A HubNuggets Christmas Carol

The weather outside the HubNuggets Team Ski Lodge was frightful, but the fire was delightful. With only two weeks left 'til Christmas, and inspired by our great day at Zsuzsy Bee's Christmas Tree Farm, we had planned a fun-day break from the hectic round of holiday shopping and baking.

Our little team made a fetching group in cozy, Norwegian sweaters and vintage apres-ski wear. We'd enjoyed the toboggan runs all morning. Then, De Greek lobbed a snowball at Gals, and the fight was on. He quickly realized he was out-gunned - Gals, Patty and Zsuzsy are deadly shots. Enelle, RedElf, and Ripplemaker were making snow-angels, and wisely avoided the battling foursome.

The thick-falling snow finally drove us indoors, and by suppertime, the tree-lined drive was smothered in unblemished blanket of white. Ripplemaker turned from the window, beaming. "It looks just like an old fashioned picture-postcard."

"It looks like we're snowed in," said De Greek.

"We're here for the night." Patty replaced the receiver of the old-fashioned phone. "That was Maddie. The roads are closed. The snowplow won't make it through before morning."

After a lovely meal and more hot cocoa, we headed to bed. De Greek, snugly nestled, drifted off to sleep. Visions of sugar plums began dancing in his head. Suddenly, the sugar plums turned into Jason, Maddie, and Simone.

De Greek jerked awake.

Marketing Manager Jason twirled in the middle of the room, near a stack of plates. Maddie and Simone danced on either side. With every pirouette, Jason threw a plate to the floor while his partners clapped and shouted, "Ho-pah!"

"De Greek, you will be visited by three ghosts this night," said Jason.

Smash, went a plate. "Ho-pah!" said Maddie and Simone.

"They will help you find the true meaning of HubNuggets." Jason threw another plate.

Smash! "Ho-pah!" Maddie and Simone clapped vigorously.

"Go away!" De Greek pulled the covers over his head and groaned. "Too much cocoa after dinner." His room grew quiet, and he sank back into sleep.

The loud bonging of a grandfather clock dragged De Greek from slumber. He rubbed his eyes. There, on the foot of his bed sat Zsuzsy Bee, munching a turkey drumstick.

"C'mon, Dimi," she said. "We better get a move on." Zsuzsy Bee yanked the covers from De Greek, and whisked him away with a swirl of her cloak.

Almost immediately, a cozy dining room appeared around them.

De Greek stared at the laughing throng. Candlelight sparkled on gleaming dishes. He eagerly inhaled the succulent odors of the Christmas feast the revelers were about to enjoy. "This is my family! Look - there I am as a boy! Why are we here?" Just then, Little De Greek dropped his napkin, and grown-up De Greek bent to retrieve it.

Zsuzsy's cloak swirled again. The scene wavered and disappeared.

De Greek blinked. He was alone in his bed at the ski lodge... clutching a list of six HubNugget wannabes.

After reading and voting, De Greek placed the list on his night-table. "I'll pass this on to the others in the morning," he thought.

De Greek had no sooner closed his eyes than he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Wake up, buddy. Don't let the boss catch you sleeping at your desk again." Enelle Lamb winked at De Greek. The feather in her hat bobbed gracefully as she strolled to a cubicle decorated with Chinese fans, and sat down at the computer.

De Greek gazed about the office. "Minna Street - HubPages Headquarters in San Fransisco... How did we get here? " RedElf waved to him from the next cubicle. He could see the rest of the HubNuggets Team, hard at work with slide-rules and calculators. "Slide-rules?"

He waved at RedElf, then stared as KoffeeKlatch Gals strode into the room.

The heels of her high leather boots clacked on the tile floor as she stalked to his desk. "Have you worked out a solution yet? The Pentagon is waiting."

"Solution? ...Pentagon?" De Greek had no idea what Gals wanted, but dutifully rifled through the papers on his desk.

"We haven't got all day. Is that it?" Gals pointed at De Greek's computer.

He stared as complex equations scrolled across the screen. His head was beginning to spin.

"Psst..." RedElf's whisper drew his attention. She raised one eyebrow and nodded towards a computer printout on the floor beside his desk.

"Aha!" De Greek dived for the printout. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Enelle's wink...

...and woke sitting on the floor by his nightstand.

"This is no way to spend the night. " As De Greek climbed back into bed and pulled up the covers, a paper crackled in his nightshirt pocket. "What now? "

It was a second list of HubNugget wannabes...

"May as well read and vote while I'm waiting for that third ghost." De Greek made short work of the list. "Now what? ' The only thing left was a Sudoku puzzle book. De Greek tried to stay awake, but despite his best efforts, his head nodded. He dozed...

A blast of wintry air tore the bed curtains apart. "Bed curtains?" De Greek clutched the covers to his chest.

A fearsome apparition glided across the room. It raised its arm and leveled a Patty Inglish-like finger at De Greek's heart.

"What do you want with me? Speak, spirit."

The spirit beckoned.

De Greek reluctantly exchanged his warm bed for robe and slippers, and followed the apparition into the snow.

"I don't mean to be rude, but it's cold, and I'm tired..." De Greek broke off. The burnt-out ruins in front of them seemed familiar."Was this Minna Street - HubPages HQ? ...and that rusted hulk - surely that wasn't Ripplemaker's Hub-mobile! "

"Spirit, tell me what's happened to HubPages? Where is everyone?"

The silent spirit beckoned.

De Greek sighed, and followed the ghost into the gloom. Moments later, he tripped over a mound. De Greek brushed away the snow to uncover a little headstone. The inscription read: "Farewell, Little Angel"

"Whose grave is this, Spirit?"

The ghost let fall a crumpled, faded scrap of paper with the words, "Congratulations! Your hub has been nominated..."

"No, not Tiny Ripplemaker. She was always so cheery and full of gratitude. Oh, Spirit, say it isn't so..." De Greek threw his arms around the little grave-marker, and wept. "All gone - HubPages, the HubNuggets Team, Tiny Ripplemaker - why, oh, why? Didn't we read and vote? Didn't we welcome and support our new writers?"

De Greek tenderly brushed the memorial clean of snow, and read the rest of the inscription: Beloved Fluffy-Cat. "A cat? You brought me here to show me the headstone of a cat?"

The ghost shrugged. "It's your dream..."

De Greek lunged at the apparition...and landed on his bedroom floor.

"C'mon, sleepyhead - snow plow's been and gone, and breakfast's almost ready." Patty stuck her head in the door. "Oh, good - you're up. Have you seen my notes on Mardi Gras? I left them downstairs last night, but - hey!" Patty noticed the crumpled pages on the nightstand.

De Greek picked up the pages, smoothing out the creases. "I was just reading and voting..." He scanned the pages: "Anthropological Origins and Regional Traditions of Fat Tuesday, by Patty Inglish, MS ."

"Oh, my..." He held out the three pages.

Patty took the papers with a smile. "Zsuzsy's making apple-walnut waffles. Better hurry."

As De Greek headed for the shower, Ripplemaker's happy greeting floated up from the kitchen. "What a marvelous day. Blessings everyone. Love and Light."

Check out Shirley Anderson's comprehensive HubNuggets manual:

HubNuggets How-To, Q and A

The HubNuggets project was a Special Program of HubPages and is explained at the HubPages Learning Center by Simone Smith, our one-time Online Marketing Community Manager

Zsuzsy Bee created this fun, Project Dictionary:

HubNugget Lingo