The three little foxes: Christmas in the glade

Here it finally is; the third of four independent Christmas stories I'm using to restart this blog. This one is a children's story about the same three little foxes that I wrote about months ago. 

The three little foxes: Christmas in the glade.

Christmas is just a few days away as we visit the three little foxes that live under the great big tree. They have anxiously been waiting for the first snow to fall; especially George who has been dreaming of snowmen and sleigh rides ever since he first heard of snow from the wolf cousins.

   The three little foxes had never seen snow you see, they were usually sleeping during the winter, or hibernating as most little foxes do. But this year they had decided to stay awake and celebrate Christmas with their cousins.

    Christmas was just a few days away and George had been standing by the window for what seemed like days, waiting for the snow. “

    I think they were funning us” he said. “I think they made up all those stories about snow”.

    “Don’t be silly, George” said his sister Sally. “Why would they make up a story like that? We’ll just have to wait.” But George didn’t want to wait, he wanted to make snowmen and have a snowball fight and celebrate his victory in his very own snow cave, just as the wolves used to do. “

    Come and have your milk and cookies before we go to bed” shouted Henry from the kitchen. “You can’t stand by that window all night, it won’t make it snow any faster.”

    So George and Sally joined their brother for chocolate-chip cookies and milk in the kitchen, and after they had finished a whole tray of cookies they all crawled into their big bed and drew their even bigger blanket up under their noses. They huddled together to keep warm before they fell asleep, all dreaming of snow.

    Maybe it was by luck, or maybe it was by magic, or maybe it was Father Christmas who granted George’s wish, but that very night just after the three little foxes fell asleep the snow began to fall. And it fell all through the night covering everything in sight and by the time it was morning the whole forest was covered under a thick blanket of snow.

   Henry was the first one out of bed this morning. “Oh, look!” he shouted with joy and ran up to the window. “It’s snowing! Wake up George! There’s snow everywhere! Sally! Come look at the snow!”

    Henry was jumping up and down with excitement.

   “Wow. It’s so pretty” Sally exclaimed when she got to the window. “George, come and look at the snow!” But George wasn’t there; he was nowhere to be seen.

   “Where’s George?” Sally asked. But when she turned around Henry was gone as well.

   “Boys?” Sally called out confused. She searched through the room but the boys were gone. She searched until she heard a soft thump and then a louder one when a snowball hit the window and when Sally looked outside she saw the boys running around throwing snowballs at each other. They were having a snowball fight, and without her! Sally quickly put on the winter clothes they had been knitting all through the autumn and ran out the door to join her brothers.

   “Boys,” she called. “Wait for me! And remember no snowballs to the head like the wolves said, it’s against the rules!”

   But as soon as she got outside a snowball almost hit her on the nose “Hey! Cut it out, Mama Wolf said it could be dangerous!” And so the three little foxes started their first ever snowball war.

   Henry who was a very fast little fox could throw more snowballs at the others every minute than they could ever count, and George who was super strong could throw snowballs so fast that he managed to hit Henry even though he could move at the blink of an eye.

   George and Henry could match each other’s skills pretty well but Sally who wasn’t super strong or super fast had more trouble; Henry ran around her throwing ten balls before she managed to throw one, and George would hit her really hard and he could even hit her snowballs in the air making himself impossible to hit.

   “This isn’t fair you guys!” Sally cried out. “You keep hitting me and I haven’t hit you once! You hit too hard George and you’re too fast Henry, this isn’t fair!” She said angrily.

   “It’s you who are too slow!” Shouted Henry. “

   Yeah, it’s not our fault that you’re no good! George agreed.

   “But you don’t have to run so fast or throw so hard. Why can’t you play nicer so we all can have fun together?” Sally asked. “

   Why should we play poor just because you’re so bad?” Henry replied. “

   Maybe this isn’t a game for girls!” George said. “If you can’t keep up with us then maybe you should go and play inside.”

   “Hurmf! You boys are just being mean!” Sally cried out. “I’ll show you who’s not good enough!” She said as she walked away in a huff. “

   Where do you think she’s going?” Asked George.

   “I don’t know. Probably to go and read or something she’s good at,” giggled Henry and threw a snowball at George; and the boys continued their snowball war in a terrible furry.

   While the boys where hard at their game Sally had gone over to the tree house that she had turned into a laboratory and workshop. Well inside she started to put all sorts of nuts and bolts together with various other items she had in her scrap-pile. She was sawing and hammering and welding as she was muttering that she’d “show them who was bad at snowball wars”.

   Henry and George were laughing and running around and hiding behind trees and bushes all while trying to hitting each other with snowballs, they were having such a good time that they didn’t notice Sally as she was coming towards them with a really big robot that looked a little like her.

    Henry ran up behind George and just as he was about to launch a snowball at his brother he saw Sally and the robot coming close to them. Henry stopped just as he was about to throw the ball.

   “Yikes! George!”

   “What?” George asked.

   “L-l-look at that!” Henry shouted and pointed with his paw at the machine coming towards them. “

   W-w-wh-what is that?” Stammered George.

   “It’s my latest invention,” Sally said proudly. “It’s a snow-rolling, snow-throwing, super-deluxe power machine, with turbo. I call her Matilda!” Sally said with a great smile.

   “Run George,” Henry whispered.

   “What did you say?” George asked.

    “RUUUUN!!” Shouted Henry as he ran away at the speed of light.

   Sally was steering the robot with a remote control and as the machine rolled across the snow it made snowballs by the dozens and throwing them even faster than Henry could, and by the flick of a switch Matilda the robot started to pepper snowballs at the boys. George hid behind the nearest tree and Henry tried to out run Matilda’s fire but wherever he ran a snowball hit him. George threw his snowballs as fast and hard as he could out from behind the tree but the robot seamed impervious to his attacks and for every snowball he threw there were three more coming at him.

   Henry ran up to George behind the tree. “Sh-she’s nuts!” Henry panted. “We don’t stand a chance alone. We have to work together!”

   “But how?” Asked George. “If I try to lure away her fire you make sure to hit Sally’s remote and knock it away from her so I can run and catch it. Right now I can’t get passed the robot.”

