1936


I am sorry I cannot send you a long letter to thank you for yours, but I am sending you a picture which will explain a good deal. I do hope you will like what I am bringing and will forgive any mistakes, and I hope nothing will still be wet! I am still so shaky and upset, I am getting one of my Elves to write a bit more about things:

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I am llbereth. A lot of us, Red and Green Elves, have gone to live permanently at Cliff House and be trained in the packing, business. It was Polar Bear's idea. He said, 'lam going to have a record year and help Father Christmas to get so forward we can have some fun ourselves on Christmas Day.' We all worked hard and you will be surprised to bear that every single parcel was packed and numbered by Saturday last (December 19). Then Polar Bear said, 'I am tired out: I am going to have a hot bath, and go to bed early' Well, you can see what happened, Father Christmas was taking a last look round in the English Delivery Room about 10 o'clock when water poured through the ceiling and swamped everything: it was soon six inches deep on the floor. Polar Bear had simply got into the bath with both taps running and gone fast asleep with one hind paw on the overflow. lie had been asleep two hours when we woke him. Father Christmas was really angry. But Polar Bear only said, 'I did have a Jolly dream. I dreamt I was diving off a melting iceberg and chasing seals.' That made Father Christmas angrier, and Polar Bear said, 'Well, draw a picture of it and ask those children if it is funny or not.' So father Christmas has. But he has begun to think it funny (although very annoying) himself, now we have cleared up the mess, and got the English presents repacked again, Just in time.

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