It was a bright sunny day at the North Pole. Erno, Santa's littlest elf, was enjoying some time off from Santa's workshop with his elf friends, Amber and Roly. The elves were excited and happy because Christmas was their favourite time of year. And today was especially fun because it was excellent tobogganing weather.

"Yahoo! Watch this!" yelled Erno. At the top of the toboggan slope, Erno threw himself on his toboggan and began to speed quickly down the hill toward his friends Roly and Amber, who were standing at the bottom of the hill.

"Yikes! Look out!" Amber yelled, as she and Roly dove into the snow to get out of the way of Erno's speeding sled. "You almost ran over us," scolded Amber.

"Sorry," Erno apologized, "But that was faaaaaaaast! I don't think my little sled has ever gone so quickly. Hmm, must be that new wax I'm using."

Amber didn't stay angry long and quickly tossed a snowball at Erno and threw herself in the soft fluffy snow, shouting, "This is going to be the best Christmas ever!"

"Aw, you say that every year, Amber," said Percy who had just joined the three friends on the toboggan slope. He was pulling his enviable sled named, No Mercy.

"And have I ever been wrong?" Amber asked smiling.

"You're right Amber," Erno said, "Christmas is the best – the toys, the happy boys and girls..."

"...And the food!" Roly added.

"Com'on let's have a race!" Percy yelled. He jogged effortlessly up the hill to the top and positioned himself in racing form on No Mercy.

"Sure," Amber agreed and then she whispered in Erno's ear.

"Okay, you're on!" Erno said and he raced quickly up the hill to position himself beside the much bigger elf, "but Amber and I will ride together on my sled."

"What?! What kind of race is that? Oh, okay. If I can beat you separately, I guess I can beat you together."

"I'll do the 'on your mark...' part, Okay?" Roly said, "On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!"

The elves sped quickly down the slope — the race was close, they were neck and neck and the winner...

"I won! I won!" Erno cried. He could not believe his good fortune. Every year, every race, Percy always won.

"We won," Amber corrected.

"No fair, two against one," Percy grumbled.

"Hey Percy, losing now and then helps you build character — I should know!" Roly said,

The elves all laughed with Roly.

"Well it sure is a great day, for winning or losing," exclaimed Percy. He looked skyward and then off in to the distance. Suddenly he squinted and peered harder at the horizon. "Hey, what's that? Over there!" Percy asked, pointing to the south.

The other elves followed his gaze and in the distance saw a figure approaching.

"It looks..." Amber said, "It looks like..."

"...like a cow!" finished Erno.

"Holy cow!" said Roly, "It is!"