   “Shhhhh,” said George. “Do you hear that?”

   “What is it? I can’t hear anything,” Henry asked.

   “That’s just it. She’s stopped firing at us. Take a look if she’s still there.” George demanded.

   “No you look!” Henry exclaimed. “I’ve been hit too many times on the bum already, I won’t be able to sit for a week!”

   “Maybe she went inside. Do you think she gave up?” George asked. But as soon as he had said it a big robot head popped up through the snow in front of them.

   “Eeeeeeekk” the boys cried. “She’s under the snow!” Henry shouted and grabbed George by the tail and started to run. A hailstorm of snowballs spurted after them as Henry ran dragging George by the tail. The boys hid behind the great big tree that grows over their house.

   “Look!” cried Henry. “Look at what she’s done to my tail! And my beautiful orange fur is now completely white! Why does she have to aim at my behind?”

   “Do you think we should have let her join our game?” George asked.

    “Probably. But that’s too late now. She’s ruined my fur, and my bum hurts. Now it’s a war!”

   “Have you boys given up yet?” Sally shouted from somewhere on the others side of the tree.

   “No way! Henry shouted back. “Let’s stick to the plan,” he whispered to George. “I’ll run out that way,” he said and pointed to his right, “and you sneak around the other way and take out her remote.” By the blink of an eye Henry had disappeared around the tree; all George could hear were the snowballs hitting Henry and him shouting “ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch” whenever they did.

   “I better cover myself in snow so she won’t see me” George thought to himself. His dark-grey fur would be seen immediately by Sally if he didn’t.

   After removing his sweater, hat, scarf and gloves he started to roll and cover him self with snow until he was completely white. George crawled out from behind the tree where he spotted Sally. She was laughing and giggling as she steered Matilda after Henry who was busy running around in circles; throwing snowballs at the machine.

   Sally didn’t see George as he crawled closer to her, and when he was close enough he carefully rolled a really hard ball that was almost pure ice, and then he jumped up and threw the ball as hard as he could at the remote control.

   Sally hadn’t seen George until he jumped up from the snow and by that time it was too late, the remote control was shot out of her hand. “Oh, no!” she cried out. The remote flew away and smashed against a tree. “You broke it! George!”

   “Whoo-hooo!” Shouted Henry. “Victory! Hahaha.”

   Only the robot didn’t stop. Out from it’s head came another snow cannon.

   “Eh, sis? What’s it doing?” George asked. “I built Matilda so she could shoot at two or more targets at once. So I’d run if I were you. Hehehe” giggled Sally.

   But Matilda didn’t fire at George at first, the robot locked its aim at Sally, and after the first snowball hit her Sally exclaimed “Ouch! Matilda! What are you doing?” Matilda was now firing at all three little foxes at once.

   “Run!” Shouted Sally. “I can’t control her and with out the remote she’s going to fire at everything that moves!” Sally and George ran behind the tree and hid where George had left his clothes.

   “Nicely done, sis!” George said as he put his winter clothes back on.

   “Me? How is it my fault? You destroyed my remote!” The two of them could hear Henry shouting as the tried to destroy the machine with snowballs; “You’ll never get me you stupid machine! Aha! Take that! And That!”

   “What are we going to do?” George asked. “I don’t know, but Henry’s snowballs are never going to brake Matilda.”

   “Oh, no! Not that big! Heeeelp!” They heard Henry shout, and half a second later Henry came running to join his siblings.

    Henry was panting. “Sh-she, she’s crazy! She threw a snowball at me that was bigger than George!”

   “We can see that” Sally giggled. “You look like a snowman. It’s only the carrot that’s missing.

   “There!” Said George and brushed of some snow from Henry’s nose so his orange fur shone through. “Just like a carrot!”

   “Haha. Very funny, George!” Henry said. “There’s a war out there and the two of you are hiding here when I’m taking all the heat!”

   “What would you have us do?” George asked.

   “I don’t know, I didn’t build that thing!” Henry replied.

   “OK, we can try and cover Matilda in snowballs, maybe that will stop her” Sally said. “I can roll ice balls for George and you continue to throw as many as you can and maybe that will do it.”

   “OK. On three, ONE, TWO, THREE!”

   And the three little foxes ran out to meet the fire of the snowball throwing super-deluxe robot Matilda. And they fought a brave snowball war; snowballs were flying everywhere, braking windows, hitting trees and houses all around the woods. The three little foxes surrounded Matilda and threw as many snowballs at her as they could, but so far all it did was to cause a terrible ruckus.

  

   The snowball war was heard all over the forest, all the way inside the great Mr. Crowley’s cave.

   Sleeping deep inside the cave was the forest caretaker, the bear Mr. Crowley. He was dreaming of honeycombs and sugarplums when he was awakened by the terrible noise. 

   Mr. Crowley woke up in a stir and he wasn’t sure what was going on. “Oh for Pete’s sake! What’s going on now? Can’t a bear ever get to sleep in these woods?” He growled.

   Mr. Crowley got out of bed and slowly dragged himself out if his cave.

   “Burrrr. It’s snowing! Its still winter! What’s going on?” The bear tried to focus his ears to hear where all the noise was coming from. “

   Oh, no.” he cried out. “It’s those rascally little foxes again. Those children will drive me crazy one day! I better go see what they’re up to this time.”

   The three little foxes lived quite close to Mr. Crowley’s cave so he didn’t have to walk far, but when he arrived he was met by a terrible sight; the entire glade was overrun by snowballs, all the trees and houses looked like they were covered in giant marshmallows and there were broken windows on every house. “Oh for Pete’s sake” the bear said as he was hit by a snowball.

   The snowball had come from one of the three little foxes and he saw all three of them hurry behind Sally’s shed. And as he stood there watching the foxes Marty the hedgehog walked up to him.

   “Marty! What are you doing up? What’s going on here?

   “I couldn’t sleep. It’s those foxes at it again. They’re having some kind of snowball war and they woke up the kids and the Mrs. and she woke me up to go and see what was going on,” said the hedgehog.

