"Here Comes Jingles" - A Little Betty Christmas Tale

Welcome to Day #22 of the PEP CULTURE ADVENT CALENDAR!  And I have a question for you all to kick this blog entry off.  How many of you have asked for a Christmas gift that was deemed impossible?  A gift that couldn't be sold in any stores, or even able to be made?  I remember for six years running, I wanted a computer book just like the one that Penny had on "Inspector Gadget", but no toy company or electronics company made such a thing.  I consider it a missed opportunity, given how popular that cartoon was.

Well, in this story, Little Betty wants a particular Christmas gift that stumps everyone who loves her, and it takes a special letter to the big guy in the North Pole to make her dream come true.

This Dexter Taylor penned story first appeared in "Little Archie Digest #34", and appears at the very end of that book.  And while this story is a fantastic one, it does have one inconsistency in it that I'm going to attempt to explain.  Whether my theory is right or wrong, who can say? 

"Here Comes Jingles" begins as many of the neighbourhood boys are making fun of Betty just a few days before Christmas.  This is definitely not very Christmas like behaviour, and it looks like Reggie and Jughead will be getting coal in their stockings.  Surprisingly enough, Little Archie defends Betty as the rest of the boys tease her for what she wants for Christmas.

What she wants for Christmas is a Little Archie doll.  And since Toys R Us didn't get any in during the holiday season of 1988, it appears as though it is one wish that Betty will not see granted.  Betty's parents are sympathetic, but completely at a loss as to how to grant Betty's wish.  After all, it's not that easy to buy a doll that has the likeness of one of their daughter's classmates. 

Still, Betty isn't giving up on her dream.  She still has one ace up her sleeve.  She writes a letter to Santa Claus and gets it delivered to the North Pole so that Santa can hopefully make her wish come true.  But even Santa Claus is stumped.  He is usually the king of making children's wishes come true, but even with a photograph of Archie attached to the letter, he doesn't have any idea how to proceed.  He must get some help from one of his finest elves.  And it is here where the story leaves us with a lot of questions...

I did promise you all that I'd feature at least one more story that has Archie's favourite festive pal, Jingles the Christmas Brownie.  And Jingles seems determined to make Betty's wish come true.  There's just one minor problem.  When Jingles first met the Archie gang in 1961, they were already TEENAGERS.  Yet, Jingles appears in the Little Archie universe too.  How is this even possible?  This makes absolutely zero sense unless you can factor in some Christmas magic.  I suppose there could always be more than one elf named Jingles, or that every elf in Santa's workshop has the nickname of Jingles.  Or, maybe...just maybe...there's a TARDIS stashed away inside the North Pole, and Jingles is actually a Time Lord like Doctor Who - capable of warping back and forth between the teenage Archie dimension and the Little Archie dimension.

(Or, maybe it's just the writer's intention to make the Little Archie tales more whimsical by adding Jingles into their Christmas tales.)

Anyway, Jingles gets to work on designing and crafting the perfect Little Archie doll, and as Jingles is working hard, Santa delivers him a letter.  Wow, I guess Santa isn't the only one who has a post office box at the North Pole.  Jingles' letter provides a bit of good news, but a bit of bad news as well.  On Christmas morning, a Jingles family reunion is being hosted, and Jingles is happy to reconnect with some long lost elven cousins.  But unless they can find a place to host the reunion, the plans might unravel faster than a spool of shiny red ribbon.  But Santa seems to have a solution to the problem, and puts his long distance plan to good use, booking the perfect spot for a reunion.  But he keeps the location a secret from Jingles for now.  After all, Jingles has a doll to create.

To Jingles' credit, he does a fantastic job creating the Little Archie doll.  The red hair is perfect.  The outfit is perfect.  He even somehow manages to insert a voice chip inside the doll that sounds exactly like Little Archie.  Heck, he even makes the female elves fight over him like the real Little Archie!  This is going to be a very merry Christmas for Betty.

And Santa has a very merry Christmas surprise for Jingles, as he will drop him off to a mystery location somewhere in Riverdale.  I'm starting to piece things together...have you figured it out yet?

Anyway, Christmas morning arrives in Riverdale, and mostly everybody gets what they wanted for Christmas.  Little Archie gets a basketball, Reggie gets a photo album, Jughead gets a popcorn popper...and Mr. Lodge gets a robot that will keep Veronica's room clean, even though Veronica hates that gift!

And over at Betty's house, she is delighted to unwrap her present from Santa and a Little Archie doll is waiting for her.  It's a Christmas miracle for Betty, and even her parents are shocked by it, as they have no idea where it came from.  Must be Santa!

Betty's mother suggests that Betty place the doll in her dollhouse while they finish opening presents, but Betty says that she can't put it in, as her dollhouse is completely full.  I wonder why?

You know, this kind of seems like the ultimate pay it forward moment - which is a lovely sentiment to hold during the holiday season.  And I think that act of kindness on Betty's part to offer the use of her dollhouse to host Jingles' family reunion helped secure her a Little Archie doll on Christmas Day.  And I think that it really gave Jingles the motivation to make the Little Archie doll much more special.  A really touching story...even if it seems impossible that the Little Archie gang would know who Jingles is. 

Time travel.  That's the only explanation that makes sense.

Coming up on Day #23, Mr. Weatherbee is filled with Christmas cheer...but every time he tries to show it, calamity takes place.  Can he relocate his jolly side before it's too late?