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A Collection of Christmas Short Stories Written 

by the SVdP Class of 2019

A Collection of Christmas Short Stories Written by the SVdP Class of 2019 Story Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Title Author Welcome Home Curry Preston s Pointless Present Problem Santa Claus is Coming to a Fair A Fiery Christmas Saint Nicholas A Christmas Cookie Catastrophe The Contest The Rebel Alliance Saves Christmas The Christmas Miracle The Elf and the Three Spirits Christmas Eve and Hot Dogs Bryant s Christmas Miracle Lost in New York The Great Christmas Heist Where Did Julian Go Christmas Love My Apple Tree A Christmas Adventure Man on the Moon The Necklace Santa Saves Christmas The Almost Perfect Christmas The Best Gris Harper Saves Christmas Dream House Rio Alvarez Dominic Bankovitch Jocie Branham Luke Bridges Mark Carella Riley Dickman Jillian Dummel Sumner Estes Saifo Haddad Colten Hitchcock Lucas Kern Ryan Kovic Brigette Mahoney Lucy Mahoney Kate O Flynn Callen Porter Ryan Ragoni Maddock Jackson Stizza Quincy Stone Katrina Strain Charley Taisch Anthony Tejada Sophia Terebilo Avery Tirva Aidan Walsh

1 Welcome Home Curry By Rio Alvarez Jingle bells jingle bells jingle all the way oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse ope Good morning Rio Get up get up Jaime yells Jaime Is a short man with light brown skin straight black wispy hair and a warm heart He is wearing black pants a warm gray marathon hoodie and soft black nike running gloves But Dad it s still dark outside Rio replies sluggishly And it is the sky a dark shade of purple the only sounds birds screaming in the night Closing his eyes and trying to go back to sleep he notices both parents in the doorway Leah his mother is a kind hearted woman with light skin dark eyes and short straight dyed blond hair She is wearing navy blue denim jeans with white ankle socks and dark red tennis shoes She has on an olive green jacket and a huge smile across her face Are you two going somewhere asks Rio Yes they reply at once but you and Emily will be coming with us They glance at each other and smile a suspicious grin if you will Get dressed and dress warm we ve got places to be But I don t want to says Rio angrily Rio is a short ten year old boy with light skin almond shaped brown eyes and messy brown hair He is wearing a navy blue sweatpants gray Nike shoes a puffy black jacket and a green North Face beanie His sister Emily is a small 8 year old girl with tan skin dark brown eyes with purple glasses and messy blackish brown hair She is wearing gray pants scattered with big white snowflakes She has purple shoes a teal zip up Marmot fleece jacket and a furry black Columbia beanie Rio and Emily reluctantly get in the car with their parents at the crack of dawn

The soft black leather seats in the car are warm which is nice because it s so cold out that the windows are blurred with frost Just after leaving the garage they notice they are the only car on the street The only other lights are streetlights and the green and red stoplights At least play some Christmas music cries Emily Please tell me we re not going to get a new refrigerator at 6 30 in the morning Rio complains Well you never know replies Jaime grinning The farther away they drive the louder and more frustrated the complaints get You re doing this on the first day of Christmas break screams Rio This was our first day to sleep in Shouts Emily You dragged us out of bed for what Nothing yells rio The land gets more rural brown dry grass lining the roads Soon enough there are no sounds at all Only sights of the sunrise and fields of colorful fruit trees There is a single small house just off the main road The car turns on to the gravel path leading up to the house It is a small white house with a freshly painted green roof and a bright red door with a gold handle Orange clay pots with a variety of bright green plants line the stone walkway to the door The family gets out the parents grinning and the children frowning What is this place Please tell me we re not here for a used refrigerator says Rio nervously Maybe answers Jaime as dogs bark in the distance The kids glance at each other curiously and sprint to the door kicking up dust and gravel Ding Dong the doorbell rings just after Emily pushes the white doorbell with a shiny reflective gold ring around it

Soon a large man with brown pants a green Christmas sweater gray hair and a huge enthusiastic smile opens the door and tells them Come in come in I m so glad to see you The kids are so confused Who is this man As they enter a smaller lady in gray jeans and a navy blue sweater greets them happily Hi you guys so glad you could make it up here Their confusion grows Excuse me can I please pet your puppy asks Emily My puppy she answers I think you mean yours Shocked They both look back at their mom who is already red faced and crying with excitement Yes she says this is your dog What are you going to call him The family looks at each other and all nod His name is Curry they say the kids sprint to the living room and slide on their knees laughing with excitement There is a beautiful tiny puppy with his head stuck in a big green rain boot He is a vizsla with a thin cinnamon colored coat of fur a small head with rolls of extra skin and olive green eyes His tail is wagging crazily and he is barking yapping almost His claws are scratching the cold hardwood floor He is theirs While the adults discuss the adult things the children are playing and giggling Their dog s mouth is open wide with a rough pail pink tongue hanging out The adults finish their conversation and then comes the avalanche of pictures Cell phones and cameras are snapping away taking pictures every second from every angle For once the kids don t mind I think that s all he s ready to go see his new home says the lady in the navy blue sweater OH MY GOD YES scream the kids smiling from ear to ear thank you so so much You shouldn t be thanking me Thank your parents they re the ones who set this whole thing up In the blink of an eye both kids are embracing their parents thanking them profusely

While Leah is bawling with happiness Jaime Is laughing and hugging right back They grab soft blankets of all colors from the trunk of their car and put them across their laps Next Curry Is placed on Rio and snuggles up in his lap The car is filled with gratitude and joy the polar opposite of the drive there Curry s first steps inside his new home are clumsy and he falls many times but they love him and that will never ever change Welcome home curry

2 Preston s Pointless Present Problem By Dominic Bankovitch Preston wakes up on Christmas morning just like any other kid would anxious energetic and loud He runs down the tall marble spiral staircase in his massive six floor mansion and rushes to the bottom floor where his huge white Christmas tree lay He gazes upon the beautiful tree decorated with ornaments of all colors and sizes and topped off by a shiny gold star that s nearly bigger than him but quickly disregards it and puts all of his attention on the dozens of shiny wrapped presents with rich white silk bows that glimmer in the light Once his sister and parents are up from their slumber they begin opening all the presents Preston s family lives in a mansion in Pacific Heights in San Francisco that sits right next to the Lyon Street Steps Preston and his sister both have an entire floor to themselves complete with all the novelties and electronics they could imagine Their house is widely acclaimed as the best and most expensive house in San Francisco coming in at around thirty million dollars Preston is ravenous in unwrapping his many gifts He tears through the paper eager to discover what he got He gets a new Xbox a big shiny computer piles of clothes and anything he could ever imagine Preston is on his last gift and as he tears into it and discovers what it is a feeling of anger sets in him I wanted the iPhone X Max not the iPhone X Preston exclaimed How hard is it to tell the difference Preston storms off to his floor and doesn t come out for the rest of Christmas His parents knock on his door but their attempt is fruitless Preston will not come out of his room He doesn t even come out for the great annual Christmas party they have He goes to bed that night still very angry and disappointed over that one present Preston wakes up immediately as he notices that everything is different The

smells the sights the furniture even the walls are all different from his room He s not in his room but instead in what seems to be a log cabin He gets out of bed and hesitantly walks slowly out of the bedroom He peeks at the cozy and warm living room in front of him He sees a warm stone fireplace burning rapidly with traditional red and white velvet stockings hanging above it He sees a tall Christmas tree with red ball ornaments hung from branch to branch topped off by a traditional yellow star Near the tree there is a window that looks outside to a field of even more Christmas trees He looks at the middle of the room where a nice wood coffee table with warm cookies and hot cocoa sitting on top of it and next to the table was a comfortable sofa where a man sat reading the newspaper He was a very tall man with a big hearty beard and dressed in a lumberjack s apparel He looked very strong and capable of difficult jobs but at the same time he looked like a very benevolent and cordial guy The tall man put down his papers and saw Preston Hey what s up he exclaimed Preston answered with a hesitant tone Not much I just don t know where I am Why you re at my Christmas tree farm But why am I here and who are you Never mind that but my name is Adam and I run this farm for a living Every day multiple families come here and pick out one of my tree s and I m the one who cuts it down and prepares it for them all for a small fee That sounds like the worst job in the world Why would you ever want to cut down trees all day That sounds terrible Preston answered disgusted Actually I don t mind it at all in fact I actually love my job

What makes you say that Preston questioned with a sassy tone Here I ll show you Adam gave Preston some clothes to withstand the snow grabbed his sharp and trusty bow saw and went outside into the vast forest of Christmas trees and snow to find a family to help out They found a family with three kids browsing some trees and came up to them Found any trees you like Adam asked with a congenial and calming tone The mom of the family started Not yet we re still This one This one A little boy happily exclaimed Well I think we found the perfect tree the mom said in a jokingly fashion I ll get right to cutting it down for you guys Adam stated Adam eyed the tree got out his bow saw and gave it to Preston Preston was baffled He had never held real tool before because his parents were too scared that he would get hurt What am I supposed to do with this Cut the tree down Preston started sawing away at the base of the tree like he had seen in videos before He sawed slowly at first but he gradually faster and faster until the tree came down with a big crash into the white blanket of snow Great job Adam yelled Now we have to take the tree back to the house so they can pay for it Ugh fine Preston murmured as he picked up one side as the tree Adam and Preston took on the laborious task of picking up the heavy tree and trudging it

through the snow and finally they were back to the lodge The family was staring at the tree with joy and excitement in their eyes They could not wait to decorate it with shiny red ball ornaments minty and sweet candy canes bright multi colored lights that illuminated the room like mini suns and to top it off with a bright yellow star That will be 90 dollars Adam stated The mom and dad both looked into their wallets with the hope that they would have enough to get by but together they only had 56 and seventeen pennies The family became very sad and their hopes of decorating a great Christmas tree we re pretty much gone until Adam made a bold move I think that will suffice said Adam with a big smile Preston was shocked to hear this and thought Adam was a fool The families faces lit up again and their hope of decorating a tree back Thank you Thank you so much We will come back every year You really made our Christmas The family gave Adam their money and grabbed the tree as they headed out of the cabin with smiles as wide as a mile Right as they left Preston spoke up Why would you do that You just lost yourself like 30 valuable dollars that you could ve spent on like anything Don t you want anything Christmas The best Christmas gift I get every year is the smiles on families faces as they get their new tree and that time especially you could just see their anticipation in their faces to set up their tree Just think about how heartbroken they would ve been if they couldn t get a tree this year

Preston deeply thought about this and all of a sudden the world started to spin around him Colors changed and flashed in front of his face like shooting stars and suddenly and inexplicably he was in a new home Preston was seated on a frayed and shabby sofa and looked to his left where he saw a small undecorated Christmas tree next to a minuscule metal fireplace surrounded by broken and brittle brick To his right he saw an aged and timeworn wooden dining table that looked as if it would give you splinters if you were to slide your hand across it But at the table he saw a short kid dressed in a faded green plaid button up shirt with buttons hanging on by just a thread a pair of baggy jeans that were wearing out at the ankles and a pair of old tennis shoes that looked as if they had been used for the past two years He was setting up the table for what seemed to be a Christmas dinner and he noticed Preston as he looked up Hi I m Jonathan What s your name Hey I m Preston What are you doing Oh I m just setting the table for my family s Christmas feast Cool What did you get for Christmas A new deck of cards What about you Preston nearly jumped back in shock as if he got electrocuted and he blurted out That s all you got Yeah What did you get Preston thought about what he got compared to what this boy got and he felt a bit sad Preston had gotten nearly everything he wanted and this kid just got a deck of cards A feeling of

guilt set upon him like a heavyweight but because of this he had one question that puzzled him how was this kid not sad that he only got a deck of cards Never mind that Preston answered with a quiet and regretful tone Five minutes later and the rest of Jonathan s family came and sat at the splinter giving table to eat but right before they started they invited Preston to dinner Preston ate with the family and listened in on their conversations They talked happily and laughed with each other and this gave Preston a warm sense of comfort Right as Jonathan s dad finished telling a funny story about his childhood Jonathan joyfully exclaimed You guys are truly the best Christmas gifts I could ever ask for Right as he said this an overwhelming amount of regret and remorse fell upon Preston and suddenly he woke up He looked around and he was back home It had all been a dream He checked his phone and it was the day after Christmas He still felt the weight of regret and remorse and the only thing he wanted to do was apologize He ran down the stairs found his parents and gave them a huge hug while through tears he said I m so sorry about ruining Christmas You guys are the best presents I could ever ask for His parents hugged him back and said that they love you and that there is always next year to be better

3 Santa Claus is Coming to A Fair By Jocie Branham There it is the Great British Christmas Fair The booming building intimidates nine year old Chloe Wanalah as she knows she won t enjoy the fair But her parents had forced her into it so she doesn t seem to have a choice Chloe cringes as she approaches it the tires of her car crunching the gravel beneath She hears the keys in her car click signaling to get out Her mom wearing her red trousers and white blouse with her favorite light pink heels she thinks they make her look taller as she is only 5 feet 2 inches opens the leather door for her and Chloe squints in the sunlight The sequins on her bright pink dress shimmer the light reflecting off of them like stars Chloe s dad Gary with his black suit and gelled back hair locks the car doors and summons Chloe and her mom Carrie towards the entrance Chloe walks towards the fair with her head hung low her golden streaked hair draping over the sides of her face in hopes of her parents noticing her gloom and turning back around to go home But she had no such luck Her dad had been wanting to go to the Great British Christmas Fair for years and had told Chloe all about it The fair is set in London England in the late 1800s Gary and Carrie had tried to persuade Chloe to dress up in old lace and pantyhose but she had convinced them otherwise because whatever Chloe wants Chloe gets Her mom pulls up their tickets on her phone and they wait in the seemingly endless line to get in How could this many people want to go to this fair It s not even going to be fun Chloe thinks Why would anyone want to pretend to be in the 1800s It s 2018 after all After what felt like an eternity in the blazing sun the Wanalah family approaches the ticket taker Happy Christmas the ticket taker exclaims a bit too excitedly The Wanalah family enters the fair and are immediately transported into a whole different world

They feel as if they have pressed a rewind button and been sucked back in time Chloe s senses are wildly overwhelmed The smell of cinnamon toasted almonds and sweet apple cider wafts through the air and into her nose The sound of peoples shoes tapping while they dance to old folk music beats in her eardrums Chloe runs to a small booth with red drapes on which white letters spell out Boot the Cat The woman attending the booth explains that it is a game in which Chloe will throw old shoes at cardboard cats to try knock them down If she knocks all five cats down she will get a prize Her parents running right behind her pay the woman at the booth and watch as Chloe thrusts the heavy shoes Hours pass as Chloe and her parents play more games eat food and dance to the rhythmic music Chloe almost forgets how much she was planning to hate the fair But then right as the family is walking to the merry go round something sparkles in the side of Chloe s eye She turns her head to discover a shop and in the dusty window sits a porcelain doll dressed in a red velvet skirt and a green silk blouse Around the dolls neck a necklace made of rhinestones glimmers in the yellow spotlight Mom Dad Come here Chloe yells with excitement twinkling in her eyes What is it Chloe they ask worriedly Please buy me this doll Chloe begs It s perfect for my room Look at her outfit Look at her necklace She looks just like me You have to buy this for me Chloe feels a brief spark of hope as her mom walks over to the doll and reads the price tag but she just shakes her head with disappointment No Chloe We are not buying you the doll Carrie sighs It costs 200 and you know I do not under any circumstances tolerate greediness Now we are going to walk away from the store and keep going as if you saw nothing okay

No Chloe whines Please Please Please Please Please Chloe s dad looks her sternly in the eye We are most definitely not buying you a doll that costs 200 Stop complaining and listen to your mother No no no Chloe chants Buy me the doll Buy me the doll Buy me the doll Carrie and Gary turn their backs to Chloe to discuss whether they should buy the doll for her Gary brought up the point that it would keep her from complaining the rest of the day and could count as an early Christmas gift But Carrie wasn t convinced and would not give in to Chloe s absurd wants Gary and Carrie turn back around to tell Chloe to get over the doll but she is nowhere to be seen A sense of motherly worry floods Carrie s entire body Gary s face turns strawberry red Where is Chloe Carrie asks How could she just disappear What if she was kidnapped Did she steal the doll Oh good she didn t But where did she go Gary this fair is huge We ll never be able to find her We have to split up You go that way and I ll go this way okay Okay get going Calm down Carrie Gary says in reassuring voice I m sure she just wandered into one of the shops across the way You go ahead and search the shops here and I will look for her over there He points to the next section of the fair where all the food stands are If you find her call me You do the same Carrie says tears forming in her eyes Gary walks off to the food stands while a silent tear falls carving a clear path through Carrie s rosy blush cheek Carrie goes to the stores across the street asking the store owners if they have seen a small blonde girl wearing a pink sparkly dress But no one seems to have seen her Then as Carrie slowly slumps

towards another store she sees a flash of blonde hair twirling on the dance floor Maybe she got caught in a wave of dancers and is stuck there Carrie thinks I should go bring her out She arrives to the place where people twirl and tap but finds no young girls with blonde hair Meanwhile Gary hollers Chloe s name while searching through the food stands He asks a man selling fish and chips if he s seen her and the man tells him that he hasn t seen anyone like Chloe but he should check the merry go round as lots of kids seem to appear there when they re lost This slowly raises Gary s hopes and he can almost see what happens in his head he finds Chloe at the merry go round sitting on a horse trying to scope out her parents Chloe will see him and get so excited that she will forget about the Christmas doll Carrie will be so impressed with him Gary rushes over to the merry go round and buys a ticket so he can sit on one of the gold painted horses All the while Chloe had been at the shops She had wandered into the shop to get a better look at the doll not realizing her parents didn t notice The next thing she knew her parents weren t outside the shop anymore She feels anxious and fearful and just wants to get back to her parents She had wanted to ask the store owner to use his phone to call her mom but realized with disappointment that she didn t have their phone numbers memorized She starts running towards the dance floor her silver Cinderella heels clacking on the concrete floor picking up pieces of hay and dust as she goes Chloe approaches the dance floor not realizing how sucked into the dance she will become She asks a young woman dressed in a big poofy dress if she can help her find her parents Not until you dance the woman yells in her fake British accent with a bit too much enthusiasm Fear swells in Chloe s heart She knows this woman can t help her but it is too late She gets yanked by her arms right and left and forward

and backward the music becoming distorted in her head She finally manages to break free from the dance mob and makes a run for the merry go round Just as she gets there she sees a man whos outfit looks similar to her dad s waiting in line for the merry go round She begins to run up to him but he gets on the ride too quickly She decides to not waste her time searching for him if she doesn t know for sure that it is her dad Carrie after leaving the dance floor discovers a little station in which you can send a telegram The young man at the station explains that you can write a message to someone and then tell them their name They will have someone take the message and shout out the name of the person through the halls until they are found The letter will then be given to them to read Carrie decided to write a letter to Chloe saying that she will be waiting for her at the shop in which the doll was sitting Carrie pays the man and a woman immediately emerges from the curtain behind him and takes the letter And who would this letter be for she asks Chloe Wanalah Carrie replies She is nine years old and blonde Please find her Won t be a problem miss the woman exclaims She runs into the halls and starts yelling Chloe Wanalah Telegram for Chloe Wanalah Relief washes over Carrie like a waterfall as she assumes it won t be long until the woman finds Chloe and Chloe finds her way back to the shop Carrie then begins to make her way back to the antique shop Gary sits awkwardly on the carousel horse He is the only grown man on the ride and the horse is too small for his enormous body But he knows that he has to sit through the pain to find his daughter Gary waits as the carousel spins in seemingly never ending circles and finally the ride is over He didn t see anyone who looked like his daughter on the ride Disappointed he dismounts the horse with intense force and walks away from the merry go round His phone

suddenly begins to vibrate in his pocket his hopes buzzing with it He answers it to find that it is his wife She explains everything about the telegram and tells him to meet her at the antique shop Gary starts running towards the shop hoping his daughter will already be there by the time he arrives Chloe s hope of finding her parents begins to fade away Tears form in her eyes and dampen her long eyelashes She begins to run towards a bathroom when BOOM She is struck down her head hitting the ground by someone blocking the path Oh my I m so sorry little girl Let me help you up Chloe hears someone exclaim above her She looks up to see a pale white hand crusted with wrinkles and creases outstretched towards her She is so embarrassed that she doesn t even want to look up to see the man s face Just then she notices the shoes the man is wearing big black snow boots But it s sunny outside Chloe thinks to herself She slowly begins to scan the man from bottom to top First the boots then dark red pants with white fur lining browned from dirt above that a bright red coat with more soft fur lining and black buttons then a long scratchy gray beard and a red hat with a white fur ball on top Chloe couldn t believe it Santa Claus she asks dazed and confused with awe twinkling in her bright eyes Yes that would be me Santa laughs Now please let me help you up Chloe takes his hand his wrinkles scratching her soft skin and pulls herself up What are you doing here Chloe asks curiously Well I always come to this fair Every year I attend the Great British Christmas Fair and have the children sit on my lap and tell me what they want for Christmas I make a mental list of all the children s requests Now can I do something for you to make up for knocking you over

