Well now. Isn’t that interesting?

Not long after my last column I got a phone call from my friend, Elf Lorraine Hastings, who happens to be a North Pole Flight Command elf. She’s some kind of analyst.

She told me she was assigned to call me and broker a deal. She could tell me what was going on only if I agreed not to publish my story until after today’s big tracker press conference. I told her that was a good deal. The press conference is over – you know what was said there – and now I can say some more about the lockdown in Flight Command.

It basically comes down to this: they’re scared.

Yeah. That’s it. They took a vote in Flight Command when they knew all they had to do in axing all those elves and they decided to hide. They are literally quaking in their elf shoes over the backlash of firing elves.

Can you believe that?

Frankly, I was a little peeved and I told Lorraine that. North Pole Flight Command elves live in their own little world most of the time anyway and I get why that might be necessary but this whole thing, for my money, is a bit beneath an elf.

Santa himself signed off on this decision. Why would any elf be scared because of a decision Santa made?

In fact, I was so cheesed-off about this whole dumb thing I sought out Santa and I found him just where they said he was – filling up water balloons with Ernest for the big snowball fight today. Santa was already soaked to the bone and laughing his head off as he and Elf Ernest had a little water fight of their own getting those balloons filled. We’re short on snow right now, so water balloons are an acceptable substitute and it appeared Santa and Ernest were using them on each other.

But as I stood there with my hands on my hip I guess I had a look on my face that Santa didn’t like. So he bombed me with a blue water balloon.

What would you do if Santa bombed you with a water balloon?

Well, first I ran for a towel. But when I found a super-soaker then I went back into battle and blasted the Big Guy. I will admit that all this did a lot to change my mood.

After laughing a great deal I finally stopped to catch my breath and Santa said, “Can ya remember what it was that had you so surly?”

I laughed again and just kind of spilled my guts about the antics at Flight Command.

Santa frowned, and asked me to sit down for a minute, suddenly getting very serious.

“Trixie,” Santa said, “There are some things you need to understand about that whole thing. Those elves in Flight Command have been on a big journey with the whole tracker elf program. Some of them have been there from before the thing even started. They have been through all the ups and downs. I think you need to give them a bit of a break.”

I wasn’t expecting to hear any of this. I frankly didn’t think Santa even knew about the lockdown and how it had upset so many people.

But Santa knew stuff I didn’t know.

Santa explained that the elves in Flight Command were not scared – they were sad. They were mostly against what Santa and Elf Roger decided.

Santa said it wasn’t a hard decision to do what he did. But for the elves in Flight Command it was a horrible thing to go through because elves are protective of other elves. They are fiercely loyal. Many of them felt those elves shown the door didn’t ever really get a chance to be good elves. Santa said the Flight Command staff was very upset about all of this.

Then Santa said something really important.

“Don’t you see?” Santa said. “I had to do it. We have too many good elves – no, GREAT elves – who are here all year long, giving their best, doing anything for the effort. I owed it to them to remove those who couldn’t rise to their level. I need those elves to see how very special they are. I need more elves like them. As Roger said in the press conference, I’d rather have two or three elves who do their best all the time over two or three million who never show up.”

Well now.

Santa sure knows how to put out the fire in a girl, ya know?

I hadn’t thought about that.

I bet you haven’t thought about it either. Do you know how special you are as an elf?

Think about this: the fact you are reading this means you’re on SantaTrackers.net and you are reading something not available to the world-at-large. This is kept for a very select group of people, just those elves who are here, logged in and engaged in the work of Santa. That’s you.

It’s a pretty small group of people now.

Do you realize that you are kind of like a pioneer? You’re the first of this official program. The head of the line. The star of the show – a show that is JUST getting started.

Just being here, having whatever job you have as an elf (or jobs), contributing to the Elf Community, asking questions, spreading Christmas cheer, helping other elves, makes you really unique. Special, even.

