The story so far...

You receive an exciting piece of mail from the North Pole. You open it:

Merry Christmas!

Ho ho ho!

You're at the top of my Nice List this year. Excellent job!

As a reward for your good behavior, I have a special gift for you: a visit to the North Pole this Christmas season! You will get to see the elves and me in action as we prepare to bring joy to children around the world.

Merry Christmas!

Santa Claus

"Welcome to the North Pole!" you hear as you step down off the sleigh, freshly arrived after a smooth and on-time flight. The greeting comes from a sharply dressed elf, giving you a warm smile and wave. "I'm Red, Santa's Chief of Staff," he introduces himself. This must be the elf you've been in contact with to coordinate your trip.

Before you can respond, you get interrupted by shouts of "Red! Red!" A second elf comes running up, frantically waving her arms. The two elves enter into a furious whispered conversation. You watch Red become increasingly distressed. Red buries his face in his hands as they conclude their conversation and the other elf runs off. He gathers himself with a deep breath before turning back to you.

"I'm terribly sorry about that. That was rude of us. It's so lovely that you're able to join us here," he says, visibly making an effort to appear friendly and cheerful. He takes a deep breath again before continuing, "Unfortunately, we're in a bit of a crisis right now. You see, Santa has gone missing. We've been looking all over, and we don't know where he is... Oh sugarplums! What are we going to do…" he says as he drops his head back into his hands.

"I do apologize," he says, swallowing hard. "I know you came all this way, but I'm going to have to postpone some of the activities that we had planned for you. All of the elves are busy ramping up production for Christmas, and I'm the only one who can make time to search for Santa. It's a real puzzle where he could have gone… oh, and I've only just started learning to solve puzzles..."

Wait a second, you like puzzles! You quickly offer to help Red with his search.

"Really?!" he responds with relief. "Oh, thank you so much. No wonder you're at the top of the Nice list." He beckons you to follow as he sets off towards the village, saying "First, we'll go search…"

"Oh, yes, that LENGTH OF YARN! I remember seeing Santa with it when I last saw him," Mrs. Claus says as you examine it closely.

"What was he doing with it?" Red asks.

"Beats me! He was fussing over it quite a bit but I don't know what he was doing."

Red sighs, looking a little discouraged. Mrs. Claus reaches over and pats his hands.

"Cheer up, dearie! I'm sure you'll be able to figure out what it means later. You were a great team working through those clues!" she reassures him.

"Thanks, Mrs. Claus. We really appreciate your help." Red turns to you, "Come on, let's keep looking for clues."

You pack up the yarn with the rest of your clues. Mrs. Claus walks you to the door. She wishes you luck as you step out and head off to the next location to investigate.

"Hey, I think you've got the whole route figured out!" Rudolph excitedly says as you all look over the marked up globe. "And that just made me remember: Santa said that this year's ride theme is RAINBOW DEER. See, he even got us these rainbow-colored Christmas lights to wear." Rudolph trots over to a box against the wall and shows you that it's full of colorful strings of Christmas lights.

"When did you last see Santa?" Red asks Rudolph.

"Well, we had talked about the ride theme at that last planning meeting at the end of last month," Rudolph responds. He thinks for a moment before continuing, "As for the lights... I'm not sure. They just showed up at my house sometime recently."

"Anyways," Rudolph says as he walks you and Red out, "Take a string with you. We got enough extras." You put the short string of rainbow-colored lights with your other clues as you and Red move on.

"Phew! I think we did it!" Red exclaims as you all stand back and look at the toys, now all sorted and neatly organized.

"Amazing! Thanks so much you two," Ralph sits down heavily on a nearby stool with visible relief. "I was quite worried about the state of the factory so close to Christmas Eve."

"Now, let's see… a clue about Santa..." Ralph scratches his head as he continues looking at the toys. "Oh! That's right!" He turns and reaches behind some boxes to pull out a tray of steaming hot beverages. "I got our delivery of HOT SCRABBLE CIDER right before you arrived." He looks at you and explains further, "This is a tradition we've had to celebrate the factory finishing up toy production for the year, ever since that one year in the 1950s when everyone wanted that game." Turning back to Red, he continues, "Doesn't Santa normally send this to us? Well, anyways, you might as well have some."

"Huh, that is odd. Santa usually makes the cider himself," Red thinks out loud as he passes you one. "Make sure to add some of the spiced letters," he adds, holding them out towards you in a small bowl.

You ponder what this all means as you sip the warm, sweet drink on your way out of the factory.