Santa Can you help me she asks a bit shy Ho ho ho Of course Anything for the little girl Remind me what your name is Santa questions I m Chloe And I got separated from my parents a while ago And I m really scared and I don t know how to find them and I don t know their phone numbers and it s been so long since I ve seen them and I just want to be with them again Please help me Chloe with her head throbbing feels the tears coming back Of course I ll help you find your parents Want to tell me how you got separated from them in the first place he asks Well I uh umm I kind of might have gotten mad at them for not uh buying me a doll And they turned around so I umm went into the shop where the doll was and then uhhhthey were gone Chloe feels embarrassment heating her face Well that is not a good thing Chloe You must learn to be grateful for everything you have like your family or else you are going to lose them like you lost them today Santa teaches Now come along hop into my sleigh Let s go find your parents Chloe just then noticed the magnificent sleigh Santa was standing in front of It was amazing Painted red and gold the sleigh was glossy in the lights But something was wrong Where are the reindeer Chloe asks Oh sweet girl I couldn t bring the reindeer in here The sleigh itself barely fits in these halls If I had brought the reindeer everything would have been a big mess Santa explains So where are the reindeer Chloe asks

Outside of course I told them to wait outside until I m done with my business here Santa says Now get in Chloe climbs up the rails into the sleigh with Santa right behind her She takes a seat on the bouncy cushioned seat and off they went Santa s magic allowed the sleigh to move without reindeer pulling it Chloe thought that they were just going to glide through the halls on ground but suddenly Santa jerks on the reins and they are lifted up off the ground They soar through the air like birds the hot air in the building blowing onto Chloe s face They ride around the ceiling looking for her parents when suddenly Chloe hears her name Chloe Wanalah Chloe someone yells from down below Santa Do you hear that Chloe remarks Yes I believe that s your name if I m not mistaken Let s take you down there Santa says The sleigh starts pummeling towards the ground Chloe closing her eyes and suddenly she was on land again She listens for her name and then hears it again Chloe runs out of the sleigh and towards the woman yelling her name I m Chloe Wanalah Chloe says Is that letter from my parents Yes ma am it is Have a fine day The woman hands the letter to Chloe then walks away Chloe runs back to Santa s sleigh and opens the letter Dear Chloe she reads out loud If you are reading this then the letter got to you Please come meet me at the antique shop the doll was at I will be there waiting for you Love Mom Sounds like we have an antique shop to ride to Santa exclaims Chloe gets back in the sleigh and off they go again Chloe and Santa arrive at the shop to discover her mother and father sitting on the bench outside the shop Mom Dad Chloe screams Their heads jolt up to see Chloe running towards them They stand up and hold Chloe in a tight embrace her breath

quickly paced from running She explains everything to them from going into the shop to getting caught in the dance crowd to Santa helping her find them They then both share the stories of their adventures trying to find her Finally they thank Santa Claus Without you Carrie remarks we would never have gotten our sweet darling back We owe you everything It was nothing really Santa says It s what I do I hope Chloe learned many things with me including to let go of selfishness Carrie and Gary look down at Chloe to find her nodding her head in agreement Yes I m sorry Mom and Dad I shouldn t have been so selfish and asked for the doll I understand why you couldn t buy it for me And thank you for taking me here because I had a lot of fun despite the circumstances Chloe apologizes Her parents say that it s okay and they apologize as well for not listening to her and not understanding her At the end of the day everything is forgiven and everyone is happy As Chloe Carrie and Gary walk out to their car they see Santa s sleigh this time with reindeer soaring high through the night sky Merry Christmas to all Santa Claus exclaims And to all a good night

4 A Fiery Christmas By Luke Bridges As Matthew put the shimmering gold star on top of his tree his dad pushed the switch and the whole tree lit up Matthew and all of his family cheered with joy Christmas was in three weeks and Matthew couldn t wait He brushed his teeth and got ready for bed while singing a Christmas song Matthew was a 15 year old boy who was 5 8 and was a very good athlete Matthew lay in his bed fast asleep he woke up to a burning smell He instantly knew what was going on and that he needed to get out of his house Huge fires had been burning all over Nevada Matthew lived in a very small town that only had one grocery store two restaurants and about one hundred houses His town was supposedly safe from the fires but the wind must have picked up and shifted the direction of fire Matthew raced to the front door The town was burning very quickly and he needed to get to safety There was a huge commotion and everyone was trying to find their family members Matthew was not sure if his parents had gotten out of the house yet His room was on the bottom floor and his parent s room was on the top As he yelled and screamed his parent s names one of his neighbors Mr Moons offered to give him a ride to safety Matthew s family had been particularly close with the Moon family so he trusted them He had grown up his whole life living next door to them Since the fires were starting to spread Matthew got in the car with Mr Moons and his family He drove as fast as he could Mathew looked back on his town the place where he grew up was burning and he had been separated from his family He was very cold because the air condition was on very high to try and make the air safer because of all the smoke After about ten minutes of driving Matthew was fast asleep trying not to think about what was to come

He woke up and was confused at first about his surroundings but then remembered what had happened last night It was 9 am and they were stopped at a gas station when Mathew and the rest of the Moons went to use the restroom Matthew had been to this gas station before but he could n t remember why Mr and Mrs Moons had been trying to get in contact with Mathew s parents all morning but hadn t had any luck After Matthew had gotten back in the car Mr Moon asks Do you have any close relatives that live near her Matthew thought and then remembered his Aunt Bella and Uncle Henry whom he was very close with lived just a few miles away from this gas station Matthew s aunt Bella was 32 years old 5 9 and was a teacher who worked at a local school Matthew s uncle Henry was 34 years old 6 1 and was a lawyer Matthew answered Um ya I have an aunt and uncle who only live a couple miles from here Mr Moon handed Matthew his phone and asked him if he knew her or his number Matthew s mom always wanted him to live with her sister Bella if anything were to ever happen her and her husband Matthew s mom had made him memorize his aunt s phone number and address Matthew always thought this was dumb but at this moment realized it was very useful Matthew dialed her number and after a couple seconds she picked up She said with Hello Bella Olive speaking who is this Oh hi Aunt Bella it s Matthew Mathew answered With fear she said Matthew darling are you okay where are you where are your parents Yes Aunt Bella I am fine I am with the Moons family and they are driving me to your house answered Matthew Oh okay sure honey but what about your parents are they okay She asked

I ll be at your house in 30 minutes and I will explain when I get there he said as he hung up the phone This was the first time that Matthew really realized that his parents could have died in the fire He decided to push that thought away and think on the bright side that he was going to see his aunt and uncle Matthew told Mr Moon that the address was 258 Pine Street The rest of the Moon s had gotten in the car from the restroom break and the headed for Matthew s aunt and uncle s house Mathew got out of the car and said a huge thank you to Mr and Mrs Moon They told him that if they the heard any news on his parents they would tell him He went to the porch and rang the doorbell His aunt opened the door almost immediately She gave Matthew the biggest huge ever They all waved goodbye to the Moons and went inside Matthew s aunt had already had a cup of hot chocolate waiting for him After a couple minutes of silence Matthew started to talk He told his aunt and uncle about how he woke up to his house burning and how he had no idea where his parents were or if they had made it out of the fires Matthew started to tear up because he couldn t imagine life without his parents The rest of the day Matthew Bella and Henry were trying to get in contact with anyone that might have seen his parents They called hundreds of rescue locations but not one of them had any information about Matthew s parents Matthew had a rough time sleeping that night he wondered if his parents were thinking the same thing about him A week had gone by and the fires in his town had been stopped Matthew had made MISSING signs that he was going to put up when it was safe to go back to his town It was finally safe so they drove back to Matthew s hometown When Matthew saw his house burned down with barely anything left he started to cry He saw where his Christmas tree had been and saw the burnt star He hoped that this was a sign that his parents were still alive The three of them went all around town asking

people who were trying to salvage what they could from their homes and asked if they had seen Matthew s parents Matthew started to wonder if he d ever find his parents All over town Matthew put up pictures of his mom and dad with MISSING and his aunt s phone number underneath Three days had gone by since Matthew had been back to his home and there was still no sign of his parents He was starting to lose hope Just as Matthew was making his last phone call before breakfast he heard his aunts phone ring It s was from an unknown caller Matthew skidded down the hallway to his aunt phone and immediately picked up the phone He said Matthew Halls speaking who is this The man answered with Hi I am Jeff Vines and we may have some information about your parents Oh my gosh really where are you do you know where they are he said frantically Woah Woah slowly down we may know where your parents are the man remarked Do you mind if I speak to your aunt for a second asked the man By that time Matthew s aunt and uncle and come into the room Matthew handed the phone to his aunt and uncle As they talked for the next 20 minutes Matthew ran up and down the halls to try and have time go by faster As she finally got off the phone she told them that she had good and bad news She said that the good news was that there was a place that had a high probability of his parents being there The bad news was that the rescue shelter had been trapped by massive trees that had fallen down in the fires They had lost all electricity and all the phone cords were down The man said that it was going to take a couple hours to get to the people in the rescue shelter They got in their car and drove as fast as the could After waiting about five hours a

worker came up to them and told them a safe path had been cleared Matthew ran as fast as he could to go see if his parents were there and still alive People were filing out of the shelter and Matthew was looking everywhere He heard someone yell MATTHEW It had been twenty years since that unforgettable Christmas As they all sit at the table and said grace before the Christmas feast and Matthew had everything that he wanted on his plate Right before he sat down he remembered that he had forgotten some mashed potatoes He said Hey mom or dad do you mind grabbing my a small plate of mashed potatoes

5 Saint Nicholas By Mark Carella Saint Nicholas was born on March 15 270 A D in the city of Patara Lycia known as modern day Turkey When he was young both his parents unfortunately died of unnatural causes They had hired someone to take care of him in case this happened We do not know his real name but he is referred to as Master He is a greedy and selfish man and is very demanding of Nick On November 29th 280 the Master took Nicholas to the town plaza for the first time because he thought he is prepared to go into the public When they entered the plaza it was lively There were people and markets everywhere there were animal pens as well and on the ground there were beautifully sculpted designs and amazing architecture all around But the one thing Nicholas hated was how many poor people there were They were all sitting on the ground some not even clothed and some as thing as string Master why aren t those poor people being helped nicholas asked the Master Well you see Nicholas the Master responded there are two reasons why no one is helping them out The first reason is that it s against the law for people to publicly show generosity to each other thanks to your parents and no one wants to bring them into their own homes Second these people made the decision to be poor They failed their jobs and are being punished for not trying their hardest They are dirty disgusting people and if you want to helped them out then you will become one of them Do you want to do that A chill ran up his spine No Master But they just seem so miserable and

THAT WAS THEIR DECISION the Master yelled He has yelled at Nick before but this was the first time he felt a sense of fear that would stay in his head forever I FORBID YOU TO HELP ANYONE IN THIS PLAZA SO LONG AS I M ALIVE I WILL KNOW YOUR EVERY MOVE Nicholas scared to death shrilly said Y yes M Mu Master He did not get much sleep that night Repeatedly looking at his door to see if the master would peek inside A few days later after all the candles in the house were blew out when it was almost pitch black Nick decides that he s going to handout gifts He believes that since recently the Master s doctor said he might have dementia he forgot what happened at the plaza So he grabbed a candle off his bedside table and walked over to the furnace in the hallway He lights the candle and starts walking to the room where he hid the presents He peeks into every room to make sure everyone s asleep and can t see him As he s about to peek into the last room he bumps into a tall figure holding a sword He crashes to the ground and drops the candle which makes a loud slam on the ground Immediately following multiple pieces of metal hit the ground with an even louder bang When Nick opens his eyes he sees that he ran into one of the armor stands across the hallway He slowly got back up grabbed the candle and started walking to the room He looked behind himself to see if anyone awoke from the loud bang until he ran into another figure This time there was no metal crash on the floor Instead he heard someone yell OW He looked up to see the Master holding his side in pain where Nick accidentally hit him with the candle When he looked down to see Nick his face filled with anger like the devil looking down upon him

The Master throws Nick into his room and closes the door violently He hears the click of the lock 13 Years Later Nicholas his family and the Master s family are in graveyard just outside of town all dressed in black It s raining and they are all very sad and staring down Nicholas especially is staring at a tombstone engraved on it is R I P The Master 224 293 Cause The Plague Nick is very sad but he is also a little excited Yes the Master was a very important part of his life but he swore that Nick would not be able to help anyone so long as he was alive And now that he s gone he is free to do that But as the master said you are not allowed to publicly show people generosity So he plans to go at night When he got home he prepares some gifts to give out with things such as clothes for the naked toys for the children and food for the hungry He plans to leave the night after as seeing both families will probably stay up all night to mourn the Master s death

When the sun was completely behind the mountains in the distance and all you could see were faint candlelights coming from scattered houses Nick got out of his bed and got ready to bring the presents out He put them all in a burlap sack and threw it over is shoulder as quietly as possible He grabbed the lit candle sitting on the counter and started heading for the door When he got closer he could see light coming from the cracks on the sides of the door Confused he started to slow down a little until he stopped at the door Slowly He creaked the door open a little and when he looked outside he could see guards scattered everywhere Panicked he closed the door and it made a small noise Outside the house the closest guard heard the tiny noise and quickly turned around He saw nothing Nicholas was racing through his mind trying to figure out why there could possibly be guards outside at night Then he remember the rule book Now Did you memorize the rule book the Master asked Nick Yes I did Master he responded Can you please read them all to me Number one No one is allowed to publicly show generosity to one another Correct Number two No one is allowed to go outside during the night If you are caught three times you will be automatically sentenced to execution Correct Number three

Now Nick was worried that he might not be able to help the poor people out But he gained confidence once again and slowly opened the door When none of the guards were looking he slid through the door and silently closed it shut Nick started heading towards the plaza He walked right behind the guard closest to his house and started down the alleyway to the plaza When he was almost through he heard someone yell Freeze and a light was coming from behind him He froze and turned around to see a guard holding up a candle towards him with his sword out and an angry expression on his face Disappointed Nicholas started walking towards him To show that you ve gotten a strike they will give you a slip with a straight black line It s not much but just looking at it makes Nick upset But he would not give up and so he planned to try again the next night This time he was slowly walking behind a guard when he was losing balance because of the sack He was leaning towards the guard and then toppled over as well as knocking the guard down The guard looked at him and gave a speech Do you have a strike he asked He asking for the slip Nick wanted to lie but knew it was the wrong thing to do Yes sir Nick responded solemnly He took out the slip and gave it to the guard the guard took out a pen and made a mark of the paper The guard walked him to his house On December fifth he decided to try again When he got to the alley way he hugged the wall and stared at the guard to see if he would turn around Nick kept staring at the guard until he fell back Confused he looks around and realizes he had reached the plaza The sleeping

people all around gave it away There were no guards in the plaza so he walked straight through the center and placed the gifts next to the poor people lying on the ground When he was done he retraced his steps and made it safely back to his house When morning arose he got dressed and went straight to the plaza It was still really early so there was barely anyone there but the poor people started to wake up and when they saw the gifts right next to them they were confused as also extremely happy when they opened them Delighted Nick walked back to his house with a great big smile For 50 years Nick has done this and each time there were more and more happy faces He started doing a tradition with his family where on December sixth they would all handout personal gifts to each other But unfortunately Nick was finally caught and was executed in the plaza in front of everyone By that time the poor realized it was him who handed out the gifts They were all crying and it was one of the most saddest things in history He died on December 6th 343 A D

6 A Christmas Cookie Catastrophe By Riley Dickman I skipped home from school my feet rhythmically tapping the cobblestone road as my long corn colored braids tied with pink ribbons bounced against my spine As I headed down Belle Avenue past the tan sign with green and red lettering that read Welcome to Poinsettia Park I waved hello to Frederick After he sold his last warm sugary Belgian waffle he turned towards me Abby he called holding one of his cart s sugared churros come on over here I gratefully accepted the sweet and enjoyed my first bite inhaling the delectable scent of vanilla and cinnamon intermingling with the fresh burst of pine from nearby Joyeux Woods The soft sunlight warmed my face and I plopped into a wicker chair with red and green cushions I finished my treat quickly and after licking the last of the cinnamon sugar off my fingers slid down the Belle Avenue Hill in one of the green plastic sleds there for anyone under ten Once one turned ten they graduated to the plush seated red sleighs that could fit up to four people at a time I eagerly awaited the eleventh of January when I too would be welcomed to the adult sleighs Until then the tiny leaf colored sled would have to be good enough for me I kicked off and down I went gaining speed faster and faster when suddenly a pile of snow appeared in front of me Helppppp I screamed I jerked forward and saw the ground far underneath as I twirled through the air I felt the frigid snow hit my back and slide down my jacket Blinking quickly I opened my eyes to see Jenny towering above me dressed in a warm coat that read Belle Avenue Maintenance Good afternoon Ms Abby joked Jenny I see you ve tested out our new dismounting system

Yes I huffed and I don t recommend it I pushed myself to my feet and shook the snow off of my legs Oh come on Abigail Jenny pleaded Don t be mad I rolled my teal eyes back into my head Jenny giggled Soon enough I joined in You re laughing That s a good sign said Jenny Then again it doesn t take much to make you laugh It s true that I was always giggling to myself about something or other I looked at my watch I ve got to go meet Gabe I called She waved goodbye as I dashed towards the town square keeping my eyes on the twinkling star on top of the towering Christmas tree in the town square I slid into the Choral Ice Center huffing and puffing from my sprint You re late Abby scolded a deep voice I lifted my eyes and towering above me was my brother Gabriel wearing his usual black pants shirt and shoes with a Christmas addition I see Mom coerced you into wearing your special holiday sweater I teased Gabe groaned as he looked down at the monstrosity of red yarn complete with lights bells and a reindeer that sang Does that really surprise you he asked I m fourteen years old and she hasn t failed once I giggled as Gabe shook his head with aggravation and sighed Go get changed he instructed I ran back from the dressing room strutting towards Gabe like a model on the runway Gabe played along announcing And on the ice now is Abigail Frost modeling a fuscia ballet skirt which she s paired with a rose colored turtleneck and hot pink winter coat Observe her satin colored tights which complement her bedazzled ice skates perfectly And folks what better to tie the outfit together than two bubblegum pink hair ribbons I struck a pose and put my hands on my hips flipped my hair and tilted my head Gabe laughed We re leaving in ten minutes he informed me I practiced simple camel spins until Gabe shouted

Abby let s go I hurried off the ice carefully removed my skates and ran towards my brother Together we walked towards the door where our ReindeerTransport was waiting Hello hello rasped our reindeer whose name was Jingle according to his name tag I m Jingle Jingle Bells that is Thank you for choosing ReindeerTransport today I ll have you home in no time at all Thank you Jingle Gabe replied as he elbowed me Huh I grumbled Oh Thank you Jingle I parroted sounding like a robot We climbed into the cart Jingle was pulling and off we went Gabe was silent daydreaming as usual Hey Gabe what s the date today I pestered Gabe Gabe Hey Gabe He sighed and then turned towards me The twentieth he replied Why Five days until Christmas That means tomorrow s cookie day I informed him He started to answer when Jingle s steps began to slow going from a quick trot to a slowly paced walk We ll arrive at your destination in two minutes Your total transport time was ten minutes ReindeerTransport accepts carrots or ziglies Please insert your payment now a robotic monotone voice spouted from the sleigh Gabe pulled out his wallet and removed ten ziglies Poinsettia Park s currency I heard the jingle of the coins knocking against each other as carefully he placed each red and green striped circle in the machine I extracted a carrot from my sequined bubblegum pink backpack being careful not to upset the rest of the bag s contents Thank you Jingle I sang as I put the carrot into the long chute marked carrots for JINGLE BELLS

