Santa Claus is the big cheese, the main guy, the roly-poly, laughing, red-suited man with the big white beard.

Every boy and girl knows about him, his home at the North Pole, his wife (who most people don't know that well, but her real name is Kristle - shhh! don't tell anyone… it's a secret), and the toy making operation that is the largest in the world.

And that's where the magic really begins.

Let me introduce you to the first elves, and here's another inside secret, they have never been accurately portrayed in any movie or book. Settle down, grab a lap warmer and a cup of hot chocolate and I'll tell you the real story.

It was a Christmas eve many centuries ago. Santa works with his wife, Kristle, as a toymaker, crafting toys for the local children. They live in a small village in the mountains of Bavaria, all cloaked in white at this time of year after days of gentle snowfall.

Let's go there and watch the story unfold.

As we said, Santa, also known in the village as Kris, is a toymaker. His toy shop in the small village is decorated on the outside with snow clinging to the wood frame of each pane in the shop windows. A single sign hangs outside the shop door suspended from a metal pole and with a just a single word, "Spielzeugladen," which means "Toy Store" in German since that is the language spoken in this part of Bavaria.

The small cobblestone main street is lined with shops on each side, all bright and decorated for the upcoming holiday season, and Kris's toy store is a shining example. Every morning Kristle dutifully lights fresh candles in the displays inside the windows, casting a warm and friendly light on the assembled toys. The toys themselves are like a magnet, displayed in a truly wonderful way that draws the eyes of every parent and child passing by the store windows.

In the warm months of summer the sound of horse hoofs on the cobblestones add a pleasant rhythm to the street sounds outside the shop and in winter the muffled sounds of hoofs on snow-packed cobblestones announce the sleighs of bundled folks travelling from one part of the village to another, horses' nostrils flaring steamy breath into the cold winter air.

On this afternoon, a single sleigh stops in front of the toymaker's shop and two children run up to the main store window ahead of their parents, peering through the panes at the gaily decorated scenes on display. Their eyes light up as they look from one toy to another, laughing and pointing and calling out "Look at that" or "Oh, that's wonderful."

Johannes and Else are many steps behind their children who have already opened the shop door, announced by the sharp tinkle of a bell hanging in the path of the door.

"Nikolaus, Katerine, wait for us," Else calls out as she and her husband stomp the snow off of their shoes and then hurry into the store.

Both children are turning in the middle of the store, dazzled by the assortment of painted and polished nutcrackers and tops and wooden dolls and toy horses and puppets on every shelf. Their usually animated faces are frozen as they stare at the wonders of this very special toy store. For, it seems, this is the best store in the world, filled with more delightful playthings than anyone has ever seen before.

"Oh Vater, can I have this one," pleads Katerine as she holds up a wooden doll with red cheeks and bright eyes.

Her father considers before answering, "Well, tochter, we'll have to see what you get tomorrow morning, but is that the gift that you would like for this Weihnachten?"

"Oh yes, I would very much like to have her. Can I please?" she says as her brother holds up a miniature sleigh with a tiny horse in reins and asks, "How about this for me, vater?"

Mother and father have a quiet conversation with the toymaker and then gather the children to return to their sleigh.

Moments later, the horse whinnies and the sleigh glides down the street carrying the family to their small cottage on the outskirts of the village. After their arrival, mother builds a fire to take the chill off, preparing warm Kinderpunsch from the hot water kettle in the fireplace, while father is outside tending to the horse and sleigh.

Mother and children don't even notice that father is gone as they talk in excited tones about the Christmas day tomorrow. Thirty minutes later, Johannes steps back into the cottage clapping his gloved hands together and walks quickly to the fireplace to warm up.

The small cottage has a glow from the tallow candles set around the room and from the fireplace which father has just replenished with fresh wood. The aroma from the burning pine fire, coupled with the radiant heat of the flames, provides both comfort and a sense of well-being to the family.

Father pulls down the old family Bible, hand scribed two generations before by his great uncle, as mother and the children sit close by. He reads slowly and then takes time to explain what has been read. The words he reads are assuring as he explains how God loves and takes care of all the children of the world. It is, as he explains, a Christmas story using a baby to illustrate how important children are to the world.

The following day is Christmas and both children wake up early because this is a special day in which gifts are exchanged. 10-year-old Katerine has drawn a picture for each parent. Each drawing has been rolled up and tied with a thin colored bow for presentation. Nikolaus, who just turned 12 on his last birthday, has written a story for each parent which he will recite when the family gathers after the morning meal. The breakfast of cheese, bread and cold sausages has never tasted as good as it does on a Christmas morning.

