Christmas Wonder (RotG)

Chapter 12

During work the next day, you were more stressed than you'd ever been. While Yetis stayed at your apartment, taking arriving presents back to the workshop via portal, you rushed around at work, trying your best to complete things for your boss's deadline. You knew you wouldn't make it, though.

Will I also fail the deadline for helping Santa bring Christmas?

When you and your coworkers didn't meet your boss's goals by the end of the day, she put you and your coworkers through a verbal lashing like you'd never received from her before. She called out both work faults and personal ones, like how you hadn't had a partner for years and your nose was a little crooked. I'm definitely getting a new job. Your coworkers looked like they were ready to quit, too. You'd had a couple more interviews, but hadn't heard back from them yet. Hopefully you'd get one of those jobs.

But when Santa came to take you to the workshop that evening, a couple of hours early, his white hair frazzled and his face lined with stress, your own nerves were frayed. You took a deep breath and tried to relax. You didn't have work tomorrow, after all. But when you went back to work after the holidays, your boss would only demand more of you until you found a new job. And during tonight, when your coworkers would get a breather, you had to spend a whole night helping Santa.

But you smiled a little to yourself. It was helping Santa deliver Christmas—going to people's houses and seeing all their Christmas decorations, helping put presents underneath the trees, and filling the stockings. It was fun, meaningful work.

When you arrived at the workshop, though, it was still in chaos. But now it looked more organized. Piles of plain Amazon boxes were lined against the walls (likely the orders Amazon deemed "unwrappable"), Yetis furiously covering them in shiny gift paper and ribbon at tables. Human helpers worked on the ground floor sorting presents Yetis put in the sack.

And other beings you hadn't seen before flew and ran around the workshop. A woman covered in bold feathers flitted between the floors with her iridescent wings, bringing wrapped presents to the ground level. A rabbit taller than an adult human helped guide the people organizing the wrapped gifts below. A short man wearing a robe of glowing gold particles joined in the wrapping, covering the presents in those gold particles that somehow shot from his hands.

Jack helped as well, using wind to lower presents to the ground. You also spotted Collin delivering not-wrapped-yet boxes to the various tables.

A Yeti shouted a long, loud, angry note from across the workshop.

You and Santa looked over. The Yeti had their hands on their head as they stared inside a box. "Some of the presents come damaged," Santa told you before opening another portal and stepping through. He must have more people to bring.

You ran over to the Yeti. The box they were staring at was large, about the size of your torso. When you reached it, you looked down inside. A beautiful wooden jewelry box with delicate carvings of flowers on the top had several dents in the corners.

The Yeti said something, pointing to a list in their hand. You looked at the list, and were surprised it was in English. Maybe they had been written for some of the non-Russian humans to be able to follow as well. But in the column next to the word "jewelry box" was your mom's name.

You squared your shoulders. "I can help. If you give me the money, I can go buy a new one."

The Yeti nodded to you, then rushed away.

As you waited, the chaos in the workshop slowed. More and more presents were being wrapped and placed in the sack. We'll actually do this.

The Yeti returned with Santa in tow. He handed you a small stack of $100 bills and two of those big Snow Globes he used to open portals.