Elsie looked around the room. There was carnage everywhere. A tornado passing through would have left less damage. Bodies were strewn throughout the mayhem. She chuckled. Just another Christmas morning with children.

One of the bodies stirred. A little fist came up from beneath the wrapping paper she had been curled up under. A pile of boxes sneezed. Another child was stirring. Elsie thought perhaps there were a few more to come. But she knew the fresh smell of coffee would probably wake all the adults up. Sure enough, the love of her life wandered into the room, his hands wrapped around a hot steamy mug. With no hesitation he handed it to Elsie and returned from whence he came to get another.

A few more adults showed up with coffee at hand and a tray of hot chocolate for the children. It was Christmas morning. It was after the frenzy of opening gifts. After breakfast. Everyone had been up so early for the main event that the naps became inevitable. The children slept curled around their newfound bounty while the adults found more comfortable settings. Elsie didn’t need a nap. She wanted to watch her charges. There is nothing more spiritual then the breath of a sleeping child, safe and secure in her surroundings.

There was a different feeling in the room as everyone gathered once again. They all knew what was coming. Except for one. Malcolm was new to the group, to the family. He was still getting used to the Western dynamic. He had been born into soul crushing poverty in another country. His family had been killed in a local war that no one understood.  He was alone. But he had been found by people who cared and so began his journey to this moment.

“Malcolm,” send Elsie, “There is one more Christmas gift for the family. That includes you. But you don’t know the history so I’m going to tell you how this all started.”

Malcolm set up straighter, he was interested to know how things worked here and he was curious about his new family. So, he listened very carefully.

Elsie continued: “When my Great, Great, Great Grandfather came to this country he was very poor. But his parents believed they could find a better life, a better future in the New World. They risked everything. The first few years were hard but they were a hard-working family. That first Christmas looked like it was going to be pretty bleak. There was barely enough money for food let alone presents. But there was a wise patriarch and he refused to be sad. He said the goose had wandered across the street and died. His beloved wife said nothing as she picked the buck shot out of the breast of their Christmas goose.

They said grace and gave thanks for their bounty. The light was dim and the curtains were thin but they knew that others were worse off so they gave thanks. And that’s when my ancestor brought out the Last Christmas Gift.”

Elsie sat back in her chair and smiled.  She looked at the faces around her beaming with anticipation. She loved this part of Christmas.

“Ever since then we have honoured the tradition that was started so many years ago.”

As if by magic a small beautifully wrapped package appeared in her lap. There were many ooohs and aaaahs from her audience. And not just the children!

With studied patience Elsie peeled back the wrapping paper. And then with a flick of her wrist a small wooden carving appeared in the palm of her hand. It was a little drummer boy.

Elsie smiled. “Would anyone like to tell me what gift this is?”

Malcolm looked confused. He didn’t know the story of the Little Drummer Boy. And then something miraculous happened. A little tow-hair girl stood up and walked to Malcolm. She wrapped her little arms around him and said:

“His gift is to us all. He was a little drummer boy who had no presents to give the newborn King, Jesus Christ so he played his drum. He gave all he had and it was the most precious gift of all. That’s what we all need to do. And it will be precious.”

The end

“Now you take care of your little brother and I’ll be right over there.”

Odelia was used to taking care of her brother for short periods.  After all she was nine years old and quite mature for her age.  Billy was only three and he needed a lot of taking care of.  They were standing in line waiting for their turn. Actually, Billy was strapped into a stroller and for the moment he was quite serene.  However, Odelia knew it would probably be 15 or 20 minutes before it was their turn. A few moments later it began. Like most boys his age Billy didn’t like to wait so he started to squirm and then to whine.

“I don’t wanna wait!”

Odelia had been waiting for this moment and hoping it would take a little longer.  She looked over at her mother but she was still deep in conversation with a sales clerk.

“Okay Billy, I’m going to tell you a secret.” That always got a child’s attention. “But you can’t tell anyone else, ever!”

As expected, the young boy stopped squirming and looked at his sister with rapt anticipation.

“Okay.” He said quietly.

“This happened a very long time ago and nobody knows all the details but this much we know for sure.”

Odelia was a gifted storyteller and she knew her brother very well.  His eyes were glued to her face and he hadn’t moved an inch.  So, she continued with her story. The tale she told was about an elf.

One of Santa’s elves was called Marvin.  He was young and as it so often is with the young, he seemed forgetful.  The other elves tried to instil in him the importance of what they were doing in Santa’s workshop but Marvin was too interested in playing with the reindeer and investigating how some of the toys worked.  Unfortunately, he also had a knack for breaking things.  Soon the other elves pushed Marvin aside and tried to forget about him.  When Santa heard about the troubles, he spoke to Marvin but it didn’t seem to make any difference to the young elf. However, what we think isn’t always what is.

It seems that Marvin wasn’t trying to break things he was just trying to understand how they worked.  He was only trying to help.  When Santa heard this, he decided to give Marvin another chance. He was told that if he broke one more toy he would be banned from the workshop.

Over the next few weeks everything went smoothly.  The toys were being assembled and made ready to be shipped.  Marvin did everything he was asked and nothing that he was not.  Eventually everyone forgot about him.  Now as it often happens, when you’re not watching, trouble will find you.

There was one particular toy that was new to the workshop.  It had bells, and whistles and it had an engine.  Usually that pretty much guaranteed that the children would fall in love with it.  Unfortunately, this toy kept breaking down.  First the wheels were falling off when the Packers tried to wrap it up. Then the steering wheel wouldn’t work when it was tested prior to packaging.  It even started falling apart on the line when nobody was looking.  People started wondering if Marvin was the culprit but nobody could find him.

After a few days it was decided that the toy would be put aside until further investigation could be done.  Obviously, there was something wrong and there was no time to correct it.  Everyone was working to a deadline that could not be shifted.  And still no one could find Marvin.

The night before the deadline the last package was wrapped and put in place for shipment.  Everyone congratulated themselves on the fine work they had done this year.  There had only been one glitch and he seemed to have taken himself off the line.  No one thought about him, no one worried about where he was or what he was doing.  That was their mistake.

What the others did not understand was that Marvin was different.  He wasn’t one to blindly follow the rules.  He wanted to understand why the rules were in place.  The only way something could be improved upon was to first know its nature.  Marvin wasn’t trying to break things he was trying to understand how they worked.  If you know how something works you can make sure it doesn’t break down.

When the others had taken the cars that kept breaking down and put them in another room Marvin had gone to see if he could fix them.  In the days and weeks that no one missed him, Marvin had corrected every single issue in every single car.  He had also wrapped them and prepared them for shipment.  The others were very surprised when he presented them with what they thought were broken vehicles.

When Santa heard what Marvin had done, he called him into his office and sat him down.  What happened next is not known.  But after a few minutes, Marvin exited with a smile on his face and a lift in his step.  Obviously, he had been vindicated.  From that day forward Marvin had a new job.  It was his responsibility to test each and every item that passed through the line to ensure that it was not easily broken.  It was a task that Marvin took to easily.  After all, if it could be broken, he would find a way to break it.

“Are you next young fella?”

With everyone’s attention now on them Odelia quickly unstrapped her brother. An oversized man dressed as an elf lifted Billy on to the knee of Santa Claus and stepped back.

Billy looked into the face of the big fat man in the red suit and thought about what he had just learned.

“Ho ho ho!  Little man what do you want for Christmas?”

Billy leaned close to Santa to whisper in his ear.

“You were naughty Santa.  You should have been nicer to Marvin.”

With that Billy jumped off Santa’s knee and ran to his sister. He never looked back and he never forgot his lesson.  Did you?

The End