39 Weeks Until Christmas

Well. What a difference a week makes! There are 39 weeks until Christmas and all of a sudden it feels like the world here has turned upside down.

Last week, after I wrote the countdown update, I was called to the Claus residence to meet with Mrs. Claus. This is not all that unusual because I know Mrs. Claus will be doing a North Pole Chat soon and I supposed she just wanted to talk about that. I’m kind of her assistant when it comes to the chat thing.

But instead of that Mrs. Claus told me Santa was going on walkabout and that it meant a new, temporary assignment. When Santa isn’t here, Mrs. Claus is in charge.

That’s nothing new.

I had heard about a possible walkabout this year so I kind of expected Mrs. Claus to be doing more stuff this year. What I didn’t expect was for Mrs. Claus to set up an office and put me in charge of it as her Chief of Staff.

What does that mean?

That means I lead a team of elves charged with helping Mrs. Claus help Santa.

I keep her calendar and control who has access to her. I will be a connection all the department heads have to Mrs. Claus so she can keep things in order at the North Pole and keep things on track for Operation Merry Christmas.

Santa has gone on walkabout in years past and Mrs. Claus has been in charge many times before. Everyone is used to it happening now and then.

But she’s never set up an office before and never had a team of elves working for her in this way. She and Santa evidently have been discussing this for some time.

I told Mrs. Claus that I don’t know how to be a Chief of Staff. She said, “That’s okay, I don’t know how to have a Chief of Staff!”

So we’ll be learning this stuff together, I guess.

But here’s the deal and what I think you should think about — if Santa and Mrs. Claus want her to set up an office with a team of elves that can only mean one thing: Santa is going to be gone for a while. A long while.

Now, that brings up another thought.

As Chief of Staff I’m going to know things that I normally don’t know. It’s going to be interesting to see how I juggle all this stuff while being a news elf.

Can I keep secret those things Mrs. Claus needs me to keep confidential while still being true to my job as a journalist?

I’ve asked for a meeting with Elf Ernest to talk about this.

Frankly, I’m a little uncomfortable with all this stuff.

Above all, I want to serve Mrs. Claus and Santa properly.

I want to do the right thing.

But for right now I don’t mind admitting that I think this elf is wearing too many hats.

So, I’ll keep you posted on that.

In the meantime, understand that Santa is gone. Mrs. Claus is in charge. And I’m her…main elf, I guess.

How weird is that?