No problem Miss Jingle replied merrily It was a pleasure meeting you two Happy Holidays I jumped down from the cart watching my footing as I landed in the snow I felt the frozen ice particles permeate the waterproof layer of my boots as the fridgid icy water filled my socks I shivered clenching my toes and moving my feet as much as possible Gabe stepped out behind me gingerly to make sure he didn t end up with frozen feet As Jingle pulled away Gabe and I looked up at our house Topsy turvy was probably the best way to describe it By simply standing up it defied gravity Walls jutted out windows of every shape and size covered the exterior and the peacock blue it was painted only added to the effect The chimney twisted and curved the roof tiles were every color of the rainbow and there was not a straight line on the entire structure We walked up the perriwinkle colored path and reached the door a bright canary yellow with an azure door knob Gabe twisted the key into its place and pulled open the door beholding a plethora of Christmas decorations I wandered through the house calling Mom Dad A shrill whistle filled the air and I followed it to the family office From my mom s corner of the room came the clickity clacking of keys typing I sauntered to my dad s office where he was cooking up a storm As I watched the oven with my dad he suddenly jumped up A delicious smell filled the room scents of peppermint cinnamon sugar and vanilla swirled through the air It s ready he cried What s ready I wanted to know My peppermint swizzlespice pie sticks he answered in a matter of fact tone Yum Can I try I begged Yep Nat you want one too my dad replied

You know me too well Tim my mom sang across the room Gabe marched in looking eager That smells very good he mentioned Might there be enough for me Of course silly goose my mom sang as she tucked her shoulder length butter colored hair behind her ears My dad agreed laughing as he served up the delicious treats on patterned plates of red and white This is a new recipe for my restaurant my dad announced Wrood Gabe garbled stuffing his face So glad you like it Gabe Dad quipped jovially I m assuming you two are hungry Gabe and I nodded Ravenous Gabe and I replied simultaneously A tinkling laugh came from my mom The way you two talk someone would think we never feed you teased Mom I burst into a fit of giggles as Gabe only nodded solemnly in agreement Dad tousled Gabe s hair Come on sport he encouraged Mom pulled me off the felted tuft I was sitting on and off we went to the kitchen Out popped Berry who was moments before snoring gently on his dog bed His tail beat against the floor and he moved rapidly enough that his small cream markings were indistinguishable against the brown of the rest of his fur My dad quickly tossed together a pesto pasta as my mom prepared hot cocoa The steaming hot food was ready in no time at all and we moved to the family room where the Christmas tree sat in all its glory We ate around the noble fir adorned with bobbles of every color lights and an angel to top it off At the end of the evening Gabe and I kissed our parents goodnight and went to our rooms I prepared for bed changing into a pink nightgown with a reindeer pattern After scrubbing at my teeth and brushing out my wavy locks I climbed into bed Mom climbed the stairs to my attic

bedroom to wish me goodnight Her teal eyes danced as she tucked me in As she flicked off the lights I fell fast asleep excited for the prospects of tomorrow I leapt out of bed ecstatic that it was finally cookie making day My feet thumped against the wooden staircase as I dashed downstairs I reached the family room and dug my toes into the inch thick cream carpet I ran through the house calling out for my parents Mom Dad I yelled No reply I ran back upstairs to wake them up but they were nowhere to be found I finally found a note from my mom Gone to get groceries Back soon I scarfed down a quick breakfast of cinnamon raisin toast and milk Then I set off to wake up Gabe Really Abby I was enjoying my sleep and you just out of nowhere jump on my stomach Was that necessary Gabe grumbled Cookie making day I chanted happily I pulled open the blinds letting the light seep into the octagon shaped room Gabe Owww I whined after being pummeled with a pillow Get up let s go I bounced downstairs and heard the telltale sound of Berry welcoming my parents home little bells Mom Dad Let s go let s go I insisted Good morning to you too sunshine my dad joked I grabbed my mom s arm and tugged her towards the kitchen begging her to start baking Patience Abigail All in good time my mom answered in her quiet way but girlish excitement in her eyes betrayed her true feelings My mom and I began to mix the ingredients together for sugar cookies as my dad prepared the thumb print cookie dough I scooped in heaps of sugar and flour mixing them together in a gargantuan bowl Across the kitchen my dad stirred in cinnamon and peanut butter whisking and stirring the dough In stumbled Gabe a bit more awake now He joined in the rolling of the thumbprint cookies My mom wrappped up the sugar cookie dough and left it to chill as we moved on to the star cookies We stirred peppermint

and cocoa powder into the cookie dough rolling it out and shaping the dough into stars with a cookie cutter We popped the stars into the oven and set a timer for forty minutes Mom and I took a candy cane hot cocoa break while the boys finished up the thumbprint cookies When every last cookie had a thumbprint they were put on a pan so they could be baked next My mom suggested We still have thirty minutes on our timer Let s play a quick game of Chutes and Ladders Everyone agreed and we exited the kitchen scented of ginger vanilla peppermint chocolate and warm cookies After our fourth game of Chutes and Ladders my nose began to catch a whiff of something It wasn t a perfectly baked batch of star cookies No it was charred blackened cookies that came out of the oven We all gasped Even Berry turned away Perfectly good cookies ruined Natalia how did you not remember the timer my dad accused Don t blame me she retorted You re the one who wanted to play another game Yeah Dad it is kinda your fault I interrupted Dad glared at me Young lady he started don t you even We still have two other batches of cookies Gabe reminded everyone Gabe s right my mom added Everyone try to relax and just enjoy themselves The thumbprint cookies were put into the hot oven and multiple timers were set to prevent another catastrophe Mom and I rolled out the sugar cookie dough while Dad and Gabe walked Berry We cut shapes with cookie cutters reindeer with bell collars Santa s sleigh elves Christmas trees and presents Just as Berry ran into the kitchen hopping excitedly the timer for the thumbprint cookies went off A wave of steamy warmth hit me square in the nose smelling like warm cinnamon dough They re ready Mom announced They look delicious I plucked one

off the tray tossing it between fingers to cool it off I broke it in half and handed the smaller piece to Gabe Together we popped the dessert in our mouths Phlewgh Gabe gasped Gross Water water I cried My mom rolled her eyes I m sure they re fine she said condescendingly as she took a bite Oh oh wow she said covering her mouth and running to the sink Those are really salty she determined Huh But I didn t add any salt my dad mumbled Pointing to the salt container he added I used loads of sugar though Mom and I groaned That s salt we pointed out in unison My dad gasped Another batch of cookies ruined my mom added Nice going Tim Hey my dad argued It is not all my fault Everyone leave me alone We re gonna nail this last batch of cookies Gabe reassured everyone I sure hope so I replied We put the sugar cookies in the oven and crossed our fingers As we waited for the cookies to finish baking I played tug of war with Berry and Gabe My parents argued quietly in the corner They were each upset that the first two batches of cookies had been ruined Suddenly the timer went off Filled to the brim with anticipation I flew towards the oven My dad pulled out the pan The cookies were golden brown and smelled fabulous sugared vanilla scents swirled through the air Gabe cautiously licked the edge with his tongue It tastes pretty good he reported I picked up a reindeer and carefully took a bite Craaaaack went the cookie splintering into shards It was hard as a rock Mom I asked concerned What Abby she answered

Did we maybe forget to add butter to these cookies I inquired Just from the look on her face it was apparent we had forgotten butter How did we ruin all three batches of cookies I wailed We ruined Christmas Gabe stormed off to his room My parents looked concerned and my dad especially looked frustrated I felt fat hot tears stream down my face as I hugged Berry I dashed upstairs and cried into my pillow thinking about how perfect the day should have been A few moments later my dad came to get me and bring me downstairs My dad plopped into his favorite recliner and I sat in my pink beanbag chair My mom was lounging on the couch and Gabe was sitting on the floor petting Berry Gabriel Abigail my mom started we realize that today was unfortunate Yes my dad agreed it s always hard to feel disappointment However frustration is not a valid excuse for treating each other with disrespect or playing the blame game Your mom and I haven t provided a good example of that today and we re sorry In the hustle and bustle of the holidays my mom concluded we ve forgotten to take time off and enjoy each other s company As we turned on the TV to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas I considered my mother s words Realizing she was right I let go of all my stress about presents and the perfect Christmas tree and simply enjoyed time with my family as I lay in the crook of my mom s arm surrounded by family

7 The Contest By Jillian Dummel Even the teacher was waiting anxiously for the bell to ring She knew she would get to see her family for the holidays once she left She turned around from the whiteboard to see the four rows of six chairs with her 24 students waiting as well She glanced up at the clock 25 more minutes she thought She waited until all twenty four 5th graders were done with their letter to Santa With the longing to get on the plane that would take her to her sisters house she glanced up again 8 minutes She started to speak just as the principals voice came over the intercom Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of the students and teachers Teachers remember that today is snowy day dismissal Thank you and have a good break She resumed her speech she had begun with excitement filling her voice Like Principal Olsen had said Merry Christmas and have an amazing break Go get your backpacks and remember to leave out your letter on Christmas Eve with a plate of cookies But there was one student sitting in the class who didn t listen to one thing their teachers said She was to focused on what her principal had said through the box on the wall Snow OMG OMG OMG There s snow outside Can you believe it Isn t snow the best weather ever Snow isn t a weather replies Tom is a soft voice trying not to crush his best friends feelings They walk in silence after that with Tom s hand pushed in his pockets and his scarf placed so far up his neck to protect himself from the cold And Amber who has her new fluffy white coat she unwrapped earlier that week as an early Christmas present fully unzipped with the

scarf and gloves her mom had told her to wear stuffed in her pocket She skipped along the snow covered road that lead to her and Tom s street When she looked up she saw the bright sun starting to set and the night beginning to roll into the sky I just had an amazing idea Her voice was so loud and squeaky and her eyes lit up like the sun above We should have a snowman building contest Isn t that a great idea Do you want to O okay stammered Tom Yay yay yay yay yay replied Amber I can ask some of the neighborhood kids to be judges At the park tomorrow at 11 See you there And Tom watched as she ran to her house skipping and jumping along the way He sighed and smiled just a little before he continued the walk on the cobblestone sidewalk to his house The dark brown polished door flung open The wreath that hung on the front swayed with the sudden movement Bye Mom But before she could look up from the stove where a great big blue pot sat with Christmas soup bubbling inside Amber was gone She ran out the door as she tried to put on her big fluffy white coat She sprinted to the park She glanced down at her watch 10 58 She could not be late If it were any other street she would be there in a second But Amber lived on Oak Street the longest stretch of street and houses her whole town And she lived on one corner and the park was on the other She starts running even faster hearing the sound of her snow boots slap the ground with every step Finally she arrived 11 02 The corners of her mouth turned to the floor and she slumped with her shoulders down into to park She heard the sound of her friends talking and laughing She glanced up to see Tom Amy Chloe and Jack Are you guys here to be judges Their heads moved up and down and Amber s smile returned Well what are we waiting for exclaimed Amber

Well we were waiting for you but now we can start Amy Chloe and Jack walked over to the judges table that was clearly just a run down old box You have one hour Your time starts now yelled Jack Amber s head whipped from side to side She ran over to a corner of the small white field to where the most perfect untouched snow laid She fell to her knees and used her hands to make a perfectly round ball She started to roll her snowball on the ground and she watched as it got bigger and bigger Amber s beach snowman was done in 52 minutes and Tom s classic Frosty snowman was done a few seconds short of 1 hour When Jacks timer went off the three judges rose from their seats Thank you for participating in the 1st annual snowman building contest Results will be at 1 after lunch You are dismissed Amber s face was stretched into a smile on her walk home and everything Tom was saying to her would go in one ear and out the other Bye Amber I ll see you later Bye with the smile still plastered on her face When she walks through the door of her house Amber s mom and dog Fluffy are there as usual Hi Mom I m home the sound echoing into the kitchen Hi sweetie Your lunch is on the table How was your little game replied a sweet voice Not a game A contest Mom Amber said with her preteen sassy voice showing through a little She quickly replaced it with her sweet 11 year old voice And it was amazing My sun kissed snowman looks so cool That s good honey Remember to take off your snow boots before coming in

Okay Amber sighs as she pulls of her navy blue boots to reveal her Christmas fuzzy socks She trudges into the kitchen to see her favorite lunch on the table Mac and cheese hot chocolate and carrots Thank you Mom says Amber as she walks over to her seat but not without doing a little slide in her socks When is Samantha coming home Any minutes now Why do you suddenly have a interest in your sister s whereabouts I want to show her my snowman before the judging at 1 Can you please call her As her mother diles the phone Samantha walks through the door takes off her coat boots and walks into the kitchen Mom why are you calling me I am right here Your sister wants to take you to look at her snowman You should go Samantha glances at her sister who is sitting at the table with a far to big grin on her face a heaping mouthful of Mac and cheese sitting in her mouth and on her lips nodding her head with agreement After staring at her for a few minutes watching her struggle chew and swallow Samantha breaks out in a laughter Fine I ll go Let s go now I want to get there before the rest of the kids It s already 12 40 and your a slow walker They slowly progress down the road Samantha s hand and fingers looped around Amber s with a sense of protection and love Walking up to the park to see nothing but two white heads and bodies standing tall against the wind So this summer snowman is mine and the classic snowman is Tom s She walks closer to her entry Mine has snow sunglasses she says while pointing to it before walking closer Tom s And Tom s has this cool snow scarf Cool Amber Did you have fun

I had so much fun she said moving her hands back toto show her happiness But with that sudden quick movement Amber hit something with her upper arm And down fell the white ball of snow leaving what was left of the creation decapitated With a cry in her voice Amber sniffled a Oh no I took of Tom s snowman s head What am I going to do It s okay Amber Let s see if we can fix it They scurry around the snowman to see its head on the floor smashed into the snow We can t fix this What am I going to do We could walk over to his house explain and apologize I can t tell him about this He ll hate me She sunk in the snow to the floor He won t hate you Everyone makes mistakes Do you want to go apologize No After going back and forth between telling and not Samantha had enough She hated to see her sister in pain the crying was to loud she was cold and she wanted to see her friends at the mall The order was not important She sighed and picked up the arms of her limp crying sister and started to pull She pulled and pushed Amber all the way to Tom s house which was luckily only halfway up Oak Street Now go You need to apologize And Amber knew that in her heart but she could She couldn t lose her best friend because of what happened at a contest she made up But she also couldn t let Tom find out on his own and get mad at her for not telling him So using all of her inner strength she rang the doorbell Tom s doorbell was one of those ones that plays a little song so with every ding dong Amber felt more anxious regretful and sad

Hi Amber What are you doing here I was just about to leave for the judging I m not late am I I hate to be late like you No your not late I just need to apologize for something And with a deep breath Amber explained the situation I was showing Samantha our snowmans and by accident I knocked off the head of yours I am so sorry I know you won t forgive me but I forgive you I know it was an accident It was just some silly contest anyway Amber is taken aback O okay She stutters I am really sorry though I hope you don t mind but I didn t think it was fair so I told the judges it was canceled Ya that s fine I never wanted to do a contest anyway Then why did you agree to it ll I wanted to spend time with you Christmas is about friends and family and you are my best friend Oh Thank you No problem Hey now since there is no more contest do you want to make a hot chocolate stand Samantha you can help too if you want Looking over Amber s shoulder to see Okay I would love to make a hot chocolate stand with you I already have so many ideas says Amber already walking away with glee See you later I ll bring the cups and the sign And then she turned around to run home

8 The Rebel Alliance Saves Christmas By Sumner Estes It s the year 2022 New York has taken over the sports world as they have won the championship for 18 years now No other team has even come close to this milestone New York trains players from very young ages and buys the best players to make their team the greatest New York has taken over the government too The new New York president is Aaron Judge They have outlawed happiness and they have banned Christmas too Not everyone is in agreement with the evil empire of New York There is a Rebel alliance in Los Angeles trying to restore happiness to the USA This alliance consists of many sports players who don t like New York Their home base is the Los Angeles coliseum They are football basketball and baseball players and their main leaders are Lebron James Jared Goff and Mike Trout They have 500 players who are part of the alliance who want to stop New York The Rebels have a meeting where Lebron says We need to put a stop to this evil empire We can t do anything fun anymore Lebron had taken his team to the finals for eighteen years and never won a Finals Brook Lopez nods his head then says This has gone for way too long We need to put a stop to this evil New York empire Everyone agrees Jared finally says We need to fight the evil empire and end this for once and all All the Rebels agree on this statement so they create a plan The Rebels are going to cross the USA and fight the evil empire in New York The Rebels need more people to help fight The Rebels plan on going to go from Los Angeles to New York using different ways of transportation like planes buses bike scooters and anything rolls

The next day the Rebels set out on their journey to New York Their first stop is San Francisco where the Rebels look around the city for sports players to help them fight for their cause The Rebels find Warriors players Giants players A s players and Raiders players to end the reign of terror caused by New York The Rebels and their new teammates return to the airport where they find more sports players from the west coast willing to help These new players say We heard about your cause and that you were coming this way We want to help defeat the evil empire once and for all The rebels reply Welcome to our Alliance So the Rebels and their new teammates board their many forms of transportation and leave for their next stop Denver Christmas is only 29 days away and they need to save Christmas or all hope will be lost for happiness and order to be restored to New York and everywhere else in the United States In Denver they gain over 400 players who join the cause In Denver the Rebels have a meeting where the topic is what sports will they play to defeat the evil empire Baseball for sure says Clayton Kershaw How many games will you play for baseball asked Matt Chapman One game will be enough states Nolan Arenado Should we play one game for each sport asks Lebron James Kevin Durant walks into the meeting I heard what you were talking about One game will give us time to adjust and beat them and put a stop to them once and for all The Rebels agree on one game for each sport Where should we practice asks Richard Sherman Let s go out to the east coast get all of the players go back to base and then we will come out to New York and challenge them states Mike Trout Christmas is only 26 days away though says Charlie Blackmon Then we better get moving states Jared Goff

