Gus Hides the Ho-Ho — Every evening, Gus dangled from the workshop ceiling and played his new game, Ho-Ho Hideaway. He tucked one tiny laugh into each beard curl without letting the toy testers hear. Read the full story →
Every evening, Gus dangled from the workshop ceiling and played his new game, Ho-Ho Hideaway. He tucked one tiny laugh into each beard curl without letting the toy testers hear. The room smelled like cedar shavings and peppermint glue, and the only sounds were snip-snip scissors, tap-tap hammers, and Gus trying not to snort.
Until one night, his top bow slid sideways and boinged a hidden ho-ho across the rafters. Because of that, a sleepy tin robot woke up and marched straight into the wrapping paper. Because of THAT, the paper rolled open, revealing twelve plain brown packages meant for children whose names had arrived late.
“Uh-oh,” whispered Gus, then grinned. He shook his beard curls—poof, poof, poof—and let every saved laugh float into the boxes like warm bells. By morning, nobody knew why those late gifts chuckled when lifted. But if you spot the crooked cheer in Gus’s mustache, you’ll know where the last ho-ho hid.
