One cold day in Yuletide Village, Holloway, head elf of Santa's Workshop, spent his break playing with his little sister, Brenna's, sled while she worked in the reindeer stables. Unfortunately, the sixteen-year-old accidentally took a steep hill and crashed the sled at the edge of Yuletide Village, where it snapped in two. Uh oh. Holloway had to do something before Brenna returned. Luckily, he landed behind a sled shop.
Holloway picked up each half of the sled and entered the shop. Inside, he found a beautiful, red sled—perfect to replace Brenna's old one, but he had a slight problem. Holloway didn't have enough gold coins to pay for the sled!
He set three down on the face of the checkout desk and smiled hesitantly at the storekeeper, a six-hundred-year-old elf named Evergreen.
She peered down at them and looked up, shaking her head.
Holloway felt around him for more coins, but found none. Finally, he gestured for Evergreen to wait.
Holloway charged out of the shop and quickly searched for opportunities to earn more coins.
His blue eyes landed on Yuletide Village's ice skating rink. There, a competition was occurring—one in which an elf was rewarded gold coins if they performed the best trick.
Holloway smirked. He hurried to the rink and leaped onto the ice. The elf yelled as he slid on his knees and knocked other elves down.
One elf tripped over his dark red scarf, while another tripped on his leg, and both of them toppled to the ground. They landed on a pile of elves.
Ignoring the pretzel, Holloway slid to the judges and swiped a small bag of gold coins. Just like that, he took off.
One of the judges, Ruehar Elalana, chased him but lost him in a crowd of elves.
With a few more gold coins on hand, Holloway returned to the shop. He dumped the bag before Evergreen, and they joined the coins from before.
Evergreen examined the small pile before her and again shook her head.
Holloway gasped, taking a step back. Seriously? That still wasn't enough? Ugh.
Holloway jogged outside to Yuletide Village's streets and hurried to Santa's Workshop.
Inside, elves were busy at work. Holloway wasn't there to work, though; he was there to find more coins.
One of the stations he knew would have coins was the Animal Station. That was where Christmas cats, dogs, hamsters, and other pets were born and raised. Lots of gold coins were donated to help care for the animals. They were precisely what Holloway needed. He wouldn't steal all the coins, but he needed a few bags.
Holloway hurried into the Animal Station. He smirked at the sight of Animal Elves playing with puppies and kittens. His smile grew when his eyes caught one elf standing behind a counter, organizing bags of coins, and putting them in Christmas boxes for safekeeping. The boxes were fragile, so she had to be careful not to drop one accidentally.
The elf's eyes landed on Holloway, and she gasped when crack, crack, crack!
Holloway stormed down a line of boxes, knocking each one down to swipe the bags of coins.
The sound caused the puppies to bark, and Animal Elves stared at the head elf.
The elf behind the countertop hurried to Holloway and ripped a few bags of coins out of his hand, pointing at the door.
Holloway glanced at it. His eyes widened when he saw Ruehar standing in the doorway.
He glared at the teen. Both he and the female elf Holloway stole from closed in on him and prepared to jump.
When they did, Holloway leaped out of the way, causing them to crash into each other. Now stuck in a pretzel, they watched as he ran out of the station with two more bags of coins in hand.
The head elf ran his fastest back to Evergreen's shop. When he finally arrived, he was exhausted. He begged with all his might that he could finally buy the sled.
Holloway dragged himself to the checkout desk, where Evergreen waited, and plopped the next two bags down on the face of it. He gripped the edge of the desk and desperately stared into her eyes.
Scowling at Holloway, Evergreen shook her head for a third time.
His eyes widened. He didn't blink. Frustration tore through his flesh like a bullet. His own emotions had pierced him.
Holloway's eye twitched, and he groaned. Still gripping the edge of the desk, he dropped his head, and his forehead smacked the face of it.
Holloway snuck by all the stations in Santa's Workshop and journeyed down to the bows of it—to the hidden room where Santa's very sleigh lay. He was running out of time. Brenna would be back soon. If she found out Holloway broke her sled, then his whole career as head elf would be destroyed. Not that stealing from the elves would put it in jeopardy, too, but for Santa's sleigh being Santa's sleigh, he, of course, had secret stashes of gold coins in it.
Holloway hopped into Santa's sleigh and started rummaging around. For the time being, he was alone in the dark room. He had to be fast, before Santa came to begin his simulated flight. Every day in December, just after lunchtime until Christmas Eve, he traveled to the bows of the workshop and gathered his sleigh and reindeer. He would turn on a simulation of the Christmas Eve flight and practice for the real thing.
After rummaging for ten minutes, Holloway pulled up a latch, and a secret drawer popped out beside him in the sleigh's cockpit. Inside were piles of gold coins. Half of them were in bags, and the other half weren't. Santa always kept coins with him to reward his elves for all their hard work—and to give to children living in poverty.
