Written & Illustrated by Child Author, Celeste, Age 9
A few years ago there was an envelope. It wasn’t any old envelope because this one could talk. No one knew that this envelope contained Santa’s List even though it said Santa’s list on the front of it! Still, no one noticed that is was his real list. Santa had written the list then sent it beforehand. The reason why he did this is because there was a problem with mice coming and eating all the paper. So he sent it all the way to Canada, with the hope of getting it back safely.
The person who had received the list had known Santa for a long time. It was the post office manager. He had seen Santa’s red letter coming through the chutes and every year when he saw it, he would say, “Please stop the machine! I need that letter!”
He would always write back to Santa saying he’d got it, and Santa would always stroke his beard and say, “Yes, very good. Very good.” But this year, the letter wasn’t returned properly to the North Pole, and well, that created a huge problem.
When that letter was put into the mailbox, a strong gust of wind went past and blew the piece of paper onto the ground. The letter had not been touched until some kids who were on the “naughty list” came along. Instead of picking up the letter and putting it back into the mailbox, they picked it up and started throwing it around, trying to catch it with a pair of scissors. The whole thing was pretty dangerous, especially because the letter was carried by the wind to the marketplace, full with people, which was no place to be using scissors in this way.
The kids who had been chasing the letter had finally caught it with their pair of scissors, only to find a very astonishing surprise. As soon as the kids held the letter in their hands, the letter started talking. “I spy with my little eye… some naughty kids! Who are you and why are you holding me?!” the letter demanded, just before shutting its top tightly closed. All of the kids looking at the letter fainted and all of the other people crowded around did too. Just before the letter hit the ground, a dog caught it and rushed home to find his master.
The owner of the dog that had caught the letter was a father of four naughty little boys, but he never knew of their behaviours. The father had set aside the letter to look at later, in the evening, when his kids were sure to be asleep. Those naughty kids learned of where the letter’s new whereabouts, and set out to steal it. They had formed a plan, to take the letter before they went to sleep. That was it. The plan wasn’t much because they never tried making a plan like this before.
After stealing back the letter from their father, the boys slipped back into their room and stared at the letter. A few minutes later, they started getting paranoid that when their father came in to say goodnight. They feared that he would see the letter in front of them and punish all four of them. Those kids didn’t have much in their room, only two bunk beds and a carpet. They were about to open the letter when they heard footsteps outside the door. They suddenly slipped the letter under one of their bed pillows and rushed into their pjamas. The door was not open yet and so they all ran to their beds. the two who were sleeping at the top bunks made sleepy faces when their father peeked in at them. Just as the door opened, the four realized that they hadn’t turned off the light.
Luckily, the soft voice of their father only enquired, “Hello boys, are you doing alright in here?” They didn’t answer. “Well I guess things are alright in there then.” Their father told himself and then added a, “Good night.”
When he closed the door, at the same time, all he boys said, “Whew – that was close!”
The sons decided to open the letter when their father was sure to be asleep. The eldest son, Lucas Sleptile, said, “We should do it right now.”
Suddenly, they all jumped to the sound of the doorbell ringing.
Downstairs, their father said, “Who could be here at this time?” He opened the door and their friend from school, Sarah, came in.
“Hello Mr Sleptile. I was wondering if my friends could have some cookies I made?” she said, holding up a plate of treats.
He replied, “You can go and leave the cookies upstairs. But do please take off your muddy boots.
Sarah did as she was told and went to the boys room. As she opened it, she found the foursome looking at the letter in the middle of their carpet.
The youngest brother, Julian, turned around and said, “Oh, hi Sarah.” “Wait, why are you here???” he exclaimed.
“I made cookies!” Sarah said.
Tony, the most hyper of them all, started to run toward the cookies but slipped on the carpet, which made Sarah laugh. “Here,” she said as she split the cookies in between the four brothers. “So what is that letter in front of you?” said Sarah.
Lucas suddenly said, “Uh, nothing.”
Sarah said, “Lucas, I’ve known you a long time and you don’t say things like that.”
Julian said, “We don’t really know, but if you can see what it is…” His voice trailed off as Sarah picked up the letter and looked at it.
“It doesn’t look very interesting,” Sarah said as she scanned the front and back. “Only says, let’s see, Santa’s List.” “Oh well, I gotta go soon, my parents will be worried. But you can email me. You know my email, right?” Lucas nodded. Not like they were going to need her help, they could just open it.
