We finally reached the beginning of the line, in front of Magee's desk. Magee has been the North Pole Christmas Eve Command Center Coordinator for almost 200 years. In other words, Magee has been stressed out for over 73,000 days. In a row. I give her credit; I don't know if I could ever do what she does for the North Pole. She's amazing, and I'm glad to call her my friend.

"Tiny, I need a cup of coffee stat!" I heard Magee call. Then I felt a small elf push his way through the endless line of elves towards the break room. Tiny is Magee's assistant. Without him (and her coffee/eggnog), I'm sure Magee would let the stress get to her, and then we'd all be in trouble.

After Tiny left, Magee turned to Lanny and me, "Hey Wayne! Hi Lanny! You guys excited for Santa this year?" With that, she pulled out a large coffee mug. It had gold sparkly lettering that read: 'Secret Santa: Who will you get?'

"Oooooh! Can I please pick first, Wayne?" Lanny asked me excitedly.

"Sure. Go ahead," I told him. Lanny is always excited about Secret Santa. Last year he pulled my name, and let's just say that that didn't remain a secret for long.

Magee held the coffee mug above Lanny's head, and Lanny reached in and pulled out a slip of paper that could make or break his Secret Santa experience for the year. "I'm not looking until you pull yours!" Lanny whispered to me.

"Okay. Fine," I told him. I reached into the coffee mug just hoping that I would get someone easy for just one year. I mean, there are thousands of elves so it's not like I would have had everyone, even if I have been working for over 227 years.

I grabbed Lanny, and we got out of Magee's claustrophobic office, to where I could actually hear myself think in peace. "Who . . . who'd you get?" Lanny stuttered.

I unfolded my paper and instantly answered, "Magee." As if it could get worse. Yeah, Magee's my friend, but we do have a history. And it's not pretty. Basically:

#1 we met at a Christmas party one year.

#2 Magee and I used to be together. As in, we dated.

#3 it was only for a short period of time. It ended with a sweater incident, and we've remained close friends since.

There was a bright side to this, I suppose. I knew exactly what to get her. Magee loves to figure skate, and make jingle bell jewelry. I decided right then to get her a new pair of ice skates. Not just any ice skates; top of the line ice skates. The BEST ice skates. Because nothing's better than the best.

"Guess who I got?" Lanny asked me. He was slightly less excited than before which worried me. If he got someone who was hard to buy something for, you bet I'd be dragged into this.

"Uh . . . me?" I asked jokingly.

"No. Not this year. I got the Big Guy himself . . . YOU'VE GOTTA HELP ME!" He begged me, "I have to get the Big Guy something really special so he won't remember me as 'the prep & landing elf that got him that lame gift.'"

"Sure, I'll help you," I told Lanny. It was best not to leave Lanny to do anything by himself. I learned that the first time I worked with him. And I figured if Lanny did get the Big Guy a bad gift, it would somehow reflect me, because I'm Lanny's partner.

"So," Lanny said, changing the subject, "What are you going to get Magee?"