’m not very good. But I learned a lot and I think they are working all this week and next just to be ready for the big Halloween party.

But even for how big all that is, nothing compares to the work they are planning for the week of Thanksgiving and the start of Operation Merry Christmas – now only five weeks away. Operation Merry Christmas is a lot of things. It’s a big huge hairy deal here at the North Pole. It is more than just a countdown date. It is also a big party.

Thanksgiving, as you know, is big at the North Pole but I think the capper for that day is Operation Merry Christmas. It is a countdown celebration – a party about a party. Coming up in the next few weeks I will tell you more about that party we call Operation Merry Christmas.

Such fun times at the North Pole at this time of year. I hope you are having fun where you are too!