Santa's busy time

The old man sighed stroked his wispy white beard and patted his bulging belly 'that's one corporation they can't tax.' he thought snuggling deeper into his comfy chair.

It was the middle of December and his busy time was about to begin but he was ready for that and he should have been relaxing.

However the mood of mellow contentment that had been settling on him had been rudely shattered by the visit of his accountant Hugo Tyte-Wodd of Guest Maidup Rushton Lait.

Tyte-Wodd had looked after Santa's affairs for years without ever giving him cause to complain (not that that had stopped him) and now he had his client deeply worried.

It was not that he had looked askance at the stiletto heeled pumps Claus had been trying on when he arrived: Hugo accepted the explanation that if you dropped down as many...