Santa's Little Elf

I went back and forth about publishing this story.  So be warned this is not, I repeat not, for you children's ears.... I kept asking Brady, "what do you want for Christmas this year?" " What are you going to ask  Santa for?" Finally he told me all he wanted was a Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer that sings and lights up. (We do have one already that only lights up!) Well come to find out after much research, this is last year's Holiday toy. Last year every store carried a version of this toy! Build a Bear probably had the best, and Hallmark followed with a close second.  Walmart had a great version as well as Target and probably many many more! E bay does have these toys for a huge price. Finally one night after Googling it as many different ways as possible "Linens N' Things" came up. I immediately called over to the store to see if their Rudolph sang and light up! The response I got was, "I am so sorry I can't check for you we are going out of business and we are really not suppose to check inventory". She did look for me just because she was standing in the holiday section, and at 5:30 said there were 3! I of course asked if she could hold one and she said she could not!  I assumed I had time to wait, who else would want last years toy?  So I waited until Brian got home and the kids were tucked in bed. At 8:00 I ran over to the store dashed to the Holiday section and found just what I was looking for. The last one, I pushed the ear and ... NOTHING! It was the last one and it did not work! I paced the store for 30 minutes looking to see if a child had dropped another one some where in the store. As I walked I hit and pulled and tried so hard to get that deer to do something. The people at the store were not very helpful and would offer no support. Finally I convinced the manager to tell me the inventory of the other 3 stores that are open in our area, and I use the term area loosely! Roseville, Citrus Heights and Folsom all had more than one deer in the morning.  I called Brian and had him look up the number to Citrus Heights figuring that was my best and closest bet. I called over to the store and asked again if they had a Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer that sang and light up! Again the lady was hesitant to give out any info. I told her I am standing in the Elk Grove store holding a broken reindeer, and that this is all my 4 year old son has asked for for Christmas. She must have been touched because she said, she had some and one worked!!!! I begged her to hold one and that I would be over asap! I arrived at the store at 9:08 the store closed at 9:00 ! As I stood in the entrance wondering how to get into he store, to guys walked out with a huge painting! They knew they were not supposed to let me in but I ran through the doors anyway! The cashier yelled, "we are closed", and I replied, "I'm here for the deer." "oh come in," she said. "I was hoping you would make it here in time! Mission accomplished, I hope... it's not Build a Bear!