Father Christmas was not in a very good frame of mind – in fact, he was very depressed.
That morning after breakfast, Mrs. Santa had told him that her mother was coming over to stay ‘for a few days,’ and he knew that would be for several weeks. As Christmas was approaching, her visit was the last thing that he wanted.
The Elves had been playing up and had gone on strike for more pay. The replacement elves Santa had put in were much slower, and the number of toys that had been made was way down.
Father Christmas went to visit his reindeers and found that two of them were pregnant, and another two had kicked down the fence and disappeared into the forest. He was by now even more depressed.
“What I need is a drink,” he thought. But upon going indoors, he found that the elves had hidden his whisky, and there was nothing left to drink in his liquor cabinet. Deciding upon a coffee, he went into the kitchen but managed to drop the jar of coffee all over the floor. Now he really was cheesed off!
He went to fetch the broom to sweep up the mess but found that the mice had chewed off all the bristles.
At that moment, there was a knock at the front door.
Upon opening it, Father Christmas was confronted by a beautiful fairy holding a lovely Christmas tree.
“Good morning, Santa,” she called. “Isn’t it a really lovely day? I have brought you this beautiful tree. Isn’t it lovely? Where would you like me to stick it?”
And that is why, by tradition, we have a fairy sitting on top of our Christmas trees.