Chip Polk

Say Nicklaase Chip Polk

A Christmas story that will make you want to believe. Nicklaase and Meena Elliffe are house parents at State Home for Children No. 13, but they are so much more than that. The Elliffe household shares the joyful endeavor of making toys for all the other children who live in children's home cottages in their valley. The toys they make are distributed every year on Christmas Eve. When an ambitious new headmaster of the children's home forbids the gifts to be given to the children, it begins an unforeseen chain of unfortunate events. The final calamity results in an opportunity for the Elliffes, and the children living in their cottage, to learn that all things can indeed work together for good. Nicklaase Elliffe has been the maintenance man at the home for orphaned and abandoned children in Norpol Province for longer than anyone can remember. Having no children of their own, he and his wife, Meena, have also served as house parents to many, many children through the years. Each one remains dear to the Elliffes. Cornelius Houchen, a rigid newly-appointed administrator of the children's home and headmaster of the school, arrives with a thick book of rules, which he demands must be followed to the letter. He declares that the celebration of Christmas on state-owned property is religious indoctrination, imposing Christian beliefs upon the children, which is a violation of their rights. The Elliffes have a long-standing Christmas tradition of making toys and gifts for all the children in the children's home cottages every year. The children who live with them in their cottage help make the toys. They have always delighted in giving out the gifts at the school, during a much-anticipated Christmas Eve celebration. Houchen prohibits the celebration, so Nicklaase comes up with another way, which has disastrous...but great and wonderful results. Say Nicklaase, A Great & Wonderful Story is an adaptation by the author of his own original musical. Woven from strands of our most cherished traditions, it has charmed and resonated with thousands of children and adults alike. It is a charming Santa Claus story that will make you want to believe.