How Santa Lost His Job by Stephen Krensky
One of Santa’s elves gets frustrated with Santa because Santa is always late. He is so busy polishing his boots, trimming his beard and reviewing the maps that there is always a “last-minute rush”. So Muckle, the elf, creates a machine that will travel around the world and deliver all of the presents…it even sorts the presents and it doesn’t waste time eating all of the cookies the children leave out. Santa realizes that this machine is faster after they have a few contests between Santa and the Deliverator, so Santa concedes and lets the machine deliver the presents on Christmas Eve. The weather on Christmas Eve is not ideal, however, and it can’t handle the weight of the gifts and down it goes in a ball of flames. Guess who comes to the rescue.