   “That’s it!” Said Mr. Crowley. “I better go and talk to those children and put an end to all this ruckus!”

   When Mr. Crowley reached the shed the three little foxes were all standing with their backs to the wall and they were all panting and looking tired.

   “Mr. Crowley!” Sally said as she saw the bear. “What are you doing here?”

   “You three! I’m here to see why the three of you are making such a ruckus! You woke me up, and you woke up the hedgehogs. Some of us are trying to hibernate you know? Why aren’t you?”

   “We wanted to see the snow,” said George.

   “And we’re having a snowball war.” Henry added.

   “But it got a little out of hand.” Sally finished.

   “Well, stop it!” The bear demanded. “You’re keeping the whole forest awake with all this noise. And look at what you’ve done to this glade!”

   “We can’t Mr. Crowley! Sally built a robot that’s throwing snowballs at us.” Henry cried.

   “The boys wouldn’t let me play. They were too strong and too fast for me so I built Matilda to play for me. But the boys broke her and now she won’t stop attacking all of us,” Sally said in her defence.

   “She’s really good.” George said as he glanced over his shoulder to see if Matilda was close by.

   “But why couldn’t you dumb-dumbs just play with your sister?” Mr. Crowley asked the boys.

   “Hey, they’re no dumb-dumbs!” Sally exclaimed.

   “Yeah! Besides she was no good!” George said in his defence.

    “Hush, you! Dumb-dumb!” Sally said and threw some snow at George.

   “OK. I think I know enough now. I better go and talk to this Matilda and reason with her so she’ll stop this,” Mr. Crowley said and walked back out on the yard.

   “Reason with her?” Henry asked. “Who’s the dumb-dumb now?”

   “She’ll turn Mr. Crowley into a bear-popsicle!” Cried George.

   And the three little foxes listened as Mr. Crowley approached the robot.

   “Oh Miss Matilda,” they heard the bear say. “Hey! Stop that. You’re being quite rude, Madame!

   “He’s talking to a robot.” Henry said and shook his head in disbelief.

   “Oh, no! That’s too big, Miss. What are you doing? Put that down!”

   “Yeah, he’s gone for sure” George agreed. And they heard Mr. Crowley being hit by a giant snowball.

   “That’s it! No more Mr. nice Crowley! Bear-attack!!”

   “Bear-attack?” The three little foxes asked themselves and heard what sounded like an explosion from the yard, and they ran out to see what had happened.

   They saw Mr. Crowley standing among the pieces of what used to be Matilda.

   “She was really quite rude, your Matilda” the bear said.

   “She was a robot,” Henry answered.

   “Still no excuse for rudeness” Mr. Crowley responded. “I’m sorry I had to destroy her.”

   “That’s OK” Sally said happily. “I probably should stop building robots anyway.”

   “Now boys; what have you learned from all of this?” Mr. Crowley asked.

   “That robots are no fun!” George said with a smile.

   “No. You have learned that even though you’re really good at something you should let others play too. We’re all good at different things but if we don’t give others a try or let them play we’re all going to end up playing alone because no-one is going to want to play with us. Take George for an example; He’s really strong but he can also paint and draw beautiful pictures, but he’s not as good as Sally at building things. And Henry, he’s really fast, but also very clumsy.”

   “I don’t know what you’re talking about” Henry said and didn’t mind where he put his feet and fell head first into a pile of snow.

   “Thank you for proving my point, Henry” Mr. Crowley said and continued; “As I was saying we’re all good at different things. When Henry cooks or bakes everyone in these woods wants a bite. And when Sally was going to cook for us the last time I was here she ended up serving a black-kind-of-soup that no one could eat.”

   “Yeah, and one time she almost burned down the kitchen!” Henry added.

   “Thank you for reminding us, Henry” Sally muttered.

   “And that time she burned our cocoa and put salt in it instead of sugar. Eeeuugh!” George added.

   “We get it, George!” Sally said angrily.

   “So you see,” Mr. Crowley continued. “The next time you should let everybody play, even if they’re not as good as you are, they might be better than you at something else. Mr. Crowley wisely pointed out.

   “But now you all have to clean up this mess! You’ve awakened half the forest from their hibernation so the least you can do is make this glade beautiful for Christmas because now everyone is going to want to come here to celebrate with you, and have some of Henry’s delicious food!”

   And so they did. All three little foxes started to clean up the glade. Sally collected all the broken bits from the robot and all the broken glass, she always made sure to keep everything; even if it was broken she could use it for one of her inventions or recycle it into something good.

   Henry and George started to repair the windows with the help of Mr. Crowley who knew where they could find new glass for the frames.

   Even the hedgehogs helped to shovel snow away from the yard, leaving only a little on the ground to still keep it white.

    Everyone had to work hard to remove what was left of the snowballs from all the walls and tree-trunks; it wasn’t pretty having them there. Instead they started to put up glitter, fairy lights and other ornaments around the glade to make it beautiful for Christmas.

   “Now this is much better,” said Mr. Crowley. “Now we need chairs and tables so we’ll have somewhere to sit. And we’re going to need a Christmas tree with decorations as well. If George comes with me it shouldn’t take very long, I could use his strength to carry it. If we go and get one and the rest of you can get the decorations.”

   Whilst Mr. Crowley and George were away fetching a Christmas tree Sally and Henry collected enough tables and chairs to seat half the forest and the hedgehogs brought more boxes packed with ornaments.

   “So much glitter!” Sally exclaimed and wrapped some around herself. “Isn’t it beautiful against my red fur?”

   “You look like a really pretty Christmas present,” said Mrs. Hedgehog and unpacked another box of glitter and added, “at least I think you do. We’ve never been awake for Christmas before now.

   “Oh look at this beautiful star!” Said Lisa, one of the hedgehog children.

   “It’s very pretty, Lisa.” Henry agreed. “We’ll put it at the top of the Christmas tree like Mr. Crowley said. It’s going to be perfect up there! Mr. Crowley and George should be back soon so I better start supper.” Henry said and went inside.

   “I think that might be them!” said Marty the hedgehog as they all saw something stir at the top of the hill behind the foxhole.

