Chapter Text
"Grandma! Grandma!" Two young elves ran over to the fireplace where their grandmother was rocking back and forth basking in the warm glow of the fire.
"Shouldn't you two dearies be in bed?" She asked with a smile. It was nearing midnight and the two little ones should indeed be plum asleep, but she couldn't blame them. It was an exciting night for the whole world after all.
"We couldn't sleep," the little girl drawled.
"We wanted you to read us the story again," her brother said sheepishly.
"Oh? And what story would that be?" Grandma knew exactly what story her grandson wanted to hear, she could even see the corners of the book he was trying to hide behind him. He looked to his sister and she gave him an encouraging nod before he finally handed his grandma the book.
"Your parents definitely wouldn't want you awake like this….good thing I'm a grandma!" Her bones creaked and protested as she rose from her comfortable place in the rocking chair but her legs were much too weary for two little bone-y butts.
"Go get comfy over by the couch, I'm gonna fix us up a little reading snack." She took the time to make two little mugs of hot coco (with extra marshmallows and sprinkles) and filled two coffee filters with some kettle corn that she sprinkled some cinnamon onto. Her son could yell at her after the holidays for supplying the children with excess sweets (her daughter in law was far more forgiving, perhaps because the children's sweet tooth came from hers).
"Alright my dears," she pressed a mug into each of their hands and placed the makeshift bowl of kettle corn into their laps before settling down between them. "'The Night Big Elf Came to Town'," her weathered fingers traced each word on the title. She tapped the illustration on the front.
"He's much more handsome in person." Her grandson wrinkled his face and eyed the picture suspiciously.
"But not more handsome than grandpa was…right?" the girl said.
"Right." The large book creaked as it was opened up and placed across her lap. "One snowy day in winter a family came to town." The opposite page had an elaborate illustration of two older men and two young children all bundled up against the chill of the North Pole. She turned the page.
"They had come to solve a mystery, for all around the world the cookies had gone missing!" Her grandson gasped.
"You can't steal cookies! That's mean!" Her granddaughter said.
"That's right dearie, now shush. You don't want to wake up mom and dad and get all three of us in trouble." Both children shook their heads so she continued, "The man in the red sweater stopped all the reindeer, 'Did you steal all the cookies?' but all the reindeer shook their heads."
"The little girl stopped all the sugar plum fairies, 'Did you steal all the cookies?' but the sugar plum fairies shook their heads."
"The man in the brown coat stopped the Moose, 'Did you steal all the cookies?' they fought for a bit before they figured out that no, it wasn't Moose that took the cookies either." The page had an illustration of Moose and the man, both bruised and battered while Mrs. Claus stood over them, scolding them for fighting.
"The little boy went to the elves, 'Did you steal all the cookies?' and all the elves but one said no."
"It was Danny," her granddaughter said.
"Are you reading this or am I?"
"You are Granny! I'm sorry."
Grandma laughed, "that's alright, now do you want to turn the page?" Her granddaughter reached across and turned the page revealing the true culprit behind the cookie caper.
"Oh no! Danny Shortbread had been stealing all the cookies!" Danny Shortbread was illustrated in a circle of elves, cookie crumbs all over his Christmas clothes and blue tins of royal dansk cookies poking out from his pockets. Her grandson slapped the book, his clumsy toddler hands leaving a sticky smear.
"Do you want to turn the page this time?" He nodded, taking the page a bit too roughly and shoving it to the other side. She really should have bought the board book version but the illustrations in the newest print were too gorgeous to pass up for having in her house for the holidays.
"Everyone cheered!" All three of them wiggled in quiet celebration, "But what's this? The man who came to solve the mystery….he was the one the elves had been waiting for!"
"All hail Big Elf!" The little girl said.
"Big!" Her grandson echoed.
"All hail Big Elf," Grandma smiled, "'Oh no! Not me! I couldn't Possibly!' he said. 'You are he indeed!' the elves cheered. But Big Elf couldn't be convinced. 'I am only a man.' he said, but that wasn't true, he had ears like me and you. So the elves had to come up with a plan. 'Let's make him a sweater!' said Tinsel."
"The little girl was most intrigued and joined them, and it was then they knew the little girl was a god too! 'Mabel,' they asked, 'how did you do that so fast?' 'Anything is possible with the power of glitter!' and the room exploded in a sparkly shower and now all the elves had new sweaters." The next page was hard for her old eyes to look at, but the children oo-ed and aww-ed at the sparkly illustration.