The shimmering, gold light given off by the coins shone on Holloway's face as he stuck his hand inside the drawer. He snatched five bags of coins and tucked them in a leather bag he wore over his shoulder. If that weren't enough to pay for that sled, then Holloway would lose his marbles.
Once he was done snatching and stealing, Holloway prepared to leave. Despite that, his foot became caught in the sled's leg, and he crashed to the floor. Right then, his bag opened, and coin bags flew in every direction. Holloway couldn't grab them because he was stuck.
To make his day worse, the lights in the room flashed on, and Evergreen, Ruehar, the female elf from the Animal Station, Jewel, and Santa Claus himself appeared in the doorway.
Holloway gasped.
Jewel uncrossed her arms and turned on a "Surprise!" face. She then glared and crossed them again.
Ruehar nudged Santa and gestured at Holloway, announcing that he was the one running around Yuletide Village stealing gold coins.
Holloway tried to run, but couldn't, because his foot was still stuck.
Santa remained calm. He cautiously approached Holloway and grabbed his arm. Santa began to pull, but had trouble freeing Holloway. Santa turned his head, begging for Ruehar, Jewel, and Evergreen to help him.
They peered into each other's eyes, thinking for a minute. Finally, though, they lined up behind Santa and grabbed each other, tugging on Holloway. With all of them working together, they released him, and everybody fell back. Holloway landed on Santa's big belly, while Evergreen, Ruehar, and Jewel landed on top of one another.
The head elf felt horrible. What he had done was wrong. He stole from Santa's sleigh and donations from the Animal Station, all because he broke his sister's sled and didn't have enough money to pay for a new one.
Holloway slid off Santa's belly and sat on his knees, bringing the back of his hand to his face.
Ruehar, Evergreen, and Jewel started to close in on him, but Santa held out his hand. He took Holloway's shoulders and met his eyes. In a calm voice, he asked him, "Why did you steal all those bags of coins, son?"
Too choked up to speak, Holloway pointed at Santa's sleigh and acted out something breaking in two with his hands. While he did that, his dirty blonde hair hung in his face and became caught around his fingers.
Reaching for his snow white beard, Santa said, "Hmm," and rubbed it. Eventually, he smiled and nodded. Santa patted Holloway's shoulder and stood.
Holloway, Evergreen, Ruehar, and Jewel watched as he approached his sleigh and reached into the back of it.
Santa started to rummage. Exactly what was he doing?
Before long, from the back of his sleigh, Santa pulled out a miraculous sled, even more attractive than the one Holloway saw in Evergreen's shop: green and red with a Christmas bow on it. He approached Holloway and offered it to him.
Holloway's jaw dropped, as did Evergreen, Ruehar, and Jewel's. Santa forgave him? He did.
He handed Holloway the sled and said, "Give this to your sister, but I hope you have learned your lesson."
Holloway, lost for words, rubbed tears from his eyes and examined Santa's face. Slowly nodding, he forced a feeble smile and said, "I'm sorry, Santa."
For the next few hours, Holloway returned the coins to the elves he had stolen from. He returned the donations to the Animal Station, the coins from the ice skating rink's competition, and the crucial coins from Santa's sleigh. He gave those to him outside in the heart of Yuletide Village when he practiced for his Christmas Eve flight.
With Brenna's new sled resting beside his ankle, Holloway set the bags of coins from Santa's sleigh into his brown mitten.
Father Christmas smiled and gripped his shoulder. With it in hand, he told Holloway, "Don't worry, son. You're still the best head elf Yuletide Village could ask for."
Holloway thanked him with a nod. He then heard a slight sound, like running feet, behind him.
Santa pointed in the direction from which the sound came.
Holloway turned and grinned when he saw Brenna hustling toward him. Beside her was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
He and Brenna stopped before Holloway, and Jolly Old Saint Nick smiled at them.
Holloway reached behind him and pulled out Brenna's new sled.
At the sight of it, she gasped and brought her hands to her mouth. The little, brown-headed, ten-year-old elf accepted the present and examined it up and down.
Rudolph's glowing nose came between her and Holloway, and he sniffed the sled.
Brenna gently set it down and leaped into Holloway's arms, hugging him.
Holloway's mouth dropped. He thought Brenna would be upset that he had broken her sled, but she wasn't. He finally closed his eyes and pulled her close.
Brenna leaned into Holloway's ear and whispered, "I love you, Holloway."
Rudolph approached Santa, and they watched the elves hug.
Santa rested his palm on his lead reindeer's head, tapping his glowing nose. All around him, Rudolph, Holloway, and Brenna, Yuletide Village danced to Christmas carols and elves, with "Last Christmas" echoing through the night.
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