   But it wasn’t Mr. Crowley and George; it was two baby-wolves stirring in the bushes.

   “That’s not Mr. Crowley. That’s two of our baby-cousins; Flip and Fib.” Sally pointed out. “Does your mother know you’re here?” She asked when the wolves had joined the group.

   “She sent us to wish you a merry Christmas,” said Flip. “And invite you to our snow-fort for a snowball fight,” said Fib.

   “Oh, no. Not another one” Marty sighed.

    “I don’t know if we can, I have to ask Henry. He’s in the kitchen,” Sally said. “Wait here and I’ll go and ask him.”

   Sally was only in the house for a little while but by the time she got back out the baby-wolves were already halfway up the hill again.

   “Are you leaving already?” Sally shouted.

   “Yeah we have to get back to the fort now,” said Flip. “We already got what we came for,” said Fib.

    “I wonder what they meant by that,” Sally said as the wolves disappeared over the hill.

    George and Mr. Crowley returned just as the hedgehogs had unpacked all the ornaments. George carried the Christmas tree all by himself and Mr. Crowley only had to tell him where to walk since George was so little that he didn’t see anything from inside the branches.

   “OK, George. Now you can put it down and we’ll raise it in the middle of the yard.” And George raised the tree with ease and it was a beautiful tree. Everyone helped with the decorations, and by the time it was finished the tree looked like a jewel and really tasty treat all at once with the glitter swirling from the bottom all the way to the top and with candy canes, ornaments and fairy lights on every branch, all it needed now was the star right at the top.

   “Where’s the star?” Sally asked after looking through the empty boxes.

   “The wolves must have taken it!” Marty exclaimed. “That must have been what they came to get!”

“Do you really think so, Marty?” Sally asked. “Why would they take our star?”

“Which wolves?” Asked Mr. Crowley.

“Our baby-cousins. But I really don’t think they took it,” Sally answered just as a snowball came flying and hit Mr. Crowley in the head.

   “Oh for Pete’s sake! Would people just stop throwing snowballs at me!”

   When Mr. Crowley removed the snow from the back of his head he discovered a note that had been put in the snowball. “We have your star. If you want it back you have to come and get it from our snow fort, bring lots of snowballs. –Mother Wolf.” “How rude!” Mr. Crowley said. “Your nasty cousins have stolen our star and now they want a snowball war!”

   “They’re not so much nasty as they are naughty and mischievous,” Sally said and read through the note. “What do you think George? Should we have another snowball fight today?”

   “I say we take back our star, and we do it now!” George answered. “Who’s with us?”

    “We’ll do what we can!” Said Marty as Henry came running out from the house.

   “Let’s do this thing!” He shouted with glee.

   “Oh boy,” Mr. Crowley sighed. “No robots this time!”

   “We promise!” The three little foxes all said with a smile.

   The three little foxes lead the way as they, together with the hedgehogs and Mr. Crowley, made their way towards the wolf-glade.

   “Oh wow! Look at that” George exclaimed as they saw the wolves’ snow fort. “It’s huge!”

   And it truly was a magnificent sight; thick walls towering high in the sky; wolves standing on top of the walls, and one wolf in each of the four turrets.

   “L-l-look! Shouted Lisa the hedgehog. “Our star!”

   The wolves had placed a Christmas tree in the middle of the snow fort’s courtyard and at the top of the tree they had placed the stolen star.

   “I can finish this in no time!” Said Henry as he ran towards the snow fort. But when he tried to use his lightning-like speed to climb the walls he fell to the ground, head first as always with Henry, and into a pile of snow, and as he was stuck in the snow the wolves threw a couple of snowballs at his behind.

   “Oh, no. Not again” they heard Henry say muffled by the snow.

   Henry quickly got on his feet and ran back to the others.

   “The walls are made of ice! They are too slippery to climb!” He panted.

   Flip and Fib were playing outside the gate to the fort as it opened and a big black wolf, dressed in camouflage gear came through the gate.

   “Look at Mother Wolf!” Sally gasped. “She looks like a General, I wanna be a General too!”

   “Welcome to our fort little cousins!” Mother Wolf shouted. “If you want your star back you have to win it in a snowball war.”

   “What are the rules?” Mr. Crowley shouted back.

    “The rules are simple; if you reach the star you have won. But no throwing snowballs at each other’s heads. And remember to have fun, it’s the whole point.”

   “I better sit this one out,” said Mr. Crowley. “I think it would be unfair if we used both my strength and George’s.

   “Let the games begin!” Mother Wolf shouted and returned back inside the fort followed by Flip and Fib.

   “What’s the plan then, General?” Asked Marty the hedgehog.

   “I think we should try and get close to the gate and push it open. It looks like it’s just hanging there with a rod straight through it holding it in place. So if we push at the bottom it should flip open, but to do that we need to distract the wolves at the walls and in the turrets. That will be Henry and George’s job. Marty and Tom (Tom is the second Hedgehog child who rarely talks or does anything, he’s awfully shy) can roll snowballs for supply, we’re going to need loads of them. And me and Mrs. Hedgehog and Lisa will sneak up to the gate.”

   “Sounds like a good plan!” Henry cheered. “Everybody huddle up and put your paws in and on three we shall attack! One. Two. Three. Go team!”

   And off they went; George and Henry picked out a couple of wolves each and they were throwing snowballs at them as best they could. Marty and Tom kept giving them new snowballs to throw, which gave the girls the cover they needed to get to the gate.

   “OK, girls,” Sally said as they reach the gate. “Let’s push it open!” And they pushed and they pushed but the gate didn’t move an inch.

   “It looks like it won’t push open from this direction. Maybe if we got some rope with hooks over the top of it we could pull it open.” Sally pondered.

   “Maybe you could” they heard a voice say. “But I wouldn’t bet on it.”

   “Eeeek” Sally shrieked when she saw that it was Mother Wolf standing at the top of the wall with Flip and Fib, all three loaded with snowballs.

   “Retreat!” Sally shouted and all the girls ran away with snowballs at their heels.

