Today's Prize: Santa! And A Chimney! And a Box of Presents! And a Tree!

I wonder if the LEGO corporation is over-compensating with today's final gift in the Advent Calendar. The part count is extremely high (33 parts!) - and the holiday spirit just drips from every item. A tree! Santa! A chimney with blazing fire! A box of presents!

Ah, if only the whole year could have been stuff like this. (Heck, you could have made this into four doors and you'd only feel gypped on the day you got the lonely tree.)

 

Doctor Sloehand: Uh...guys? The warp here is getting all...fiesty.

Doctor Sloehand: I think something's coming through! I...yes....I see A CHRISTMAS TREE! And something else! GUYS!!!!

Doctor Sloehand: Guys! It's a chimney! I think Santa must be on his way!

The Conductor: I think you're right, lad. It's like when you've been watching a Fourth of July fireworks show all evening - and then suddenly they pull out the big effects for the final five minutes. They're blowing the budget on today's episode.

Oil: "Budget?"

Santa: HO HO HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS! Well,Christmas EVE anyway!

All: SANTA!!!

Santa: Wow! I was starting to think I'd never make it! There was a HUGE backlog of Holiday Items in the Advent Stream! I was able to bring two or three day's worth of stuff with me through today's portal!

Grumpypants: Then...things are returning to normal! Well, normal for a Holiday Advent Calendar, anyway. Here, at the last minute of the last day, we get some real Christmas Spirit.

Santa: It's what I do!

Doctor Sloehand: (To himself) Now where have I heard that before?

Jack: This is great! I was all worried I had ruined things for everyone!

Santa: No, Jack. You were duped, sure, but you were always meant to be here. The twist is that you were supposed to be building a giant Amusement Park filled Reindeer Games and Holiday Shoppers and a big stage for kids to get their picture taken with me on.

The Janitor: And the rest of us?

Santa: I can't be sure...after Jack turned on the Temporal Lenses on day two everything went out of focus for me.

Santa: But enough about that! Let me use one more dose of Holiday Magic to bring in the FINAL box of goodies!

Oil: Presents! He's got presents for all of us!

Santa: That's right, Oil. You're all on the "good" list this year. Even if you've been a little naughty.

The Janitor: Everyone, Santa? Even bit characters like me?

Santa: HO HO HO! Of course I have something for you! I have something very special for you!

The Janitor: I can't wait! What'll it be? A video game? A pony? I've always WANTED a pony!

The Janitor: It's....it's a wrench! It'll replace my lost broom! Man...I'm getting such a wave of Deja-vu right now...

Santa: I...I'm getting such a wave of Deja-vu right now...

The Janitor: I...knew you were going to say that. What the heck is happening here?

Santa: Wait....I think I have it!

Santa: Your name...it's Oliver, isn't it?

The Janitor: Why, yes. But no one has called me anything other than "The Janitor" in years. How did you know? Christmas Magic?

Santa: Something much stranger that that, Oliver. You see....when I gave you that wrench just now....

Santa: ...I was giving it to myself.

Oliver: You....you look like me! But with a goatee!

Santa: That's right. I grew this beard just after Santa gave me a wrench to replace the broom I had left on the Cosmic Pushcart.

Oliver: ...This wrench?

Santa: The very same. You see, you're fated to hang on to that wrench until you find out that next year's Advent Calendar is going to be CITY THEMED. So you'll go back and try and fix things - by derailing what you take to be the second iteration of a time loop. You'll give Jack a forged note with instructions to start bringing in your own CITY items, but with a secret payload of Advent-Napalm to blow the loop off the tracks.

Grumpypants: You mean...you...and him....you're both LOKI?

Santa: I WAS. He WILL BE. The only real clue will be the RED BALLCAP that Loki, the Janitor, and Overall man would all wear. And when we blow up Handy and reset the time stream, the Guardian will send us back to try and redeem ourselves - by playing the role of Santa.

Oliver: But...I don't want to cause any of this! Why do I have to do this all over again? And again?

Santa: YOU DON'T! That's the Christmas miracle! You see, THIS time through the loop something happened. When Handy blew up, there was a TSA Agent hiding in his make-up.

Special Agent Dot: Duplicate dot!!

Santa: Exactly. She was able to detach and throw herself into the time stream. To let me, as Overall Man, know where to find something that would remove us from the loop for all time. Something I then delivered to Santa, who was actually me, although I didn't know it at the time. I think possession of this item has let me see the loop about to close just now - and thus sidestep yet another repeat.

Jack: This is making my head hurt.

Santa: Don't worry about it Jack. The condensed version is "we almost did all this over again, but we didn't."

Oliver: But...what do you have?

Santa: Isn't it obvious by now?

Santa: Does this look familiar to you?

Oliver: My god...my BROOM. It's not lost!

Santa: No, Oliver, it's not. Are you ready to take it back and step into the Role you were born to play?

Oil: I get it. He has to become Santa, doesn't he?

Santa: That's right. We've got to close off the loop - and that means jumping over all the crap in the middle that keeps repeating. By assuming the role of Santa directly after his time as the Janitor, Mr. Twist can put all of this behind us - letting us move on to next year's Advent Stream.

Grumpypants: "Mr. Twist"....as in "Oliver Twist"?

Santa: Middle name "Plot." At your service.

Later still...

O. Santa: Officer Grumpypants. If it weren't for you and the rest of the TSA forces we'd be playing this story out for the rest of eternity. I can't think of anything else to say...but Thank you.

Dr. Sloehand: A happy ending. Who would have thought it possible?

Grumpypants: But...it's not really a happy ending at all, is it? Handy is still dead.

Oliver Twist: Ah...you missed the final, vital clue about Handy's nature. Jack...tell me, was there anything interesting about the parts that Handy was made up of?

Jack: I don't see what you....wait. Yes. Yes there was. Every one of his parts was a duplicate of part of that day's Advent Gift.

Oliver Twist: And all of those gifts are out there, just lying around aren't they?

Oliver Twist: So what do you say we get cracking and REBUILD OUR FRIEND?

Special Agent Dot: Wow. A happy ending after all. God bless us, everyone!

 

However, back in the Advent Stream...

Guardian: And now you realize the error of your ways and go back to take on the Role of SANTA to redeem yourself.

Loki: No...I don't think so.

Guardian: But you must! You always have and you always do!

Loki: Not this time. I can tell...something happened. I'm cut off from the 2006 Advent Stream now. I couldn't go back and become Santa even if I wanted to.

Loki: Which means I'll just have to wait and see if LEGO wises up and creates a Holiday Theme for their 2007 Calendar. Because, if they don't, then I'll be back.

Loki: Count on it.

 

THE END.....

....or IS IT??

Total Parts in Set:	257
Parts in Today's Door:	33
Parts to Go:	-41

Click here to start over at the first door!