The rebels next travel to Dallas where they gain over 300 teammates The players from the Minnesota teams come to Dallas to join the cause The Rebels now have over 1000 players to help defeat New York Bu there was only one problem facing them the Rebels need to decide who was going to play on the Rebel teams They would figure this out when the time comes The Rebels travel to Houston and they stop for a night to rest and to start thinking about who was going to play The Rebels have 12 leaders The leaders are Lebron James Mike Trout Jared Goff Nolan Arenado Kevin Durant Stephen Curry Todd Gurley Clayton Kershaw J J Watt Von Miller Dak Prescott and James Harden The Rebel leaders meet that night to discuss the roster Who are we going to have on the rosters asked J J Watt I think we should all be on the rosters says Stephen Curry I agree with Steph We created this alliance and we should be able to fight for what s right replies Kevin Durant Kevin Durant looks around the room Everyone was nodding their heads and agreeing to his statement The Rebel meeting in Houston goes deep into the night The next morning the Rebels travel to New Orleans The Rebel players are very tired from all the traveling So they decide it s best if they take the day off and let the players rest They still have 10 more cities they need to visit until they have a full roster Traveling was really taking a toll on them New York had taken away everything that these players lived for and life was difficult New York had taken away Christmas too No Christmas means no happiness Some of the Rebels began questioning if this effort is really worth it Some players were thinking about quitting and some thought about surrendering to New York So the Rebel board had a meeting that night The topic of the meeting was Should we keep going or should we stop Lebron started the meeting by saying Some players have

brought to my attention that some people are thinking about giving up or not even trying Steph nodded his head in agreement and said Let s tell all the other cities and teams to meet us back in Los Angeles We need to give our players a break as they have been traveling for 6 straight days now It s really taken a toll on these guys Nobody disagreed with his statement The Rebels agree on returning to Los Angeles to decide their future Word about the Rebels returning to Los Angeles spreads across the country The Rebels have became a source of hope against the New York sports empire The Rebels need to bring happiness to the people and bring back things they love like Christmas The Rebels return to Los Angeles When they arrive at the airport they looked outside the airplane window and se thousands of people waiting for them The crowd reminds the players they have something worth fighting for bringing happiness to the people and saving Christmas for everyone The Rebels return to the Coliseum where the board divides the players into sports teams and asks them to practice for the big day The basketball players go to the Staples Center The football players practice on the field at the Coliseum The baseball players take the field at Angels Stadium There are 19 days until Christmas where the Rebel Alliance must defeat New York to save happiness and Christmas The players practice very hard Everyone wants to beat New York The players detested New York and New York detested everyone The Rebel Alliance creates a plan against each of the sports teams in New York Tomorrow the Rebel Alliance will challenge New York and start their journey to end the evil empire of New York Christmas will be saved The players board planes like the had before and set off for New York The games against New York have spread across the nation Everyone wants New York to lose so there will

be Christmas and happiness once again in the United States The players arrive in New York where there are 500 people waiting for them holding signs supporting the Rebels The players who had doubts if this was a good choice realize people needed sports more than they did People s lives cannot function without sports Each team makes the drive to their stadium where the games will be played in two days The players are very nervous They need to focus The baseball players go to Yankees Stadium the football players go to the Metlife Stadium and the basketball players go to TD Garden Television channels are filming these big games Tickets are selling out Major companies endorse the Rebel Alliance One news channel states These will be the games of the century The games will start at 7 05 PM EST The Rebels make sure that no two sport athletes can play in more than one sport The Rebels arrive at the stadiums at 1 00 PM and practice for the big games The atmosphere in the stadiums are electric Fans arrive at 5 00 PM as the players take batting practice When the Rebels take the field for batting practice the entire stadium starts booing them There are only a few sections at Yankees stadium that have rebels fans New York is a scary city when you are not in favor of the fans You could hear the boing from outside the stadium Everyone hates the Rebels in New York The football stadium was no different there to everyone hated the Rebels The loudest place was TD Garden There were 20 000 fans yelling as loud as they possibly could angry at the Rebels Back at Yankees Stadium the players finish batting practice and are walking back to Locker room One player describes the walk back to the tunnel as Imagine 50 000 people in a tunnel yelling as loud as they can echoing four times as loud That s what Yankees Stadium feels like right now The walk back to the locker room was quiet compared to the booing as fans

were yelling and metal cleats hit the concrete floor When the players return to the locker room the media was waiting for them asking questions How do you feel Do you think that you will win How will the atmosphere affect you Will you be able to save Christmas It got to the point to the police had to kick out the media Game time is an hour away The players listened to music stretched and threw the baseball Finally game time arrived for all of three sports Starting pitchers for the baseball game were Clayton Kershaw and Luis Severino The baseball game did not have a score yet in the 4th inning The defense of each team was not allowing any runs Both of the starting pitchers had pitched great and only allowed 3 hits In the middle of 4th inning for baseball a announcement appeared on the scoreboard Final score basketball 107 106 Knicks 56 14 Rebels The players now realized that they needed to win this game or all their hard work would be over and New York will ban Christmas forever Still scoreless in the 7th inning the starting pitchers had become tired Brad Osmos needed to change to a different pitcher He had so many options so he decided on Nathan Eovaldi a pitcher who could throw over 100mph continually Eovaldi enters the game where he would be facing the Yankees top of the lineup The Yankees first three hitters are Gary Sanchez Neil Walker and Miguel And jar Nathan Eovaldi had trouble with the first two batters but got all three batters out To the top of the ninth inning the game went Two batters got out thanks to the Yankees reliever Aroldis Chapman The next batter Mike Trout The Yankees threw two balls to Trout On the third pitch Trout connected The outfielders went back to the wall as they looked up they saw the ball go over the wall 1 0 The next batter got out To the bottom of the ninth the game went

The Rebels brought in Edwin Diaz who was the best closer in the game He struck out the first two batters Next up Giancarlo Stanton who is the best hitter on the New York team The first pitch to Stanton he connected and hit the ball back to the wall Mike Trout ran after the ball lept against the wall and robbed the ball from going over the wall The rebels win Christmas is saved and happiness is restored to New York All thanks to Mike Trout s home run and the rebels New York is no longer under control by Aaron Judge People can now celebrate Christmas The nation is happy again and thankful to the effort of the Rebels and their amazing teammates who saved Christmas for an entire nation

9 The Christmas Miracle By Saifo Haddad It s December 25 2018 and the Golden State Warriors are hosting the Los Angeles Lakers at Oracle Arena Oracle Arena is an indoor arena built in 1966 located in Oakland California and is the home of the Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry a 30 year old 6 3 point guard for the Golden State Warriors has just walked into Oracle Arena wearing a red Christmas suit with little Santa Clauses saying Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas all around the suit with a green buttoned down shirt under and a Santa hat on As Steph is walking in he has a special Christmas Day Curry 5 shoe in his hands The Curry 5 is a low cut basketball shoe with a sock feeling tongue and a couple inch sole The special edition Christmas shoe is a green and red shoe with his family on it As Steph is walking into the arena he walks by a long wallpaper that has a logo which says Back to Back Champions 2017 2018 While he is walking on the yellow carpet in front of the long wallpaper photographers and cameramen are taking pictures and videos of Stephen Curry walking in the arena with his Christmas suit and his new Christmas shoe As he walks by the photographers and cameramen he heads straight to his locker room In the locker room Stephen says hi to the coaches players trainers and everyone apart of the Warriors association Stephen puts his shoes down in his little locker engraved with his name his number his jersey his socks and most importantly his Christmas edition shoes that he is so excited to wear and show off on the court As Stephen is getting changed in his pregame outfit which is his blue Nike Warriors basketball sweatshirt a pair of white shorts that he will wear for his game and some white compression three fourths tights he goes out on the squeaky soft bright court and does his

pregame routine First he dribbles and does some crossover moves on the baseline looking at the opposite basket with one of his assistant coaches named Bruce Fraser who helps Stephen by passing him the ball Then Stephen walks onto the court close to the free throw line and shoots some floaters A floater is when you are close to the hoop but not close enough to shoot a layup and so what you do is you push the ball up with one hand and try to make it in the basket When Stephen is done shooting some floaters he moves onto shooting some three pointers Stephen is known for shooting threes as he is one of the best three point shooters in the world As Stephen finishes shooting threes he goes on to shooting some half court shots Stephen is also known for shooting crazy shots and making them from far distances Lastly Stephen shoots a shot from the tunnel where the Warriors come out of in order to go on the court and sign autographs for all the fans All he smells is some jerseys and the strong smell of sharpie As Steph was doing his pregame routine a man pretended to work for the Warriors wearing a blue Nike Warriors t shirt and a pair of blue and yellow Nike shoes like the trainers would wear and took Steph s shoes without anybody looking or catching him running out of the arena Right before Steph walks back to the locker room passing the security and the pictures and names of each Warrior player he stops to talk to his coach Steve Kerr Steve Kerr is a 6 3 man who has been coaching the Warriors for four years and played in the NBA for fifteen years Kerr and Curry talk about some new plays because one of their old players is now playing on the Lakers and they want to switch up the plays so they he won t know what plays they are doing to stop them from scoring As Steph and Steve are having their conversation in Steve s big officefilled with many championship items from the Chicago Bulls to the San Antonio Spurs to the Golden State Warriors Kevin Durant a 7 0 forward asked Steph if he made a Christmas

shoe and Steph replies with yes and Durant asked him where are they Steph walks into the locker room and goes to his locker with his name and number he realizes the shoe is not where he put them At first Steph thought it was a joke and someone took it but he finds out that none of the players took his Christmas shoe Everyone who is part of the Warriors organization was looking for these special Christmas shoes because they knew how much the shoes meant to Steph As the time was counting down Steph had no more patience and started to get angry He told the Warriors organization that they should see if the Warriors fans can help him find his shoes So what the Warriors organization did was that they put a picture on all their social media and said that the shoe has been stolen and whoever finds the shoe and returns it to Steph there will be a reward As the security was looking through everyone s bags and players were looking in their locker rooms still no shoe had been was found Steph looked everywhere in the arena he had one last place to check where the shoes could be He went to the room where the trainers put all of the players shoes but it wasn t there As Steph was waiting for someone to say they found the shoe he got much angrier Steph usually doesn t get angry but when he does he gets really mad A fifteen year old boy who is a huge Golden State Warriors fan hears about the sad news of Stephen Curry s shoes being lost and is feeling sorry for Stephen because he imagined how he would feel if he was to lose something special As soon as the unknown fan finds out about the incident he goes on all the websites and apps he knows that sells sports memorabilia The fifteen year old boy has been looking for about twenty minutes and still hasn t found anything close to the missing shoe Now the fifteen year old fan starts going on some illegal websites of sports memorabilia and out of nowhere he finds the shoes and leaps with joy and says it s a

Christmas miracle because he is about to help one of his favorite players of all times First he calls the Warriors organization and tells them everything they need to know about the missing Christmas shoe The Warriors organization tell the boy if he brings the shoe they will allow him to attend the basketball game to meet the Warriors players and have a VIP tour around Oracle arena But first there are only 20 minutes till tip off and they are trying to bring Steph his shoes ASAP Luckily the boy does not live too far from Oracle Arena and will be able to make it to the game in time Before the boy gives the shoes back to Steph the fifteen year old fan is in a limousine on his way to Oracle Arena holding the special shoes the boy is feeling nervous and excited because he is going to meet his idol and second because Steph is in a rush to get the shoes on before the game As the fan gets out of the limousine he takes the special shoes and runs to the place where the security guards are telling him to go The boy stops for a second and runs in the Warriors locker room and sees Steph and the rest of the Warriors team The fan is feeling anxious as he hands Steph the shoes right away Before Steph and the Warriors team heads out to the court Steph tells the boy how thankful he is for him and finding his shoe Steph lets the boy know that if he needs anything just to ask him As the Warriors run on the court with all their energy the Warriors put the boy on the big screen and thank him for finding Steph s shoes To top off the great day for the boy and the big reward he got was watching the Warriors game courtside with owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber But the best part of the night is watching the Warriors beat the Lakers by thirteen points live and for free

11 Christmas Eve and Hot Dogs By Lucas Kern On Christmas Eve a boy named Sans and his mom Toriel were shopping at The Mall of America in Minnesota This is a gigantic mall with seven floors in total and it would be a shame if someone would happen to get lost in it On this Christmas Eve day Sans and Toriel went to the mall to get presents for their friends because they knew that it was the best place to find anything that you want to buy Sans is a 14 year old boy who is happy most of the time but is also very lazy He is the average size of a boy his age around 5 6 tall and he always wears his favorite jacket a blue zipper jacket with white fluff on the hood This jacket is especially good for the snowy weather that they were having that month Toriel was a happy mom but overprotective of her son and worried about the smallest things Once they arrived at the gigantic mall they went to the first floor where there were cooking supplies Toriel wanted to buy something for the kitchen for one of her friends Sans was tired and started to get a little impatient because his mom was taking such a long time picking out a present Sans impatiently said to his mother I want to go look around Toriel answered That is fine but don t wander too far Sans started wandering around the first floor He unknowingly left the cooking section ending up in small food section and saw some delicious looking hot dogs Now he could never resist hot dogs because he loved them so much It would not matter if he was hungry or not

when he saw a hot dog he had to eat it He went up to the counter and asked how much the hot dogs cost The counter lady said that hot dogs were 2 50 Unfortunately Sans only had 0 37 cents in his pocket so he decided to go back to the cooking section to ask Toriel for some money He turned into the aisle where he had left her but she was not there He started to panic a little but realized that she could not have gone too far Sans went up and down every aisle in the cooking section but didn t find her Now he was really starting to panic He remembered that he had his phone and he pulled it out of his pocket but when he looked down at it he died a little in his head It was dead He thought back to why it could be dead and realized that he had wasted all of his battery watching memes in the car He thought to himself One of these floors has to have an electronic section I need to go find a map So off he went to find a map His idea was that if he found the electronic section they would have a recharge corner where he could recharge his phone and call his mom He eventually found a map and saw that the electronic section was on the second floor Looking at the elevator he knew what to do He got in pushed the button for the second floor and waited When he arrived on the second floor he walked out of the elevator shocked and scared because of how many floor buttons were in the elevator This mall has seven floors he thought to himself He knew that this was going to be a long trip to find his mom He walked into a hallway and as he did he heard the echoes of kids laughing parents chatting and shoes squeaking He really missed his mom and he was now filled with determination to find her He passed by a shoe section and asked for directions to the electronic section The clerk said Go down the long hallway take a right and it will be on your left Sans yelled Thank you as he ran out of the store quickly He was sprinting now but stopped suddenly when he saw a hot dog

stand Filled with temptation he slowly walked toward it but then remembered he had no money He ignored it and kept going until he found the electronic section Looking around frantically he did not see a charging station He went pale and was starting to lose hope He left the store slowly walking towards the map by the stairs When he got to the map he saw that the third floor was under construction the fourth floor was clothing the fifth floor was Christmas items the sixth floor was food and the seventh floor was what He could not read what the map said Some idiot had graffitied it and left it unreadable He decided to check the fifth floor since they had planned to shop for Christmas stuff He walked all the way back to the elevator and got in It seemed like forever to get from the second floor to the fifth floor He finally heard the ding and got out of the elevator As soon as he got out he was blasted by a Sprite Cranberry commercial in his ears He thought to himself Where on Earth is she She has to be somewhere in this mall As he walked down the toy aisle he heard Wanna Sprite Cranberry and it kept ringing in his ears He searched every single aisle with no luck I ve been searching for so long He screamed I wonder how many hours it s been I wonder if my mom is worried about me he thought to himself Sans searched the mall for what felt like hours He searched all of the fourth floor fifth floor and the sixth floor He passed by every aisle again and still he could not find her Eventually he decided to go to the seventh floor even though he did not know what was on that floor because the map had graffiti on it He was a little nervous but got into the elevator When he stepped out he saw cash registers and the lines to checkout but what made his heart jump

was what he saw on checkout aisle eight It was his mom He ran as fast as he could and caught her MOM He shouted Sans She said WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU she practically screamed I was looking for you It s been hours Where were you He cried back at her Sans I was on the first floor I never left it and was waiting for you to come back I even tried to call you but your phone went straight to voicemail Sans then replied frantically I went through every floor looking for you and I couldn t find you My phone is dead so I could not call you Well Toriel said I did go to the bathroom and that is probably when you could not find me on the first floor Oh I m so sorry you were scared 4 What she said next made all of Sans troubles melt away Now that we are back together do you want a hot dog Sans started to cry a little because he was so happy YES PLEASE There you have it Sans and his mom were reunited he got his hot dog and they had a wonderful Christmas They celebrated with hot dogs and Sprite Cranberries T h e E nd

Bryant s Christmas Miracle 12 By Ryan Kovic On a cold and rainy winter morning in San Francisco a 57 year old man named Bryant was walking down Lombard street He was famous in the neighborhood he was an older man well he looked much older than actually was He had recently won the 1 billion dollar powerball lottery and was very rich But the win didn t make him happy he just wanted a present and somebody to care about him He had stoped working since his big win and had retired early But he still wasn t happy He was depressed and no counselor that he saw could seem to help him They all quoted He s hopeless or I ve never seen depression like this They could never cheer him up And now it was his least favorite time of year Christmas season He would watch everyone walking up and down Lombard Street and think to himself why does nobody give me gifts He would look as people went out of stores looking happy with a gift in their hands But these next few days would be like no other for Bryant for he would experience something he had never had before See Bryant had a brother in law His brother in law was married to his younger sister and Bryant chose not to talk to him very much He had only seen him one Christmas five years ago His name was Darrel Darrel was a successful businessman and a nice person He was also very wealthy and chose to give some of his money to charity That morning Bryant ran into Darrel Bryant didn t recognize Darrel at first but then he saw his unmistakable grin Bryant tried to ignore Darrel but Darrel recognized him at first glance and stoped to say hello Darrel had heard about Bryant s depression from his wife or Bryant s sister Darrel said he was concerned about Bryant s depression and offered to get him a counselor Bryant said he didn t need one because the others that he got quit on him Darrel said in response You should give it one more shot

besides it s Christmas season Bryant begrudgingly accepted Darrel s request They would meet with the counselor on Christmas Eve Bryant woke up from his bed the day had come for another person to give up on him He got ready for the day and went outside It was cold which was unusual because it was usually hot in San Francisco at this time As soon as he stepped out the door he was greeted by Darrel who had apparently been sitting outside for 30 minutes now waiting for Bryant to go out He was dressed in casual clothes which was unusual because he usually dressed formal during the day Darrel was waiting for the Uber that he ordered when he started talking to Bryant He said How is your day Bryant responded rudely What do you think I just woke up They didn t talk again until they got to the therapy center When they got there Darrel said that they were in room 7 and their appointment was starting soon When they got in the room to Bryant s surprise there was no therapist Instead Darrel sat on the therapists chair Bryant said What are you thinking the therapist is the only person that can sit there Darrel sat down calmly and said I am the therapist Bryant was in shock Are you even a certified therapist he asked Yes I am Darrel said Darrel had trained as a therapist in his younger years and had previously reserved a room with the therapy center to Bryant s surprise They began What do you think about Christmas Darrel asked I think it is stupid and pointless he said Have you ever given or received a gift before I have not given a gift ever and I have not received a gift since childhood Well why don t you try giving a gift Because I never receive any Well you should give something if you expect to receive something Who should I give a gift to Well maybe somebody who you respect I respect nobody Maybe an acquaintance or a friend I have no friends and I don t talk to anybody regularly Then maybe you could give

something to the local charities I could but I don t think I would get anything in return Don t worry you will So Bryant left the therapy center thinking about what he could give It was Christmas Eve night and everybody was in a jolly spirit except for Bryant who was getting things for the homeless shelter He stoped by the local Safeway and bought seven bag fulls of different fruits and a couple different cakes While he was at Safeway he was recognized by several people for buying so much but he wasn t affected buy buying such a big load as his big win gave him more money than he could have ever wanted He walked back to his house which was on Marina Boulevard He then took his car and drove to one of the charities and got out of his car to drop of his load He went to the charity and was stopped by a young homeless boy Is that food for us he asked in a very sad but hopeful voice Why yes is is Bryant replied in a monotone voice He went to the front desk and talked to the person at the counter He gave the person the supplies and the person said This is the most food we have been donated in years Bryant responded feeling good about himself Your welcome When he walked out he was surprised to see Darrel with a gift in his hands Bryant said Well I didn t get anything in return Darrel handed Bryant the gift and said Well now you do Merry Christmas Bryant Bryant was dumbfounded at Darrel s act of kindness and opened the gift with anticipation It was an ornament with snowflakes and snowmen on it Bryant said Thank you but I don t have a tree Darrel responded I ordered one to be shipped to your address it will be there in about 20 minutes Your also invited to our Christmas Dinner tomorrow Bryant was overjoyed and went back to his house When he got there there was an 8 foot tall Christmas tree on his front porch Bryant got to work setting up the tree in his living room and he made sure the ornament was there for everybody to see He then went to bed

When he woke up the next morning he saw there was presents and a pet carrier under his tree He went to open them In the pet carrier he found a dog Bryant had always wanted another dog after his previous one had passed away He had all the things his previous dog needed and played with so he only needed to go shopping for the dog s food He went to the store and got a little carried away and bought lots of very expensive food for the night with Darrel and his family because his big win made it so he really didn t have a budget By the time he was done shopping it was night time and it was fifteen minutes until Darrel s Christmas dinner He was very excited and drove there right away When he got there he opened the door As soon as he stepped in Darrel s kids said Merry Christmas uncle Bryant Bryant was very surprised and happy He said hi to his sister Darrel and the kids and before he knew it it was time for dinner The table was set and then Bryant showed them the food he brought They were all happy and ate Christmas dinner Bryant enjoyed the dinner When it was time for him to go he said his goodbyes and then left Bryant was walking down to his car It was cold but Bryant felt a burning warmth inside that made him feel great It had been the best Christmas ever

