"I loved watching the bicycle racing, that was way cool," said Erno. The elf was waving a tiny toy bicycle in the air, swooping and soaring as if it were an airplane.

"My favourite was the swimming," called Amber across the crowded workshop. She jumped off her tiny elf stool at the work bench and did the front crawl over to Erno. "And the synchronized swimming too," she said finishing with an elegant swirl.

It was a typically busy day at Santa's Workshop. The elves were hammering, glueing and soldering toys, bikes, dolls, skates and all of the wonderful toys that Santa brings to good girls and boys around the world. And this year, the elves were still humming from the excitement of the summer Olympics.

The Olympic sporting events were keenly watched and followed by all at the North Pole. Long time resident Mrs. Aliknak regularly hosted Down Under Up Top parties at her home near the North Pole. She joked about North Pole residents being Up Top, while the Olympics were held "down under" meaning Australia. Although she had never actually seen a kangaroo she and many of the party guests piled the table with Olympic treats like Kanga-Stew (really made from fish) and Kiwi Pie (really made from Kiwi fruit). It had been a fun summer of Olympic parties and the spirit had stayed on long after the athletes had returned to their home countries.

Just then, a large man in a white beard walked into Santa's workshop. He was wearing a brightly coloured Hawaiian shirt, a large straw hat and sunglasses. At the doorway he stopped and put his hands on his hips and looked about the room. The elves all stopped working.

Percy, one of the boldest elves, hopped off his stool and walked up to the stranger. "Good morning sir, you seem to be lost, but you can't just walk in here!"

Roly nudged Smith the elf, sitting beside him and whispered, "He looks like Malibu Santa."

"That's because it is Santa," Smith said.

"Hey Santa, what's with the outfit?" Percy asked.

Santa laughed and blushed a shade of red deeper than his usual red suit. He was clearly embarrassed to be in such an unusual outfit. "Mrs. Claus had me trying on all kinds of nutty outfits for my trip this week but I do think I will wear my traditional clothing, even in Hawaii. I'm too old to start changing my look now."

"Santa, Christmas isn't this week, it's not until the evening of December 24 that you take your world famous trip," Erno reminded the jolly old elf.

"Ah, but this is a busy time, too," Santa reminded Erno. "I'll be meeting and greeting all the kids at the malls. I've got a heavy schedule of personal appearances. I'm doing television and radio shows all this week, and I'll be at more malls than the cast of the Young and the Restless," Santa joked. "I might even do a live Internet event! Ah, that reminds, I must check my email."

Santa sat down at his computer in the Workshop and clicked on the Cheetah icon. The small animation began running across the screen and then the mail program jumped to life. I just love this high speed connection! Growwllllll!" Santa purred like a Cheetah. "It lets me get online so quickly and download all the updated maps and atlases that I need for our exciting trip on December 24. And, look at all those emails!"

Santa's eyes always lit up at the sight of mail from the many boys and girls who took the time to write him a personal note - on paper or on email.

"I can't get over how fast this Cheetah Internet connection is," Santa cooed. The elves looked attentively at the jolly old elf. Don't you just love it when you've got the best or the fastest or the biggest or . . ." Santa's list trailed off. But the elves were paying close attention to his comments, especially Amber.

"Hmmm," she thought to herself. "Maybe Santa wants faster, better elves too."