"You have got to be kidding me!!!"

"I kid you not, Missy, now get back to work."

Hannah stomped out of Mr. Phillips' office and back out into the store.  There, she walked up to her friend Nicky and sat down next to her on the floor.  She picked up the pricing gun and angrily started slapping price labels onto the toys.

"Hey, Hey!" Nicky said.  "Why so mad?"

"He just makes me so angry," Hannah sighed.  "You'll never guess what he's making me do".

Nicky smiled.  "What is it this time?"

Hannah had been working at the toy store for 5 months now, and had never seen eye to eye with their boss, Mr. Phillips.

"Guess who's just been appointed head elf in Santas Grotto?" Hannah said, with a false grin spread across her face.

"You're kidding," Nicky replied.  "You're gonna be an elf in the Christmas Grotto display?"  She suppressed a giggle.  "With the hat and the bells and the shoes and all?"

"Gee, thanks, Nick, you're making this SO much easier for me," Hannah said sarcastically.

"Aw, Han, I'm sorry," Nicky said with a smile, "But you have to admit it's kinda funny".

Hannah looked openmouthed at her friend.  "Define `funny'" she said.  "Do you think it's funny that I'm gonna be embarrassed in front of the whole store? Do you think it's funny that I'm gonna be dressed up as one of Santas helpers, yes, with the hat and the shoes with the bells.  Is that funny?"

Nicky burst out laughing.  "Uh huh!" she laughed.  "That's pretty funny!"

Hannah gave in and smiled.  "Okay, so maybe it's funny to you - but just think about me, huh??"

"When do you start?" Nicky asked.

"Grotto opens on the 18th", Hannah replied, screwing up her face.  "So that's.."

"Next Friday," Nicky interrupted.

"Next Friday. I was meant to have next Friday off!" Hannah protested.  "Now I've gotta spend the whole day cooped up in this rotten store, dressed as Santa's Little Helper!"  She put her head in her hands and said, "I still can't believe that I've gotta do this.  He hates me, you know that, right? He's only doing this to embarrass me".

Nicky nodded.  "You're probably right, but you need this job, Han, so best just keep your mouth shut and do what the man wants".

Hannah had to agree with her friend.  She did need this job, no matter how awful it might be at times.  She was just gonna have to swallow her pride and put on the elf costume. 

Meanwhile, at the Monkees Pad...

Peter jumped up and down, clapping his hands,

"When are we going Christmas shopping, Mike?? It's nearly Christmas and I haven't bought gifts for anyone yet".

"Hey, calm down there, Shotgun," Mike laughed.  "Soon as we play this gig next Thursday, we'll go down to the mall and get all our Christmas presents."

"Lets hope Peter picks better presents than last year!" Davy joked.

Peter hung his head and giggled.  "Yeah, sorry about that, fellas.  But I have the best ideas of what to get you guys this year!" Peter promised.  "Can we really go next week, Mike?"

Mike laughed, "Sure we can, Good Buddy.  Now, we'd better rehearse these songs or we won't be playing that gig next week!"

Hannah looked in the mirror and put her head in her hands. 

"Nooooo!" she moaned to herself.  "This cannot be happening."

Then, there was a knock on the door.

"It's open," Hannah called out. 

The door opened and Nicky walked in.  Her hands flew to her mouth and she tried her hardest to hold in her giggles.  Hannah was dressed from head to foot in green, with a ruby red hat on top of her head. 

"Don't say a word!" Hannah threatened, jokingly.  "Do not say a word!"

Nicky couldn't contain herself any longer and burst out laughing.

"Go on, laugh it up," Hannah remarked.  "Go ahead, see if I care.  It's only my dignity, after all."

"I'm so sorry, Han," Nicky managed to say between bursts of laughter.  "It's just, you look so." Nicky broke down in giggles again and couldn't finish the sentence.

"Thanks, Nick, this is really helping my self-esteem here!"

Tears of laughter rolled down Nicky's face as she struggled to compose herself for the sake of her friend. 

"Ahem," she cleared her throat and put on a straight face.  "It's really not that bad," she said finally.

"Not that bad? Not that bad?" Hannah echoed.  She lifted up one leg and moved her foot up and down, causing the bells on her shoes to jangle.  "Not that bad?" she repeated, a smile playing across her lips.

That did it - Nicky burst out laughing again, but this time Hannah gave in and laughed with her.

Micky, Davy, Mike and Peter pulled up outside the shopping mall in the Monkeemobile  Peter jumped out of the car excitedly.  Mike, Davy and Micky sighed and climbed out after him. 

"Well, here we are," Mike said, frowning.  "Queues, screaming children, harassed parents. Gotta love the mall!"

Davy laughed and said, "Yeah, like a hole in the head, eh?"

Peter pouted.  "Aw, come on fellas, where's your Christmas spirit, huh?  It's gonna be great.  We can all buy presents for the people we love, we can listen to the groovy Christmas tunes playing in the stores. We can see Santa in the grotto."

Micky cut him off, "Look, Babe?  Don't you think we're a little bit old to be sitting on Santa's knee?"

