Time passed, and

Brunie sat patiently by the blazing fireplace in the center of the lobby at the Elf Health and Wellness Hospital.  She was waiting for Santa who had promised to pick her up and assign her to a new job in his vast Work Shop. 

When she saw the Jolly Old Elf step through the revolving glass door, she jumped out of her chair and hugged him in greeting.

Riding in the One Reindeer Open Sleigh, Santa explained she would be going to work in the Sewing Department and would be working on "Christmas Stockings", the kind "hung by the chimney with care".  He sternly reminded her, this job had an annual deadline, and the stockings had to be ready for shipment to all the Malls around the world by the first of November.  Brunie assured him she could handle the job.

Things went swimmingly for a very, very long time.  Year after year the "Christmas Stockings" section of the Sewing Department excelled, production exceeded all expectations.  Until, the year, everyone would like to forget, and nobody really cares to talk about.  Poor Brunie.  Some wise-cracking, shyster of a salesman, sold her some holiday fabrics 'on the cheap' promising she would be saving Santa loads and loads of money.

Eager to please, Brunie accepted the shyster's 'bill of goods' and soon the warehouse was filled with bolts and bolts of holiday fabrics.  Problem was all the fabrics were for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Easter, Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving Day.

By the time 'the fiasco', as the incident became know, and was only whispered
about, was corrected, the Christmas Stockings section was months and months behind schedule.  Brunie though in the best interest of her section she had no choice but to go to Santa and hand in her resignation.  Santa Agreed.  He reassigned her to the T-shirt, sweat shirt, hoodies department.  Her job was to press the logos of sport franchises from around the world onto the shirts.  Easy, peasy.

Brunie had to admit this was a pretty good gig. She got to sit all day in front of a huge machine, where she'd place a shirt under a press, apply an iron-on logo front and center, and push a lever. With a whoosh, and puff of steam the operation was complete.  She would hand the completed shirt to an elf who would neatly fold it and add it to the stack of other completed shirts.

Life was good.  Sigh!  Of course, by now we all know, repetition can lead to boredom, and boredom can lead to a wandering mind...and that Brunie's mind was very good at that.  So, when the logos began to appear crooked, and upside down on the shirts, Santa knew it was time for Brunie to move on.

Off to the crocheting section she went.  BEST JOB EVER.  She got her very own rocking chair, and skeins and skeins, skeins and skeins of yarn.  Her job; to make scarves.  Yes, all she had to do was watch soap operas and games shows on television while her nimble fingers and crochet hooks made scarf after scarf.  She was thrilled, Santa was thrilled.  Could this be Brunie's calling?

Well, maybe not.  I mentioned long ago, nobody knows the ages of elves, and how long they live, but eventually they do begin to slow down, sometimes forget, and even tend to doze off for an unexpected nap from time to time.  So it was with Brunie.
But her downfall came the year her mind wandered and her scarves were either so long they dragged on the floor, or were so short they would hardly wrap around the skinniest of necks.  Santa knew he was going to have to intervene.

But, what was Santa to do?

Chapter four to follow.