Taffy was an extremely small Christmas elf.

“I must be the shortest in the world,” she sighed to herself.

She couldn’t reach the workbench to help make the toys 

that Santa brings each year to the good girls and boys.

She couldn’t reach the countertop where they make treats,

Like sugarplums and gingerbread, it was out of reach.

She couldn’t do most elf jobs, because she was so small.

She wanted to help but she was just three inches tall.

So she worked in the kitchen sweeping the floor,

To clear away baking dust was her one chore. 

She’d start on one side and sweep the kitchen clean,

Trying not to get stepped on, in case she wasn't seen.

She would finish the entire room and then,

Because it was so big, she’d have to start again.

Taffy had a special pouch fastened to her side.

If she found some magic dust she’d put it there to hide.

The sugarplum dust she found on the floor,

Was purple and sparkly and magic galore. 

Every time that she swept it she hid it away,

Into her pouch for some special day.

But nothing much happens when you’re three inches tall,

So Taffy never used the plum dust at all.

Taffy was friends with a white arctic tern.

He would fly around gathering what news he could learn.

He was such a good flyer he could nosedive and flip,

His fancy good flying earned him the name Zip.

He’d chat with Taffy about the North Pole news

And take her for rides anywhere she would choose.

The day after Christmas he told a story quite scary

Santa was having trouble making Christmas merry.

“It’s the kids!” Santa said. “They’re so excited for the toys,

They can’t sleep a wink and they make so much noise.”

“As I deliver presents I must stay out of sight,

I can’t let them see me on Christmas Eve night.”

Zip told Taffy that the kids stayed up so late

Santa couldn’t take so much time to wait.

Not all children would get presents if he waited too long.

Taffy said, “If kids don’t get presents, that would be wrong!”

All year Taffy wondered what could possibly be done, 

But she didn’t know how gifts could be given to each one.

So the next Christmas to figure out some way,

Zip and Taffy snuck aboard Santa’s famous sleigh.

They hid in his bag full of presents brightly wrapped,

And waited for him to stop at a house with his sack.

At the very first house in Lewiston, Maine, 

The kids were awake, Santa stopped there in vain.

Halfway down the chimney he heard them play and shout,

So he turned right around and went back up and back out.

But he didn’t see a white bird and a tiny elf too,

Fall from his sack back down the chimney flue.