   “That didn’t work,” said Mrs. Hedgehog as the boys returned from the battle as well.

   “Well, what happened?” Henry asked.

   “We can’t push the gate open from this side,” Sally replied. “But maybe George can brake it,” she added. “If we take the heat off of him.”

    “Let’s do it!” George said eagerly.

    So the whole gang approached the snow fort once again. By launching snowballs at the wolves George managed to get close to the wall undetected, but as he approached the gate, just as he was about to strike it, the wolves revealed a giant snow cannon, which spurted snow like a fountain; and with the power of a tornado the snow sent George flying back up the hill from where they all had come.

   “George!” Sally cried, and the whole gang ran up the hill to see where he had gone, and they found him under a great big pile of snow.

   “Anymore bright ideas? Miss General?” George muttered.

   “That snow cannon is way too powerful” Mr. Crowley said as he walked up to the gang. “I believe I have to join your side now that the wolves are playing unfair. Besides I’m hungry!” He said and smiled at Henry. “Let’s finish this!”

   “Yeah!” Shouted George and Henry eagerly.

   “We’ll help you by drawing the cannon fire our way,” George said and jumped up on Henry’s shoulders.

   “By forming the super-deluxe dynamic fox duo, with turbo!” Henry said and gave Sally a wink.

   Henry ran down the hill with George on his shoulders and as the others watched George kept throwing fast balls at the wolves, clearly distracting them as they tried to hit the dynamic duo with their cannon.

   Now it was Mr. Crowley’s turn to run down the hill and he ran as fast as he could building up a tremendous amount of power.

    “Watch out for the bear!” Shouted one of the wolves and the others steered the snow cannon towards Mr. Crowley.

   Mother Wolf was standing with Flip and Fib on the inside of the fort, quite close to the gate when they heard Mr. Crowley shouting; “Bear attack!”

   “Bear attack?” Said Flip and Fib and looked at each both confused.

   “Wooaaoh!” They heard the bear shout as the snow from the cannon hit him and made him trip, and half a second later Mr. Crowley came crashing through the wall.

   “He missed the gate,” Sally said as she was watching from atop of the hill.

   “Are you OK, Mr. Crowley?” Mother Wolf asked as she helped the bear to his feet.

   “Oh yes, at least I think so.”

   “Are you sure? Because you just went through a wall…” She added.

   The wolves on top of the wall were laughing and rolling around at the sight of the bear as he crashed through the wall. That is until they heard the cracking of ice and when they saw that the wall was about to fall apart.

   “Uh, oh! Flip and Fib are out of here!” The baby-wolves shouted and ran for cover as the wall came tumbling down over Mr. Crowley and Mother Wolf.

   When Flip and Fib returned they saw their mother and Mr. Crowley crawling out from the snow.

   “Hehehe. Look at mommy! She’s a snow-wolf now!” Said Flip.

    “And Mr. Crowley is a polar bear!” Giggled Fib.

    As Mother Wolf was brushing of the snow from her fur she saw a dark-grey and orange whirlwind come through the broken wall, and it twirled up the Christmas tree and when she glanced at the top of the tree she saw that it was Henry with George on his shoulders and Lisa the hedgehog in George’s arms.

   “We won!” Lisa exclaimed as she grabbed the star.

   “You sure did,” said Mother Wolf. “Aaaatchooo!” She sneezed. “I think I’ve caught a cold…”

   “Aaaaatchooo!... Me too” said Mr. Crowley and sneezed even louder. “I think we’d better get back to the fox-glade and get something warm in our bellies” the bear said and rubbed his tummy.

   And so they did; the wolves, the hedgehogs and Mr. Crowley all followed the three little foxes back to their house where they threw a giant feast. The Christmas tree finally got its star back and it stood tall in the middle of the fox-glade as all the animals danced around it singing Christmas carols at the top of their lungs. After a few hours of dancing outside they brought the celebrations indoors where Henry served hot cocoa with marshmallows to each and every one. George and Sally were singing by the piano together with a group of wolves as Mr. and Mrs. Hedgehog danced to their tunes. And Mother Wolf was seated in the den by the roaring fire, wrapped up in a blanket; she was sipping her cocoa and listening to Mr. Crowley as he read from an old storybook.

    Mr. Crowley had Flip and Fib on his lap, and the hedgehog babies by his feet, as he read old stories about the great adventures of brave little hobbits, fair elves and powerful wizards.

    All the animals in the woods could hear as they danced and sang and laughed all through the night. And that is the story of how the three little foxes came to celebrate their first Christmas together with the wolves, the hedgehogs and the great Mr. Crowley.

The End

I'm going to edit the story at a later date since I feel I rushed it on the count that I've posted it almost two days late. I'm also going to highlight some of the words in bold, just as I did with the previous attempt at writing a children's book, in order to point out words that might need explaining, since if I'd actually decide to write a children's book I'd like to include a glossary to explain "difficult" words instead of using "simpler" ones, all in the name of expanding children's vocabularies. Talk about pretentious, eh? Well, at least I know it. I might not even follow through with it. It all depend wether or not it's a good idea, which is why I need more criticism and hints at what I'm doing wrong. Anyway it's late and I'm about to fall asleep on the keyboard and I'm afraid I've stopped making sense, if I ever did. Good night.

An unexpected Christmas

This is the second of four newly written Christmas stories that I'm using to relaunch this blog. I'm posting one independent story on every Sunday leading up to Christmas Eve, one for every Advent.

An unexpected Christmas

Towards the end of every year, when the cool December air sweeps in over our hearts, people start to huddle together in the streets; we queue with strangers for hours in order to find our friends and loved ones the perfect gifts for Christmas. 

   It was the thought of queuing for hours and being trapped on the train with all these strangers that was on Benjamin Jackson’s mind that afternoon as he was watching the snow fall outside his office window. Never in his wildest dreams could he imagine coming home three months later to find shards of broken crystal underneath withered rose petals from the bouquet he was going to buy for his wife just a few hours later.

