THE NOSSIE, (Sounds like mossy)

In my research of the gift-bringers I came across an obscure reference to a group called the Nossie. From the bits and pieces of information I've gathered, which I admit was very sketchy, I'm fairly certain the Nossie are distant cousins of the Nissie. As some of you may know, the Nissie are gnomes of Scandinavian origin, who live in barns and bring good luck to the farmers who take care of them. Unlike the Nissie, the Nossie live above work houses or factories located deep in the woods where they make toys.

The Nossie are from a realm refered to as Not Quite Middle Earth which is a week's journey by donkey cart North-Northeast of the outer borders of Middle Earth. There isn't a lot of information to be found concerning this realm as most historians want to discount the area as having very little historical value.
I imagine the people of Not Quite Middle Earth influenced the historians into this way of thinking.
The following is what I've managed to piece together concerning these very unique gift-bringers.

Unlike our Santa who can deliver gifts to all of the children in just one night, it takes many Nossie to deliver the gifts on the eve of All Children's Day. The families of Not Quite Middle Earth are large with many children and each family normally has it's own Nosse although some of the smaller families may share a Nosse. Since there is no shortage of Nossie this works out quite well. For your benefit I have compiled the following information.

How to recognize a Nosse when you see one:

1. On the average, a Nosse is less than four feet tall.

2. From all accounts Nossie are very vain about their appearence and insist on wearing richly decorated robes when making their deliveries. These robes are embroidered with threads spun from real gold, and fine jewels are worked into intricate patterns. All in all these robes can be very heavy and wearing such robes can be exhausting, but a Nosse wouldn't think of being caught making his rounds wearing anything else.

3. As a rule Nossie are not in the least bit graceful and often trip over their own feet which can be as long as 1/3 third their height. Also found in the reference concerning Nossie anatomy is the old saying, "He has two left feet" which was made after seeing a Nosse without his boots.

4. It's easy to recognise a Nosse by his very distinctive features which consist of larger than average eyes and nose and a beard hanging nearly to his feet.

5. Although it is sometimes said that a Nosse is all thumbs, that is not quite true as Nossie have only two thumbs per hand. Dispite having two thumbs per hand the Nossie are very talented toy makers.

From my research I have concluded that a Nosse could make better time and cover a greater distance and number of families if it wasn't for his vanity. The robes although very lovely are not appropriate attire for this type of work.

I have just completed the first of my Nossie sculptures. I'm presently working on another and hope to have it completed in another day or two.

May I present Snizzle Nosse. He is a OOAK paper mache clay sculpture standing 12 inches tall and is 6.25 inches at the widest point.

Notice anything on the top of his hat? As you can see, Snizzle has a tangle to deal with.

I'm pretty sure he can get it straightened out. Not positive, just pretty sure.

While he works on the knot, let's take a look at his robe. This pattern has plenty of emeralds, rubies and gold.

I hope you've enjoyed meeting Snizzle and will be back when his cousin Shnoz is ready to show off his new cloak.

Thanks for dropping by.