The sweet aroma of the cassava pie was strong enough to lure anyone from at least two rooms away.

“Mom, can I please <$>have some pie now?” Ariel yelled from the den.

“No<$>!” Antonio, Ariel’s brother, called from the living room.

“Your brother is right,” her mom said appearing in the doorway of the den. “But you can put on your pyjamas and wash your hands and come down stairs for dinner.”

“Okay,” Ariel muttered under her breath. She walked into her room and almost jumped out of her shoes. There on her bed was Santa!

“Oh, thank goodness you’re here!” he said jumping up. “Now, you need to come up to the North Pole with me to help fix my sleigh, because it was broken by my arch enemy Caliban” (Ariel was a very good fixer), “and we need to hurry!”

“Um, O-o-k-k-ay,” Ariel agreed.

“Okay, here we go. Wait!” Santa said. “The elves don’t know that you’re coming so don’t expect a welcome party or anything like that,” he said. “Three, Two, One LIFT OFF!!”

They disappeared from the Prosperos’ house in Paget, Bermuda and were sent flying to the North Pole.

“Here we are!” Santa said as they arrived at his workshop.

“Something seems wrong,” Ariel said as she stepped up towards the shop. “It’s almost as if a storm is coming,” she wondered looking up at the sky.

“Well then, let’s get going inside before the rain comes,” Santa suggested, appearing at Ariel’s shoulder and pushing her gently towards the door. The doors were encrusted with blue tinsel and gold writing that said SANTA’S WORKSHOP. They opened up and Santa and Ariel stepped inside.

The walls were lined with toys and games. On the left hand side a door labelled Video Games shone brightly in the warmth of the fireplace on the right hand side. Doors were everywhere and Ariel had to try very hard not to go into the room labelled “PRESENTS FOR THE CHILDREN WITH NAMES A-F”.

Suddenly, as they were walking, a loud banging came from a closet labelled “TRASH”. Santa hurried over to the door and swung it open. Thousands of little elves came tumbling out of the closet. A tiny baby elf rolled to Ariel’s feet. She picked him up and set him up right.

“Thank you!” it squealed before running over to tell Santa what had happened. As the elf told of how the evil Caliban had come and stuffed all the elves in the closet while Santa was gone and how Caliban had gone off to collect coal to give to all the children in the world, Santa’s eyes got bigger and bigger until Ariel thought they were going to pop out of his head!

“Alright,” Santa said, holding up his hands up for silence. “I have a plan,” he whispered realising that Caliban could be anywhere.

“I know that he HATES to look at cricket balls. So in my room that is just off of my workshop, there is a big supply of cricket balls. If we get the elves to dress up as gombeys with a headdress full of balls that they can whip at Caliban, Ariel and I can zip in and Ariel can fix the sleigh. If that doesn’t work, I can battle Caliban myself. Now, he is a very powerful man and if anything happens to me, I want Ariel to take my place,” he nodded at Ariel who looked dumbstruck.

“Let’s go!” Santa yelled. Off they went to the room, nervousness and excitement building up in them.

“Ready” Santa said whispering outside of the door leading to the workshop where Caliban was. “Here we go!” he shouted, calling to the beautifully dressed gombeys who were trying to balance their weighed down headdress. They nodded and headed in.

Meanwhile, Caliban was busy getting ready to leave the North Pole to give all the kids coal. He had a straight jaw and beautiful muscles that flexed amazingly. His hair was a dark brown colour that waved slightly from the draft that was coming through the window. Even though he was so cute, he was PURE EVIL!!!!!!

Suddenly, a loud whistle came from the door. Caliban whipped around just a little too late because he was whacked in the face with a cricket ball and knocked out. Sebastian, Alonso and Gonzalo (his helpers) rushed over and started to fight the elves but, of course, the elves were winning.

What they didn’t notice was the two figures who were hurrying over to the sleigh. Cricket balls were flying everywhere and bats, soccer balls, fishing poles and Bermuda kites were bouncing off the walls and causing a horrible noise. What a tempest in a toy shop!

Caliban had ripped off the motor and it took Ariel quite some time to find it. She fixed the sleigh with amazing speed and Santa hopped in and started the engine. He flew out the roof and was off.

Suddenly all the fighting stopped and Caliban and his three helpers collapsed on the floor. The elves threw them out the window and watched them land on the soft snow.

Everyone cheered and Christmas was AWESOME! Ariel was taken home by a sleigh elf, Santa got all the presents delivered in time and Ariel got her pie!