Some day, each of you may end up in the Elf Hall of Fame – just because you’re a pioneer. You could end up securing a new elf job at the North Pole – just because you’re here, proving your chops as an elf tracking Santa for Santa. You’re on the ground floor. You are staring HUGE opportunity in the face and you’re hitting it out of the park because YOU’RE here as part of what is a very exclusive group.

And here’s the juiciest piece of gossip I can give you today: it is about to become harder than ever to become a tracker elf. I’m told that effective with today’s purge and elf-deadwood removal  is a new admittance policy for new elves headed up by Elf Moe.

Yeah. That Elf Moe.

It’s going to be harder than ever to become a North Pole Tracker Elf.

That means just one thing: this will remain a very exclusive group for a long time. We are no longer worried about getting mass numbers of elves on board. Instead, as Santa explained to me, we are focused on getting GOOD elves, GREAT elves. And those don’t come cheap.

So a new vetting process is being put in place. Most who try to register for SantaTrackers.net will be referred to the freelance elf application. There will be…um…how to say it? A screening process? An audition? Some sort of test before new elves are admitted.

Santa is serious about this thing. He wants trackers who can do what Flight Command instructs. He wants trackers who can give their whole heart to the Christmas effort. He’s not interested in even nice people who just want to say they are an elf.

As Santa said, he wants REAL elves.

That’s special. That’s unique. That’s a small number of people, really.

That’s you.

I have never seen the North Pole so empty. Empty streets. Empty shops. Empty schools. Empty houses. Even the Claus residence has been locked up tight.

What’s going on? Mass vacations.

You see, the past two years at the North Pole have been very strange. I guess it has been that way around the world, too, with the pandemic and all.

The first year of the pandemic Santa cancelled travel and vacation for everyone out of the name of safety. Elves were glad to help by not spreading the virus and it was thought that staying home helped keep the North Pole virus-free.

Last year was pretty much the same way. There were a few elves who ventured out because they had to but Santa himself even stayed home another year.

This year that all changed.

Only Santa put some stipulations on it and told the elves in February that if they wanted to travel and get some time away they needed to do it before June 24th this year. It sure looks like everyone did.

Well, except me. I went on vacation last month.

So I did some snooping around this week to see what I could learn. And to be honest – not much. With most everyone gone, I’ve got very little gossip to share.

I went to Santa’s workshop and found Elf Lorraine there. She works in baby toys and she told me this week is a big week for water toys. You know those toys little babies play with? Things like teethers and shake-up toys with water in them? She was there with just two other elves, running a line filling those toys with water.

But that was all the activity I saw there. Lorraine told me the full workshop lineup won’t fire up again until the 27th.

In fact, that’s something of a magic date – being a Monday and all.

Elf Herbie Harvey, who is a super elf, was the only one I could find in the whole Post Office Department this week. And he wasn’t even working on the mail.

A super elf is an elf who can work at any department at the North Pole. Elf Herbie Harvey is an older elf who has worked everywhere it seems during his long career. And between now and the 24th he has the whole Post Office to himself.

Elf Hugo, who runs the Post Office, had all the northern regional offices in Demark, Greenland, Canada and North Pole, Alaska hold all mail until the 24th. So it’s not like Elf Herbie Harvey has a lot to do.

In fact, I found him in the basement warehouse, a huge space normally filled with lots of equipment and mail. But I found it totally empty and Herbie was in there setting up chairs. It’s a massive place and one that could hold seating for thousands. While I got there Elf Herbie already had about 2800 chairs set up. He told me he was tasked with getting 15,000 set up by the 24th.

That’s going to be a very big meeting.

I asked Elf Herbie Harvey what the chairs and the meeting was for and he said he didn’t know and didn’t care. He just didn’t want to be the one to have to take all the chairs down after he gets them set up.

The 24th, 25th and 26th appear to be big days for us.

I have heard no announcements. I have seen no calendars, except for the chat events we already know about that weekend.

But Leon Day – which is not an event I entirely understand yet – seems to have more meaning this year.

When I figure it out, I’ll let you know.

It’s quiet now. Too quiet. But something’s up.