13 Lost in New York By Brigette Mahoney The lights shine radiantly in the darkness They are strung along the modern houses decorated with forest green wreaths tied with a delicately folded red ribbon and assembled into place Warm yellow sparks that glisten in the bulb create a row of strung bulbs attached together and implemented on the houses In the metropolitan city of New York there lives a family of three There is a Golden Retriever with soft wispy yellow hair blended with a whitish thick or opaque color black round eyes that bulge like cannon balls and a bright pinkish red tongue that hangs out of her mouth like the overhang of a cliff Her name is Penny Daniel is a forty year old man with a tall stature He wears a royal blue one fourth zip sweater imprinted with a mirage of white fluffy snowflakes similar to the texture of a cloud He is a very successful lawyer and has an extraordinary zest for adventure His wife Kelly is a thirty eight year old woman who is a stay at home wife She wears a big puffy pink snow jacket that looks like an inflatable raft with a fluffy cotton aura around the hood snow boots that are as black as night and indigo earmuffs that have imprints of reindeer that are arranged in single file around the periphery Kelly loves Christmas She loves the smell of the warm gingerbread baking in the oven that tickles her taste buds the brilliant lights that shine luminously among the houses and the gifts under the tree She loves to gingerly pull the loose end of a red bow attached to a gift and loves tearing the wrapping paper open like how a dog eats a bone Kelly and Daniel love to play fetch with a torn up brown used to be bright orange slobbery and slimy ball that Penny loves It s the most wonderful time of the year Christmas

On December 15 at 11 00 a m Daniel and Kelly go to a Christmas tree lot to pick out the best tree As they wander around they come across sage forest and emerald colored trees standing from five to twenty five feet tall Kelly points to an eight foot Fraser Fir emerald green colored tree with branches that resemble the silhouette of a beautiful leaf This is the one it s beautiful Kelly exclaims White and red colored string secures the tree strapped to the car When the couple drives home with the excitement of the perfect tree they unhinge it from the roof of the car and slowly pick it up Kelly opens the white door of their house the color of smooth white chocolate with a golden yellow knob so the tree can fit Daniel hoists the tree through the door with all of his might The tree skims the sides of the door and slowly but steadily the tree emerges into the house The door is left wide open and the frenetic six month old puppy with her ears perked up like a periscope on a submarine dashes out the door like a bolt of lightning She runs down the white spiraled marble steps of the house and is gone Kelly screams like a bat echoing in a dark cavernous cave Daniel runs over to her and asks What s the matter Then Kelly replies Penny is gone we left the door open and she ran out Kelly and Daniel both run to get their shoes and warm jackets to find her They dash out the door like a squirrel chasing after a nut They run through Central Park which looks like a white sheet that blankets the trees from the snow and the leafless trees shiver from the fresh snow As couples wander about they ask

Have you seen our dog She is a small Golden Retriever with a purple collar Who would be willing to sacrifice their Christmas Eve to help a distraught couple find their dog Strangers all reply with Sorry we haven t seen her but good luck They run by the Empire State Building with the glittering reflection from the thousands of windows climbing up the building with white snowflakes clinging on the window panes Daniel screams at the top of his lungs once again Have you seen our dog She is a small Golden Retriever with a purple collar Snow pounds from the sky which hinders their vision Daniel thinks about Penny and how she will be shivering in the cold with her golden fur that will be transformed into sharp icicles that will poke at her skin After hours of searching there is no sign of their beloved dog Nightfall is approaching fast and the clock is running out They walk past the Broadway Theaters imagining the shiny chandeliers twinkling above the red velvet cushioned chairs and The Statue of Liberty who is standing tall the fiery torch which is blazing red and orange fire like a dragon and the green color pops out like a Christmas tree Although these landmarks are beautiful they feel incomplete without Penny by their side The weather has become so harsh the world looks like a white cloud hovering over the eyes of everyone outside Daniel and Kelly retreat back to their home knowing that presents don t matter being surrounded by the warmth and love of their family matters the most As Daniel pulls out his key to unlock the door they hear whimpering in the distance They decide to follow the noise that draws closer and closer Kelly and Daniel are lead into a dark alley with the pungent smell of

garbage and rotting leftovers of all the meals prior to December 15 Flies swarm the trash awaiting their meal yet to come The whimpering finally stops Kelly and Daniel turn the corner and see Penny She is huddled next to a bundle of black trash bags and seated on the hard black concrete with ants and bugs scurrying about Penny has been patiently waiting in the pitch black darkness nestled in the cold dark alleyway with the snow pounding down on her face She excitedly jumps into Kelly and Daniels arms whimpering with joy She has been missing for ten monotonous hours but has finally been reunited with her family That day Kelly and Daniel realize that there is nothing stronger than the unbreakable chain of family and loved ones As Kelly Daniel and Penny walk back to their cozy little house with their feet crunching in the snow Daniel remarks Our true Christmas gift is walking right in front of us Penny

14 The Great Christmas Heist By Lucy Mahoney In a land far far away where dreams do come true and the impossible becomes possible Christmas is on the rise However many of us know this place as the North Pole As the snow peacefully falls chaos breaks loose in the Workshop Christmas in ten days eleven hours 24 minutes and forty seven seconds an elf shouts at the top of his lungs Santa s Workshop is a magical place with conveyor belts filled with all toys imaginable Little elves are running around with their tools ready to bring joy to every child across the globe Christmas music blares throughout the workshop as joyful elves dance and sing in unison Floor to ceiling hot cocoa machines stand in the bakery of the workshop as bakers deliver fresh sugar cookies to the ground floor Upon the Saturday before Christmas Santa noticed a decline in toy production He was a plump older man with snow like hair and big bushy beard His cheeks were rosy red and his belly jiggled as he laughed He wore a bright red suit with black leather boots and a red hat He went all around the North Pole searching for a new toy maker As Santa went from event to event trying to scope out a new helper he comes across the Northern Ice Skating Competition He watches as elves are brilliantly tossed in the air and twirl like ballerinas a in music box As the competition comes to a close Santa spots an elf way off in the distance who had skated earlier As Santa keeps an eye on him he notices that this particular elf had won the competition He is perfect for the job Santa thought As this elf had stepped off the podium Santa was the first to greet him Ho Ho Ho why hello there and what would your name be asked Santa

Hi Santa I m Lester pleasure to meet you replied the elf I was wondering if you would like to come and work for me as the Christmas season comes to a close remarked Santa This is perfect It s my time to seek revenge on him and everything he stands for thought Lester I would absolutely love to smirked Lester Awesome You start tomorrow See you then replied Santa and he walked back to his workshop excited for the new addition However little did Santa know that Lester was a greedy and evil elf who sought after revenge All he wanted was to sabotage Christmas so that other kids around the world could feel the pain he had felt on that cold December day Lester was an especially short elf with pointy ears and rosy cheeks He wore a lime green costume with a black buckled belt His shoes were curled at the tips with little bells that jingled as he walked Regardless the feature that made him stand out in a crowd of elves that looked like him was his hat with bells that danced as Christmas music blared Later that night Lester went home to his festively decorated gingerbread house to formulate his plan His house was about a fifteen minute sleigh ride from Santa s Workshop His house had a huge wreath with red holly in it plastered on his front door The outer rim was showered with colorful gumdrops and little chocolate candies His windows were powered with fresh snow as his fireplace raged inside of warmth and fury The Christmas tree was decorated with bright lights and ornaments dangled from each tree branch Walking by no one would have known that Lester despised Christmas As he sat down at his wooden table his head started spinning He had so many ideas that twirled in his head but none of them seemed to be quite right How do I ever expect to steal Christmas if I have no plan Lester went to bed that night feeling discouraged As he crawled into bed and turned on the tv his favorite movie The Grinch was playing Huh

That s exactly it I can become Santa I ll steal all the toys and Santa s sleigh and suit Lester remarked proudly Lester went to bed as visions of Santa in disbelief danced in his head The following day was a gloomy one as the sun did not rise joyfully and heavy snow fell from the sky The winds were shifting and evil air lingered low in the sky As Santa went to feed the reindeer that muggy morning Blitzen seemed apprehensive However Blitzen didn t say anything and Santa couldn t tell what was wrong What s wrong with you today ol pal questioned Santa Blitzen just sat and stared in Santa s eyes As Lester walked into the Workshop he was astounded Never in his lifetime did he believe he would end up here Everyone was so joyful and loving he despised it However he had to put on a facade so he wouldn t look suspicious As he opened the main doors streamer flew across the room and balloons cascaded down from the ceiling Ho Ho Ho welcome to the team Lester said Santa Lester stood in the doorway in shock he was so caught off guard He he thank you Santa How very kind of you replied Lester nervously You are very welcome Lester will be our new toy maker in preparation for Christmas Santa announced The whole place erupted with hoots and hollers everyone was so excited to meet Lester After Lester had met all of his co workers as Santa had insisted he went to meet the eight famous reindeer in the stable Uh oh thought Lester This was something I didn t think about Animals can smell fear and vengeance Lester pondered this thought as they walked to the stable As they stepped into the stable the reindeer were bounding to meet the new elf all except for Blitzen As Santa moved down the line and introduced Lester to everyone he stopped at Blitzen

Something was wrong Blitzen was always filled with magic As Lester passed Blitzen he exploded with anger and leapt out at Lester Oh my Blitzen How dare you act like this around a new guest Go back into your stall and think about what you ve just done Santa scolded I am so sorry Lester I don t know why he is acting this way Oh that s okay We all get like that sometimes Lester replied But not Blitzen Never in his life has he been angry or rude Reindeer are gentle animals for the most part said Santa Well I guess we will never know snapped Lester quickly And with that they left the stable As Lester and Santa entered the Workshop once more Lester got right to work tweaking this and fixing that As soon as Santa left the room Lester began accomplishing is real work First he thought of the line in Santa Claus is Coming to Town It played He s making a list and checking it twice So he went to the Snow Globe of the World and started collecting all the lists that were kept in a safe Santa s passwords were very predictable and easy to guess it was not a problem to figure out As Lester collected these lists he shoved them into a trash bag and carried them into his sleigh outside Surprisingly no one had questioned him or asked why he put the trash bags in his sleigh These elves have never experienced crime How lame Lester thought to himself What a boring life they are living As he returned from his sleigh he got back to work He was working on a banana seat bicycle for a little girl named Jane He was very proud of it especially as he thought of a way to destroy it As the day turned into night Santa announced that everyone was free to go home This news gave Lester an incredible idea

Lester hid in a nearby coat closet while everyone was heading out after a long day of work When the coast was clear he swung the door open and to his surprise red lasers intricately decorated the room The area was dark and the only source of light came from the lasers However the moon shone through the windows offering some vision to Lester You have got to be kidding me sighed Lester This was going to be more complicated than Lester had originally thought it to be He strategically placed his feet in the pockets of open space conscientiously to ensure that an alarm would not sound After an hour of laboriously walking through the maze of lasers Lester had finally made it to the storage room He had a huge sack much like the one that Santa would be using only one day later and started to seize every toy in sight Dolls baseball bats and mitts teddy bears and rubber duckies were snatched and mercilessly shoved into a hole darkness Every toy that had been meticulously made earlier that day was stolen and gone He he ha ha ha Nothing can stop me now Santa Santa The toys are missing They are gone Oh what are we going to do shouted an elf in Santa s ear Oh I m up I m up Please tell me I didn t hear what I think you said replied Santa No it s true Everything is gone What are we going to do cried the elf I m not one hundred percent sure but I can tell you that I will investigate Santa said firmly Thank you Santa said the elf and he exited the room Santa suited up in his casual outfit and headed out the door He needed a partner crime and he knew who was perfect for the job As Santa strapped Blitzen in his harness he told him what was

going on Blitzen was suspicious nonetheless but not surprised With Lester came bad vibes Blitzen and Santa had to find a way to catch him red handed As they walked to the sleigh garage together Blitzen had spotted a wood piece poking through the thick layer of snow As Santa hoisted this unknown object to eye level he immediately recognized it to be the blue baseball bat one of his favorite toys He was so upset to see it destroyed into multiple pieces but as he looked closer they continued into the garage Blitzen and Santa stealthily crept into the garage and to their surprise saw Lester sitting in the sleigh Lester was busy pushing all sorts of buttons and pulling this turning that to notice Santa and Blitzen in the way of flight He had stolen Santa s suit and the other seven reindeer while Santa and Blitzen were investigating the premises Lester was sitting pretty ready to take off as he muttered No no no Merry Christmas to no one and to all a bad night Ha ha ha To Lester s disbelief Santa interrupted and shouted You stop right there Lester What in the North Pole do you think you are doing Well isn t it obvious I m taking over your role and becoming Santa Claus following in your footsteps if you will Lester replied confidently This isn t your place Lester You can t just come here and ruin everyone s Christmas You wouldn t want to do that to little boys and girls would you questioned Santa Of course I wouldn t want anything more remarked Lester And why would that despicable remark be so asked Santa You know exactly why When I was eight years old I didn t get anything for Christmas Not even coal I was heartbroken and now is my time to inflict that on other kids They can subsequently feel how I felt spoke Lester solemnly At this point Lester was pulling on the reins Santa ran in front of the sleigh to stop it and pulled out a roll of wrapping paper Take me

on old man shouted Lester At this point Lester had unveiled a roll of wrapping paper and started to attack Santa Santa had met Lester s roll with his and waited for him to weaken Lester let go and fell to the ground It s over All my hardwork has gone to waste thought Lester as he cried on the floor Just to be safe Santa pulled out his ribbon shooter and wrapped Lester in silky ribbon There was nothing he could do anymore It was over As Lester layed on the floor wrapped up Santa explained himself Oh Lester You didn t need any gifts that Christmas You had everything you could have ever wanted right in front of you Your big brother was home and your family was getting along Do you remember when you would bully other kids around your neighborhood Well you certainly shaped up by the end of the year and made new friends You had friends that were kind and funny Regardless I dropped off a pogo stick one you had wanted I guess it was never given to you spoke Santa Are you telling me my brother s pogo stick was really mine questioned Lester I guess so chuckled Santa as his belly jiggled It was all a misunderstanding Santa I am sorry for the trouble I have caused you I feel horrible said Lester remorsefully Ho Ho Ho that s alright Lester The important thing to focus on now is delivering these presents to deserving boys and girls Would you like to come along replied Santa I would love to said Lester Santa put his suit back on and cut Lester free from the ribbon Santa s sleigh catapulted through the sky with eight reindeer leading the way Christmas was saved and everything was going to be alright Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night

15 Where Did Julian Go By Kate O Flynn It was a Sunday night when I woke up startled by a very cold breeze coming from Julians room I hopped out of bed put on my slippers and tip toed into his dark room I peeked inside only to find his bed made with a little letter on it and the window wide open Oh no I thought This could be anything with Julian I picked up the tiny yellow note that had been folded about ten times into my freezing hands and read it to myself I m going to Granny and Grandpas house for Christmas Sorry See you then Julian I didn t believe that for one second I know Julian and he dreads going to Nanny and Papas house What is he doing I need to find out I refold the note and set it back down on his bed After that I go to close the window and look out at the snow I notice footprints How would he go there anyway They live like 3 hours form us and he couldn t have walked I tip toe back into my room and try to fall back asleep Accept I cant My mind is racing with the thought of where he is and what he s doing The next day when I hop downstairs to my lovely decorated house my parents are crying with tears rolling down their bright red faces They have the note in their hands shaking I don t know what to do Jake he s he s he s gone Oh what ever shall I do I felt bad for her We all knew he wasn t actually going to my grandparents house I said back Its okay he ll come back trying to calm her down I needed to come up with a plan so I thought after school I would go look for him and tell no one I zipped up my small black backpack and my puffy red coat and headed to school in the freezing cold

Attention all students at Saint Peters Middle School Mr Charles clears his throat and says If you have seen or heard of Julian Robberts leaving please report to me and Mrs Hawkman at the office IMMEDIATELY He was last seen taking the train to the North Pole Thank you that is all The North Pole What could he be doing there I had to leave now After thinking for a while of why he s there and what he s doing he never gets presents for Christmas anyway since he s always so naughty I strut out of my classroom without saying a word into to the below 10 degree weather with my tiny boots sinking into the cloud like snow feeling like I m walking on air I sprint to the old and dirty train station and take the nearest stop from Juneau to the North Pole Ive never taken the train before alone and I m surrounded with random smelly people I ve never seen in my life even though our town is very small At the first few minutes I had already eaten my ham and cheese sandwich and my apple and was starving the rest of the train ride After hours of waiting anxiously it was the last stop and the doors struggled to open into the blizzard When I arrived I was the only one on the train and it was snowing so much I couldn t even see I trudged and trudged in the freezing wind my lips turning purple and my eyebrows and eyelashes filling with ice until I found a small stump laced in snow and plopped down exhausted It s useless I thought to myself Why did I go all this way for nothing Maybe he isn t even here and he is actually going to granny and grandpas house I m never going to find him like this and I m ready lost in the middle of nowhere Right as I thought that an old scraggly man had appeared He had grey and black hair with a very long beard attached to a mustache He had long wrinkles drooping his face almost as if it was melting off He had also looked liked he had worked almost his whole life because his hands seemed very strong and stiff He was wearing a

huge black ski jacket over his black trousers and black boots I don t know where he was going and what he was doing until he noticed me In a deep raspy voice he said Where ya going young fella He had an accent but I don t know where it was from I replied I m going to Santa s house to find my brother Your brother He questioned surprised Yes my brother ran away and I think its something to do with Santa and his presents I said Well how lucky are you I m just going over there to drop off some cookies wanna come with me its only a ten minute walk I hesitated for a moment He seemed like a good guy and that I could trust him because no one lives in the North Pole anyway and he was indeed carrying cookies as well so it seemed like he s telling the truth I went with my gut and said Uhh okay that would be wonderful Okay then lets head on I don t want my cookies to get cold he chuckled Oh and I uh forgot to introduce myself I m Jeremy He said I m Jake I replied and we shook hands I was right about his hands being stiff because it felt like I was shaking hands with a rock We walked for about ten minutes a until we stopped in front of a huge hill I saw lights that went up so high it looked like it was touching the clouds It was beautiful That s it Jeremy said with a huge smile on his face almost as bright as the lights on Santa s house

We walked up the hill and the closer and closer we got the more it smelt like peppermint candies and chocolates and sugar plums and cookies and all sorts of yummy Christmas goodies I ve never smelt anything more delicious in my life We got to the house and it was magical It was laced with ribbons and lights and candy canes all around There were so many Christmas trees I couldn t even keep track His house was as big as three mansions combined I looked to the left of me and there were tiny houses with smaller versions of decorations on it Those houses are the elves I thought getting more and more excited I looked to the right of me and I saw Santa s workshop It was surprisingly even bigger than his house even though I thought nothing could get bigger The only thing I noticed was that there was no one inside it and I was confused Why aren t the elves be making gifts The sleigh and reindeer and elves are probably inside I thought hopefully Where is everyone Exclaimed startled Jeremy I m Don t ask me are they usually here at this hour I questioned Yes The elves are always here preparing presents for all the little children he replied After a few moments of him thinking he finally said Lets go and knock on the door and see if Santa s there so we can ask him what s going on So we headed to the grand entrance with two huge doors stacked in Christmas decorations and reefs and candy canes When I rang the doorbell it played the song Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas No one came to the door so we rung it again No one came the second time and by the third time once we started to get impatient someone finally opened the door I didn t know who it was till I looked down It was an elf with tears running down her face

He took Santa and all his gifts and all the elves and the reindeer and Mrs Claus and everything This little boy He wants to steal Christmas Its Julian I thought We need to go now I yelled out to Jeremy So we ran all over the place looking up and down until we came across footprints leading far far behind the workshop out into the woods They looked like it was as big as Julians shoe size and there were huge skid marks right next to it We ran and followed them until the footprints just completely stopped What happened Jeremy and I walked a little closer to inspect the snow until the ground fell beneath us He has set a trap All of a sudden Jeremy and I fell into a cave full of baggage carousels No sight of Santa and everyone accept snow footprint trails The footprints led to a huge conveyor door and inside it we heard screaming Get me out Get me out We told them that it was Jeremy and Jake and we tried and tried to twist the big black metal handle that looked like it was from a pirate ship but it wouldn t budge We were trying for almost 20 minutes any possible way throwing stuff at it looking around the place trying to find a key or anything that would open it to slamming even ourselves into it Until Julian stormed in Before looking up he shouted What s all of this racket for I ll have you out once I ship all the presents to then he looked up and saw us standing right in front of him He froze What uh what are you doing here Jake And who s this guy with you Stuttering on his words Get out of here right now I m just trying to save Santa and all the elves No your not Julian Your trying to steal all the presents Now give me your key He stared down at the jingling gold key from his pocket and grasped it hard with his hand