As Sarah left, Julian looked at Lucas. “Lucas, why do you look worried?”
Lucas replied, “The letter is suspicious.”
“What, you think it’s going to explode or something?” Julian added.
The four stared at the letter in silence. They realized the only noise they could hear from downstairs was snoring, so they decided to open it. The tension was building up in the room as Lucas put his hand over the seal, and attempted to tear it open. The letter had to be ripped open so that they would be able to take it out properly. As soon as the letter was ripped open, the brothers heard an ear piercing scream – it was coming from the letter itself. “So, um, let’s read it.” Tony said. They all looked at the list. Too many names, Julian thought. Then they all looked at the door. They could hear footsteps. Who could it be?
The door opened, showing another one of their friends, the one who stayed up late at night, and visited them when they stayed up late too. Her name was Valerie. As she stepped in, Lucas asked, “Valerie, how did you get in here?” “I have access to the house too, you know.” She replied, holding up some keys. “I brought a math book too, just in case you wanted to get some school work done. Oh, a letter! I can see what you were talking about.” Valerie comment as she looked at it. “Wait!” Julian screamed! “Just how did you know what we were talking about?” Julian asked. Valerie did not answer as she was too busy looking at the letter. Then, finally, she said, “Hm, Santa’s List. Did you remember that it’s Christmas Eve?” The boys all said “What???” at the same time. Valerie said, “Yep. Oh, speaking of which, I should get home now. I’m getting a little tired. See you soon.”
When Valerie left, Julian said, “So we need to get this letter to the North Pole. “But we don’t just need to deliver it.” Lucas said.
“What do you mean?” replied Julian.
“If this is really Santa’s List, we need to get it to the North Pole before Santa leaves. Or else, there won’t be much happiness on Christmas Day.” Lucas added.
The four boys pulled on their jackets, and headed out into the frigid night. Julian walked beside Lucas, who had wrapped an arm around the two “middle” brothers.
Tony said, “Wait, are we actually going to the North Pole?”
Lucas said, “No, just sending the letter.”
Julian said, “But the post won’t send it in time!”
Lucas was silent for a moment. “We’ll steal the next plane and fly there. I’ll do the flying.” The rest said “Okay.” Lucas said, “We’re almost at the airport.”
When they arrived at the airport, they took the first airplane they saw, which was no other than the Airbus A380-800. They took flight 5 minutes after they went in. Luckily, no one was at the airport at that time. They flew until they saw Santa’s Workshop. Lucas had planned to stop the plane on the snow, but he miscalculated and landed on an extremely huge patch of ice. They were spinning for a long time until they slowed down to a stop in front of the workshop. Julian walked out, and ran back inside. It was too cold. The four found a few blankets that they could use to warm up. They finally made it there and opened the door. The elves must have thought they were intruders, because there wasn’t a living creature in sight. The boys made it to the back of the place and saw Santa in his sleigh.
Santa said, “I’ve been watching you boys.” There was a mischievious smile – like he knew the whole truth.
“Thanks for getting my list back.” Santa said. Then he added, “Do you have a pencil, boys?”
Why? The boys asked, and then they said yes, and gave a pencil to Santa. They all quietly watch Santa wrote something on his list.
Santa then said, while giving the pencil back to the boys, “You can go now. Go get some rest.”
The boys returned home, pulling off their jackets and heading to bed. It was 1:30 am. They all went to sleep instantly.
The next time the boys woke up was at 11:23 am. They all looked at the clock. Then they ran downstairs to find presents under the Christmas Tree. Then Sarah came in. Looking under the tree, she began screaming at a surprising volume of presents and everyone covered their ears. The foursome waited for their parents to come down, then started digging into the presents.
Lucas said in a quiet voice, “It finally happened… but how?”
And then they heard Santa’s laughter, and his voice said, “You boys saved Christmas.”
2 comments
Great!! A great achievement of a nine year old girl. You better continue writing Apo short stories,compile it,have it bookbound and let your educational system accredit it for use as reading material for lower grade levels. You made a very big and great intellectual product Celeste! Grandma is very, very proud of you so much with dad and mom. Keep up Little Girl! You are a wonder Child, a very humble wonder child.
Wow! Amazing love! Mama already told you that we are so proud of you but I hope you love this extra present that you got this Christmas. The family is so proud of you baby.