During New Carlisle’s Christmas Season Kick-off held Saturday, the New Carlisle News (NCN) was able to catch up with three of Santa’s elves for exclusive interviews discussing their holiday travel schedules, work duties, the Naughty and Nice List, and their feelings about the their busiest time of year. Due to the nature of the day, the interviews were brief, but insightful.
Although Santa Claus arrived in grand style at New Carlisle’s Andy Barnhart Memorial Airport on Saturday morning, his elves, “Sleepy,” “Grumpy,” and “Happy,” say they took a more pedestrian route to New Carlisle’s festivities by riding in a second-hand sleigh. The elves say after working with the “Big Man” for approximately a millennia, they are used to the arrangement. “It’s to be expected,” explains Happy, “Everyone comes to see Santa, so he has to look good when he shows up! But I do have to admit it would be nice to ride in a firetruck just once.”
Although the elves traveled together, there was some disparity in how they viewed their trip south.
Happy says he was bumped up to first class, but that the trip was still “fairly rough” due to an instrument malfunction that sent them straight into some wicked winds off the east coast. Sleepy said he was, “Pretty sure the trip went smoothly.” Grumpy thought the trip was “awful” because the in-flight movie was “Elf.” “Why does the movie always have to be ‘Elf?’ I hate ‘Elf!’ It’s so unrealistic!” grumbled Grumpy. However, Happy and Grumpy did agree on one thing: “Don’t ever listen to Sleepy...he sleeps through every trip!”
Regarding work duties, the elves say there are different job tiers in Santa’s workshop. Sleepy says he is one of the elves who has worked with Santa the longest, but has not been promoted in centuries because he’s always falling asleep on the job. Happy is in the Public Relations department and makes sure Santa gets plenty of publicity. Grumpy did not care to discuss his job, just saying, “It’s awful.”
The Naughty and Nice List is a touchy subject with the elves. Happy says the List stays pretty steady throughout the year, “But wait until about a week before Christmas, then POW! The Nice List begins growing like crazy! So even though we think we’ve filled all of our orders, we always end up doing a huge push that last week to get a bunch of new orders filled. It also gives Mission Control a headache with all of the added stops.” Grumpy comments, “I don’t care about the Nice List growing. Enough adults fall off of it that week, it all evens out.” Sleepy dozed off before he could weigh in on the subject.
Before returning to help Santa get ready for his next activity in New Carlisle, the elves shared their favorite thing about the Christmas season.
“It really is a wonderful time of year because everyone seems to be nicer to each other! My favorite part is seeing kids get warm and cozy pajamas that will help them sleep well!” says Sleepy. Happy says his favorite part of Christmas is, “Seeing all of the families gathering together and knowing I’ve helped make a child happy on Christmas Day.” Grumpy states, “Eh, Christmas is ok, it’s a steady job,” before adding, “But I guess Happy is right about making a kid happy...it is a pretty nice feeling!”
