The First Tree - Chapter 6

The Workshop
Large fluffy snowflakes dropped softly in the darkness. They danced and floated through the crisp morning air. It was as if they knew that it was a special time here at the North Pole.
The great workshop lay quiet and dark, waiting patiently for a new day’s activities. Dawn had not yet arrived and the workshop was shrouded in shadows. It was nestled snugly in a thick grove of towering silver fir trees, each standing erect like sentinels guarding the magic within.
Suddenly, lights began to blink on in the windows of the roomy workshop. From deep within, preparatory noises could be heard . The click click and tap tap of hammers beginning to hammer and saws beginning to saw. Then the clomp of little boots ambling back and forth over aged wooden floors. The familiar sounds of tinkering filled the workshop and surrounding forest. It was the beginning of yet a new day for the elves in Santa’s workshop and they knew that it would be a busy one.
Behind the extensive workshop and up a gradually sloping hill sat a magnificent house surrounded by stunted dark emerald pines. A wide slate gray stone pathway wandered up through the trees, from the workshop to the house. It ended at the base of a large, plain but sturdy wooden front door. An oversized wreath, covered in prickly hazel colored pine cones, glossy green holly leaves and fresh red holly berries, hung from a shiny brass door knocker and covered most of the surrounding surface.
From a large frosted window on the second floor of the stately house, a light flickered. Inside the workshop, an young elf named Roger glanced up from his workbench, where he had been fastening shiny black wheels on toy trucks, and noticed the light in the window.
"Andy, Santa is awake!"
An elf wearing a droopy green hat, speckled with saw dust, and dirty paint-stained overalls looked up from his project and scratched his beard thoughtfully.
"Is it his bedroom light?"
Roger nodded, glancing at the master Christmas time clock hanging from the open rafters. "He is up even earlier today. "
Andy smiled ryly, "You know as well as I do that with only a week left before the big guy does his thing, he will be getting pretty excited. We all know how jumpy he gets at Christmas. I will wager one of Mrs. Claus’s pancakes that Santa even beats us to the workshop tomorrow!"
Roger shrugged, nodded in agreement and then, with a gleam in his eye, changed the subject.
"Andy, isn’t today the day that Sam, Pete and Robert bring Mrs. Claus’s tree in from the forest?"
"Sure as reindeer are cranky in the morning!" Andy replied. "That means that we will be seeing less of them then of a couple of blushing reindeer in the mistletoe shack." Roger chuckled and hammered another wheel in place, narrowly missing a finger. After a minute, Andy chimed again, "You watch, Roger, by the end of the week, Mrs. Claus will have those three as tired as a group of fat reindeer on Christmas morning."
"Still," Roger sighed, staring at the wall. "I would love to be chosen to be one of her tree elves"
"You sure are ringing the sleigh bells on that one!" Retorted Andy. "I would sleep in the stables for a month to be chosen to help Mrs. Claus." They both looked at each other over the projects in their laps and agreed.
"Well someday!" Roger mumbled. And across from him, Andy was thinking the same thing.