   The familiar ring tone from his cellphone broke the silence as he was gazing through the window. “Hello, my darling.” It was his wife Charlotte’s own designated ring tone. “Yes, I’m in a meeting at three, but I should be out of here by four.” Benjamin takes a quick glance at his watch. “No, I’ll be fine. You don’t have to pick me up. You just want to see your Christmas presents anyway. Besides, Matthew’s probably going to want to play in the snow after school, you shouldn’t drag him back into the city. When do you finish anyway?” He takes another quick look at the watch. “At six? See; then there’s no point for you to pick me up, I’ll probably be home before you. I have to go, I’m running late for the meeting. Love you, bye.” Benjamin hangs up the phone, grabs a folder from his desk and hurries out the door.

   It’s just a few minutes after three when Benjamin arrives at the conference room. Everyone is already there and the regional manager of sales has already begun his run through. Benjamin is met by his boss’ unhappy stare from across the table, all that is left for Benjamin to do is mouth back “I’m sorry” as he takes his seat.

   It takes approximately two point seven minutes for Benjamin to realize that he’s trapped in the meeting from hell and that he’s probably going to die there. It feels like he has been taken hostage by the most boring man in the world and that he is trying to smother them all with his talk about budgets and cut downs. Benjamin is looking at this overweight, greasy, balding man that is trying to suck the very life right out of him, and Benjamin is thinking that the garish orange tie, with neon-green stripes, around the greasy man's neck is the only shred of evidence that this man has any kind of personality.

   As Benjamin is having his life sucked right out of him, his phone starts to ring. It takes him several seconds to locate the ringing phone, seconds during which the overweight, greasy life sucking man with his garish tie has stopped his presentation and Benjamin now has an entire room full of executives staring at him. When Benjamin finally manage to find the phone he automatically, without thought, turns it to silent mode. Once again he’s met by his boss’ anything but happy stare, and Benjamin now has to spend the rest of the meeting pretending to be fascinated by annual tax rates and next year’s budget cuts.

   At four thirty, when Benjamin is just about to give up hope of ever getting out of the meeting, the greasy man finally give his thanks and wishes everybody good luck for the next quarter. Benjamin gets on his feet quicker than everybody else, and he calculates that if he can get to his office to lock up and leave the building before his boss catches him, he could be down town in ten minutes instead of enduring another lecture in conference etiquette and of the importance of keeping time, that can wait until tomorrow.

   By the time Benjamin is out on the street the snow has started to fall quite heavily, big luscious snowflakes fall and covers everything in sight, and as he's walking through the narrow streets in the eldest parts of the city he can’t help but to imagine a giant snow globe which someone has shook over and over again.

   Benjamin is reminded of the times when he used to walk through these streets as a child, excited at the very sight of the first snow and how beautiful the city became once all the Christmas decorations started to appear; how warm and inviting all the little shops and boutiques became around this time of year. Albeit that this part of the city has not changed much since then but the Christmas preparations seems to have gotten so much grander. Walking there, making his way towards the larger shopping centres, he was a little saddened by it all and he felt robbed of the joy he used to get in time for Christmas. Nowadays the Christmas frenzy starts in October and he miss how much more genuine the spirit of Christmas felt when it started in December. It's not only the appearance of the city that change, but also its very spirit, when Christmas is drawing near.

   Benjamin has reached his first destination; one of the finer jewellery stores in this large shopping centre, which looks more like an entire city than anything else. Benjamin had made it a tradition to always get his wife at least three Christmas gifts; something she wants, something unexpected and thirdly a piece of jewellery. For their first Christmas together he had bought a necklace best described as looking like it was silver. This year, now that their financial situation is a little better, he wants to get her something a little more luxurious, at least something that won’t turn her neck green, again.

   The shopping centre wasn’t as packed with people as Benjamin had thought. Christmas was just a few days away after all, something his wife had pointed out during a conversation on why it’s best to buy all the Christmas presents early, a conversation they had had every year. The truth was that Benjamin knew very well that the city was going to be overcrowded with other Christmas shoppers, but for him that was the very point; Benjamin loved to do his Christmas shopping together with hundreds of strangers, all trying to find the best gifts for their loved ones, standing together in queues for hours, in fully decorated shops with fairy lights in every window.

   On his way to his next destination Benjamin passed an enormous toy store, and even though Benjamin and his wife had already bought enough Christmas presents for their son, he couldn’t help but to stop and glance through the window. And there it was; a light-brown, cuddly, teddy bear with big beautiful eyes and the softest fur Benjamin had ever felt. It was the perfect size for a little boy to carry under his arm and it had a baby-blue hooded sweater that even said “Matthew” in beautiful embroidery. Benjamin could just see the joy in Matthew’s eyes if he would get this teddy.

   Well, out on the streets again Benjamin stops to inhale a huge breath of the cold fresh air. He can’t help but to think that it all is pretty magical; the feather-light snowflakes swirling around his head, so clear and so cold; sparkling like diamonds in the light. Benjamin got a sudden urge to stick out his tongue and catch as many snowflakes as he can. Had he still been a young boy he wouldn’t even have thought about it, but as a man in his thirties he worries about what the people around him would think, a rather sad realization he thought to himself; there is so much we loose of ourselves when we grow older, “To hell with it” he thought, and he stuck out his tongue and rescued a little bit of the child still inside of him.

   The wind had really begun to pick up when Benjamin reached his final destination and he was really happy to get out of the cold when he stepped into a little antiques store. He had walked by this shop many times before and a few days ago he had noticed that they had a rather beautiful selection of crystal vases, bowls, cocktail glasses and various beautiful ornaments, all in crystal.

   He knew exactly what he wanted to get now all he had to do was find them. Christmas for Benjamin was curling up under a big blanket next to his wife, sipping hot chocolate with marshmallows or drinking from a big mug full of steaming warm mulled wine. Last year they had spread a blanked across the floor in front of the fireplace and they had been lying there sipping champagne whilst the wood crackled and the flames slowly turned to embers. They had used rather colourful plastic cups for their champagne, this was rather romantic in its own way, but this year Benjamin wanted to find some really nice crystal champagne glasses for their romantic times in front of the fire.

