MAURICE 20000

“Here it is Thanksgiving Day the earliest and worst noreaster in 50 years is going on.” Maurice exclaimed as he slid down the butternut tree and hit a two-foot snowdrift. Maurice had just missed his landing point on the Gunther’s roof when he jumped from Blitzen’s back. “I better collect myself and get inside to check on the Gunther kids,” Maurice said as he picked up his hat and dusted the snow off himself.  

Maurice hopped down the coal chute and in a flash was in the living room on top of the drapes. He looked around yep there were still four, Richard, Howard, Deborah, and John. A noise from the kitchen got Maurice’s attention so he slid down the drape, and headed to the kitchen. When he arrived in the kitchen, he couldn’t believe his eyes; Mrs. G was feeding a baby in the high chair. The baby had cereal all in her hair along with strained carrots. Maurice thought who is this? As Mr. G came in the kitchen Maurice heard him say “ Is Heidi through eating yet”? . Maurice wondered who Heidi was.

 As he headed back to the living room, John and Debbie who were going outside to play in the snow passed him. When he rounded the corner to the living room Max caught sight of him and there was a foot race to the drapes. The drapes swaying back and forth caught Howard’s eye that then noticed Maurice’s hat. “Maurice is here” Howard exclaimed. Richard said “Where?” “Look on top of the Drapes” Howard said. Richard thought to himself, this is the year I’m going to catch that elf!

Later as Maurice was looking around the house looking to see if is usual hiding spots were safe he came across a crib in Mr. & Mrs. G’s room. HMMM Maurice wondered, did Mrs. G have a baby & not notify the North Pole? Maurice began to search the room for clues. “Well look at this” Maurice said to himself as he found a birth certificate on the dresser. It read Heidi Dorothy Gunther born June 8, 1957 at Oneida City hospital. Maurice went into a panic; a new baby and she won’t have any toys because her mom and dad forgot to notify the North Pole. Should he report back to the North Pole early and let Santa know, Maurice had to make a quick decision. So he hurriedly scribbled a note that read, “ Santa, New unreported baby girl at 143 Prospect, need presents, you decide what to do with parents. Maurice”. Maurice quickly put the note in an envelope and hightailed it out the kitchen window onto the roof. Then jumped over to Mrs. Ratnours roof and finally to the Richters roof. Just as he landed Blitzen also landed with Lars on his back. Lars was the elf that checked on Becky and Nathan. Maurice told Blitzen to give the note to Santa as soon as he got back.

When Maurice got back to the Gunthers everybody was getting ready for bed, Maurice was sure Santa would take car of the new baby but he wasn’t sure about Mr. & Mrs. G.  

It was unusually snowy and cold the first two weeks of December. The kids were pretty good. They come home from school did their homework without much prodding from Mrs. G, then ate supper, picked up the table, did dishes then sometimes got to go to the skating rink. Richard and John were the exception; it seems that while at the skating rink John was chasing the girls, two in particular Paula and Christine, when he caught them he would kiss them. Richard was watching Maurice very closely; he was keeping track of Maurice’s moves from window to window. He thought to himself, if I can figure out where he goes and the times I could catch him in my trap. You see Richard had built a trap from his erector set and covered it with a piece of scrap curtain material to make it blend in with the curtains. He had used some of Howard’s army men to test it. Every time he tested the trap it worked perfect, once it closed there was no getting out. Richard thought I got him now, I’ll catch him and find out all about him!