After the children have presented their gifts to their parents it's time for reciprocal gifts to be given to the children. Nikolaus is beyond himself when he opens the small box holding a miniature sleigh and small wooden horse. "This is what I wanted! I can’t wait to play with it," the boy shouts happily. His sister sits transfixed, staring with wonder at the doll that she held so tenderly in the toy store yesterday, eyes glistening with happiness. "It is my own special baby," she says, "and I will take care of it all of my life," not realizing that this may not be as long as anyone hopes.

One afternoon a week after Christmas Nikolaus and Katerine walk into the woods with her doll and his horse and sleigh and do not return home.

After a few hours, Johannes and Else begin to search, at first expectantly and then frantically, and then finally go to each neighbor's cottage to see if their children have somehow gone there. All is for naught. No one has seen either child.

The parents take horse and sleigh into the village and go from store to store, stopping at the toy store which had been the scene of such great delight just the week before. It is late and all the stores are closed except two - the toymaker's shop and the coal seller.

Toymaker Kris and his wife are saddened at the news of the lost children. They tell the parents that they have not seen either child since the visit to the store before Christmas.

Word spreads quickly and anxious villagers form search parties, sweeping out through the surrounding woods with torches, calling out their names, "Nikolaus!" "Katerine!" until the late night. But the sound is muffled by the snow and no response is heard.

For two weeks the parents and neighbors search without success. It is as if the children have simply vanished into the air. Johannes and Else are struck with grief. As days pass they slowly come to grips with the reality - their only children, the hope of their family, are gone.

Another week goes by and a huntsman returning from a trek into the forest brings back the grim news. He has found a boy and girl in the snow, one day's walk into the woods. The children are not alive. As he tells the story, at first glance the children appeared to be okay, both bundled in warm clothes and holding each other as they lay in the snow, but he saw that their faces were white and it looked like they had frozen. He tried to rouse them and called to them as he shook them, but it was to no avail.

The following day he leads the grief-stricken father and several villagers to the location where he found the children and they return the young bodies to the family cottage.

The people living in and around the small village are glum for several months after the simple ceremony that honors the two lost children at the tiny village kirch. Nothing like this has ever happened in any of their lives and for that matter, during the entire existence of the village. Each person tries to console the father and mother who find that there is no consolation. Nothing can undo the deep hurt and pain that will forever mark the lives of Johannes and Else.

However, a remarkable event will soon emerge out of their pain.

Two years later on a night in the month of November as he is sitting in his rocking chair in front of the fireplace thinking about the two children, Kris dozes off as is his habit on winter evenings. He awakens to the sound of voices and opens his eyes to see Nikolaus and Katerine standing beside his chair talking to each other. They are as alive as you and me, and they are discussing whether or not to approach him about helping other children during the next month's holiday season.

Kris sits up and not knowing what to do since the children standing right beside him have been dead and buried for two years, he calls out their names, "Nikolaus? Katerine?"

Both children respond and Katerine says, "We didn't know you were awake, sir. We didn't mean to startle you."

Breathlessly the toymaker asks, "But I thought that, we believed that, we were sure that you were not with us anymore," unable to think of anything else to say.

"We weren't," says Katerine, and then she tells the story of their last night alive.

"We went out to take the toy horse and sleigh for a ride into the forest. My doll wanted to go, too, so she could see the beauty and silence of the woods in the snow. We didn't know it was so late and when it started to get dark we decided to go home but we had walked a long way and made many turns. We didn't know exactly which way to go. It had been snowing since we left and our tracks were already covered; we could only go a short ways back before we couldn't see our boot prints in the snow. Nikolaus thought he could find the way, but in the dark with no light we just couldn't see anything. As we got more cold we held each other to keep warm and that's the last thing I remember."

Nikolaus added, "We were scared and it was cold, but after we laid down and shivered for a while we started to feel warm again. Katerine and I talked about the one thing that we would like to do if only we could. We both would like to help other children and we made it our final wish. And then I went to sleep and I don't know anything after that until we woke up here a few minutes ago."

Kris is unsure how to respond to this unbelievable tale, but he is sure of this - every child's last wish should be honored by the living. And he is sure that he should help them.

He calls to Kristle who listens to the children repeat their story. Then the toymaker and his wife nod to each other deciding that they must immediately return the children to their parents.

Only one problem stands in the way.

As they walk out of the door of their cottage holding the hands of the two children, the moment they pass the door frame both children disappear. Poof. Gone.

Confused, Kris and Kristle walk back into their cottage and are shocked to see the two children standing inside.

"What happened?" exclaims Kris, turning to his wife.

"I'm not sure," responds Kristle, and both children nod their agreement.

The four make a second attempt to leave with exactly the same result. The minute they go outside the cottage Kris and his wife are standing there alone. Returning inside, the two children are waiting for them.

The toymaker decides that they must go to the children's parents' cottage to tell them what has happened, but while he and Kristle are discussing this there is a knock at the door.

