Everyday Canvas

Oliver the Elf, Sweet-simple Things, and the Best Thing

Prompt: Use this words in your blog today: elf, turkey, ham, wagging, feathers, doorbell and solstice.

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Oliver, The Elf
A Children's Story

Oliver the elf moans with pleasure while he munches and crunches on a turkey’s leg bone wrapped with a slice of ham.

He has been on strike for a few days now because Santa said nice things to Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer and didn’t pay any attention to the elves making all those toys. The elves have rights and feelings, too, thinks Oliver. It is a good thing he took over this empty house after leaving the North Pole.

The feathers of the turkey are still on the kitchen counter. Oliver has plans for shoving them into the mattress to make it more comfortable.

Then, the doorbell rings.

Oliver drops the food on the plate and goes to the door. Why it is the witch and the ogre who say they have come to alert him to tonight's winter solstice with a supermoon, a meteor shower, and Jupiter to roll in the sky.

The witch’s dog, Cerberus, wagging its tail, barks at the elf as the witch pushes her way into the kitchen.

“Turkey feathers!” she exclaims. “Just what I needed in my cauldron.” She gathers all the feathers and stuffs them in her bag.

The ogre follows her inside and his large eyes even grow larger when he sees the half-eaten food on the table. He attacks the food and gulps it down without even looking at Oliver.

The witch turns to Oliver. “We heard you left Santa’s workshop. So, we’ll all be here to keep you company.”

The ogre, still chewing the last morsels of Oliver’s food, adds, “Ogress Gryla, Yule Cat, and Perchta the sorceress also are on their way. Gryla and I have a weakness for Schnapps. We hope you have it or else!”

Oliver crosses his arms to keep them from shaking. “No, I don’t have Schnapps in the house,” he says. “I’ll go get a case right away from the garage.”

And Oliver rushes away from the house never to return. When all is said and done, there is work to be done at Santa’s workshop where he can live safely.

After all, who is he to be upset with Santa!

Prompt: What is the best thing that happened to you this year?

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I stayed alive and so did most people important to me. My dr.’s appointments went well, and blood tests were good, too.

Next best thing is nothing else too bad has happened, unless you might count the flooding in my kitchen because the piping under the faucet broke down and the porch drainage system has conked out on us. I still feel lucky because none of my Kindles or computers broke down. So, I am ahead half a step.

Prompt: "It is the sweet, simple things of life which are real after all." Laura Ingalls Wilder Do you agree with this?


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If by the word “real,” Ingalls Wilder means what we may appreciate, that depends on what sweet, simple things are. Since I don’t know in which context the quote was said, I might take it as dark chocolate, honey, a kind word, leaves dancing in the breeze and a myriad of other things.

Plus, what is real and what is not is not up to me to judge since neither I nor anyone else on this earth is the original creator of everything.