The Saturday came to go get the tree, finally. Maurice had never gone to go get the tree so he decided that this year he would. As all the kids put on their coats, he jumped inside Deborah’s hood; he knew he was safe because she would not put the hood up on her parka because she had on her Tyrolean hat with the feather on it. It seemed like it took forever to get to the woods but they finally arrived. When all the kids got out of the car Mrs. G told everyone to stay together, then off they went. It wasn’t to long and John said here’s one, Mr. G said it looks ok but it is to short. They hunted for about 30 minutes and all the trees were either to short, to skinny, had bare spots or something else wrong according to Mr. G. Deborah was beginning to get impatient so she started to look around to find something to do, all of a sudden she looked down on the ground and noticed a pile of brown marbles. Wow, thought Deb these are neat somebody must have lost then so she reached down and stuffed them in the pocket of her white parka! This is an opportunity to have some fun thought Maurice, so he looked around to find some more marbles. He spotted a pile behind Deb and moved the hood on her jacket to make her look around. Deb spotted the marbles scooped them up then placed them in her pocket. Maurice did this several more times and each time Deb placed the marbles in her pocket. All of a sudden Deborah heard Mr. G yell he had found a tree. When Deb got there Mr. G was about twelve foot off the ground cutting the top out of a tree, it fell to the ground with a crash. All the kids grabbed the tree and headed for the car. They tied the tree on the Oldsmobile then headed down the road. It had been cold out so Mr. G turned the heat up. With the added heat in the car, Deb’s marbles began to “melt”. A couple slipped out of her pocket and fell on the seat, John was trying to adjust his position so he could see out the window, when he put his hand in something soft. “Mom” he said, “what is this?” showing her one of Deborah’s smashed marbles. Mrs. G said, “Where did you get that?” Deborah spoke up “ That is one of my marbles! I have two pocketfuls of them!” “Deborah” Mrs. G said “ Those marbles are rabbit droppings”.  It took some cleaning to get Deborah’s white parka clean but it came clean.

It took some trimming but Mr. G finally got the tree in the house. Mr. G put the lights on first, and then everyone helped with the ornaments. The tinsel was the last to go on. Howard would place two or three strands of tinsel on a branch then Maurice would put on more. Mr. G always said just put on a few strands, so when he looked at the branches Howard was doing he said” Howard don’t put so much tinsel on!” Howard said, ”I’m only putting a few.” After a few more times of loading up a branch with tinsel, Maurice quit because it looked like Howard was really going to get in trouble. Finally the tree was done, it looked great to everyone but Mr. G. he thought it wasn’t quite right but couldn’t decide what it needed.

The time had come, Richard thought to himself. Mr. & Mrs. G was taking Heidi to the doctors while the Deborah, Howard and John went skating. It was about time for Maurice to move from the living room to the dining room so he could watch the kids at supper. Richard carefully placed his trap strategically on the curtain then went to the door by the kitchen. He waited for five minutes. All of a sudden he heard a loud snap along with a sound like a high-pitched squeak. Richard jumped up on the chair to see if he could see what was in the trap, just as he expected Maurice was in the trap! He finally caught him, now he would find out why Maurice was so secret. He jumped down from the chair then pushed it to the window. He jumped up on the chair grabbed the trap then looked inside. To his amazement Maurice was gone. There was nothing in the trap but a piece of paper. Quickly, he opened the trap and read the scribbling on the paper. It read Richard, You don’t believe? You see and you still don’t believe. The true meaning of Christmas is celebrating the greatest miracle man has ever witnessed. The stories from his book read like fairy tales but many have been healed and saved. Richard think hard about not believing, look at all the love and generosity around you. Think what it would be like with no Christmas, no Santa Claus. Make your decision in a prayer, if you chose believe only you and I will know along with one other, if you chose disbelief all will know.  

It was the night before Christmas Eve around midnight; Maurice was relaxing on the couch. Maurice was thinking about all that had happened the last four weeks. The children had been good, Richard matured and learned a valuable lesson, Deborah found out about marbles, Howard was getting to be a young man but John was still up to his tricks. He was still worried what Santa would do about Mr. & Mrs. G not reporting the birth of Heidi. All of a sudden Maurice’s attention was directed to a rattling by the tree. From the lights on the tree Maurice could see the outline of a man. Maurice determined it was Mr. G, but what was he doing with tree branches, a drill, hammer, saw and other tools?  He spoke not a word but went straight to work, drilling and sawing. He drilled the tree trunk then cut branches to fit in the holes. He then rearranged the ornaments and lights into the most beautiful tree Maurice had ever seen. When Mr. G finished he cleaned up his mess, then stood back to admire his work. As he stood there Maurice thought he would make a great Santa Claus, his eyes how they twinkled, his nose looked like a cherry, he had a round belly and he smoked a pipe. He was a right jolly old elf. Mr. G turned and left the room. Soon he returned with Mrs. G. As he hugged her and showed off the tree Maurice felt the love in that room. Maurice knew at that moment Santa would make the right decision to let Mr. & Mrs. G have the merriest Christmas ever.  

Daylight came quickly. Now it was Christmas Eve, time for Maurice to leave. He had to get to the North Pole to give Santa a final report so he could load his sleigh. Before Maurice went out in the sub zero weather he turned to look at the tree, a feeling of warmth came over him and kept him warm all the way back to the North Pole.