Happy Holidays, You Bastard

Chapter 1

1st November 1998

The first of November. This means the beginning of the Christmas season for Santa and his elves. A month full of building toys and wrapping presents.

Jordi woke up in his bed with a smile on his face. He went into the kitchen, where Balbo was already making breakfast. Pancakes. How Jordi loved them. Still sleepy, he sat down on a chair and looked out of the window. The beautiful snow landscape of the North Pole seemed even prettier today. In the next few weeks, he was finally able to do what he loved the most again. Creating toys and building crazy things that no one has ever seen before. Maybe even upgrading the workshop. Making Christmas a special event for everyone was simply the most important thing in his life. He was more than sure that nothing could ruin his mood today.

"Good morning, Jordi," Trixie floated on the chair next to him and a few moments later Gilfi joined them.

Balbo gave everyone a plate full of pancakes and Jordi literally devoured them while Gilfi just stared at them.

"Is everything okay, Gilfi?" Jordi asked his friend.

"It's Christmas again and I still don't have my powers. I mean, you can be any fucking animal you want," then he looked at Trixie. "And you can fly. Why am I even here?"

Jordi swallowed a piece of his pancake: "Come on, without you we would be nothing here. We would never be able to finish everything in time for Christmas. Your powers will come when the time is right."

"The right time should be now," Gilfi stood up and left the room without even touching his food.

Trixie and Jordi looked at each other, Trixie just shook her head. Jordi was slightly worried about his friend. Everyone must give their full energy, especially today when everything is starting again and if Gilfi's mind is consumed with thoughts about his powers, he probably won't focus on his work. A cold breeze brushed past Jordi and when he looked up, he saw that Santa had entered the house. Jordi's eyes lit up and he immediately greeted him.

"Is everyone ready?" Santa asked with a warm smile on his face.

The two elves and Balbo nodded synchronically. Gilfi showed up too, but he still looked pretty unmotivated. At least he seemed less depressed now. They all went down to the workshop. Jordi sat down at his own table and went through a block full of old ideas for new things he could invent. Some of them were pure garbage, but there were also things he wanted to build this year. Things he was sure kids would love.

For the next few hours, he was working on a small robot dog when suddenly Santa came up to him.

"Jordi, could you please repair the energy tree? The toy machine isn't working and I'm pretty sure it's Gruzzlebeard's fault again," he said.

Gruzzlebeard. The guy who always tries his best to destroy Christmas and harm Santa. Jordi didn't know why. No one did, but he was sure he had to have a reason.

He nodded and made his way to the hill where the energy tree was. The tree looked like a Christmas tree and had some lights on it, but it was only there to power the toy machine.

Jordi dropped his toolbox and looked up. A few lights were out and the cable was cut in some places. Now he was pretty sure it was Gruzzlebeard's fault. Sure, he came damn close to ruining Christmas a few times, but he definitely wasn't a smart guy, so cutting a cable seemed like something he would do. Jordi turned into a bird and flew onto a branch. He turned back into his normal form and examined the damage to the cables more closely. Luckily it wasn't that bad. It would take him maybe an hour to fix the cable, but then the machine should work again. Just as he was about to fly back to the ground, a figure came out of the forest and headed straight for the tree he was sitting on. He recognized him as Grugor. Gruzzlbeard's cocksucker. Jordi had often seen Gruzzlebeard bossing Gugor around.

When he looked closer, he saw that Gugor had a pair of scissors in his hand. Gugor seemed annoyed and when he reached the tree, he cut the cable in several places.

"I can't believe he wants me to destroy the rest too. As if the damage wasn't enough," he rolled his eyes, but before he could cut the next part of the cable, he was attacked by a bird that flew out of the tree. The bird landed on his head and pecked at him. Not to harm him, but to make him go away. Gugor did his best to protect his head, but the bird wouldn't let go of him, so he ran away, but forgot the scissors at the tree. When the bird reached the ground, it turned into Jordi. His eyes followed Gugor, who was still running. Back to the forest.

"Bastard," Jordi muttered and then began to repair the tree.

As expected, it didn't take long for him to bring the energy back. After a little more than an hour he went back to the workshop.

"Well done, Jordi," Santa looked up from reading a few letters as Jordi entered the glass house that housed the workshop. The toy machine worked again.

"You were right. Gruzzlebeard ordered Gugor to destroy the cable. Luckily the damage wasn't that bad," Jordi sat down on a chair. He put his head in his hands. It frustrated him that there was no Christmas season not being sabotaged by the two assholes who lived beyond the forest.

"I'll try to talk to him tomorrow," Santa brushed through his white beard.

"I'm coming with you," Jordi said convinced. Santa just nodded and focused on the letters again.

Over the next few hours, Jordi finished the robot dog, but a lot went wrong because his thoughts kept wandering to Gruzzlebeard and Gugor. It frustrated him even more that Gugor was ruining his mood and destroying the magic of the first day of Christmas season. The day should have been great, but all Jordi could think about was why the two guys hated Christmas so much. He just couldn't think of a valid reason.