Never He yelled Julian turned and started running down a tunnel that looked like it should be in a suer He was as fast as a cheetah We chased him through tunnels with twists and turns until it came to a four cross section Jeremy and I had no clue where he went We had lost him and now he s going to take Christmas I thought in my head Jeremy and I split ways I went to the right tunnel and he went to the left tunnel I was turning corners looking up down and around and doing everything I could do until I heard a scream straight ahead I ran as fast as I could and once I saw Julian with Jeremy I tackled him to the ground and grabbed his heavy key Luckily we were at the end of the tunnel so I wouldn t have to get lost finding my way back I ran straight to the big door and unlocked it Everyone flooded out like the Niagara Falls and started cheering and singing Christmas songs Soon everyone was facing Julian He started backing away like a dog when it had just ripped up a sock trying to gesture their guilt and sorrow Now you go shut down the system and ship all the presents back or else you wont get presents for the rest of your life Your already the very last child on the naughty list Santa commanded Uh uh I cant do that right now the presents are already shipped and they wouldn t come back until three days after Christmas confessed embarrassed Julian Still do it Julian Please I will disappoint all the families and no one will ever forgive you Santa begged Ugh fine All I ever wanted was a present Any present I have only gotten candy since third grade and I have been wanting to get a bike because everyone in my school has one I was jealous of all the little children getting presents when I wasn t said Julian wile walking to the end of the carousel flipping the switch to OFF

Well you weren t getting as good presents because you were being a bad kid If you happened to be a good boy you would have gotten what you wanted and everyone would be happy None of this would have happened if you were a good boy Some Kids don t even get anything on Christmas You should be thankful for what you have not ungrateful for what you don t have Santa said Julian finally realized what he had done and whined I m so sorry Santa I should have known better and not have taken the presents you and the elves took so long to make just because I was being bad I will be good now and wont do bad things I m sorry said Julian almost in tears Jake hasn t seen him cry in years He was astonished Finally after working things out we all had a group hug and Julian almost never did anything bad and when he did it was on accident Three days after Christmas like Julian said Santa was able to deliver the presents Although some people were sad about it almost everyone understood why this happened and learned that Christmas isn t all about presents Julian was moved right up to the nice list and received al the presents he has wished for After the long group hug Jeremy said joyfully How about we celebrate with some cookies

16 Christmas Love By Callen Porter December 2 1975 There in a small little stone house in a small little town lived a family of four There was Lola Ranger Micheal and Jem Moon The Moon family loved one thing more than anything Christmas Every year they would get the biggest tree they could find hang up hundreds of lights and sing carols and songs all night long They loved Christmas more than anyone in their small town called Greenville Greenville was the hottest place in the summer but the coldest place in the winter Long narrow icicles hang from the sides of roofs and snow everywhere you look Everyone who lived there knew each other Inside their small home was Lola and her younger brother Ranger setting up their record player they use every Christmas Ugh This is so hard to put together shouts Lola Lola Where did you put the instruction book replies Ranger Their complaining and fighting lasted forever until there was a small knock on the door Lola and Ranger looked at each other and ran to look out the window They hid behind the long dark netted curtain and peeked their heads out just so they could see who was there at their door There was a man wearing black pants a raggedy grey jacket and the man was about six feet Lola and Ranger didn t know who it was Ranger Lola says Go get Mom and Dad and tell them we have a visitor Ranger runs down the stairs to the small basement to get his mom and dad

Mom Dad We have a visitor at our door Come quick Ranger exclaims The visitor knocks one more time a little harder and by then Michael the father opens the door Wait What Is that you Earl exclaims Michael Hello Michael I hope you don t mind me stopping by for a while Earl says Michael looks at his wife Jem Of course you may come in replied Jem Earl walked in looked around and dropped his jacket onto the floor and walked straight upstairs The family looked at each other in confusion Lola and Ranger had only meant their uncle once when they were babies Today was the day the Moons go to get their Christmas tree and all their decorations Heavy loads of boxes were brought up from the downstairs by Ranger and Michael Ornaments Lights Tinsel Hey Lola her father Michael says Can you go and ask Uncle Earl to come downstairs so we can get into the car to get our Christmas tree Sure Lola exclaims and runs up the stairs At the top Lola knocks on the door Uncle Earl ran into Uncle Earl It is Lola We are all going to go to look for a christmas tree and we would like for you to come with us Uncle Earl stood up and walked to the door He slowly opened it to make eye contact with Lola I don t want to go said Earl My father said you have to Please come It will be so much fun Lola stated Uncle Earl opened the door and walked down the stairs not saying a word When he got to the door he walked out slamming the door behind him No one knew why he was being so rude and

grouchy but the rest of the family was still happy and walked outside to meet Earl at the car door After a silent drive to the town s Christmas tree lot Lola and Ranger jumped out and was already looking for a tree The parents Michael and Jem has to force Earl out of the car and made him go with them Then all of a sudden Lola found the most perfect tree She had to show everyone so she ran over towards the front and brought them all there Uncle Earl Uncle Earl Do you like it Lola said I absolutely hate it Uncle Earl says He went up to the tree and with his foot he kicked the tree over onto the floor and jumped on it once more The tree was broken Branches had fallen off Pine needles were all over the floor The perfect Christmas tree they found was now destroyed Earl Why on earth would you do that shouted Jem Earl smirked and laughed Everyone was so surprised by what had just happened Lola s eye was tearing up You could see the tear slowly fall out from in between her eyelids slowing flowing down her cold face Lola ran off wiping the tears from her eyes and decided to just keep looking Meanwhile Uncle Earl was walking in the other direction and Michael started to run after him Earl what s the big problem I thought you loved Christmas said his brother Michael Is this some kind of joke I hate Christmas It is the absolute worst time of the year Earl replied Well Earl you may hate it but this is our favorite time and you are not allowed to be here if you are going to ruin it shouted Michael

Earl looked at his feet them up at Michael then turned around and slowly walked back to the car Michael then ran back to find his wife Jem and figure out where Lola and Ranger went Lola was there standing next to maybe the best tree possible Dad Mom I found an even better tree screamed Lola Everyone ran over and was in awe This tree was perfect and it wasn t a lot of money Ranger asked someone for help and assistance Next thing they knew everyone was back in the car Earl was silent the whole ride home After they arrived back home Earl once again ran to the upstairs and locked himself in a room that he never came out of December 22 1975 Now only three days till Christmas Day The Moon Family s house was covered in lights their tree shined bright there small stockings rested above the fireplace and they now had figured out how to use the record player Laughter and happiness swirled around downstairs everyone was having fun Except for Earl Earl doesn t leave his room Ever He hasn t left since the day they got their christmas tree The room which Earl has been living in is a disaster It smells terrible there is rotten food dirty clothes and Earl who hasn t showered for maybe 3 weeks It is disgusting but then right at that second they turn the record player on and put the volume high You can hear the fun Christmas music from everywhere in the house A loud slam come from upstairs Earl stomps down the stairs and smashes the record player with his fist The

music stops Complete silence Earl looks up at Lola and Ranger then at Michael and Jem They have had enough EARL YOU ARE NOW BEING KICKED OUT OF OUR HOME I TOLD YOU TO BE CAREFUL AND TO NOT RUIN OUR CHRISTMAS WE LET YOU STAY HERE BECAUSE YOU ARE MY BROTHER BUT NOW YOU MUST LEAVE RIGHT NOW screams Michael Earl looks up at his brother turns around and walks towards the stairs No You are not allowed to take anything with you You didn t bring anything here when you arrived so you are not bringing anything back with you Michael said while pointing to the door Earl turns the doorknob and walks out with a bang Lola falls to her knees trying to put back together the record player but it is complexity ruined Lola runs to her room sobbing and then falls asleep December 24 1975 Earl can t move He is laying in the snow deep in the forest with nothing but his raggedy jacket and his dark pants His lips are peeling and cracked He is barely breathing He has been by himself for 2 days now freezing out in the snow It is Christmas Eve and he has nowhere to go and no place to be Earl saw families all laughing and having fun together and got him thinking about how he has ruined every chance with the only family he has left What can I do What should I do Earl says to himself He has an idea Earl stood up he was about to collapse but he gain his strength and started walking He could see lights ahead He followed them until he reached the main road There in a big glowing light sign was a music store Earl only had a small amount of money barely any

He walked in and looked for the record player he had broken 100 dollars the price tag said Earl sunk to his knees and looked at the money he had He needed 60 more dollars We all know Christmas is a day that miracles happen Earl prayed and prayed that someone will please give him a hand and help him out He needed to be with his family and needed to gain their trust and love Right then a kind small woman came u to him and offered to help Sir are you okay What happened whispered the woman I need my family I need to show them my love and I need to gain their trust back Can you help me Earl replied Christmas is a time for giving and I would like to help you the old woman whispered to Earl Earl looked up in astonishment He quickly stood up and gave the woman a big hug thanking her for her kindness and help Once he bought the record player he started to run It was about to get dark and about time for Christmas dinner Down hills up hills through alleyways going right and left After 30 minutes of running he had arrived back to his brother s house Earl stopped He didn t know what to say He looked around at all the decorations the family put up and was amazed He took one deep breath and walked up the stairs He places is fist in front of his face onto the door He knocked once the twice and waited He waited some more and then waited a bit more Then the doorknob turned Earl What are you doing here said Michael He could see the rest of the family standing in the back The smell of all the food made Earls mouth water He could see the fire sparkling beneath the chimney Michael Jem Lola Ranger I came here to say I am sorry Michael Christmas was always my favorite holiday Ever since last year I have dreaded it I know this is your favorite

holiday and I shouldn t have shown all my hatred towards just to ruin your family s Christmas I am also extremely sorry about your record player so I went off to get you a brand new one I know you guys will probably not forgive me but I m here to give this to you Earl said as he turned around and walked back down the stairs Earl wait Michael says Earl turns around and looks at Michael We need you and you need us We are family Family sticks together Lola says from behind her father You know Christmas isn t all that bad in the end Earl replies and walks up the stairs into the house The food is ready Everyone go sit down Jem yells from the kitchen Everyone walks over to their seat and sits down The food come out one by one onto the table Earl sits there and says to himself Wow I am sure a lucky man

17 The Gifted Tree By Ryan Maddock The hot sun sparkles on the ground as I happily walk home from the last day of second grade The thought of summer homework swirls in my mind like a tornado ready to fiercely destroy I hate homework especially in the summer Summer is for having fun not doing long and boring homework We already go to school a million days a year I mutter to myself I kick the hard dry dirt on the smooth sidewalk The sun is beaming on me like a pearl with light I am wearing my new blue jeans and my shirt is as red as a strawberry I walk for centuries until I get home I see our beautiful blue house on Edison Parkway It stands tall looking down on those next to ours I gaze at the oak trees surrounding our house They go so high up into the sky The streets are so quiet that you can hear the rattling of a dog collar I quickly climb the three stairs to our porch Right as I open the old screen door covering our real door I hear grandma yelling about someone named President Lyndon B Johnson again Grandma is always yelling about President Lyndon B Johnson and I don t know why I gently close the screen and leave the house I don t like seeing grandma mad I don t know where I will go Somewhere I have never been perhaps I wander for about an hour until I can see an field in the distance Tiny red circles catch my eye I walk closer until I arrive I stare at the beauty of it Hundreds maybe thousands of apple trees stand tall on the long green grass Each one with dozens of shiny red apples The leaves are the perfect green color The field is so colorful that all the colors that they melt away in your brain I particularly admire one specific tree It is not too big but not too small It s the perfect size The apples on this tree are the nicest They are ripe and beam as the sunlight hits

them They are the perfect apples The pride of the tree is the strongest it leads like a lion It s the perfect tree I gently rub the skinny smooth trunk of the tree and sit down for a while open my backpack and start the book I need to read The Catcher in the Rye Every single day during the long and warm summer I go to the beautiful apple tree I bring a huge bottle of water everyday so I can water it I always pick the ripest apples from the tree and stuff them in my backpack for grandma for her to make her famous sweet apple pie And everyday I talk to tree hoping it will understand I tell it everything about my life and it tells me everything about its own Well it doesn t really say anything out loud but the communication is still there I stay with the tree for hours until the worst part of the day comes The Time to Go I softly say bye to the tree and sadly walk home As I walk home slowly I reflect on all of the experiences I have all ready have with the tree We have drawn together it has protected me from the evilness of the Gaglebary Monsters and so much more The next day same thing I go to the tree And the next day and the next Every single day I see the tree grow and it sees me grow It is the beginning of my new favorite friendship and my only friendship It has been roughly 3650 days since I met the tree We have develop a loving friendship I have never had Everyday even throughout college I go to the tree Until one morning at four o clock I wake up to the loud and obnoxious sound of the home phone Sir sorry to wake you at this time but we just wanted to let you know the unfortunate news of your grandma She has passed away She lived a great life and was loved by many But it was time the man says We re so sorry he finishes I slam the phone down on the table and begin to pace I m turning red and feel hotter than a pepper I start sweating and eventually

scream as if I m going to explode I sprint out the door faster than a cheetah trying to catch its prey I get to the apple tree panting from exhaustion and terrified with fear Breath after breath I tell the tree the news about Grandma As soon as I finish telling the tree what happened a cold breeze hits me and silences the air I take a few deep breaths and begin to calm down I don t know what to say now I pick the ripest apple I can find just like grandma taught me and I sit under the tree I look up at the stars watching them twinkle one after the other I shut my eyes and thank God for my life and all the privileges he has provided to my family and me because it can all be taken away in an instant Today s the day They day where I need to bury Grandma I look outside no sun no noise Just clouds of darkness waiting to pour down The sky is gray I m broken in despair I have decided to bury Grandma in the apple tree field and once I get there I quietly pray her favorite prayer of all the Hail Mary Hail Mary Full of grace I begin in a gloomy tone I strut to the tree and reach to pick a leaf and an apple and carefully place next to her tombstone Goodbye Grandma You are in a better place now I conclude I slowly pat the tree and walk home As I struggle to wake up on this warm July morning which also happens to be the most important day of my life I remember what Grandma used to say to me several years ago before she died Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage I gently open the curtains to let the sunshine come in through the windows I hear the loud but mellow birds chirping their sounds and the powerful but harmful bees buzzing

Today was the day I was getting married to the most generous beautiful loving and All The Good Adjectives person in the world I was ready to pursue a happy life with her to raise a family with her and for our family to raise a family and pass down our legacy We stand two feet across from each other holding hands under the gorgeous apple tree during our ceremony Our only member of audience our solemniser loudly says What a beautiful day isn t it A perfect day to get married in the perfect place He continues with the ceremony We both happily and careful say our I do s until the time has come Finally the solemniser happily says You may kiss the bride The wedding concludes and I am officially a married man We thank the solemniser and stay in the field for hours talking and planning our future together We talk as the sun sets She rests her head on my shoulder and I rub her back Goodbye Frank goodbye John I say to my kids as I leave the house for the tree Would you guys like to come with me You guys are already seven and have never met my best friend It s beautiful No they abruptly say simultaneously They look at me anxiously as if they are excited for something I kiss my wife goodbye and leave It s a cold winter morning The snow whiter than cotton balls make it hard for me to move Awaiting Christmas I think about what I should get for Larry and John Perhaps bicycles I get to the apple tree field a sight I have seen every single day for thirty eight years I have seen cold days warm days snowy days rainy days mild days all of which are beautiful at the tree As I turn my head up to look at the field I notice the worst sight I have ever seen An earthquake emerges in me and I want to burst I m as curious as

a monkey but madder than anyone else in the world The tree has been cut down There is nothing there This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me I reach the the spot where the tree used to sit but where an ugly stumped log sits and think where the tree could be How was it cut down Who would do this Why would they do this Christmas a time to spend with your loved ones is in two days and the thing I love the most is gone I say to myself I see the clouds get dark and I want to run run away Somewhere I start a new life with Larry John and my wife Christmas Day arrives and yesterday was the first day in 13922 days that I did not go visit my best friend I slowly get out of bed and walk to the bathroom to brush my teeth I look myself and the mirror and say Don t let this affect you Be grateful for all the memories you had I walk downstairs and see Larry and John standing in front of my wife Merry Christmas They say at the same time We have a surprise for you They tell me to close my eyes I do so they flicker Someone grabs my hand and leads me somewhere I start to sweat not knowing what is happening I hear our slide door leading to our front yard open They tell me to open my eyes I carefully open them and gaze at it I look at it This is amazing It s the tree I stare at it like I did when I first found it I see the snow fall gently on it I see the leaves rattle as the wind hits them Thank you I say It s the best gift I ever have gotten Thank you Thank you Thank you How d you end up getting it Well after you told us it was cut down Larry and John went asking everyone where they think it is and it turned up Big Al had it my wife replies

Amazing Thanks you again I say for the thousandth time The sun shines on me as I stare at the tree My wife rubs my shoulder and Larry and John begin to build a snowman Christmas bells ring in my head The wind blows in my face This is the best Christmas gift I have ever gotten

18 A Christmas Adventure By Jackson Stizza It was Christmas Eve and Jake s family was finishing preparing for the next day His dad was in the kitchen making pecan pie while his mom was finishing wrapping presents Jake however was lazily watching T V and was bored out of his mind Jake hated not having something to do so he always felt like he should be doing something when he had free time He also got extremely impatient at times when he wasn t able to finish a task as quickly as he could As Jake was lying on the couch he got up to look around his house for unfinished chores To his dismay he couldn t find any As minutes dragged on Jake heard his dad call him from the kitchen Jake rushed out of the living room and went to see why his dad was calling him We re out of sugar Jake I m going to need you to go get some his dad said when Jake entered the kitchen Jake eagerly agreed and his dad gave him ten dollars to buy some sugar Jake then grabbed his coat and began to walk to the store A few blocks away the Anderson s were also making their final Christmas preparations While Michael Anderson was helping his mom with the Christmas cake he realized that they were also out of sugar Cooking food and baking was what Michael hated the most about Christmas time His mom always made him do it and Michael always thought that there must be no end to the amount of cooking that had to be done Michael also hated baking because of the fact that every time he baked something there was at least one thing wrong with it This always annoyed him and again was one of the reasons he disliked baking Unlike Jake Michael wasn t that eager to go shopping on Christmas Eve His mom however convinced him to even though he was really reluctant His mom gave him six dollars and Michael headed out the door towards the bus stop It was a cold night in San Francisco and Michael could feel a bitter gust of wind

whip against his face as as soon as he stepped outside There weren t many cars on the street and Michael could see that a lot of the shops were closing down early The few shops that were open however had neon signs that stood out like a flashlight in a dark room While Michael was walking towards the bus stop the only thing that he could think about was getting home to the warm fire Most of all he didn t want this small trip to drag on and on so he hurried to get to the store When Jake finally reached his local Safeway he rushed towards the baking section However on his way to the baking section he got distracted by all of the different types of Christmas cookies A few minutes later Michael entered the store and walked towards the baking section As he rounded the corner of the aisle he grabbed the first bag of sugar that he saw When he began to walk away he was stopped by Jake Um excuse me I really need that sugar Jake said I think you can just get another bag Michael replied as he tried to get past Jake The problem is that s the last bag Jake said Well I m sorry about that but I really need to get home Michael said Suddenly Jake grabbed ahold of the bag in Michael s arms Um what are you doing Michael said as he tried to pull the bag away from Jake I m really sorry but I really need this bag of sugar Jake replied as he started pulling harder at the bag I had this bag first fair and square Michael retorted as he also began to pull harder at the bag At this point both boys were tugging at the bag so hard that a small rip appeared in the corner Without noticing the boys continued to pull on the bag until it ripped They were both showered

with tiny particles of sugar and from a distance it looked like a cloud of snow As the boys watched in horror the final pieces of sugar fell and landed on the ground What are we going to do now screamed Jake whose shoulders were covered in sugar I don t know but you started it Michael yelled back At least help me pay for the bag said Michael Jake agreed and they both began to walk towards the cashier Once they had both payed for the ripped bag they walked out of the store They were about to part ways when Jake realized how bored he would be back at home lying around with nothing to do He quickly racked his brain to find something that might make his night a bit more interesting when an idea popped into his head He rushed back towards Michael who was already almost at the end of the street What are you still doing here Michael said Listen I m really sorry that I fought with you over that bag but we shouldn t just give up Jake replied Apology accepted but what do you mean Michael said I think that we should go to another store and actually buy what we need Jake stated Why would I want to do that It s just a bag of sugar my parents won t care that much Michael said Well suit yourself Jake replied as he started to walk away When Michael arrived at the bus stop he continued to think about how miserable he would be back at home Even though he hadn t gotten what his mom needed she would still make him cook something else As the bus arrived at the stop Michael quickly made a decision in his head He then checked his watch and saw that it was only six thirty He knew that his parents wouldn t be that worried if he stayed out a little longer Suddenly he dashed back