   Benjamin was searching high and low, every table and every shelf in this little shop was covered in ornaments and nick-knacks. He found several glasses that were nice but none that were just right, until he spotted a pair high up on the shelf behind the store clerk. They were a pair of long stemmed crystal champagne flutes, stylish, with a beautiful swirl etched in the glass, running from the brim around the stem and down across the foot. As they were standing there on the shelf he really could see himself with Charlotte in the reflection from the crystal, the two of them seated on the blanket sipping champagne in front of the fire. These were perfect; elegant, under stated and a little quirky, just as Benjamin and his wife.

  The clerk told Benjamin that these flutes had a bit of a history and that they had once been part of a whole table set belonging to a wealthy woman who had lived just down the street from the shop, and that these flutes were the only two remaining pieces from this set. Whether this was true or just a story to justify the price didn’t matter to Benjamin, they were clearly antiques and he liked the idea of having things with a history, even if he didn’t know exactly where they came from.

   Now that Benjamin had everything he needed he had to make his way to the train station. When he got out on the street he got a big chill down his spine from the cold and he joined what seemed like a stream of people hurrying in the same direction as he was going, all wanting to get away from what very likely could turn into a full blown snowstorm.

   Just outside the train station was woman busy packing up a flower stand. Benjamin thought the idea of selling flowers out in the cold was rather peculiar, surely they would freeze, but just as he was about to pass the woman he saw a large bouquet of dark red roses sprinkled with snow. The warm luscious red against the cold white snow was so beautiful that he thought of his wife and how long it had been since he spontaneously brought her flowers, and roses being her favourites he simply had to buy them.

   There were floods of people pouring down the stairs to the tube station, and with all his bags and now a huge bouquet of roses in his hands Benjamin was no longer as pleased to be huddled among all the strangers. He had finished shopping quite a bit earlier than he had expected so he thought he’d call Charlotte and tell her the good news. He couldn’t get a signal. “Bloody underground” he thought, “Bloody phone, oh well” he thought, the train was just pulling up to the platform, he was going to be home soon anyway, so he might just as well surprise her.

   Benjamin made his connecting train just in time, but he had to stand since it was overcrowded as usual. He could hardly see anything outside the windows as the train sped across the tracks; everything was white. Luckily he only had a few stops on the way before he was home.

   Benjamin had a bit of trouble getting off the train and he wondered yet again why the people getting on never learned to let people off the train before they shoved themselves inside. But never mind that, he thought, there was only a short five minutes walk and he’d be home, “No need to contemplate the stupidity of man and ruin my good mood.”

   The car was not in the driveway and the porch lights were off when Benjamin walked up to his house. “They must be stuck in traffic then” he thought. He was home earlier than he had expected and chances were that he’d make it home before they did anyway.

   Once he got inside the house he turned on the porch lights and dropped the keys on the table just inside the door. He didn’t bother to remove his coat and shoes, he just wanted to get inside and unload everything so he stepped right into the kitchen where he put the roses on the edge of the counter and all the bags underneath it.

   After hanging up his coat and removing his shoes and gloves he wanted to have another look at the champagne flutes that he just bought, but he thought he’d better phone his wife and see where they were. He opened the box with the champagne flutes and unwrapped the silk paper from one of them and put it on the counter next to the roses. As he was unwrapping the other flute he picked up his phone and saw that he had several missed calls and voice messages from an unknown number. He held the phone with his shoulder as he studied the champagne flute; it was truly stunning. The voice at the other end of the phone told Benjamin that his wife and son had been in a car crash and that they had been rushed to the hospital.

   It was as time stood as the glass fell from Benjamin’s hand and shards of crystal scattered across the floor. Little did he know that when he had spotted the champagne flutes high up on that shelf, Charlotte had been talking to their son only to turn around to see two bright headlights come crashing through her windshield, and by the time Benjamin had wished the clerk a happy Christmas, Charlotte’s car had been caught underneath the speeding lorry and been dragged for half a mile in the snow.

   Benjamin couldn’t tell how long it had been but it seemed like a lifetime for the taxi to get to his house. “My wife and son have been in a car crash, you have to hurry” he told the driver after giving him the address. All Benjamin could do on the way to the hospital was to tell himself not to think about what could happen, or what had happened, right now he didn’t want to think about anything at all, all he could do was to stay calm and not think.

   There were several ambulances parked outside the emergency room entrance, the very sight of them turned Benjamin’s stomach to a knot as he hurried inside to the reception. “My wife and son have been in a car crash” he anxiously told the woman at the desk. “They told me on the phone that they were here. Her name is Charlotte Jackson and my son’s name is Matthew. I have to see them right now, can you please tell me where to go?” Benjamin was told to have a seat while the nurse would find out. “I don’t want to have a seat, I want to se my son! I want see my wife and son! They have been in a car crash!” Another nurse who had been there when they brought in Charlotte and Matthew overheard Benjamin at the desk and she went over to try and calm him down. Benjamin was told that his wife was in surgery but that he could see his son soon and that a doctor would come and talk to him. A moment ago in the taxi time seemed to stand still, and Benjamin could feel his every heartbeat. But now everything was in chaos; there were people everywhere, running around, telling him things, and asking him for details, it was as though nothing was real anymore.

   Benjamin was shown into the room where his son had been taken. They had told him that both of Matthew’s lungs had collapsed, he had several broken ribs, both his right arm and leg had been broken in several places and he had a concussion. They told Benjamin that Matthew had been lucky, that his son was going to be fine, that he was sedated for now and that a respirator was breathing for him until they could restore his lungs, but that everything was going to be fine.

   When Benjamin went into Matthew’s room it wasn’t those words that stuck with him. Benjamin couldn’t see how “lucky” his son had been. All he saw was his little boy hooked up to a machine with a giant tube stuck down his throat. “Oh my God” Benjamin’s throat closed up and he felt the tears rush to his eyes, “Matthew, my little boy.” It wasn’t luck Benjamin thought of when he first saw his son.

