This is it! Just about to do my last rounds to make sure all is sleigh-shaped, hunky dory, and ready to roll. Poindexter showed me how to access the manifest/itinerary on my Blackberry. Then he had to blow into a paper bag until his panic attack passed.
Checklist:
*Co-ordinate weather reports and feed Santanav (POINDEXTER)
*Spot check delivery manifest to make sure it marries up with itinerary (POINDEXTER)
*Make sure I have the naughty or Nice notebook with Mrs. D's list in for backup (ME)
*Hot mashed potato with ginger and cranberries for the reindeer (ME)
*Stash snack sack and secret snack in STV (ME)
*Remember 2007! Do not take off without FAIRIES liaison officer (ME)
*Gas up STV and grease runners (MAINTENANCE)
*Soot goggles! (ME)
*Check deer harnesses and antlers for hidden cameras; don't trust TT (ME)
8:00 PM
Workshops all silent, everyone standing by their lathes. Warehousingon target, everything arranged in order of delivery, and the conveyor belts oiled up. Maintenance running last checks on bits of the STV I didn't know it had. Poindexter using up another paper bag.
9:00 PM
Went off into my quiet corner for a few ohm-baubles, and some serious work with the worry beads. Mrs. D brought me a mug of hot chocolate and six of her special marshmallow cookies, but I could only manage one.
10:30 PM
Signed off everybody's worksheet. Mama C. brushed me down with a de-linter and Mrs D. re-polished my hat bell. Called Pere Noel to wish him good luck. Told security not to admit the Tannenbaum's under any circumstances ....I refuse to be on live cable feed or whatever they seem to want.
11:30 PM
Watching STV being loaded, the deer hitched on. If I am gonna drive it, I want to know what it's packing. Rudolph looks so full of Va va voom ....hope there wasn't too much ginger in his hot bran. I can see that Liaison Officer Le Fay - our special last-minute FAIRIES operative - is strapped in at the back, ready to rush late present requests back through Sack Space; it is his first tour, and he is muttering "hut hut hut" to himself -- I think it's a kind of mantra.
Oh, it all takes me back to that first leap up into the midnight sky, the bells jingling, the freezing air scorching my cheeks, the ice crystals forming in the beard ...Nearly time to go. Kiss from Mama C.
...good luck everybody!!
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