When Plans Fail

Here in the new year, dear reader, you’ll see a lot of changes to the Santa Tracker Herald Star.

That because your intrepid editor – me, Elf Harold Star – is finally back on the job.

Just to introduce myself, I’m an old time news man with year of experience in the North Pole news business. I’ve done work with the North Pole Gazette, North Pole Radio News on Kringle Radio and even some work with North Pole TV. Last year I was tasked with taking on new editorial work here on SantaTrackers.net and SantaUpdate.com.

We launched this little page, interviewed all kinds of new elves and set out to have a good first season of Santa tracker news.

Then it all fell apart.

I got sick. Really sick. Like go-to-the-hospital sick.

Everything here subsequently failed. I didn’t answer my messages. My new reporters floundered without direction. And this page hardly changed beyond what poor Elf Max was able to do on his own while trying to keep the website up as Flight Command tried to recruit 200 million new elves.

It was a nightmare.

Our little plan here completely failed.

I started getting a little better in December and by mid-January I was finally well enough to get out of bed and into the world a little bit. Everyone was so very kind to me. But when it came time for me to visit with Elf Ernest and Santa for my annual reviews I became quite depressed. How could we review what never really happened?

Well, they honestly didn’t dwell on it. Elf Ernest, in fact, tried to take the blame all on himself because he felt he should have had one of the elves who work over at SantaUpdate.com fill in for me and that never happened (honestly, Ernest didn’t have an elf to spare).

Santa didn’t even want to talk about it. He just asked how I was feeling and when we could get moving.

Well, we’re moving.

Elf Trixie posted up her first North Pole Rumors column the other day. I have it on good authority that Elf Ed Zachary is going to publish something next week. And heavens knows there’s more news that usual coming out of the Tracking Department in the early going of Operation Merry Christmas for this year.

So, let me just apologize for the very delayed start to things here.

As Santa said to me, when plans fail we just pick up the pieces and get to work. We turn the ashes of disaster into the roses of success.

In the coming months we’ll have lots of roses here. I promise.

The Santa Tracker Herald Star is intended to be YOUR news – stuff beyond the stuff of just tracking Santa. That other stuff is important, yes. I don’t mean to diminish it. But WE know you want the news of being elves. And that’s what we do.

It’s no longer just the plan.

It’s what is happening.

About this Elf: Elf Harold Star

Elf Harold Star is a veteran news reporter and editor formerly with the North Pole Gazette. He has reported North Pole News for more than 50 years. His new assignment here at SantaTrackers.net will be to help the elf community online to develop their own news publication. Elf Harold lives at the North Pole with his wife, 4 cats and 3 very scared goldfish.