ELF-ING AROUND

Being an author, like owning many other small businesses, provides some unexpected and delightful perks. From time to time, you get to be an elf.

Notes arrive throughout the year, but primarily at Christmastime from enthusiastic readers who've enjoyed the books and want to share a copy with someone they love, and from other elf's attempting to fulfill a wish on someone's Christmas list.

My books are old now by publishing standards, so the requests are fewer and manageable, and that allows the fulfilling of them to be more personal and fun. I exchange clandestine emails with the giver and ponder what to write to the recipient. Then I head off to the post office to send the surprise on its way.

I hope it's been that way for the friends and authors who have similarly personalized their books for a fantasy-loving grandson of mine, or for my girls, making these books especially cherished.

Being an elf is always one of the best parts of Christmas. There is satisfaction in the baking and decorating, but beneath all those efforts lies the anticipation of a undercover elf secretly dying to catch the smile on a cookie-eater's face, or when the children catch their first glimpse of the lighted tree and the magic of Christmas moves beyond us to someone else.

 

Happy elf-ing!