Rucas Holiday Bingo

Surprises in Santa Land

This is for the Work as an Elf Square on the Holiday Bingo Card

A/N: Everyone gets to visit Santa when they're growing up, well if your faith allows it, usually you see those mall Santa's on TV, but here in NYC we have Santaland which is at Macy's. I mean there's still mall Santa's but the Macy's one is the one everyone tries to go to because it's one of those traditions you have to have growing up. Also, I worked there, and while it is magical when you're there, when you work there you get a crash course in Holiday retail, and it's a nightmare I swear.

Also it started snowing just as I finished writing this.... so the snow is blessing our favorite couple!!!

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Riley could always remember the day when she knew that December would be the greatest month ever. She had been six years old, and her parents had taken her to the mall to see Santa while they were visiting her grandparents, everything felt magical. When she was eight they took her to see Santa on her birthday, so that she could ask for two presents, one for her birthday and one for Christmas.

That was the first time they had taken her to see Santa at Macy's, she had asked them why she couldn't see him when he was at the store since they lived closer, and why she always had to go with Josh when they were in Philly. Auggie had been a year old at the time, and her parents had wanted to find a way to fulfill Riley's wish. So as a family they had gone for the first time, getting on the long line to see Santa. When they walked through the maze Riley had seen nothing but magic all around them, the music, the little town displayed next to them, and at the end Santa's Village with elves walking around.

December had always had this magic touch for her, the moment the month arrived, she would jump for joy and decorate her room with every ornament she could find. Her parents had found it quirky, and her friends weren't the most supportive because of her love of things like Secret Santa, but it didn't matter to her because there was nothing that could get her down when December came along.

She had gone through high school with her traditions and had wanted to keep them for college, as all of her friends scattered, Riley off to NYU, Lucas off to one of the CUNY schools, Maya at the New School, Farkle and Smackle at Princeton, and surprisingly at NYU Zay with Riley. Josh had graduated, but had stayed in the city, his relationship with Maya finally getting to where they had always wanted it to be, the long game finally over, because if Riley had wanted one thing to stop it would be the pining between the two of them.

The fourth year of school, Riley had decided to get a job at Macy's, she wanted to buy something for Lucas for the holidays and it was a little on the expensive side for her because she didn't really have money. Even with internships and work study, all of her money went into saving up, because she was never sure if she would have enough money after she graduated and moved out of her parents' house. The job was as an elf at Santaland, the magical place from her childhood, and she couldn't have been happier because it was like living a childhood dream. They paid their employees very well and even allowed them to walk the parade which made the whole experience worth a million dollars to her. She had finished the semester only working three days a week, but once she was done they had allowed her to work more hours as the crowds started coming in.

"Welcome," she would say to everyone as she greeted them into the maze, where they would wait.

Her family and friends hadn't known that she was there, and she was glad for it too, they only knew that she had taken a holiday job, because she couldn't babysit her brother anymore, since her was old enough to take care of himself. She always worked crowd control for some reason, but it hadn't mattered to her as long as she saw the excited faces on the little kids. It reminded her of when she was little and going to see Santa, but she had realized that she hadn't seen Santa that year and she really wanted to, even as an elf, because it would be a memory she would treasure.