Opening it, Kris is greeted by a nearby neighbor standing just outside, who explains that he has an abundance of dry and seasoned wood which he offers to share with them.

"No thank you, Heinrich, but you must see this," said Kris, grabbing his neighbor's hand and pulling him inside.

"Look at this," he says, pointing in the direction of the two children.

"What am I supposed to see?" asks the neighbor quizzically.

Kris turns to look at the children, who are nowhere to be seen.

"Uh, I guess I wanted you to see the toys I have been designing over on my drawing table," Kris blurts, talking quickly to hide his embarrassment and confusion. "But I'm sorry, I'm sure you have other people to visit with your wood. I will show you some other time," as he walks Heinrich to the door.

The next day the toymaker walks to open his shop. It's a slow walk as he contemplates the events of the previous day. "I have never heard of anything like what has happened to us," he muses.

As he approaches the store he resigns himself to the conclusion that this is a mystery that may never have an explanation. Maybe it was all just a dream. The only problem with that idea is that Kristle said this morning that she remembered the same strange occurrence.

Stomping his shoes, twisting the key in the shop door, he turns the handle and walks inside to be greeted by Nikolaus and Katerine, standing just inside near a large shelf that he had left filled with unfinished toys the day before.

"Gruss Gott" they each say, giving a traditional Bavarian greeting.

"Mein Gott," escapes the toymaker's lips, failing to return the greeting as he recognizes the two children. They must be some kind of apparition, he thinks to himself, since he had not seen them since the night before when they disappeared. He crosses himself for protection as they run over to him and show him what they have been doing.

Nikolaus has finished all of the toys for boys and Katerine proudly shows off several finished dolls and a new one that she is working on. The toys are perfect in every way.

"How did you do this, and where were you when I brought the neighbor into my house yesterday?"

Nikolaus answers, "We don't know what happened yesterday. We just found ourselves here this morning and we looked at the toys and immediately knew what needed to be done. Did we do okay?" looking to the toymaker for approval.

"Oh yes, you did perfectly. You are both very skilled. You have hidden talents."

"it was easy," says Katerine. "I have never done anything like this before but I knew exactly what to do. I saw this new doll in my head. I found some tools and some materials and now here she is," holding up the doll she has just finished.

Thus begins an amazing adventure.

The toymaker's wife arrives an hour later and he describes what has just transpired. Through that first day, Kris shows the children how he makes toys and then they set to work with Kristle's constant hovering and mothering. That day they make tops and puppets, while the toymaker's wife gives them candy canes and sugar treats and cookies.

Amazingly, Kris hears of other girls and boys that have passed from this life prematurely and, as he dozes in his chair at night, they begin to show up one or two at a time beside his rocking chair, talking and laughing later as Nikolaus and Katerine explain to them how they can bring joy to other children around the world.

The toy store is just a stepping stone, you see, to a bigger plan, one that has been set in place by the universe from the beginning of time.

Thanks to many children magically finding their way to the toymaker, Kris and Kristle begin to deliver toys to children in neighboring villages and to an orphanage a day's ride from their home. The sleigh provides an ideal carriage for transporting hundreds of toys at a time.

What about the flying reindeer, you ask? Well, that's another story, but let's just follow the elves' story for today.

The toy maker and his wife outgrow their small toy store and village within a year after the first two children showed up. They are soon looking for another location where they can set up on a much larger scale toymaking operation, a place where they can produce even more toys and games for children.

Eventually, they end up in the North Pole, thanks to Nikolaus and Katerine, who scouted all kinds of places around the world and found this one perfect place where they could work secretly, build a very large toy factory, and send more joy to even more children.

The North Pole becomes Santa's workshop and the home of Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, the name that children all over the world now call the people that you and I now know are Kris and Kristle Kringle.

As for Nikolaus and Katerine, they are the first elves. They actually come up with the name "elf" which they explain is just another word used by some people to describe small children. They now welcome each new child to their new home, teaching them the art of toymaking and giving them an important part in making the world just a little happier.

And so, during this Christmas season, tens of thousands of elves, lost children from all over the world who have found the one place where they can still make a difference, are happily working around the clock, laughing and singing, making wonderful gifts for every child in every home, village, town, city and country.

All the elves especially love to make gifts for sick or injured or disabled or poor children and those who do not have parents or homes. Their wish is that every child will have the happiness of receiving a gift for Christmas.

After every Christmas there is a celebration at the North Pole with pictures of many of the two billion smiling children around the world that had a brighter day because of the gift of two children whose last wish was to do just that.

So, this Christmas, in the spirit of the first elves, Nikolaus and Katerine, do something special for a child or children needing a little hope.

Who knows, maybe someday those children will write a story about you.

(wink!)