Santa brings toys to all the good little girls and boys around the world, on Christmas Eve. You know the song. Everyone does. _He’s making a list, checking it twice, gonna find who’s naughty or nice. Santa Claus is coming to town._ _He sees you when you’re sleeping, he sees when you’re awake, he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!_ But what about the bad kids? What happens when they’re bad? Where do they go? Long ago, Santa and his brother, Shanta, were given the opportunity to bring joy to good girls and boys… and sorrow to bad boys and girls. They drew straws— one would bring joy to good with the long straw, the other sorrow to bad with the short straw. Shanta drew the short one. Santa drew the long one. Then they brainstormed how to do their jobs. Shanta was coming up short. At first, he decided to just put some coal on their chests in bed, but that seemed kinda plain and boring to him. Then Santa came up to him. He said he’d decided to give presents to all the boys and girls who were good, if he could figure out how to make them all in one year and he would make a list and check it twice to see who was good. Santa was kinda forgetful at the time. Then Santa asked his brother if he had any ideas. Shanta pondered the coal idea again, but then he pushed it aside. Suddenly, he had a brain flash. What if Santa got a few helpers to make the gifts? Shanta proposed that he would provide the helpers for Santa and take care of the bad kids at the same time. Santa agreed happily. That first december, up to Christmas Eve, Shanta had helped Santa, along with Santa’s girlfriend Miss Claus, to make all the gifts. He promised Santa the helpers would be there for next Christmas. While Santa delivered presents, Shanta slipped into the houses one by one, stealing bad children from their beds into his sack. When he was all done, he reported back to the South Pole, his base (later, when humans annoyingly decided to cultivate it, he had to cast a spell to get them to steer clear of it). He first cast a spell to make the world forget about the children he had kidnapped. His second act was to eat a large slice of carrot cake and sleep for a long time. (The spell was rather tiring). Two hours later, around four AM, he began preparing a mind-control potion for the children, and a age-stopping potion. Then he force-fed it to them and trained them up as elves. This took several months and finally, in August, he delivered Santa his helpers. That is the story. So be good, because if you don’t, well… Let’s just hope you like toy making.