Santa's Secret Elf Irving

Santa has long had an elf named Irving, the only Jewish elf among Santa's small army of elves. This has never been a secret.

But what happened this Christmas was a secret until now.

This year, Santa had more toys to deliver than ever before and he asked Irving to join him on his sleigh. 

"Irving," said Santa, "You are little and quick. I could cover the same number of homes in half the time if you delivered the toys to each neighboring home, when I park the sleigh."

"Sounds good to me Santa," Irving replied. "Could I have my own toy bag?"

"Sure, why not," answered Santa.

And this Christmas, Santa and Irving were such a great team, that they delivered all the toys by 3 am and stopped for hot chocolate on the way back to the North Pole.

"I'm so proud of Irving," said Santa. "But I don't know how the world would respond to having a Jewish person conduct half of all Christmas toy deliveries." And then Santa added with a hearty chuckle, "It was sort of a Jewish Christmas."

"Yes," replied Irving with a grin as he heard Santa's comment. "But isn't that what Christmas is supposed to be about? Happiness and good cheer to all."

"And who knows," added Irving with a twinkle in his eyes. "Maybe next year your female Muslim elf Farina can join the sleigh and we'll cover all those homes even faster."

"That sounds good," replied Santa. "Next year, instead of keeping it a secret, we'll show the world how Christians, Muslims and Jews can unite to bring joy to the world."

Dick