In the North Pole, elves do all kinds of things.  There are elves that design new toys, elves that make the toys, elves that wrap toys, elves that test toys, and elves that pack them in Santa’s bag. 

The very first elf in a family, the great-great-great-great-great-great-grand-elf selected what he wanted his family legacy to be, and every elf in future generations would all do that one thing.  But Billaboo was very unhappy.  You see, he was born with big hands.  Not just bigger than normal, he had gi-NOR-mous hands.  Which would be okayyyy, except for the fact that his family was in charge of putting all the ribbons on the Christmas packages!  With such big hands, Billaboo couldn’t wrap any packages.  He couldn’t put on curly ribbons, or fat ribbons, skinny ribbons, or velvet ribbons.  No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get those presents wrapped!  His fingers would get stuck in the tape, or his giant thumbs would get caught in the knot on the bows.  All Billaboo wanted was to be able to work next to the rest of his family.  All year long he searched for some way to help but his hands just got in the way!  Even his sisters tried to help.  They would save him all the large packages, thinking that the larger ribbons would be easier to tie up, but that didn’t work either!  I’ll never be of any use, thought Billaboo. 

The very next morning, there was a terrible hullaballoo in the candy section of the toy shop.  Billaboo came running. 

“Did someone say my name?” he asked.

“No, not Billaboo, HULL-A-BA-LLOO!” said Nibby, one of Billaboo’s friends.      

“What’s the matter?” asked Billaboo.

“Our candy dispenser is broken!” shrieked Nibby, his hands waving up and down.  “We’ve tried to fix it but it’s just no use!  Christmas Eve is coming and we’re way behind!  How on Earth are we going to fill all of the stocking stuffers with all these little candy pieces in time for Santa to deliver them?  We have to take a handful of candy - which is only a few pieces at a time - put it in the box, and then come back and get another handful and put it in the box.  It will take us until Valentine’s Day to get it done!  We’ll never fill all of these in time!” 

He pointed down the rows and rows and rows and rows of plastic candy boxes.  They were shaped like trees, and like mittens, and snowmen, and Rudolph.  “Santa is WAY TOO BUSY double-checking his list for us to bother him, what can we do?” asked Nibby.

Billaboo said “Well, I’ll help if you need me to!” 

Nibby shook his head.  “There’s no time! We can only take 3 or 4 pieces per trip~”... Then he stopped in mid-sentence.  He looked down at Billaboo’s hands, which were gi-NOR-mous!  Billaboo might be able to fit 10 pieces in his hand!  Maybe more. 

“Billaboo, let’s try!” Nibby said excitedly.

And Billaboo held his hands under the broken candy dispenser, while Nibby pushed the button.  A HUNDRED candy pieces fell out into Billaboo’s hands, and not a single one spilled out on the floor.  That was enough to fill an entire stocking-stuffer! 

“Hey everybody”, Nibby yelled to all the elves.  “Look what Billaboo can do!”

All the elves rushed over to see.  Billaboo would take one handful and fill up a stocking stuffer box without even making a second trip! 

“Hooray, the stocking stuffers are saved!” shouted the elves.

“We can still make it before Christmas Eve if we all work together.  Let’s try!” shouted Nibby.

Nibby ran to push the plastic boxes down the line toward Billaboo.  They were working faster and faster now.  Billaboo would fill the boxes with one handful, and pass the box to Twinkle, who closed the box and taped it up, and then gave it to Elvis, the head elf, to put in Santa’s bag. 

They worked long and hard.  Billaboo came back every morning, and was the last elf to leave the candy shop each night.  And when they were all done, the elves made a wondrous discovery!  Billaboo was FASTER than the dispenser!  Elvis, who had been loading the sleigh knew what had to be done. 

“Billaboo, on behalf of all the elves, I want to ask you a special favor” asked Elvis.

“Of course, Elvis, what do you need?” Billaboo asked.

“Would you be our official candy stocking-stuffer filler?” asked Elvis.  “You’re faster than the machine ever was, and besides, we love your Christmas spirit!”

Billaboo was shocked!  He would never have thought his hands would be of good use to anybody.  Billaboo looked down at his hands.  His gi-NOR-mous hands!  He raised his head and his heart filled up so much with pride he thought it would burst! 

“I’ll do it!” said Billaboo.

“Yippee!” shouted the elves.

And that, my friends, is how Billaboo the elf, thanks to his gi-NOR-mous hands, found a place to belong, learned to LOVE his gi-NOR-mous hands, and became the official candy stocking-stuffer filler for all of the North Pole.

THE END