By Aoife Rynne, Age 12

Skippy was probably one of the worst elves that ever worked for Santa in the history of the Worst Elves that Ever Worked for Santa. He had failed all of his elf classes and flunked all his exams. He spilled Santa's cocoa on the stairs and put the wrong people on the Good and Naughty List. He knocked over presents that were stacked according to country and size and broke the Naughty-Child Tracker 3000, much to the annoyance of the other elves who now had the task of fixing it as well as reorganising the stack of folders which held a copy of each child's permanent record.

One day, after Skippy had accidentally managed to shut the power down in the whole factory when he was trying to clean up the mess he had made with the powder of Christmas Spirit, the TREE (The Reasonably Efficient Elf) told him that Santa was looking for him.

Skippy stumbled down hall towards the Big Man's office. Well, actually, 'stumbled' is a bit of an understatement. It was more of a run, and then he tripped, knocked over another pile of presents, apologised, ran, tripped, knocked another elf over, apologised, stood up, ran, tripped, got up and hurried to the door before he tripped again. He gulped and knocked at the door.

"Come in!" called a usually-jolly-but not-so-happy-now sounding voice. Skippy entered and found himself in a round room, decorated with enlarged photos of all the cookies Santa had ever eaten. Some of them looked quite delicious and Skippy thought if he would even get lunch after the incident in the kitchen the other week. Cook still gave Skippy the 'look' whenever she saw him.

"Ah! Skippy. Just the one I was looking for. You seem to be causing quite a lot of trouble in my little factory, don't you?" said the big man in a red suit who was gazing at one of the photos with a hungry look in his eye. 'Santa', thought Skippy.

"You see Skippy, Christmas is a very busy time for me and I have many mall appearances and parties to attend around the world. This week, I'm off to Bermuda, to appear on the roof of City Hall during the Tree Lighting Ceremony and give candy canes to the children at the Pantomime. I hear it is supposed to be a good one this year. After all, the theme is Snow White, you know, the little girl who wrote to me and asked for a whistle that could communicate with birds! A little girl wrote to me that her Spanish teacher is to be the Prince in the play! HO HO HO!" he chuckled.

"Now, you may wonder how this ties into your distracting behaviour at my factory. You see, if elves don't perform their very best in the factory, I have to give them a major exam. If they pass, they can work in the factory. If they don't, well, I have to make them retire. As you are one of these, erm, special elves, and it is very near Christmas, I have no choice but to examine you by having you deliver the presents this year to all the boys and girls. I know I'm going to regret this but it's the only choice I have! With my busy schedule, I won't have time to deliver them myself. I am also in desperate need of a holiday," he finished.

And with that, he added in a quiet voice:

"And, um, you wouldn't mind taking a picture of all the cookies you see when you deliver the presents this year, would you? I've never missed a single cookie and I don't plan to miss one this year! I particularly like the ones from Crow Lane Bakery!"

On Christmas Eve, the elves were very busy preparing the sleigh and reindeer. None of the elves were very happy about Skippy delivering the presents, as they knew that in some way, Skippy would mess up... as usual.

Skippy wasn't feeling too great himself. He was fretting about crashing the sleigh, or missing a country, or even breaking the most important rule of all: Never be Seen by a Human. He climbed into the sleigh, and the reindeer took off at the speed of light.

'So that's how Santa gets all around the world and back on one night,' he thought.

Santa had requested that Skippy meet him in Bermuda first. He was insistent that he see Skippy before Skippy messed up the job.

When Skippy arrived in Bermuda, he peered anxiously at all the chimneys of the white, step like roofs.

"I think that I'll do the presents first, before seeing Santa," he said to himself. "That way when Santa tells me to deliver the Bermuda presents, I can say that I've already done them. He'll be so proud of me, that he'll have to pass me on the test!"

Skippy passed over each of the houses, dropping random presents through the chimneys instead of climbing down them. He was enjoying himself very much. He ate several Cassava pies, drank many cartons of Dunkley's Eggnog (which made him very giddy), counted how many Moongates he saw, sang along with the carol singers in St. George's, waved to the statue of Johnny Barnes and picked himself up a codfish breakfast to enjoy in the morning. He made one mistake though. He didn't bother going down the chimneys and didn't check to see that he was putting the right presents down the right chimneys.

"I'm so small, I wouldn't be able to climb back up," he said. When he came to one chimney, he noticed that a Cahow, a bird native to Bermuda, was stuck in a very small chimney. He pulled the bird out with a few small tugs. The bird cooed with delight and stayed by Skippy's side for the rest of his journey.

Skippy finished delivering the wrong presents to the wrong houses and went looking for Santa. When Skippy found him, standing in the Birdcage on Front Street, he noticed that Santa was surrounded by some very angry looking parents. Skippy gulped. He didn't know what was going on, but he had a funny feeling that it had something to do with him... as usual.

"SKIPPY!" hollered Santa in a not-so-cheery voice. Skippy swallowed the lump in his throat and sidled up to him.

"Yes?" he answered in a small, squeaky voice.

Santa gave him a hard look before talking to him in a stern, deep, not-cheery-anymore tone.

"These parents are telling me that their children did not receive the right gifts tonight. Is this true?" Skippy hung his head in shame.

Santa sighed. "Skippy," he started. "Do you know why we have to give children the right gifts on Christmas? Because if the children do not get the right gifts, they stop believing in us. And if they stop believing in us, then we disappear. Do you want that to happen?"

The ashamed elf shook his head.

"I'm sorry Skippy, but enough is enough. I have to fail you and ask you to leave my factory," Santa grimaced.

Skippy shed the tears he had been holding in. The Cahow he had rescued earlier gave a soft chirp and rested on Skippy's shoulder. Santa looked surprised to see the bird.

"Why, Skippy! What is this? I did not know you had such a friendship with this bird!"

Skippy sniffed.

"I saved him from a chimney. He was stuck and he did not look very happy. Nobody should be unhappy during Christmas, so I pulled him out." Santa smiled.

"Skippy," he said. "I'm proud of you. You stopped to help a poor innocent creature, even when you were in a rush to get the wrong presents to the wrong houses. You have a kind heart, and that is one of the most important qualities for a true Christmas elf to have. You can be my personal C.C.C. — My Christmas Cocoa Carrier! Just try not to trip whilst you're carrying it!"

Skippy was so happy that he tripped over himself with joy.

He smiled at Santa and replied in a happy, cheerful voice: "Yay! Now I just have to sort out the present problem here and visit the other 194 countries in the world before heading back home!"

Santa gave Skippy a wary look.

"Actually, Skippy," he began. "Maybe I should finish delivering the presents tonight!"

And off he went in his sleigh over Hamilton Harbor yelling in a booming voice: "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night!"

That is not the end of the story, however. Skippy was called to Santa's office on Boxing Day. He thought Santa might want to congratulate for being good. But he knew he had messed up again... as usual, when Santa said to him: "SKIPPY! You silly elf! Where are the photographs of MY COOKIES?"