2020 introduced us to Toggs in digital form, but now he needs a proper introduction. It's time for ...

My name is Keith McDuffee, and I've had the story for Toggs the Christmas elf kicking around in my head for many years. In 2006, I put that idea to paper, vowing to complete the artwork myself, a fruitless attempt at a skill I surely am not qualified for. Finally, in 2020, those written words were met with the amazing illustrations of Jerick Tan, and the digital eBook came to life.

That was a great start, but it wasn't the end.

Though the age of digital e-readers has been upon us for many years now, they cannot replace the comfort of a physical, tactile book. Most especially, an electronic device isn't quite meant to be cozied up with to read aloud with children and grandchildren beside the fireplace -- the smell of the ink, the crack of a fresh binding, the sound of the pages as they turn, and the ability to gift them in a meaningful way.

It's time for families to be able to snuggle up together and read Toggs as it had always meant to be read: in a brightly-colored, hardcover book, read aloud each Christmas and carried down through the ages.

Toggs: The Christmas Elf with a Fitting Gift follows Toggs, of course, an elf working at the North Pole with Santa and the other elves. What makes Toggs different than most elves is his specialty: making clothes. Most children don't care to be gifted socks, mittens, hats, and coats during Christmas; they want toys (and books)!

Though Toggs realizes his unpopular position, it does not dissuade him from doing what he knows and loves best. In the end, his hard work and perseverance reward him, and his fears of being disrespected and unloved by his own kind are dismissed. It's a story of following one's true calling, and the importance of self-confidence.

I came up with the story of Toggs when realizing there seemed to be such a stigma attached to kids getting clothes for Christmas -- something everyone needs -- instead of something more.