Santa’s Retreat

Hi Gang! There are 44 weeks until Christmas and I’m so sorry I’ve missed the countdown the last little while. But some surprising things have happened since the last time I talked with you.

At the Valentine’s Day Elf Ball I was serving on the punch line when I was given by a very official looking elf with a heavy envelope. Thinking it was perhaps a little gift from my date, I was momentarily embarrassed thinking I was about to endure some sort of public thing.

But then I looked around the room and several other elves were being given these really fancy envelopes, too.

So I excused myself to open it in private and it came as quite a shock. It was an invitation from Santa to leave right after the Elf Ball to attend something called Santa’s Retreat.

I had never heard of such a thing before.

The invite said I needed to accept by dressing as warmly as I could and get to Santa’s house by midnight.

The invite didn’t say anything about keeping it a secret so I explained to my date that I needed to leave a little early in order to go home and change.

Living at the North Pole I can tell you that when you are advised to “dress warmly” you can expect to do something outside and being outside in February can be serious business so I went home and put on my warmest snow suit, my knit beanie, by fur-lined gloves, my heavy boots and my parka.

I’m glad I did.

When I got to Santa’s house there were several other elves already there looking as confused as me. Elf Crash was there, Elf Ed Zachary was there, and Elf Wally was there – just to name a few. In all, there were maybe 15 of us there. I felt a little out of place because I was one of only two women there – Elf Harriet had received an invite too.

Santa pulled up to where we were gathered and just shouted for us to get into this big sleigh. So we hopped on board. There were no seat belts so Santa said, “Hang on!” and we took off like a shot into the dark sky.

He didn’t explain anything to us. It was quite windy and very cold. It was too noisy for any of us to talk. I have never been in a sleigh piloted by Santa before so I was pretty scared. He goes FAST!

Anyway, none of us knew what as going on.

We flew for about an hour then Santa landed at what appeared to be a farm. There were many reindeer there and I later learned that it was one of Santa’s reindeer ranches. We were not there long. There were several other elves there that we picked up, including Elf Max, who I had never met before. We have done phone calls and Zoom calls before but this was my first time meeting him face-to-face. I could tell that, like me, Max wasn’t sure what was going on or what we were going to do.

We took off again and flew for what seemed like a long time but finally Santa brought the sleigh down on the edge of a lake. There was a big barn there, Santa opened the door and drove the sleigh right inside.

We were only there a few minutes. By now, it was really late and I wasn’t the only one who was really tired. Santa gave a little speech, telling us that we were selected to go with him “on retreat”, something he only does with “special elves” only now and then.

Nobody knew what that meant and none had done anything like this with Santa before.

Santa had us put on pre-packed backpacks and said we’d be going on “just a little hike”. An hour later, after marching in the freezing cold and a little falling snow, we arrived at a little village of yurts.

A yurt is like a little house – only it’s more like a tent, but bigger. Someone had already lit fires in stoves that were in the middle of the yurt so it was toasty warm. Santa instructed us to bed down for the night in our sleeping bags and that our adventure would begin in the morning.

From that moment to this I can only tell you that it WAS a real adventure.

We did so many things with Santa, and so many things I’ve never done before. We went ice fishing. We rode a zip line. We hunted and learned to cook in the wilderness. We snowshoed and learned photography and how to spot wildlife. We met a bear and he didn’t eat us. Santa taught us how to avoid confronting a bear in the wild.

We laughed, we sang, we told stories by the camp fire and we learned a lot about each other.

This “Santa’s Retreat” did not end until earlier today and I’m tired and really need a bath.

This morning, not knowing we were even coming home, Santa held a little meeting and explained to us that Santa’s Retreat was really about more than a winter adventure in the wilderness. It was about learning about our fellow elves and what makes them tick. He wants us to not only work together but to be friends.

And we are now.

I know each of those elves much better, especially Elf Crash and Elf Max. I talk with them a lot through out the year because of what each of our jobs are and I can tell you these guys are like brothers to me now.

Elf Max was really fun to be with. He’s not a North Pole Elf. He had never been in a flying sleigh before. He has only met Santa once and that was in his own home. He had met Elf Crash before but there wasn’t anyone else that was at Santa’s Retreat that he had met in person before. So much of it all was new to him and he was a bit overwhelmed by it all.

He told me he asked Santa privately when he could go to the North Pole.

Max is like anyone else who believes in Santa but who has never been to the North Pole before.

I won’t tell you what Santa told him. Maybe you can get Elf Max to tell that story himself over at SantaTrackers.net.

I did ask Santa about Elf Max. Santa told me that Elf Max is a very important elf with a big future at the North Pole.

Well now, this is quite the countdown post for the middle of February. There are many things I need to catch you all up on.

And I will in the weeks ahead.

But for now, know this: I wish it was November. I’m more excited for Christmas than ever. Heck, I don’t even mind the snow right now, which is weird because I am usually so over it by now.

But everything has changed for me. I guess spending a couple of weeks in the woods with Santa and other elves will do that to you.

Talk soon.