There once was an elf named Ned who lived at the North Pole with Santa Claus. He would help the other elves make the toys each Christmas, and help to load the gifts on to the sleigh.
Ned wasn't in the helpful mood this year. He had the thought one day, that he could do more than build toys.
Everyday, Ned would be covered in glitter, with glue stuck to his fingers. He would have to rub the glue off, which took a bit of his fingertips off each time.
He did this, while Santa sat around eating cookies and checking his list. Ned watched as Santa sat there in his chair, drinking his milk, and checking his list twice. His jolly face smiling each time he read a good report.
The more Ned watched Santa, the more he imagined himself driving the sleigh, and delivering the gifts to the children of the world. He could do a better job than Santa could, there was no denying that, he thought.
As the days went by, Ned thought more and more about how well he would do, if he had Santa's job. In fact, the only reason he did not have Santa's job, was because he spent so much time worrying about making the toys.
Christmas eve morning, Ned woke up with a new thought. If he couldn't have Santa's job, he would not work at all.
Instead of going to work, he stayed in bed.
When he got the call from his supervising elf, he ignored it.
Ned woke up early in the afternoon, and lazily arrived at the dining hall for lunch.
Supervisor Del, stopped by to talk to Ned when he noticed him eating his lunch in his long johns.
"Ned, are you not feeling well?" He asked with concern.
"I am fine." Ned replied. "I decided I am not going to help with Christmas this year. I think I'll take this year off."
Del questioned his reply, but said nothing. He nodded and walked away. It was not normal for an elf not to be in the holiday spirit around Christmas time.
Del decided he would talk to Santa about the issue, and then check on Ned in the evening to see if he changed his mind.
Ned stuck with his decision to not help, and soon the other elves began to notice.
At first, the other elves thought something was wrong with his health, but the more they talked to him, the more they realized it was not a medical condition that stopped Ned from helping them.
By the time the elves stopped making all the toys for the night, Santa had been well informed about how Ned was not helping. He decided he had better speak with him.
"Ned," Santa said, "There has been some talk in the workshop about your refusal to work. I wanted to ask you if there was something I could do for you, to make you feel better."
Ned shook his head, "Not unless you will let me drive the sleigh and deliver the presents tonight."
"You want to drive the sleigh? Why?" Santa asked.
"Because, I believe I can do a better job than you can." Ned said under his breath.
Santa laughed a deep, jolly laugh. He had never encountered an elf who thought he could do his job at all, let alone better than him.
"Well then," Santa said, "you had better get a move on, if you want to deliver all those gifts by morning."
Ned's face lit up with the thought of having this opportunity to show what he could do; given the chance. "Do you really mean it?" Ned asked Santa.
"Well sure," Santa said, "if you can do a better job than I can, why would I try to stop you? Besides, I have been doing this job for a long time, I think I'd like to take a year off myself."
Ned jumped from his seat and raced to the workshop. He informed the other elves, that he was now in charge, and that they would need to begin loading the gifts into the sleigh, because HE was going to deliver all the gifts by Christmas morning.
The other elves ignored Ned. Many of them grumbled among themselves. Finally, one of the elves spoke up, and said what they were all thinking.
"Why would we help you, when you refused to help us all day? I don't know about the other elves, but I am not going to help load the toys. You can do all the work yourself."
The other elves nodded their heads in agreement, and one by one they turned away from Ned, then walked out of the workshop.
It wasn't long, before Ned was standing alone with a pile of gift wrapped toys, that needed to be packed into the back of the sleigh.
"I WILL do it myself," he called out, as the last of them vanished from his view.
After an hour of loading toys into the sleigh, Ned was ready to go. It would have been less work, if the other elves would have helped.. but he got the sleigh ready in more time than he needed. Ned had three hours before he needed to begin his journey.
Ned was smiling when he climbed up into the sleigh, because he had done the job of thirty elves by himself, and in a lot less time than Santa ever did.
With a sense of pride, Ned gave the reindeer the command to take off. But, the reindeer just looked at him.
"Why won't these reindeer fly!?"
"They are hungry." Santa's voice bellowed from behind Ned. "The reindeer won't fly unless they the been feed, and then they need to rest for an hour."
Ned's frustration, showed in his eyes.
"Unfortunately, the elves who were supossed to feed the reindeer decided to take the year off, following your example. And, the reindeer are picky about who feeds them."
As hard as Ned tried, he couldn't persuade the reindeer to eat the maple oats he offered them.
At this rate, he would not be able to deliver the Christmas gifts at all, let alone leave the North Pole by midnight.
Santa had been watching, and was more than patient with the young elf. Ned turned to Santa for help.
"I am sorry Santa, I was wrong to think I could do your job better than you can do it."
Santa smiled, "I can only do my job, because everyone else is doing their job. As you can see, the consequence of just one elf not being helpful, can be unproductive, and cause delays.
He waved the stable elves over and asked them to feed the reindeer. The elves nodded, and brought the oats to the reindeer, who ate them happily.
"Ned, I understand that you feel as if your job is not important, but you are important to all of us. It takes the help of everyone to do all the work that needs to be done. Christmas is a big job, bigger than any one of us alone."
"You are right Santa, will you forgive me for being unhelpful?" Ned asked.
"Well, you could make it up to me, by helping me deliver the toys to all the boys and girls of the world."
"You mean, I can go with you?"
"Well, you have done more work tonight, than you didn't do today. And you never know when I may need an elf who knows the ropes." Santa said, then smiled. "What do you say? Would you like to help me finish my job?"
"Santa, I would love to help you guide your sleigh tonight. I would rather be a small part of the Christmas family than not be a part at all. From now on, I will try to be more helpful... And grateful. "
"That's a good elf." Santa said. "Now, help an old man up into the sleigh."
The End
