Hello Everyone,

Santa here, and I have a problem on my hands. A BIG problem.

Yesterday I got a call from Thessaly Tinselcom, the elf who runs the research and development lab. Thessaly said she was noticing some glitches with the software that runs the Present Compressor, which is a magical tool that (just like it sounds) squeezes the millions of toys and presents I carry into my bag on Christmas Eve. She asked me to stop by.

Well, it turns out the "glitches" were far more serious than she had indicated. Turns out the whole Present Compressor program is haywire, and rather than shrinking presents, it EXPANDS them, which means a matchbox-sized toy car turns into a full-sized one, and a three-inch tall refrigerator for a dollhouse (and even the house itself!) inflates into the REAL THING. Toy pony, REAL pony. Toy fire engine, REAL fire engine. You get the idea.

An additional part of the problem these days is that everything seems to come ridiculously overpackaged with extra cardboard and plastic, so even the simplest gift -- an ink cartridge for a PC printer, say -- requires about four times as much space as it used to. It's crazy. That's why I've relied more and more on the Compressor, and now it appears the Compressor is on the blink.

Without it, I can't do my job, and if I can't do my job -- well everybody knows what THAT means.

I'm genuinely flummoxed with this one. Thessaly is brilliant, and I trust her to come up with a solution between now and Christmas Eve, less than a month away. But still, I'm worried; I had a similar problem two or three hundred years ago, and we didn't fix it until December 23. I think I lost about 100 pounds that year from worry, and I don't feel like going through that again.

Speaking of which, I'm trying to distract myself by remembering that Thanksgiving is just a few days away. It's gonna be a great one this year, with lots of reindeer parents and dignitaries coming from all over the Arctic, and the elves' talent show is coming together smoothly, from what I hear.

I hope the Compressor is fixed long before then!

Love,

Santa