towards the Safeway When he arrived Jake was no where to be seen After about a minute or two of searching he spotted Jake down the street Hey you re back Jake said when Michael caught up with him Yeah I changed my mind Michael replied Well at least I ll have someone to come along with me for the trip Jake said Hopefully it doesn t take that long Michael said Well you never know Jake replied Oh I don t think I ever got your name I m Jake Jones and you are Jake questioned Michael Anderson Michael replied Well Michael I think we should get started Jake said as they headed off into the night After 30 minutes of walking both boys were frustrated and confused Why isn t anything open Jake said Well it is Christmas Eve so that might be your answer Michael replied Yeah you re right about that said Jake After another hour of walking both boys had almost given up on their task They were both about to quit when they spotted something in the distance It was a neon sign that read 7 Eleven in the traditional colors of red green and orange The sign of the shop glowed in the night because of the fact that the only light near it was across the street The light over it however was out and provided no use at all I m guessing that s our best bet Michael said Yeah me too Jake replied As the boys were walking towards the 7 Eleven two shady looking figures came out of the nearby alley and blocked the boys from crossing the street Jake and Michael stared at the figures

for a second before turning around Suddenly two more figures in dark black clothes came out of the alley and stopped them from going in the other direction At this point Jake and Michael were surrounded and they could no longer go in each direction of the sidewalk As Jake and Michael timidly stared at the four men that surrounded them they noticed that they could barely make out the men s faces in the dark night This doesn t look good Jake quietly whispered to Michael What are you kids doing walking around these parts at night the biggest of the group questioned Um just walking Michael said nervously At eight o clock at night on Christmas Eve the biggest of the group questioned again Yeah Jake said unsurely As the man was talking Michael and Jake were slowly moving towards the alley Well what I m going to need you to do is give me everything both of you are carrying before things get out of hand the man said No Michael said shakily What did you say the man questioned angrily I said no Michael replied You said no Looks like we ve got a brave one here boys the man said as the other three started to laugh At this moment the boys were almost entirely engulfed in the darkness of the alley Trembling Jake faintly said Run RUN Michael and Jake began to dash down the alley as fast as possible The thugs were right on their tail when they reached the barbed wired fence that divided the alley In the dim light Michael

desperately tried to find a way over the fence As he was looking he spotted a small hole in the bottom of the fence There he shouted We can squeeze through there They both quickly squeezed through the hole just as the thugs caught up with them As Michael and Jake ran out of the alley and turned the corner they continued to run for at least five blocks They finally stopped running when they had turned three corners and were certain they had lost the thugs That was close Jake said as he panted I guess we can t go to 7 Eleven now Michael said as he wheezed Suddenly Jake said I think I want to go home it s just some sugar anyway What You want to go home Right after what we just went through Michael said after hearing the statement Yeah I mean that was a little much Jake replied I am not letting you go back now we ve come this far and you re the one who convinced me to go along with you anyway Michael retorted Yeah I guess you are right said Jake Well then we should get back to work Michael stated confidently The next hour however was not as successful as Michael had hoped for As they were walking they passed two stores that were closing At one of the stores Michael and Jake even begged and pleaded to be let in to shop but the owner answered with a simple no Because of the time the boys were about to quit for real until something caught Michael s eye It was a corner market that was still open Michael and Jake quickly hurried over to the store and barged through the front door As they entered they woke up the cashier who was sleeping behind the counter Are you guys going to be open for much longer Michael asked hopefully

Yeah we re open twenty four hours a day seven days a week the cashier said tiredly The boys than dashed to the baking section to find what they least expected One bag You ve gotta be joking Jake said in disbelief Yeah what a joke Michael added Both boys stared in shock and disbelief for a moment at what had to be the most annoying coincidence of their entire lives As Michael was staring at the bag and idea quickly popped into his head Suddenly he dashed to the paper plate and disposable utensil and cup aisle He then grabbed the nearest bag of paper cups that he saw and headed back to Jake Cups Jake said confused Yeah so we can portion out the sugar Michael replied with enthusiasm Oh Jake said as he began to understand Michael s idea They then rushed back to the cashier to pay for the items After Jake had payed for the cups and Michael had payed for the sugar the boys headed outside to portion out the sugar After Michael had poured each of them four cups of sugar they began to head back home It was a little difficult to carry the extra cups as well as four cups of sugar but Jake was able to sling the extra bag of cups over his back to make the trip easier By the time they reached Michael s house it was already ten thirty and both boys were exhausted Well I guess this is it Michael said Yeah I guess it is Jake replied Thanks for convincing me to go along with you It definitely made my night Michael said Mine too Oh and good luck explaining to your parents why you were out so late Jake said

Thanks Michael said as he laughed Michael then headed up the stairs but stopped when he realized something Hey Jake Merry Christmas by the way he said Merry Christmas to you too Jake said And with that he headed back to his house

19 Man on the Moon By Quincy Stone There once was a lonely old man who sat on the moon He had been there all his life God dropped him there one day in time and he had grown up there With Albert Einstein wired hair and a solemn expression he appeared to be in a hole of plight He had a rundown cottage with crooked slabs of warped wood and a roof that had always been caved in And everyday he would saunter slumping across a path on the moon to sit on a bench He would then look at earth which was thousands of miles away with great hope and longing to be there As days then years went by he became sort of lonely He had never met or interacted with a single being and as the days grew longer and his time on the moon grew shorter he needed someone to love him unconditionally Back on earth there was a young girl let s say 6 years or so who was in her warm house in Washington D C one day She enjoyed exploring planets and entities in the universe with her telescope Today she peered at this 78 year old elderly man with her telescope who seemed to be in dismay She tried to get his attention by waving to him but he didn t see her at all It was as if he was in a different mental world She watched him everyday for weeks with her telescope wondering how she could get this man to know that someone loved him and thought he was an important piece in this world even though he lived so far away He seemed so far away from reality so distant that you just would want to wrap your warm arms around him and shelter him She thought Should I send a letter to this solemn man that shows that he is loved to She decided at last that she would do what her instinct told her and attempt to get this letter to him no matter how hard

As the man sat in the same position on that moon which was 238 900 miles away from earth The little girl kept thinking and thinking on how she could get this letter to him Then after days of pondering she came up with some solutions Her first solution started with climbing up her newly navy shingled roof to plop herself down on its tippy top and launch her construction paper letter airplane with all her might to the man on the moon Unfortunately that turned out to be a unthought out idea because her plane took flight and then pummeled down to her backyard below Her next idea was a slingshot that would hold her letter on the arrow She ran up her carpeted stairs tripping as she went sprinted into her dwelling and shut the door Then she walked to her tinted window opened it and shot her arrow out the window Again her plan didn t succeed The arrow with the letter flew into the maple tree across the street Christmas Day arrived and the little girl celebrated with everyone around her Her family and friends came over and they pranced around the Christmas tree with sparks of joy in their hearts and awe in their eyes They sang various Christmas carols baked molasses cookies and heated mulling spices on the stove growing their hearts with happiness as Christmas was nearing Soon the girl s eyes became heavy and she fell asleep after a long winter s night with memories and pictures of the man on the moon As her eyelids rose on Christmas morning she got filled with excitement and ran down the stairs to see a plethora of glowing gargantuan presents that filed in under her tree Her little brother and her parents trampled on into their living room and become awe struck at all the marvelous presents that Saint Nicholas had left for them all They greeted each other with a bear hug and there home became infused with true jubilation Whooopppeee It s Christmas Can we open our presents her brother exclaimed Of course the parents replied So the little girl and

her brother opened their presents Her brother plowed through his quickly almost like a human step drill On the other hand the young girl gingerly opened the wrapping that covered each present as though she was opening a very important envelope She at last came to her final gift that was wrapped in luminous petite stars that seemed to light up the inner continent of the present itself She took a peek inside not wanting to ruin the wrapping and discovered that it was a telescope While filled with wonder she had a miraculous idea She should send this present to the man on the moon Balloons would carry this benefaction up and up to the man I myself was wondering Why at this moment Why would this small girl send a telescope to this man The girl released the item and it rose up and up accelerating more every second and becoming a sort of backwards meteorite The gift became a spirit an entity a being It soared high above all of the land on earth until it reached its destination the man on the moon As soon as the gift saw the man with his senses it winded down strolling along through the air to the man The man caught sight of it and his dry lonely wrinkled expression seemed to lighten up The present came to him and finally rested into his lap He opened the package and discovered a telescope He lifted it from its case as though this was a missing piece that his heart didn t carry and brought it up to his eye He pointed it towards earth and zoomed in Someone was beckoning him He zoomed into a neighborhood went down the street took a left and saw a bright home The man fixed his lens on a window where a little girl was looking at him with her telescope and big blue eyes smiling waving And a tear a wet droopy drop came down the his face and he smiled for the first time He was loved

20 The Necklace By Katrina Strain Having one girl and one boy is hard on mom She is always saying You need to get along better or you need to put your problems aside and compromise but we never listen After this mom made us get in the stretched out smelly get along shirt We have to both be in the once white shirt until they get along sometimes it may take hours Just as we were about to put the beige shirt on we were saved by the bell I think thank you so much for whoever is at the door but then I reconsider my praise With a sour face Don t say Abuela is at the door MOM That is no way to talk to your mother Better get that mouth fixed before we let Abuela in and it s winter in Denver so we better let her in within the next minute otherwise we will have an ice statue that looks a lot like Abuela Fine Let her in if you have to I mutter Where is she going to stay anyway Mom I question as I pick up the stinky shirt I told you last week hon She is staying in your room and you are staying with Bryan Oh this is perfect you two now have a get along room she said with excitement WHAT I thought you were joking I yell I can t stay with that brat for four days Oh honey calm down it s no big deal Abuela has a special gift for you for letting her stay in your room Bryan doesn t get one but you do but you won t if you don t calm down mom says firmly Well I think Sara should get me a thank you gift Bryan added you know for letting her stay in my room Sweetie it wasn t your decision to let her stay with you mom replied

It wasn t Sara s choice to let Abuela stay in her room Brayan said as he walked to get the door Sara goes with him you will like the gift Abuela will give you mom said as she pushed me out of our family room crammed with Christmas decorations Don t forget to say thank you she adds as I saunter out of the room What present is going to be so special that it can t wait until Christmas it s in two days I shrug the more presents for me the better Thank you Bryan for finally opening the door for me I was afraid my tootsies would freeze off a familiar voice said as I walked to the door I bet if you ask Santa Clause by tonight he ll bring you some warm clothes for tomorrow and Monday and Tuesday Bryan said Just as I get to the door Abuela has already borrowed mom s worn out ski jacket Will this jacket keep you warm Abuela Bryan sweetly asked What has gotten into him This jacket is perfect Don t forget to remind me to give it back I won t need it after I leave Abuela says in a pleasant voice After a while of just standing in the doorway I make myself visible to everyone Sara Oh my have you grown I think when I come next year you ll be taller than me She s coming next year too I think I don t know about that I sarcastically say back How was your flight I ask out of politeness You mean flights dear I had to take three planes to get here she said with a sigh Really That s a lot of traveling to do in one day I say trying to sound intriguing Where did you fly from I ask hoping that Bryan will cut me off and start talking about Jurassic Park

Well I hope I say this right the first one was an hour because where I live there are not that many umm what do you call it oh I know airports close to me So I had to take a small airplane with seven other passengers to get to a bigger airport in La Ciudad de Mexico or the City of Mexico Ugh her stories go on for ages I think From there I took one of those big ones you get on to travel and flew to New Mexico she stopped gasping for air Then I took the last plan to Denver and your dad came to pick me up Does that answer your question she looks at me waiting for a reply Yes thank you for telling me about it I say as I hope this conversation is finally over Hey Bryan didn t you want to show Abuela your list and pictures you have for Santa Clause I ask wishing and praying that he will take her to the kitchen where mom would talk to her for the rest of the day You read my mind How did you read my mind What do you want he questions as I slowly walk back towards the family room where dad is sitting on decorations while watching football Bryan dear why don t you go help your mom finish decorating I want to talk to Sara Abuela suggested as she nudged him to where I was standing Fine but only if I can show you my stuff in ten minutes Bryan said firmly Of course sweetheart Abuela said in her American accent She sometimes pretends not to have a Mexican accent because she knows that Bryan doesn t quite understand her when she talks to him he also doesn t completely understand her ethnicity C mo es tu espa ol Abuela asks me Every time she is here it feels like an oral test in Spanish Class She always has one more word I don t know e or more phrase that I need to know for when I encounter anyone else who speaks Spanish

Mi espa ol no es bueno pero no es malo I reply racking my brain trying to prepare for her next grueling question Abuela starts to walk towards the black leather wore out couch where Bryan las left his dinosaur figures yet again As Abuela and I make our way through the unwanted tinsel and the Christmas decorations I see something sparkling in Abuelas bag I don t want to be rude and ask I see something shiny in your bag Is that for me Did you keep it with your secret collection of sacred leaves When I think about her secret sacred leaves I can t stop my self from laughing a bit Abuela doesn t already know that I think and argue with myself so she looks over at me sees me still looking in her colorful woven bag She said something about not looking in other peoples stuff and how we need to be more patient I don t know I was still thinking about her secret sacred leaves After we finally find the old couch underneath all of the boxes and boxes of decorations Abuela said in a hushed toned Mi amor you need to be very careful with this gift Don t tell anyone about what you will soon understand about it And be very very careful Entender I nod but a million thoughts are fizzing in my head like a mentor in an ice cold soda When Abuela finally pulls out this filthy fist sized bad I am a bit disappointed I thought she was going to give me a wonderful gem that I would want to keep forever but instead it is another rock from her special beach I can add it to my box of special rocks I think still trying to keep this smile that is slowly slipping away on my face Venga chica open it she says as she hands me the bag I slowly unwrap the string from the top of the dirt cover bag and as I do dust is falling into my lap like the snow from a cloud When it is almost fully unwrapped I look at Abuela seeing the suspense on her face worried that I might not like it C al es tu problema Is everything ok Hurry up and unwrap it you ll love it she said in the sweetest voice I almost feel guilty for all of the fake enthusiasm and joy I am about to exert I finally bring myself to open the bag to see a

rock Wait that s not a rock I quickly pull an amber crystal from the bag I hold it up to one stray piece of sunshine and I watch it glisten in the light With awe I see the reflections of the crystal s light dancing all over the walls I am at a lost of words when Abuela chimes in and curiously asks Is it ummmm c mo se dice oh umm I patiently wait for her to find her word and she finally spits out Is it good do you like it Instead of having another half conversation where we are both trying to translate I get up I give Abuela a big bear like hug She is confused trying to think of the right words to say to me but isn t able to come up with anything It s perfect thank you so much I finally say sincerely Can I show you where you ll sleep I ask knowing that Abuela is tired from her long day of traveling She nods agreeing to something she wanted to ask for but wouldn t I am sure five minutes later Bryan found her when she was trying to rest and is now talking to her about what he wants for Christmas and where to get it After Bryan helps Abuela clean the leftover creamy pesto sauce off of all the plates I can read my book But first I have to clean off all of Bryan s pictures and lists of toys he s not going to get I mean who is going to give an iPhone 8 to an annoying irresponsible and selfish nineyear old Definitely not Santa Clause When I pick up the picture of the case Bryan wants for his stunning silver phone I see the necklace that Abuela gave me As I look at it cast a spell upon my entire body I have never had a craving like this to put it around my neck I have to put it on touch it feel the cold smooth crystal against my warm skin I slowly put it on trying to savor every second of its magical aroma When I get it on after many failed attempts I am instantly filled with glee It is almost like after an amazing day of good luck I can only think of the words

my other relatives will say about this necklace when I see them for Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow night We ll have all of the lights on in the house so I can always make sure people see the magnificent and majestic reflections of the crystal as it glides across the decorative walls Sara I hear from the other room I quickly take it off and put it back in its bag underneath my laptop Ya I yell back waiting for my dad to tell me to go to my brother s disgustingly dirty room I m going up to Bryan s room now I say before he can tell me to go I quickly ran up the stairs to my brother s room put down my laptop and bring the bag with my crystal necklace in it to the bathroom I put it in my drawer where no one goes except for me I brush my teeth as fast as I could and climb into bed As soon as I getting to my brother s extra bed I can automatically feel my shoulders slowly sink into the soft mattress Close my eyes hoping and wishing for sleep I feel a pair of eyes staring at me just waiting for me to stare back at them Bryan had already gone out of bed got dressed and from the looks of the wet puddles and towels all over the room he took a shower Which means I have to get up Before I can even think about the majestic necklace I got a from Abuela yesterday I remember It s Christmas Eve I jump out of bed and run to the bathroom I brush my teeth and my hair trying not to mix up the two When I was about to run downstairs and see if mom needed help making cookies I realize that the amber crystal necklace is in my drawer I remember the smooth cold and amazing necklace How could I forget about it Without a seconds hesitation I open my drawer and find the colorful bag When I find it I immediately cleaned out the necklace and put it around my neck As soon as I put it on I feel the magical sensation I felt last night I hurry up and get dressed to go help mom make her Christmas cookies

As soon as I get downstairs I can smell the chocolate shortbread cookies and baking in the oven I think this is my lucky day Mom doesn t need any help but she lets me wrap some of Brian s Christmas gifts Wow think she never lets me do that Before I let her change her mind I scurry out of the kitchen and into the secret corner of her closet When I m done wrapping what feels like 1 million Christmas gifts I decided to work on my book report Mom sees me working on that she insists that I go downstairs and drink some eggnog because it s a vacation and I shouldn t have to do homework My mom is usually really happy when I am doing something for school so this was really surprising I didn t want to argue with her so I went downstairs and drink eggnog until it was lunchtime At lunch I realized I hadn t eaten anything so mom let Abuela and I sneak two of her warm chocolate shortbread cookies along with a glass of hot cocoa I take both of the upstairs to Bryan s room and accidentally spill some on his bed It came out of nowhere When I climb into Bryan s bed I think about a bubble bath How relaxing would that steamy lavender smelling room would be No longer than two seconds later mom calls for me with her usual empty threats For once I humor her and run downstairs to find news I like She was excited so I finally ask why She sat me down my couch and give me an early Christmas present the lavender bath bombs I ve been wanting Instead of being grateful I can think of is how big of a coincidence this is I give her the usual oh my gosh thank you so so much I run upstairs and start the bath before anyone could claim the bathroom I get in and realize that my necklace is probably not made to get wet in the bath So I jump out as quick as a cat and throw the only thing I could find my dad s enormous robe Ten seconds later I am back in the bath with my new lavender bombs sizzling at my feet and my necklace on Bryan s extra bed Now I can finally relax

What feels like five minutes late but I m told was an hour I get out of my now cold lavender water and put back on my dad s robe When I step outside the gonna like the room I feel the rush of cold crisp air against my face I also hear voices downstairs not just the people who are living here but other relatives I hear my cousins and aunts in the kitchen and my uncles and what I think are pre recorded interviews with sports players in the family room This puts my just calm and relaxed mind into a state of panic and distress I sprint to Bryan s room only to find that it is filled with all of the extra decorations Then I run to my room to find some clothes to wear downstairs but all I can find are old jeans and an ugly Christmas sweater Abuela must have moved my stuff into Bryan s room sometimes her kindness and clueless can add up to a disaster Jeans and an itchy Christmas sweater can t be that bad I think hoping that Bryan will be wearing his Jurassic Park footie pajamas At least then I won t be the only one underdressed I quickly found an old hairbrush and comb through my sopping wet air and then run as fast as humanly possible downstairs At least it can t get any worse is what I thought before everything else crumbled beneath me like sand Except everything has fallen apart like gingerbread houses without the icing Then it hit me like a snowball in the stomach The necklace It must be lucky Abuela said be careful with it and when I was wearing I was lucky and when I wasn t I was super unlucky I have to find it While my brother and cousins were knees deep in the show I was knee deep in Christmas decorations I search until dinner then came back to find that Abuela was now wearing the necklace Wait why would she do that Is she trying to ruin my Christmas Of course she is I think as I stuff a mouth full of green beans in my mouth Just as I really look at the necklace around Abuelas tiny neck I realize that the necklace she is wearing isn t even mine I am starstruck What did I just do I jumped from a good

scenario to horrible scenario in a matter of minutes Why would I ever do something like that Am I really that bad of a person Excuse me I say to the entire family I have just made a horrible mistake Everyone started to gasp and I think aunt Ilda chocked on a piece of meat Sweetheart why do you think that mom asked running towards the end of the table where my cousins and I are sitting She quickly pulls me to the side of the table away from all of the chaos I stutter for a few moments and then finally spit it out So the necklace Abuela gave me is magical and I lost it and thought she was wearing it and stole it from me Then I realized that she is wearing a different necklace and it isn t mine and I feel bad because I assumed someone stole it I also got lots of bad luck when I wasn t wearing the necklace I managed to say in one long exhausting breath Honey I look down ready for a punishment all people make mistakes This one you just made was itsy bitsy The fact that you realized what you assumed Abuela was false and announced that to the entire family was odd but the right thing to do There is no such thing as a magic lucky necklace If you just have to work hard and make the right decisions if you want good things o happen to you I look up in amazement Really I ask astonished Really mom replies Now you up just have to say lo siento to Abuela Ok she said I nod my head and walk toward the important end of the long table When I finally reach the end of the take where Abuela is sitting I say Lo siento Abuela She replies Est bien te amo I say it return Te amo