"The elves had to make a new plan but were thoroughly stumped, 'let's ask the reindeer for help!' But when they went to the reindeer they were all gathered around the little boy." The page showed all the reindeer looking attentively up at the boy who had the map of the world behind him almost hidden by all the pinned post it notes. "Santa was being unfair to the reindeer and the boy had helped them understand through razor sharp wit that they deserved fair treatment too."
"Union strong!" The little girl said.
"Absolutely," the reindeer union had recently organized a Christmas food drive and hosted a picture event. She had the picture of both her grandkids beside Cupid and Conner on the fridge (both of them in tears of course, and she loved it).
"'Dipper, how'd you know the reindeer needed help?' the elves felt bad that they hadn't realized their friends needed help. 'It wasn't that hard,' the boy said with an eye roll, 'the route was dumb' and it was then they realized the boy was a god too! The elves had to make a new plan while the reindeer were busy. 'I know!' said Festive, 'Let's hold a feast!'."
"The elves cooked, cleaned and baked. It all had to be perfect for a feast would surely convince the man that he was indeed the mighty Big Elf!" The page was illustrated with a long table covered in delicious foods. The turkey glistened perfectly, the food steamed and the jello looked wobbly. They took a deep breath and imagined that perfect meal, savory and sweet. The children crunched loudly on their kettle corn (Grandma told the twinge of hunger in her stomach to shush).
"As soon as the table was set Festive went to retrieve the family of gods who ooh'ed and aww'ed at the sight of all the food. 'It's for you Big Elf! We love you very much and way better way to share love than with a good meal!' the elves said. 'No. no, you have it all wrong, I am just a man, I can't be this Big Elf you speak of. I am surely not that great.' The elves gasped because how could he not see how great he was?"
"'You improved the workshop so we could work better and safer!' said Jingle.'"
"'You can read the Old Elven language and uncovered bits of our history!' said Dr. McFlurry."
"'You gave us the perfect hot coco recipe!' said Festive. And on and on the elves took turns sharing just how much Big Elf meant to them."
"'Big Elf…you are special!' they finally said. After a long moment of silence Big Elf thanked all the elves for helping him see that and he and his family joined everyone for a special feast." The page showed everyone at the long table, plates piled high and smiles on their faces. Grandma looked to the two children nestled up next to her and saw that they were barely awake, the last little bits of kettle corn spilled out over their laps and the makeshift bowls had fluttered the floor.
"Alright dearies, it's officially bed time," Grandma snapped the book closed, forgoing reading the last few pages to hustle them off to bed.
"Noooo grandma you didn't finish the story," her granddaughter's whine was cut off by a big yawn.
"Achoo!" The high pitch sneeze startled her grandson into being more awake and Grandma smiled softly at his indignant expression.
"The blessings of Dipper be upon ye," she said and then wiped his nose with the handkerchief she had stuffed in her pocket (a necessity when children were around).
"T'anks," he mumbled sleepily. She got up and nudged her grandchildren off the couch, sending them to bed with kisses and wishes for sweet dreams.
"I love you," she told them.
"Me too!" Her granddaughter replied (her grandson just waved, he was still finding his words after all). When she went back into the living room and after she finished tidying up the mugs and kernels she looked down and saw the book where she left it and smiled fondly.
The book was a nice tale, short and sweet, perfect for the littles. After all, the actual day Big Elf came had been much more chaotic and Big Elf was never quite as convinced as he was in the story. She rubbed the knit of her sweater and remembered how in awe of the Pines family she had been when she first met them. She hoped they would come down to visit again this year, she loved being apart of Mabel's knitting circle (Mrs. Claus and Moose always had the best gossip). If they didn't visit this year, perhaps she could work on convincing her son and daughter in law to make the pilgrimage to Gravity Falls and see the home of Big Elf. She had seen a TV advert for it recently and it looked enchanting. Grandma put the dishes away and found her thoughts muzzy.
"Hmm I should probably go to bed myself," she chuckled, "these old bones aren't meant for those long nights anymore." Tomorrow was a big day after all, the annual Feast Day in honor of Big Elf, her and her son in law would be doing lots of cooking. Gifts and sweaters would be exchanged, the stockings would be filled with new notebooks for the children and cards with Stanbucks for the parents. It was her favorite day. Grandma shuffled off to bed, tucking herself in and just before she turned off the bed side lamp she called out in a soft voice.
"All hail Big Elf," and drifted off to sleep.