Davy and Mike laughed.  "Well, I don't care what you guys say," Peter said defiantly.  "If y'all wanna be a bunch of Ebeneezer Scrooges, then fine, but I'm gonna see the Santa display and have fun at Christmas, with or without you!"

Mike rolled his eyes, realizing that they weren't gonna win this argument.  "Okay, okay, Shotgun.  We'll go see Santa and we'll listen to the crummy music and we'll try and get into the Christmas spirit for ya, okay?"

Peter smiled at Mike and nodded happily.

"Now, lets get shopping!" Davy said with a grin, and led the fellas into the mall.

Hannah stood outside Santas Grotto and surveyed the surrounding crowd.  There was already a lengthy queue forming, and it was only 10.30.  She sighed and looked over at Nicky, who was standing nearby.  Nicky grinned back and gave her the thumbs up.  Hannah tried to return the smile, but inside she was sighing. 

`To think that this should have been my day off!' Hannah thought to herself.  `I could've been laying in a warm bed with a good book and a mug of cocoa, but no, instead I'm in this lousy toy store, dressed as an elf, surrounded by screaming, impatient kids and pushy, fed up parents'.

Then a loud voice boomed over the in store intercom - it was the boss, Mr. Phillips.

"Santas Grotto will be opening in 15 minutes.  Will all children wanting to see Santa please make their way to the queue.  See Santa and his little helpers now, kiddies!"

Hannah shook her head and put her hands over her eyes.  How was she going to make it through a whole day of this?

Nicky made her way through the crowd and tapped  her best friend on the shoulder.

"How ya holding up, Girlie?" she asked.

Hannah sighed and answered, "Ya really wanna know?"

Nicky giggled, "Maybe not!" she replied.  "Hey, look on the bright side, though!"

"Bright side?" Hannah said through gritted teeth.  "Look at this mess and tell me what on earth the bright side could possibly be."

Nicky thought for a moment.  "You never know," she said finally,  "Maybe some handsome elf will come and sit on Santa's knee!" Nicky raised her eyebrows suggestively and smiled.

"You're kidding!" Hannah replied.  "There's not a male in this room over the age of 6!!"

Nicky just laughed and said, "I'm just saying, ya never know!"

Suddenly a deep voice interrupted them.  "Am I paying you to stand around and gossip with your friends, Miss. Harshaw?"

Nicky looked down and said, "No, Mr. Phillips."

"That's what I thought.  Now get back to work!"

Mr. Phillips stormed off and Hannah stuck her tongue out at him, behind his back.  Nicky giggled and said, "I should probably get back to work, Babe".

"Yeah.  See ya later, Nick!"

As Nicky was walking away, she turned and called out to Hannah.  "Hey! If you get desperate, there's always him!!"

Hannah burst out laughing.  "Not if he was the last elf on earth!"

Peter, Mike, Micky and Davy decided to separate to get their Christmas shopping done.  Mike and Peter went off together and Micky and Davy headed off with each other. 

Micky and Davy decided to stop by the music store first to look for gifts for Mike and Peter.  Peter had been complaining about having no spare strings for his banjo, and Mike had been dropping hints about a new record that had just been released.

Peter and Mike headed towards the toy store.  Peter was determined to see the Santa's Grotto display and Mike knew that he wouldn't get any peace until they'd been. 

"Hey, Mike?" Peter asked, as they walked towards the toy store at the opposite end of the mall.

"What is it, Peter?" Mike replied.

"What are you gonna buy Mick and Dave this year?"  Peter had been desperately racking his brain, trying to think of what to buy his friends.  So far, he couldn't think of anything at all.

"I'm not sure yet, Pete," Mike answered.  "Hey, maybe we could buy Davy some tambourine lessons, huh?" he joked.

Peter laughed.  Every now and then, Peter would stop and stare at the extravagant Christmas displays in the shop windows.  Mike would have to grab his arm and drag him away from them.  Peter couldn't help it - he simply adored Christmas, it was his favourite time of year.  It was a time for Peace and Love for your fellow men, things that Peter believed very strongly in.

Finally, Peter and Mike reached the toy store.  They walked in and were suddenly surrounded by aisles and aisles full of goodies.  Peter gazed around, openmouthed, and happily started browsing through all the toys.

Mike sighed at his friend and walked around the store, looking for nothing in particular, when a cute looking elf caught his eye.  She was standing by the Christmas Grotto display, talking to the hoardes of children that were milling around her.  `Hmm, this toy store idea is looking up', Mike thought to himself.  Then, he noticed Peter standing nearby, admiring the display.  Mike watched in horror as Peter stepped backwards, caught his ankle on a pile of toy Santas and went head over heels onto the floor.

"Oh my God, Peter!" Mike cried out and rushed over towards him.

Peter rubbed his head and sat dazed for a moment.  Then he heard a friendly voice say,

"Hey, are you alright?"

Peter looked up to see that the voice belonged to a concerned looking girl dressed up as an elf. 

"I think so," Peter replied, feeling slightly tongue tied - the girl was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.  He couldn't help thinking that she made the prettiest elf.