21 Santa Saves Christmas By Charley Taisch There it was the last house of the night It was cold in Indiana and Santa was so excited to finally get home and watch all the kids open their presents He landed on the slanted roof and did the usual got out of the sleigh grabbed the sack of presents with the house address taped on it slid down the chimney got stuck but then kept sliding sent the elf back up to the sleigh and placed out the presents under the tree Santa looked at his book full of children s names and found out that a nine year old girl with light brown hair and big hazel eyes named Sky lived here He also found out that she had a younger brother who was five who looked almost exactly like her but with lighter hair Sky had sent some letters to Santa a couple months ago asking if he could heal her brother for Christmas Her brother had been in the hospital for 6 months because he was diagnosed with Arrhythmias a disease that caused his heart to beat to fast Santa didn t have the power to heal kids but he did as much as he could to make Sky and Noah happy by doing things like constantly writing them letters to check in Noah ended up finally being able to go home by Christmas and in return Santa got a letter from Sky saying thank you even though he wasn t the reason Noah why Noah got better Sky was a very sweet girl who always looked out for others So even though Santa was in a bit of a rush he decided to go upstairs and leave Sky an extra special present in her room the red bike she had always wanted Her room which was glowing with pink lights and a pink sparkling tree was a lot for Santa s old eyes He quickly placed the bike down and hurried back downstairs to eat the cookies and drink the milk

He walked out of her room still a little bit blinded by all the pink and lights and then slipped on his way down the stairs This made a big THUMP So he quickly shoved the cookies in his mouth and started to chug the milk when all of a sudden he saw a little girl in a pink satin nightgown was standing in front of him They stared at each other for a second until she fell to the ground Uh Oh Santa thought to himself he had never had to deal with a passed out kid He hurried up the chimney carrying he girl in his arms to ask the elves for advice When he was up on the roof he asked them for help and they all started to complain about how cold it was and how they wanted to leave Eventually they all came to the conclusion that they should just wait for her to wake up and hope she didn t remember anything or just thought it was a dream A half an hour went by everyone on the roof was so cold they were almost icicles and Santa also started to get anxious he needed to be home in time to watch kids open their presents After five more minutes went by she finally started to wake up So Santa hurried back down the chimney and up the stairs and put her in her bed He shut the door and walked out and slowly walked out trying not to make a sound Then he took a huge breath of relief As he was going up the chimney he heard Sky talking to her brother as they walked down the stairs Guess what Noah she said I saw Santa like the real Santa Her brother stood there shocked as he trailed behind her into the kitchen to get some water Santa didn t know what to do so he walked in the kitchen behind them and then asked them to sit down with him Noah was so stunned at the sight of him that it nearly took his breath away They sat on the couch with their cups of water Noah just stared at Santa in disbelief Ok he said as he looked at Noah with a concerning look on his face Noah of course was still in awe We have two options here one is I can spray you with memory spray so you forget you ever saw me or two you can keep them

memory but you CAN NOT tell anyone Noah and Sky exchanged long glances and then agreed to keep quiet As they were getting up to go back to bed Noah tapped on Santa s back and said Before you go can I have a hug Santa picked them both up and gave them huge hugs and said I m really glad you have gotten better Noah Yeah Noah replied Me too and it s all thanks to Sky cause she prayed with me every night while I was in the hospital Santa waved his goodbyes and went up the chimney and back into his sleigh And rode off yelling Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight As Noah and Sky watched from the window below On Santa s way home he read all the letters he had gotten over the years from Sky asking for her brother to get better Santa got back to his workshop and went directly to his special tv to watch kids open their presents He watched Sky and Noah as they opened their presents and how they had the biggest smiles on their faces This was Santa s favorite part after doing all the work the thing he really loved was seeing kids as happy as them on Christmas morning T h e E n d

23 The Best Gris By Sophia Terebilo As the door closed I sighed at the rotting bowl of gr t mamma set out for Nisse the evil Christmas guardian who was notoriously known for stealing people s brooms to fly away The air was cold and wet from the morning dew that came early on December mornings in Milford Occasionally the morning dew would be replaced by soft snow but we d be lucky to have a snow day in Delaware I walked quickly and deviated from the correct path so that no one saw that I was coming from the only house that wasn t decorated with lights snowflakes and a big fluffy wreath Tall evergreen trees glittered through the windows and garlands embellished every balcony Hot smoke rose from the chimneys and mailmen delivered elegant Christmas cards Milford Middle was decorated as well big distracting snowmen and reindeer were placed in every classroom Word of Ruthie s absence spread like dandelion seeds in the wind Some said it was traffic others said it was a family affair Milford was too small of a town so when someone spotted a small yellow patch amongst a field of green grass they would hold onto it until everyone in Delaware knew We filed into our classrooms and waited for Ms Wegener to begin class As some of you may have noticed she said with a serious tone Ruthie is absent today She and her family are safe however their house was burned down in a house fire I had never been close to Ruthie but she lived a few blocks away from our house Fires were extremely uncommon in Milford and poor Ruthie had such a nice home

On my way home from school the air was dry and cold and the bowl of gr t was being eaten by the birds that mamma would usually shoo away The door was always locked in fear of the Nisse coming in and finding the broom that we did occasionally she would leave it open to have fresh air coming into the house so I didn t think anything of it Hilde Mamma lectured as I closed the door behind me why didn t you say hello to our guests Sorry Mamm I said automatically I was just taking off my frakke and my The Lennings were in our house Frantically I looked around the living room noticing the stearinlys and the appelsiners Mamma laid around the house I looked up in panic and saw Ruthie drinking water out of the old tekanne teapot that said HILDE in messy crayon Coming to Milford was no breeze for Dadda and Mamma s savings and we haven t been able to buy new kitchenware so in the meantime we ve been drinking milk out of the carton Embarrassed I ran upstairs and closed the door behind me in my room the only American looking place in the house My bed was unmade and my old baby tempe was lying on the ground in a knot My gaze fell upon an old picture of my old friends from Flekkefjord a picture of Agnes Adellis and I Furiously leapt towards it and ripped up the picture wishing for a whole life not a half Norwegian and half American life Mamma was cooking up some more porridge for the Nisse when I heard a gentle knock on the door Hesitantly I opened the door to see that it was Ruthie holding a small bag Hilde right Ruthie asked Sorry your mom asked me to come up here and unpack A shock ran through my body How long are you staying here I asked trying to sound calm and excited

A few months Until the damage in our house gets cleared up I guess we will be rooming together She looked around noticing the small room and my posters of ARCTURUS 2014 WORLD TOUR She clearly never heard of them and judged me by my taste in music Where is the bathroom she asked It s the door to the right of this one I replied monotonously don t make a mess I walked out of the room and went downstairs to see mamma She was boiling the rakfisk leftovers from a long time ago It was old and although it was my favorite food I lost my appetite when I realized that the Lennings were staying for dinner I went to bed on an empty stomach No Christmas decorations decorated our house and mamma picked up a small plastic birch tree at the garage sale instead of buying a magnificent evergreen The empty countertops and shelves where lights and mistletoe should ve been collected dust and left the house feeling old and dark Hilde Mamma croaked god Jul Now was not the time to be wishing me a Merry Christmas God Jul mamma Tomorrow was Christmas for everyone in Milford except for the Pedersens Our Christmas wasn t golden lights and Santa Claus and mistletoe and red holly We cleaned on Christmas and we made marzipan pigs and we ate lutefisk all day long Mamma woke up earlier than everyone else to make sure that the Nisse didn t find our broom Ruthie and I trudged out of bed and put on our warmest clothes The heating bill hadn t been paid for months and the floor was cold and the air was dry Mamma gave orders for our Christmas Day

Ruthie and Hilde she spoke her drenched in her Norwegian accent You will be making the godteri gris I will be making the Lutefisk What is godteri gris she asked afraid to mispronounce it even though she did They re candy pigs we make them every year I said annoyed even though making the gris was my favorite Ruthie was kind but her life was everything I wanted mine to be They had mistletoe and holly and donated to the Salvation Army every year I headed upstairs to change into my raggedy clothes I could get dirty As if my pretty clothes weren t raggedy as well Where are you headed Ruthie asked trying to be included May I come with you Fine I m going upstairs to change into some clothes I can get dirty Ruthie followed me like an old obedient dog Hilde she whispered I don t have any other clothes I felt bad for Ruthie but all of my clothes were old and ugly Hesitantly I opened up my drawer without saying a word and motioned at it I changed into my old t shirt and I put on some jeans My old clothes looked amazing on Ruthie and I wished that I looked as good I tied my hair up and headed to the kitchen Mamma had already set up the soaked almonds and the sugar and Ruthie rolled up her sleeves Making the gris was hard We pounded the almonds until our palms turned as red as Rudolf s nose whom mamma didn t even know existed This is fun said Ruthie I ve never made my own godteri before I was ashamed for hating my own bloodline more than Ruthie did This is the hardest part we ll get to the fun part the molding later I bet I can make a better pig I joked at Ruthie and she laughed

I can t wait I m going to try this myself when we get back home Ruthie was happy she wasn t weirded out or uncomfortable She worked hard at the dough and it was almost better than mine We set it into the fridge and let it cool We never had an oven so mamma always loved making the candy pigs as we didn t have to bake them A few hours later Ruthie and I were rolling the dough Ruthie wanted hers to be perfect so she continuously asked questions She was a nice girl with pretty blue eyes and a perfect white smile Hilde she said with an uncertain tone in her voice you should come over to our house for Christmas one year We can decorate the tree make gingerbread houses and even she paused we can even eat fried chicken like we do every year at Christmas Fried chicken Not turkey I asked Yeah I know it s weird It s a family tradition Kind of like your gris Mamma was serving hot grishode while Ruthie and I poured hot cider for others We cheered for Christmas and wished each other the best for the upcoming year The food amazing and the godteri gris looked perfect Hilde Ruthie said holding out a small box decorated with a big bow open it I unraveled the ribbon and marveled at the lovely bracelet inside It was handmade something I could easily have found in Flekkefjord But it was more beautiful and unique than anything you could buy Thank you Ruthie I love it so much you are such an amazing friend Christmas that year was one for the books and to this day I ve never made any better candy pigs than the ones I made with Ruthie

24 Harper Saves Christmas By Avery Tirva Ear piercing sirens rang and blinding lights flashed in Santa Claus s office in the North Pole on a chilly December 24 At first he thought it was a false alarm No real emergencies had ever happened in the North Pole Then one of his elves burst through the door and shouted Sir there s been a security breach All of the presents are gone Santa got up from his chair and sprinted after the elf down the long corridor past the toy workshop to the security room All of the cameras on the wall were glitching and going crazy Do we know who did this Santa asked No the tiny elf replied Santa sighed Very well Grace get a head count on the elves and reindeer Make sure no one s missing The elf ran out the door stumbling into a chair in her way Santa paced in his office This was a very bad situation It was the day of December 24 Christmas Eve and millions of children around the world were expecting their presents tonight The same elf came into Santa s office Now her festive holiday skirt was ripped and she had a coffee stain on her white blouse She spoke fast Sir there is one elf missing His name is Oliver We checked the backup security cameras and And what Santa demanded He s taken the gifts sir What is the square root of 81 Harper Harper s teacher calls out Math class started fifteen minutes ago and Harper hasn t been paying attention for even one of those minutes She

was looking out the window at the fresh sparkly snow that had fallen in the city of Chicago the night before Harper feels like the math class has lasted more like an hour When she looked away from the window at the call of her name she saw that the teacher s eyes and the eyes of 26 kids almost everyone accept for lucky John who left school early to go to sunny Hawaii for Christmas had turned around in their seats to look at her in the very last row in the very last desk Harper sat there in hopes that she would never be called on She usually wasn t but the teacher chose today to embarrass her in front of the whole class Harper was about to make a random guess when the P A rang out its three bells and the principal made an announcement Harper Smith please come to the office Harper Smith please come to the office Thank you Then the three bells chimed again The teacher looked at Harper and sighed She nodded her head Harper triumphantly got up from her seat and walked out the door She was halfway down the hallway before she realized that she was being called to the principal s office and she didn t know why The last time she was called to the principal s office was in kindergarten after she d pulled her friend s hair at recess Now she was in fifth grade and knew that the reason for this must be more serious than that When she got to the office she walked apprehensively to Mrs Morrelli s desk Does the She interrupted her before she could ask Oh Harper I ve been waiting for you to come down Your dad is waiting for you outside He wants you to come out right away Harper just says Oh Harper s mind spins Why does her dad have to get her out of school Did something bad happen Or is her dad surprising her with some grand vacation She really hoped for the second option but it was unlikely because her family never went anywhere for Christmas

When Harper gets outside she is surprised to see that the parking lot is empty not a single car is parked in one of the freshly paved spots She looked around and didn t see a single other person Then she hears someone call her name Harper Harper looks around and still doesn t see anyone but she hears something It was like the sound of a million tiny church bells ringing at the same time Then snow began to fall but it wasn t like any snow she d seen before It was gold instead of white and seemed to sparkle and shimmer far brighter than normal snow did She stuck out her tongue and tried to catch a snowflake on it It tasted like fresh apple pie straight out of the oven And it seemed to be warm A lot warmer actually it definitely wasn t below zero anymore Harper was about to take her heavy winter coat off when she saw something in the sky It was a red and silver sleigh The golden snowflakes swirled around it as the sleigh gracefully came in for a landing ten feet in front of Harper A tiny elf hopped out Harper he said Will you come with me please There s been an issue at the North Pole and Santa Claus has asked for you personally Harper s jaw dropped She slowly shuffled her feet forward It took her a minute to get to the sleigh The elf tapped on his clipboard impatiently But whenever he saw that Harper was looking at him he smiled She looked at the elf then back at the school then hopped into sleigh Santa was back in his office coming up with a plan Three elves were sitting at his desk with him shouting out ideas Santa took notes Luckily many years ago they had installed a tracker into Santa s toy sack They were currently tracking its location and one of the elves was taking notes on a map

The elf came into Santa s office with Harper following behind him She had been in shock since she stepped out of the sleigh This is magic she thought I must be dreaming Hello Harper Santa said and Harper was shaken out of her trance Santa held out his hand for her to shake She shook it reluctantly She wasn t sure what to say Santa said You re probably wondering why I brought you here Harper nodded Come with me and I ll show you Harper followed Santa down the hallway They passed many elves who looked at Harper with confused expressions Harper even saw one elf leading a reindeer on a leash She stopped What s his name She asked This is Comet the elf replied At the sound of his name Comet kicked off the ground and hovered just above it for a few seconds He s very excited to be flying tonight said the elf Hopefully you ll be able to help Santa so he can Come along Harper Santa called from farther down the hallway He don t have much time They reached the control room As you can see Santa said our entire security system went down this morning and all of the toys I was planning to deliver tonight are gone My elves have been working all day to try to figure out who did this We finally think we know It was an elf named Oliver Oliver is or was one of my best elves We have no idea why he has done this He is very smart and extremely clever He was always one step ahead of all the other elves He came up with new toys and strategies to help deliver them faster I could barely keep up with him and all his crazy ideas Now he s found a way to hack our system and steal all of the presents We brought you here because you are one of the kindest and cleverest kids I know I have been

bringing you gifts for your entire life I think you will be able to help me find Oliver and get the toys back I know it s a big job and a lot of responsibility Will you help me Of course I ll help you Harper said I ll do my best to help you get your presents back Excellent Santa said They headed back to his office and worked on the plan They decided it would be too risky to take the sleigh so they are going to take Santa s personal car Santa Harper and Grace will go In about an hour they were loading all of their equipment map binoculars and tracking device into the car They set off Grace and Harper looked at the map and gave Santa directions According to the GPS Oliver and the gifts were still pretty close but they were moving fast They had to catch up Santa was driving at full speed They plowed though the snow covered valleys and past the snow capped mountains Soon it got darker It was as if the farther they got away from Santa s workshop the less joy there was in their surroundings Harper shivered We re getting close now Santa said fifteen minutes later Now they were in a dark forest It seems like the dot has stopped moving sir Grace said Maybe he s finally run out of fuel Let s hope so Santa said Look What s that up ahead Harper shouted Santa slammed on the brakes and the car skidded to a stop Lying in the snow ahead of them was a present wrapped in green wrapping paper with gold stars on it It s a present Grace gasped We must be getting close Santa said Harper hopped out of the snow mobile and grabbed the present She struggled to get back The snow was so deep

They kept driving and it started to snow Not the type of magical snow that Harper had been amazed by earlier This snow was heavy and dark It pelted against the windshield of the car Oh no Santa said The last thing we d want to do is get stuck in a blizzard Santa slowed down as they neared the entrance to a cave The tracker says the presents are right in there Grace said Santa kept driving slowly farther into the dark cave The cave wasn t very deep and he soon came to a dead end Suddenly something jumped onto the car Harper screamed It was Oliver His eyes were crazy like he was hypnotized I m going to go out and distract him Santa said He ll think I m alone Then you two go out and try to find the gifts He got out of the car and stepped toward Oliver slowly Oliver he said where have you taken my sack of toys I ll never tell you Oliver replied Oliver don t do this I am going to find the gifts no matter what You should just give up now I will forgive you for what you have done and you can come back to the North Pole and build toys again You re crazy if you think I m going back there I hate my job All I want is for the children of the world to stop believing in Santa Claus Harper and Grace silently got out of the car They searched for the gifts but couldn t see anything Up there Harper whispered I see it She pointed up to a pile of jagged rocks She could just see the top of the bag over the rocks What was that Oliver asked from a distance Santa turned around and Oliver attacked him He tied him up and left him laying on the ground Then he went over to Santa s car Harper and Grace tried to run but he was much faster than them He brought them to where Santa was and tied them up as well You will never get the gifts he said and laughed

Harper Grace and Santa tried to untie themselves free but the rope was too tight Then Harper had an idea Oliver she said why are you doing this I don t want the children of the world to ever be happy again he said annoyed It was all part of my great plan I knew about the tracker I was one of your top elves you told me everything I just had to pretend to be nice to you I lead you here to trap you You can t escape Now all I have to do is kill you and there will never be another Christmas again He pulled a tiny bomb out of his pocket and began setting a timer No one will even know you re gone he said Grace gasped Harper just said I know the real reason why you re doing this You re lonely You hate Christmas because you have no one to spend it with No Oliver said You re wrong I m right Harper said You re choosing to take out your anger on the innocent children of the world He was about to set the timer then he paused His eyes glistened as a look of sadness and regret overtook his face He looked at the bomb then up at the bag of toys Finally he looked over at Harper and Santa and Grace You re right he said and threw the bomb away I m so sorry I forgive you Oliver Santa said kindly Oliver untied them from the ropes Then he retrieved Santa s toy bag Santa snapped his fingers and gold dust swirled around them In less than a second they were back at the North Pole All the elves cheered and welcomed them back They made it back in time the sun was just setting Oliver and Grace went over to talk to the other elves Santa turned to Harper and said I couldn t have done it without you Your cleverness and creativity saved Christmas Thank you Now there s only one thing left for you to do

Harper smiled Oliver she called Would you like to come over to my house for Christmas dinner