Raven's View

This week's Flash Fiction Friday challenge was to share the diary of one of Santa's elves. Battling with this on my iPad, so formatting is a challenge.

Edit - I got home and used my PC to fix this. I was considering a faster/better iPad before, but after my blogging battles, and the poor Scrivener compatibility, I think it will be a small lap top next for me. A Windows one. 

-----

Naughty or Nice

-------

Dear Diary: I am so tired of freakin' toys. And Christmas. We get a week off in January, and a month in the summer (complete with huge mosquitoes, up here on the tundra) but other than that it's flat out toy making, making sure we'll be  ready to fill Santa's sleigh once again. We start the year off with the basics, the dolls and stuffed toys and train sets and wagons, then as Christmas approaches Santa finds out this year's trends and we start to specialise. The basics don't work for most kids now, they all have their unique and special demands.

It's been decades since I sat on Santa's knee and wished it could always be Christmas for me. Be careful what you wish for. Don't get me wrong, we are mainly a happy group, all smiles and songs, but it's just that it's started to drag. I know I used to write In here faithfuly too, but there's really not a lot to say lately. Some days I wish I could get out and do something else. 

Dear Diary: Didn't I warn myself about wishing? We just had a meeting in the Great Hall, with Santa's CEO and some guy from HR. The big guy didn't even have the nerve to tell us himself- we are being  outsourced. Even though we work all year for free, there's still room and board and benefits, so it's cheaper to farm most of this out to some sweatshop in Asia. I might be let go, maybe kept on, but I'm not sure which choice would be the good news. The ones that leave will have to get a real job down south. Yes, we are all hard workers, creative, great with our hands, but there is the fact that we are only 24 inches tall. With pointed ears. 

This week's prompt from Flash Fiction Friday was about being trapped by snow.

---

Ah winter. The air is crisp and cool, and the spiced cider is warm and comforting. Children are sledding, and snowmen are being built in neighborhood backyards. It’s a delightful time of year, and includes the magical holiday of Christmas and the hope of good things to come with the beginning of a new year. Winter can be great fun, unless the weather has other ideas.

Snow comes down hard and fast, and tree branches collapse under the weight of it. Drifts hide roads and trails, and travel is impossible. You guessed it. This is where you come in.

Prompt: You arrange for a weekend getaway at a friend’s cabin in the country, but Mother Nature decides to extend your stay with a blizzard. You’re trapped. Tell us what happens.

---

Mine is slightly frightful, as suggested. It's only 800 or so words, but was fun to write.