The following story is hot off the email presses.

One particular Christmas, a long time ago,
Santa was getting ready for his annual trip.
Alas, there were problems everywhere.
Four of his elves got sick, and the trainee
elves just weren't producing the toys as
fast as the regular ones. Poor Santa was
beginning to feel the pressure of being
behind schedule. Then Mrs. Claus
announced that her mom was coming
to visit.

This stressed Santa even more. When
he went to harness the reindeer, he
found that three of them were about
to give birth and two had jumped the
fence and were out, heaven knows where.

More stress. Furthermore, when he
began to load the sleigh, one of the
boards cracked, and the toy bag fell
to the ground scattering the toys
everywhere. Frustrated, Santa went
into the house for a cup of apple cider
and a shot of rum. When he went to
the cupboard, he discovered that
the elves had hidden the liquor, ! and
there was nothing to drink.

In his frustration, he accidentally
dropped the cider pot, and it
broke into hundreds of little pieces
all over the kitchen floor. He went to
get the broom and found that mice
had eaten the straw end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and
irritable Santa trudged to the door. He
opened the door, and there was a
little angel with a great big Christmas
tree.

The angel said, very cheerfully, "Merry
Christmas, Santa. Isn't it a lovely day?
I have a beautiful tree for you. Where
would you like me to stick it?"

...... And thus began the tradition of
the little angel on top of the Christmas
tree.

Merry Christmas, and I hope you were
gentle putting your angel on the tree