Mullet Monday

Shortcake was on the front line for the first half of the day. There was a line before Santaland opened, and right after it opened, the managers realized some lights were out. So Shortcake had to hold the line until 9:30, when the lights could be fixed and people could be let in. The line started to pick up around 10am, and it was a steady 20-30 min. wait until 12:30pm when it finally disappeared.

The New York Times came by to take a photo of Santa. A camera crew spent the morning following Spritz around and watching Santa. Apparently, they were supposed to do a news story on a followup to The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris.

Shortcake saw a blond boy with a mullet. But it wasn't well-cared for. It reminded Shortcake a lot of the years that her brother decided to have a rat tail, just because everyone else wanted him to cut it off.

After lunch Shortcake was Gatekeeper, which went quickly. Gatekeeper is the most physically demanding position because one arm must always be kept behind the back. This sounds easy, but leave your arm behind your back without moving it for an hour and half. It starts to hurt. Then Shortcake was sent to usher, which was fun. She was working with lots of good elves: Bobble, Shortcake, Figgy, Silver Mist, Sparkles, Happy, Snowglobe, etc.

Another strawboss agreed on the need for an International Strawboss Sign Language.

After her shift, Shortcake proceeded to geek out in the locker room with Figgy and Frostbite. They posited that Santa could, indeed, be a Time Lord whose TARDIS was in the shape of a sleigh. And since the TARDIS is a time machine, that's how he visits all the children in one night. And Mrs. Clause is his companion. And if Santa doesn't always look the same from year to year it's because he regenerated.

This came out of a conversation about Wizard Rock (Shortcake is attending the New York Yule Ball featuring Harry and the Potters and Draco and the Malfoys) which led to a conversation about T-Rock (about Doctor Who), and the geek level in the locker room reached epic proportions. It was possibly uncontainable.

Happy St. Nicholas Day! Shortcake gave M&Ms to her fellow elves, managers and Santa. Bobble brought in cookies. She received some earrings, the book The Littlest Angel, some running gear, and an ornament for her tree.