They were going but neither could believe it! Mum and dad had woken them early. Their first thought was that they’d slept in, because, of course, they had three days of school left before the Christmas Holidays! But in stead, they had found them selves bundled into the car, given wrapped Chocolate crepes and strawberries for breakfast and were wearing snow boots on their feet! Yes Snow boots! That memory would last a lifetime. Opening their blurry eyes to see suitcases packed and tickets to Lapland tied to the bags! They were going to see Father Christmas! And reindeer, sled dogs, chocolate making and build snowmen beneath mesmerising northern lights!Freddie and Poppy felt as though they would fizz over like the bottle of pink lemonade dad had dropped on the beach last summer. The drive felt extra magical too! The stars were still shining bright, the street lights were lit and the occasional nocturnal creature stalked into the darkness as the car drove past. A particularly miffed Fox ran across the road and then scowled back at the car as Poppy shouted with delight.‘A Fox! Look, look, there!’As is usual, when waiting for all exciting things to finally arrive, time seemed to slow down in such an irritating way. But after many repetitive questions of ‘When will we get there? How long is the flight? How long now?’ finally and unbelievably they were pulling into the driveway of the coziest looking cabin they had ever seen. Flurries or snowflakes swirled and played with the breeze. Fir trees seemed to be reaching their branches down to hand more snow to the family as they got out of the car. Crunching steps and fresh crisp breaths welcomed them into this sparkling, frothy wonderland. The smoky, spiced warmth of a crackling open fire engulfed them as they walked through the front door. A perfect balance of opposites blanketed their senses. It was as if someone magic and very good at baking had mixed the perfect recipe for a cake, yet it was a land, not a baked good that felt so sweet.‘Father Christmas made it like this didn’t he!’ said Freddie.‘He must have! It’s magical.’ Said Poppy.‘I can feel it too!’ Said mum.After snowball fights with the children next door, the cuddliest sled dog ride and hot chocolate by the fire pit they were finally going to meet Father Christmas. It was at the end of the tour of the elves workshop when Poppy noticed something. ‘Freddie look!’ She said, ‘that elf looks suspicious… behind the Christmas tree.’ Poppy pointed. There was an old wooden desk with a huge leather bound book on top. The elf was crawling along the ground towards the desk. The rest of the families were now leaving the workshop and Poppy and Freddie should have been too. It was Father Christmas next! The elves were busily working away like bees in a hive and hadn’t noticed the suspicious elf. ‘Lets follow him!’ Said Freddie. Keeping themselves behind workbenches, piles of toys or the many huge bedecked Christmas trees, they snuck their way round to get a better look at the elf-on-all-fours.Peering around the last Christmas tree and… gone? The suspicious elf had disappeared.‘The book! He’s stolen the book’ Whispered Poppy. Then they heard baubles smashing. The elf was running fast through a myriad of stacked decorations, the huge book weighing him down. ‘He’s stealing the book!’ Shouted Freddie. The children charged after him. ‘Come on!’ Poppy bellowed at the stunned elves. Ahead the corridor bent to the right and the book thief disappeared. Freddie and Poppy rounded the corned just in time to see a hidden doorway close. They heard clattering behind them as the elves from the workshop caught up. Some were waving tools to use as weapons. Grasping the handle and shoving it down Poppy and Freddie realised with a terrible heart dropping sensation that the door was locked.A very panicky elf with a nametag that said ‘Bobble’ on it was seemingly having a panic attack.‘Oh no, oh my! What are we going to do, what will Father Christmas say! Oh no, oh my! Bobble was rabbling on and on.‘Pull yourself together Bobble!’ said an elf with a nametag that said Sparky. Sparky was forcefully shaking Bobble by the shoulders. Bobble seemed to calm down; ‘Just pull yourself together I say!’ said Sparky.‘I have, now let me go.’ Said Bobble indignantly.‘Oh sorry Bobble, it seems I got a bit carried away.’ Sparky started smoothing the newly made wrinkles in Bobbles red coat sleeves. The crowd was growing behind them and murmurs of Christmas being lost were spreading among the elves.‘Excuse me.’ Said Poppy to Bobble and Sparky, ‘But what book was that?’ The elves jumped at the question and closed their eyes tight.‘Oh no, oh my…’ Started Bobble. Sparky looked like he might start shaking Bobble again.‘No, wait.’ Said Freddie interrupting the two, ‘Why will Christmas be lost?’ The crowd of elves gasped and went silent, their tools falling to the ground as little arms dropped hopelessly. Sparky had huge tears welling in his eyes.‘That was the Big book of lists!’ He said.‘You mean… Christmas lists, from Children?’ Said Poppy‘Y, yes!’ cried the elves in unison and they descended into sobbing disarray.‘It’s ok, we can help get the book back.’ Said Poppy. The sad piles of elves stopped crying and turned their wet faces to the children. ‘Can you?’ Said Bobble.‘How?’ asked Sparky. Poppy hadn’t thought that far ahead, but she was sure they could find a way.‘Well, if we all put our heads together I’m sure we will think of something!’ The elves stood up and physically lent their heads together. ‘No no, I mean if we all think together.’ The children giggled. The children had an idea first. ‘Mum and dad!’ Said Freddie as his parents came running round the corner.‘What on earth happened?’ said Mum. It took quite a while to explain because the elves kept jumping in to explain or act out parts of the story, but eventually they understood what had happened.‘And where does the door way lead?’ asked Dad.‘No one knows’ Said Sparky, ‘We don’t have the key to this door.’‘Well we should ask Father Christmas!’ Said Mum‘No we can’t let him know we lost the Book of lists! He’s so busy and he worries so much at this time of year!’ Said Bobble.‘Well we can’t keep it a secret from him. If we can’t find the book by tomorrow night we have to tell him.’ Said Mum. The elves looked very worried but they knew it was the right thing to do. Losing one day of building toys would be hard enough, any more and Christmas was in real danger.‘Look what I found!!’ A tiny elf was weaving through the crowd towards the children waving some letters in the air. ‘What is it, Trifle?’ Asked Sparky. But Trifle ran straight past Sparky and thrust the letters into Poppy and Freddie’s hands. They read the letters.‘They are Christmas lists!’ Said Freddie‘Trifle! You were meant to add those to the book before we started building toys!’ Said Sparky.‘Bet you’re glad I didn’t!’ Said Trifle proudly, ‘There are one hundred letters, enough to keep making toys until we find the book!’ Trifle announced to the room triumphantly.‘If we find the book’ said Bobble. As the elves, once again, started spiraling into chaos Poppy went to look at the door again. A small piece of fabric was caught in the thin gap between the frame and door.‘Look at this.’ Poppy held up the fabric,‘That’s from the thief’s coat! Said Freddie, ‘Hey, could we use the sled dogs to track him down?’ A plan was formed. Trifle, Bobble and Sparky would help Freddie and Poppy find the thief whilst mum and dad covered by booking every dog sled adventure they could and asking specifically for the three elves to be their guides. The rest of the elves would keep working from the one hundred Christmas lists Trifle had given them.First on the sledding adventure list was The Aurora Borealis Sled ride. Trifle was the most enthusiastic little elf. The snow path seemed more like a gorge to Trifle, but she tottered along in front, nattering constantly to the family and herself. Occasionally she got distracted by a particularly pretty ice encrusted leaf or she stopped to name a star she’d just seen twinkle at her. Eventually, after the third stop (to wonder at a snow foxes paw prints) Trifle got the little gang to the sled dog shelters. Maybe a little over zealously, she pushed the musher off the sled and declared herself in charge. The musher looked a bit bewildered but stepped aside. Mum and dad explained and another sled arrived. As Trifle couldn’t actually reach the bar, Dad had to take the position of musher and Mum took the other sled. The children and elves piled on and ‘Mush!’ they were off! ‘I think we’ve gone far enough now.’ Said Poppy when they were out of sight of the dogs barn. The dogs slowed to a stop and the elves jumped into action. They took the little bit of fabric for the dogs to sniff. The dogs started barking and yipping and pulling at the sleds. ‘Quick! Get back on!’ Shouted Freddie. The dogs took off before Trifle had got on, but luckily Mums sled was just behind. Poppy whisked Trifle up as the little elf ran to catch them.‘That was fun!’ said Trifle.‘That was close!’ said Bobble, ‘ you nearly got lost!’‘What an adventure that would be... lost.’ Said Trifle dreamily.‘We’re already on an adventure.’ Bobble said rolling his eyes.As they raced through the frosty pines, a dazzling display of green and pink glowing lights lit up the sky. The dogs turned out of the forest and followed the lake. The pillowy snowdrifts reflected the light and the glassy water mirrored the sky perfectly. The world suddenly seemed so magical they forget all about the book thief.Until they turned into a dark tunnel and the sled dogs stopped.The elves took the lanterns and jumped off the sleds. Closely followed by the family. Eerily quiet but hearing every shuffling step, the group made their way deeper into the tunnel. At first it seemed man made, but the deeper they got the more natural and rocky the tunnel became. And then it opened into vast architectural cave. The light from the lanterns didn’t seem to reach all the way up and they stared together into the black expanse before them.‘Oh. My. Goodness!’ Said Poppy. She was pointing at a little camp bed and some pans, bowls and a pile of wood. And… right there on the bed was…‘The book!’ said everyone together.‘I’m so excited to stroll back into the workshop, all nonchalant, carrying the book and hear the cheering from all the elves!’ said Trifle.‘No, I’m going to carry the book!’ Said Bobble.‘No me!’ Said Sparky. The sled dogs were trotting into their barn, tired and ready for a nice big meal. The book was being pulled between the sleds like a tug of war rope. Trifle suddenly let go and declared.‘The children should carry it!’ Bobble and Sparky clambered back up from under the blankets after nearly falling off the sled when Trifle had let go of the book.‘That’s the first good idea you’ve had.’ Said Sparky. Trifle didn’t seem to hear. She jumped up and grabbed the book and presented it like a trophy to Poppy and Freddie. Walking back into the workshop half an hour later the din of cheers, whoops and crying of happy tears from the elves was deafening. They couldn’t believe the expedition had been successful so quickly.‘It was the dogs, they caught the scent immediately!’ Said Freddie.‘We were just lucky that we found that fabric and got the dogs going to fast. And it was such a still night.’ Said Poppy, ‘ I know a police dog handler and he said the weather really makes a difference!’ The rest of the trip the elves treated the family, and particularly the children, like royalty. They got extra sweets, extra blankets, more candy canes left on their pillows at night and before they left three days later the whole work shop of elves turned up at the front door to wish them all a happy Christmas. The elves helped load the car and presented the Children with the most magical snow globe.‘We, we made… we’ Trifle burst into tears.‘Bobble, Trifle and I made it for you’ Said Sparky, just containing his tears long enough to get the sentence out. The three elves and hugged the family so tight Poppy thought she might pass out.The snow globe was a scene with two dog sleds by a lake and lit by a pink and green light. A week later and Christmas morning dawned. On Freddie and Poppy’s Chimney was a letter.Freddie and Poppy,Firstly Merry Christmas!Secondly, thank you. I have heard all about the secret adventures that went on whilst you were in Lapland. I can’t ever repay you for what you did for us all. You and your family are spoken about often. Trifle has re-told and re-told and re-told the story over and over again! We would like to invite you back each year to be our honored guests. And we must ask one more favour of you. You see the thing is, we never found the book thief and there have been more attempts at stealing the book. Will you come back next year to help us solve the mystery and stop the thief once and for all?Write back and send your answer up the chimney.Lots of love and Christmas magic,Father Christmas xxx
