“This has been a good summer meeting,” I announced and watched my department heads pack up to leave. “But I think you have forgotten our tradition.” Everyone stopped what they were doing. “Remember, the last thing on the agenda is time for any of the elves we invited to speak about whatever is on their minds.”

I heard the soft groans but knew my department heads would honor this custom. “Does anyone have any suggestions for improvements or ideas for new toys?” I stated as my eyes traveled around the room.

Kinkie, a member of the Research and Development department, raised his hand.  “What about something you can use to draw? Then whatever you draw comes to life.”

The elves broke into laughter. “Where do you get these crazy ideas?” one of them yelled.

“Yeah, you must be reading comic books for crazy concepts!” another elf exclaimed.

I held up my hand, and the room went quiet. “Kinkie,” I said, “I love your spirit and creativity, but I can’t imagine something like that actually working.”

“I know I’ve had some strange ideas before, so I understand why you might not think this would work.” He paused, and a grin spread across his face. “What if I told you that I already have a working model?”

There was a loud gasp from everyone in the room. Several shook their heads and muttered in disbelief.

“I hope you brought your creation and can demonstrate how it works.” I stepped aside and motioned for Kinkie to come up.

The young elf nodded and picked up his bag. He pulled out what looked like an oversized pen and laid it on my desk. The shaft was silver and the writing point was an upside-down Christmas Tree. On the top was a Santa who looked just like me.

“That’s just an ordinary Christmas pen!” one elf shouted while the others laughed.

Kinkie ignored their sarcasm and looked at me. “Santa, would you like me to demonstrate?”

“Certainly!”

Kinkie picked up the device. As his fingers slid down the shaft, the tree sparkled with small red and green lights. When his hand reached the end, Santa’s nose flashed yellow.

Satisfied, he grabbed the end of the device just like a pen. “Santa, would you like a cup of hot cocoa?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Sure.”

As the elf created the image of a cup of cocoa on my desk, the lines took on a purple color. When he finished, Kinkie grabbed the pen by its Christmas Tree end and gently touched the drawing with the Santa end of the pen.

Suddenly, the drawing turned into a steaming cup of hot cocoa. The elves and I gasped at what we saw.

I slowly picked up the cup and took a sip. “Hmm, this is almost as good as Judy’s!” I looked up at Kinkie, “Unbelievable. What else can you make with this?”

“Anything.” The elf looked around the room. “Is there something special one of you would like?”

“I could use a way to quickly get around all the workshops!” Bernard called out.

All eyes watched the elf as he moved to a clear wall space in the room. After drawing a door, Kinkie turned to Bernard. “Where would you like to go?”

“The bicycle shop,” my head elf responded.

Kinkie printed ‘Bike Shop’ on the door. Again, he tapped the drawing with Santa’s head.

When the door appeared, Bernard walked over and touched it to see if the door was real.

“Open it,” the elves shouted.

Bernard grabbed the door knob and pulled the door open. “What!? I can’t believe it!”

I got up and stood behind Bernard to see the inside. “This can’t be real!” I said and gazed at the interior of the Bicycle Shop.

“Go in! Go in!” the elves chanted.

“Try it. I promise you’ll be safe. However, remember to shut the door after entering so it will be there when you want to return.

Bernard began to enter, but stopped suddenly. “You coming with me?”

“Sure! Let’s do it.”

After entering the workshop, I pulled the door closed. Bernard and I giggled while we took a few steps, staring in disbelief.

“How is this possible Santa? We’re really in the bike shop.”

I walked over to touch one of the bikes to be sure I wasn’t dreaming. “I don’t know Bernard, but this is a ten-minute walk from the conference room, and all we did was walk through a door.”

“Yeah! A door that didn’t exist five minutes ago!”

“Come on. Let’s go back to the other elves.”

Bernard opened the door, and we returned to the meeting room to the cheering of the elves.

Kinkie wore a huge smile on his face while many of the other elves congratulated him on his Magic Pen.

I motioned for everyone to take their seats. “Kinkie,” I began after everyone settled down, “you are to be commended on this ‘Magic Pen’ you designed. Workshop managers, how do you feel about this pen.”

Quinten was the first to talk. “This pen could create models of any new toy to see if they would be worth making for the children.”

“True,” I mumbled. “Houser, what do you think?”

“Santa, instead of having all the toys stored in warehouses until we send them to your bag with the teletransportation Magic Dust, we could just keep your list handy and draw each toy when needed. That would reduce the need for so much warehouse space.”

While some of the elves cheered, one elf stood up. “That sounds great, but what would all the toy making elves do? We’d be out of work!”

The room erupted in disagreements over the Magic Pen. I listened to all the arguments for and against this new creation. When I had heard enough, I raised my hands to silence the elves.

“First, let me congratulate Kinkie for his invention. I’m sure he put a lot of work and creativity into making this magic pen. I can see a lot of good uses for it. The possibilities are endless.”

“Magic Pen – Magic Pen – Magic Pen,” yelled the elves as they danced around the room.

“But!” I shouted.

The chanting stop, and the elves stared at me.

“I’ve heard that BUT before,” Bernard remarked. “Usually, it’s not a good sign.”

After the elves took their seats, I explained. “I am not sure this is something we should be using, especially not something we would want others to have.”

“WHAT?” I heard someone yell. “You got to be kidding.”

“Santa, do you know how much work this would save us and others!” another elf added.

“Yes, I do! I know how great a tool this would be. Yet, have any of you thought of the harm Kinkie’s creation might cause?” As I looked around the room, no one responded. “Think about it. We already heard one of our elves worry if this tool would force him out of his job. And what if it fell into the hands of someone who wanted to use it for evil purposes?”

“We could just use it here at Christmas Village. There is no one here that would misuse it,” Lyra said.

“You know, Santa’s got a point. Malodor is always hanging around and causing trouble for us. Imagine the damage he could cause if he found out about the Magic Pen,” Bernard remarked.

“I’m afraid this is something we need to keep in the safe until I am assured it won’t be misused,” I announced. “More research will be needed, and we might want to put some limits on it.”

Though Kinkie had kept quiet, I saw him raise his hand. “Would you like to say something Kinkie?”

The inventor stood up. “Since it’s my creation, I feel like I should have a say in this. You see,” he explained, “I was just thinking about how much fun it would be. I never thought about all the bad things that could happen. And, well,” he paused and smiled at me. “Santa, you’re right. I think the pen and all the design papers should be locked up where they will be safe.”

The elves began nodding their heads in agreement. As always, I counted on their wisdom to see the entire picture of what a pen like Kinkie’s could do. When they chanted, ‘Lock it up – lock it up’, I knew the elves understood.

Notes From Santa

I hope you enjoyed today’s story. Stories are posted on the 1^st and 3^rd Saturday of each month, except December. Santa’s next story will be posted on Saturday August 17, 2024.  If you have any comments or if there is something you would like me to tell you about, please feel free to leave me a comment. Until the next time . . .

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