‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through Shattuck, all the mice were stirring, and wreaking pure havoc. The mouse traps were laid by Gleason Hall with care, in hopes that the mice would soon be there. The students were nestled, all snug in their beds, while visions of gross mice danced far from their heads.
As students were away from the Nobles campus, the mice came out from their hiding places within the insulation of Shattuck and the walls of the MAC. They all planned to gather ’round, where the new Gleason Hall would be, waiting just below, a brand new red brick chimney. The first 10 arrived, then 40, then 100, and then they came in the thousands. Yes, believe it or not, there are thousands of mice on our 187-acre campus.
The clock struck half past the hour, just 30 minutes shy of midnight, when the mice would be expecting a very special visitor. In preparation for this important visit, they gathered festive lights, cheese garlands (which they ate), ornaments, nutcrackers, candy canes, and most importantly, the tree. 450 mice held down one side of the tree, while another 450 held down the other side. A rambunctious group of 900 mice stood at the base of the tree to hold it up, and the 200 smallest mice of the bunch stood at the very top of the tree to place a star, which was four feet taller than them.
Regardless of the difficulty in assembling and placing everything in its correct spot, Gleason Hall was completely transformed into a wonderland of holiday spirit. The clock now read five minutes before midnight, so the mice knew they had to be as far away from the chimney as possible to ensure that they wouldn’t be caught by their visitor. Together, they all scurried through the wooden panelling of the unfinished Shattuck Schoolhouse building, under alcove benches, and over the newly installed carpet flooring, and they glided on the icy asphalt path, all the way to the Castle. The thousands of mice scurried with cheer, only to know that their visitor would soon be here…
In the Castle is where they all stood, gathering behind the lunch counters to find any tiny scraps of cheese that they possibly could. As they ate the cheddar, pepperjack, and swiss, one of the mice heard a sound that filled him with pure bliss. As the one mouse silenced all the others, the magical noise grew louder, alerting all the mice that the clock had struck the hour. The mice all froze in their tracks and made sure to stand very still, to ensure that they weren’t hallucinating the beautiful sound that brought them a thrill.
They heard many jingles and the heavy breathing of reindeer, along with a “ho ho ho” that told them Santa was near. In formation, they climbed on one another’s backs to try and reach a window where they could see the jolly old man. They saw him enter Shattuck and immediately devised a plan to catch him. So together again, they all ran back toward the Schoolhouse, excited to see and interrogate the cheerful stout man.
They entered the building, and there they saw him, standing stunned at the sight of the army of thousands of mice. “To what do I owe such a repulsive surprise of all these mice who on the naughty list deliberately reside?” said Santa. “For the reason that we don’t know why we aren’t deemed as nice, we’re simply just a band of a thousand or plus mice,” a mouse said. “Because you like to strike the Nobles community with fright and eat at the walls and leave a terrible, unappealing sight,” said Santa.
“We promise we’ll change, we’ll even speed up the Shattuck renovation process, we truly will never disobey again, just let us on the nice list, all it takes is a swish of your magical old pen,” said another mouse. “Okay, I will, but only if I must; however, you must convince me that you can have my trust. I will give you a riddle, and if you answer it correctly, I will remove you from the naughty list and add you to the nice list directly. The riddle is as follows:
“What is something that is physical and mobile and requires a thorough work plan? You can find it every once in a while–”
“Of course it’s The Nobleman!!” a mouse said. Having answered correctly, Gleason Hall filled with sparkles of blue, the wish of the mice would soon come true. They floated and floated and twirled and spun, knowing that the work of Santa Claus was surely being done. There was a quick white flash that made them disappear; where they went is unknown, but I can assure you that on campus, they will no longer be near. So hello, new Schoolhouse, and good riddance to the mice; surely, the lack of rodents will now feel quite nice.
~Happy Holidays!~
