Elf-mingo didn’t wander far, returned home safely
It was a Christmas miracle!” exclaimed Cottages To Castles proprietor Sharon Michie when asked about her missing Elf-mingo, which she found all by herself — two doors down, at the Greenhouse Grill — on Christmas Eve.
Michie explained that she had been saddened by the loss of her beloved Elf-mingo, wrenched from his flock — and his legs — on the Saturday before Christmas in broad daylight.
“So, it’s Christmas Eve, and I’ve got no Christmas spirit,” explained Michie. “I was just thinking ‘Mean people suck! Bah-Humbug!'”
Donning a green dress and red shoes in an effort to dress up, if not alleviate, her sorrows over her stolen Elf-mingo, Michie said she took one last look at her flock before heading to a party, going in a direction she is not accustomed to traveling.
“And there he was!” she exclaimed. “Elf-mingo, sitting in front of the Greenhouse Grill, still missing his legs and still with all his clothes on!”
Michie credited the Greenhouse Grill’s Diane with saving Elf-mingo from what could have been a terrible fate.
“She said she found him in the gully, or saw someone throw him there — and didn’t know we were missing one of our Elf-mingos!”
According to Michie, the leg-less Elf-mingo had been propped up in front of the restaurant, welcoming patrons to dinner, while his flock-mates looked on in astonishment from two doors down — helplessly bound to one another with fishing line to prevent the loss of any more of the precious Christmas flamingos.
“I grabbed that flamingo and turned him over and sure enough, he had the tattoo,” said Michie, referring to the stamp on each flamingo’s underbelly that identifies it as “Stolen from Cottages To Castles.”
“I called the police right away and said ‘Case closed!'”
After alerting the authorities, Michie promptly returned Elf-mingo to his proper place among his flock.
“I’m sure he was sadly missed,” she explained, “so I had to get him back there as quickly as possible!”
CSI (Christmas Scene Investigator) Skele-mingo, who had been brought out after the Elf-mingo abduction to oversee the crime scene, was returned to his duties as a scary Halloween flamingo before Michie headed off to her Christmas Eve celebration that night with something truly worth celebrating.
Michie said that she and her mother, Judie Michie, have something a little different already planned for next year’s Christmas display.
But in the meantime, make sure you keep your eyes pealed for the upcoming
Super Bowl flamingos!