Granger, Mr Christmas and I (C) Frog 2008
Granger, Archie and I were sat watching “Elf” the other day. At the end, Granger said
“Did I tell you when I saved Christmas?”
Archie and I looked at each other. Whilst we’ve not know Granger for long, he does seem to be someone who has done “everything” before you – and always seems to have a story to back it up. But he’s nice about it all and realistically he is quite old, so we asked him to tell his tale.
“Well, he said, it was a winter’s day, back in the 1930′s. With the Depression at full flow, christmas spirit was at an all time low for everyone – and obviously no-one had money that they could spend – so the lists sent to Santa were quite sparce. Of course, this then meant that the Elves didn’t have much to do – and like the film, they do like to work. ‘What can we do?’ they asked Santa.
Santa was also at a loss. He didn’t know what to say. There was little point in giving Emily a toy doll as she hadn’t asked for one – and Santa hated giving presents that hadn’t been asked for as they just sat at the back and gathered dust. So what to do? Santa decided that he was going for a walk.
Now at that time, I was one of those toys that sat at the back of the shelf. My owner at the time, a very young girl called Phillipa had been given a most beautiful bear which didn’t compare to any other bear on the shelf – truly a majestic bear – but it meant that the rest of us were left unloved. I’d taken to wandering round the streets – I figured that I could sit there and be miserable or I could learn about the world around me. So I was walking through the park, looking at the gentle falling snow, when I closely avoided a black boot. ‘Hello Santa!’ I said and he replied ‘Oh Hello Granger, still walking the parks then?’ You may be interested to know that Santa knows the names of every bear and doll that he gives out and throughout the year checks to make sure that everyone is still happy.
We sat on the bench and started to talk. I asked about why he wasn’t beavering away at the North Pole – and he told me the full story. We sat and thought – and I said ‘why don’t we ask all the toys to find out?’ He asked how we would do that. Easy I said, we ask the Dust Fairies.
Of course said Santa – and raised his fingers to his lips and whistled a super-high whistle. After a few minutes, Fluff, the Dust Fairy King appeared. Santa asked Fluff if he could get a message out to all the toys – and Fluff was all in favour; after all, more toys meant that there were more places for his team to sprinkle their special dust.
Within Days the Dust fairies had got the message out and every toy had checked their owners secret diaries (and you think you lock them – never trust the smile of a Teddy bear) and about a week later I was able to present Santa with a list of presents that his elves could set to and make.
With just a week to spare, Santa’s sleigh was loaded with presents once more. The elves had also been quite clever – they made the toys to their usual high standard, but then (and they were particularly pleased with themselves for this) they had then altered the presents to make them look home made.
Christmas eve Santa set off and delivered his presents to the children as normal.”
Archie sat quietly before asking
“Did Santa give you a special present for helping him?”
Granger just sat quietly – and I’m sure his eye watered slightly. “I’ve had to wait, but yes, I think I’ve been given the best present ever. I’ve been given some really good friends to look after me and share their friendship. Thanks guys.”
We just sat all together, quietly smiling to ourselves. Yes as Granger had said, we had received a brilliant present to share amongst ourselves. All I hope is that you will also be able to share this brilliant present with each other.