She offered Peter her hand and helped him to his feet.  Peter looked at Hannah, a goofy look on his face.  Mike, who had just managed to fight through the crowds to his friend, recognized this look - Peter was in love.

"Gee, thanks," Peter murmured. 

"Are you alright, Peter?" Mike asked.  He looked at his friends' smiling face, gazing into the pretty elf girl's eyes, and knew that the answer was yes.

"Are you hurt?" Hannah said.

Peter shook his head.  "He's used to it!" Mike interrupted.

"This kinda thing happens a lot?" Hannah asked with a grin on her face.  Peter nodded and returned the grin.  Hannah laughed and extended her hand towards him.

"Hi, I'm Hannah," she introduced herself.

Peter took her hand and held it tightly.  "I'm Peter and this is Mike," he replied.  "You sure make a pretty elf," he said, blushing slightly.

Hannah smiled shyly and looked at the floor ~ she wasn't used to getting compliments.  "Thank you, Peter," she replied finally.  "I think I look kinda silly".

"Oh no!" Peter said, shaking his head.  "You look wonderful!"

Hannah smiled.  "Thanks," she said finally.  "You fellas doing your Christmas shopping?" she asked.

"Uh huh," Mike replied.  "Well, we're meant to be, but my Good Buddy here insisted on seeing the Santa display first."

"It must be swell working here," Peter said excitedly to Hannah.  "Being around happy children all the time, surrounded by toys and Christmas spirit.  Just think of all the children you're making happy by doing this!"

Hannah had never thought of it like that.

"Wow, I never really looked at it like that," Hannah admitted.  "I guess I was too busy worrying about how ridiculous I was gonna look."

Mike smiled, "Well," he said, "I'm gonna have to agree with Pete on that one, you don't look silly at all - you make a lovely elf!"

Peter nodded.  "And I can't imagine having a better job at Christmas."

Hannah smiled.  Everything that Peter was saying, suddenly started to make a lot of sense.  She had kinda been missing the point of Christmas.  It was a time for happiness and love and doing something for your fellow man.  Suddenly, her gig as an elf didn't seem so bad after all.

"Thank you," she said to Peter.

Peter looked a little confused.  "For what?" he asked.

"For reminding me just what Christmas means." 

Hannah stood up on her tiptoes and kissed Peter on the cheek.  "I appreciate it".

Peter blushed and touched the spot on his face where Hannah had kissed him. 

"Don't mention it!" he replied. 

"Look," Hannah said slowly.  "I hope you don't think I'm being too forward here, but." Then she stopped.

Mike and Peter looked expectantly at her.  She blushed slightly and looked down at the floor.

"Well," she started again.  "I was kinda wondering if maybe you wanted to get a cup of coffee or something."

Peter looked surprised and his hand flew up to his chest, as if to say, me??

Hannah nodded and said, "You don't have to if you don't wanna, but I thought that maybe it would be nice".

"No, no, no!" Peter cried out.  "I wanna!"

"You do?" Hannah asked shyly.

Peter nodded.  "Definitely."

"Well, great!" Hannah said.  "I finish here at 4.30 ~ you wanna meet me out the front of the store then?"

"I can't wait!" Peter replied, and he meant it.  Hannah seemed like a wonderful girl.

"Great.  Well, I guess I should probably get back to work," Hannah said, noticing Mr. Phillips heading in her direction with an angry expression on his face.

"I'll see you later?" Peter asked, still not quite believing what had happened. 

"Sure thing," Hannah replied with a smile, and then returned to the Grotto with a huge grin on her face.

She stood, staring dreamily into space and thinking about Peter, when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Why so happy all of a sudden?" Nicky asked her, raising her eyebrows.  "It couldn't possibly have anything to do with those two exceptionally cute guys I saw you talking to just now??"

"It may have," Hannah replied, mysteriously.  Her face then broke out into a huge grin. 

"And just what did he say that's made you smile for the first time since you got landed with this elf gig?" Nicky asked.

"You could say that he helped me focus on the bright side of being humiliated in front of the entire store." Hannah explained, somewhat cryptically.  "It doesn't matter how stupid I feel, dressed like this - what's important is that it's making these kids happy."

She pointed to the queue of smiling children around her.

"See how happy they are?  And I'm helping to make them feel like that.  That's something pretty special, huh?"

Nicky nodded.  "I guess it is.  So, are you gonna see him again? This Mr. Wonderful who's restored your Christmas spirit?"

"You bet I am!" Hannah laughed.  "You think I'd let a guy like that get away so easily??!!" 

Nicky laughed and put her arm around her friend.  "Now, about that friend of his..."

EPILOGUE.

Hannah and Peter went out for that cup of coffee, and they had a fabulous time together.  They started a wonderful and special relationship, and Hannah was forever grateful to him for reminding her of the true meaning of Christmas.  Mike also had a wonderful
Christmas ~ he met Hannah's friend Nicky, and fell in love.  They all spent a magical Christmas day together with the rest of The Monkees, and lived happily ever after.

Oh, and in case you were wondering ~ Mike didn't get Davy tambourine lessons for Christmas!!!

THE END.