Girls and boys around the world are probably not thinking of Santa Claus or Christmas quite yet. There are, most likely, a few moms out there who are secretly hoping that Hobby Lobby will put out their Christmas items already -- but most of us are happy to be anticipating working in the yard, cleaning up from wintery weather or planting some seeds. Not so for our friends, the elves. They are all about R & D Week at the North Pole.
The toys that children begin to dream of in September and October must be designed, tested, and prototyped months in advance. And so, North Pole Research & Development -- NPR&D, for short -- swings into full gear as soon as urlaub is complete.
Elves love to do math. It's the first course that Mrs. Santa supervises when they begin their studies. Let's face it. There are lots of boys and girls in the world to count and keep up with, lots of logistics to manage, and lots of days between the Christmas of last year and Christmas next! And so each elf has his or her own calculator to use in the R&D laboratory as plans get underway for that new, shiny toy, that thing-a-ma-jig that every child will want in November, and the other whacha-ma-call-it that they will suddenly prefer, instead, by the time December rolls around.
Elfin math is not your typical mathematics. It is a base 12 system (in honor of the Twelve Days of Christmas, of course), and instead of the calculator starting at a boring zero-point-zero, every calculator reverts nicely to the elves' favorite day of the year "Twelve-Twenty-Five", also better known as Christmas Day.
These little darlings play (because play is the same as work, when you're an elf) in the Chemistry Lab at North Pole Research & Development. They were the elves who showed the most promise for following directions when they were, well, much, much smaller. And following directions is quite important, because we all know that a chemistry project can go far awry when even the smallest step is omitted or the wrong reagent is added to the solution!
Elves, in spite of their magic skills, always wear safety equipment when working in the lab. They cover their unruly hair with a cap, wear a lab coat and shoe covers, and always, always, wear safety goggles. Ebenezer, who leads the chemistry division, is helping to develop a new product they are calling Hide-and-Seek. This special formula, when sprayed on an elves, makes them completely invisible to humans. And this is very important for the performance of their jobs! Now that every child is looking for that ubiquitous Elf on the Shelf, it is much harder for real elves to go about their work, undetected!
Here are the six members of the NPR&D chemistry department, demonstrating the effectiveness of their new Hide-and-Seek product. How many elves are testing the product in this photo? Three, you say? No. It is only two. As you can see, they are completely invisible. One elf is simply hiding behind one of the reagent bottles in this picture. All we can see is his blond hair and one little elf ear.
NPR&D, like any good product development organization, has a brain trust. This is just a way of describing individuals who have big ideas and like to figure out a way to make them work. You can spot the Big Idea Elves by the light-bulb that pops up over their heads each time another bright idea emerges. When they visit the lab, they wear their lab coats, of course, but if you look closely, you can see a hint of his green elf suit!
Who knows what wonderful new toys and creations will flow forth from the North Pole this year? The elves do not know yet. Even Santa Claus, who runs a pretty tight ship (or, in this case, a sleigh) cannot predict the future. They just know that their favorite day, Twelve-Twenty-Five, is getting closer, and closer, and closer. Time for our little friends to get back to work!
Love it!!! These are adorable! 🥰