   Benjamin spent the next few hours seated at Matthew’s bed, holding his hand. The doctors came and went and updated him on his wife’s condition. They told him that Charlotte had multiple broken ribs, one of her lungs had been punctured, both her arms and right leg were broken, and her pelvis had been shattered but most crucial was that the hit to her head that had begun to make her brain swell and they had to operate and remove parts of her skull to give room for the brain, otherwise she could die or at the very least she could become paralysed. They told Benjamin that in order for the swelling of the brain to go down, after they removed the back of her skull, they would have to put her in a chemically induced coma, to give the brain time to reduce back to its normal size. This meant several surgeries over a long time and there was a risk that she would never wake up from the coma, but that this was the only thing they could do to save her life.

   The fist day at the hospital seemed to go on forever and yet Benjamin could later not recall how things had happened, he had no concept of a time frame; only specific events came back to him. The first few hours were the worst, when the only thing he could do was to wait until the doctors had restored Matthew’s lungs and taken him off the respirator. Matthew would still be kept sedated for a few more hours after that but at least he was breathing on his own. The sight of Matthew lying there without any tubes in his throat was the first piece of relief for Benjamin, albeit a small piece, but it was a step in the right direction.

   Matthew was sedated all through the first night and Benjamin didn’t leave his side until Matthew opened his eyes for the first time. “Matthew? Can you hear me? It’s daddy.” It was impossible for Benjamin to keep away his tears but he didn’t want to alarm his son so he sat there and lovingly stroked his hair, “You go ahead and sleep, everything is going to be okay”.

   It wasn’t until Matthew had opened his eyes that Benjamin felt like he could leave his side, and by that time he was allowed to go and see his wife.

   Charlotte was looking peaceful in her bed, her arms and legs were set in plaster, her head wrapped in gauze and she was in a coma, but at least she was breading on her own. She was stable for now, the doctors said. They had repaired her lung, but all they could do now was wait, wait and pray that the brain swell would go down so they could repair her skull and then she would hopefully wake up from her coma.

   Benjamin was wandering the hospital, up and down the corridors, he didn’t know what to do. Until now he had not let himself think about anything other than that his wife and son were both going to be fine, but what if they were not? Could he take care of Matthew all on his own? How could he tell Matthew that his mum was dead? How could he be a single father? He didn’t know the names of Matthew’s friends, or which shirt goes with which trousers. It was only Charlotte who could make Matthew eat his peas, how can a boy grow up without eating peas? A ridiculous though Benjamin realized, but there were so many things he didn’t know. And how could he go on living without his wife? The love of his life, his high school sweetheart. “No! No!” Benjamin suddenly burst out. “It’s not about me now, whatever happen, happen. I have to deal with it. I have to do it. Why am I being so selfish?” he thought to himself.

   On his way back from the cafeteria, where he got his twelfth cup of coffee, Benjamin passed a gift shop. “It’s Christmas the day after tomorrow, I should get Matthew something before he wakes up again.” He thought to himself. Unfortunately it was a sad excuse for a gift shop, one plastic cheap looking thing after another, “a souvenir shop would have been better than this.” After rejecting one thing after another Benjamin finally decided on a raggedy looking teddy bear that was more solid than soft, with a strange orangey-brownish colour. “It’s not pretty, but it’s at least something,” he thought to himself. “Matthew won’t be home for Christmas, he will be lying in a bed and he won’t have his mother there, he deserves something, even if it’s not the best looking teddy in the world.” Benjamin went back to Matthew’s room and placed the teddy bear under the arm of his sleeping son.

   Christmas came and went, a lot of friends and family members came to the hospital, they did what they could with what they had. Matthew was showered with gifts, but all he had wanted was to see his mother, but the doctors didn’t want to move him so early. On Christmas Day Charlotte had to go through another surgery, they were going to repair her skull now that the swelling had been reduced. It wasn’t until after New Year’s Eve that Benjamin could finally take him to Charlotte’s room. Benjamin was carrying Matthew, who had his right arm and leg set in casks. Matthew was holding his orangey-brown teddy tightly in his good arm when they went into Charlotte’s room. “Here she is, Matthew. See? She’s just sleeping, but you can talk to her if you want, the doctors said that she can hear us.” But Matthew had looked away and buried his face in Benjamin’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Matthew. Mommy is going to be just fine, she needs to sleep so she can get better. It’s okay. You can come and see her whenever you want now.”

   It was a full seven days after Matthew had visited his mother the first time that Charlotte finally woke up, and when she was strong enough both her and Matthew were moved to their own private room. It had been a rough few weeks, and in some ways the hard part was just about to begin, but Benjamin was finally allowing himself to feel relief and when he heard his wife laugh for the first time since the accident he felt like everything was truly going to be okay.

    Charlotte had to stay at the hospital for a long time after the accident, with a shattered pelvis the healing process was going to be extensive and once healed she would have to go through months of rehabilitation to learn how to walk again, and even then she was told that she might not ever walk exactly like she used to. Matthew stayed with her at the hospital for the duration of her time. Benjamin went between the hospital and his job and only stopped at their house to sleep, get clothes or pick up the mail, he paid no attention to the house whatsoever.

   The day the doctors told Benjamin that he could finally take his wife and son home again was the happiest day of his life, with the exception of the day Matthew was born. Charlotte still had a lot of physical training to do but now that she could walk with crutches she wouldn’t have to stay at the hospital.

   It was an early spring day in March that Benjamin drove his family back to their home. Charlotte had made it perfectly clear that she wanted to walk into the house on her own, after that Benjamin could dote her all he wanted to but Charlotte was adamant that if she couldn’t walk into her own house then she had no business being there. It was quite late that they arrived, the cool evening breeze felt soft against Charlotte’s face, after being in a hospital for three months she had really missed the sensation of having the wind against her face.

   Well inside the house Matthew went to his room to play and Benjamin took his wife to the den, he had wanted to curl up next to her in front of the fireplace since Christmas and he thought that it would be the perfect way of coming home. He lit the fire and told Charlotte to wait there; he had a surprise for her. Benjamin had intended to go to the kitchen to get some of Charlotte’s favourite cheese and chocolates, which he had bought a few days earlier, but when he stepped into the kitchen the last few rays of the evening sun struck the sole champagne flute standing on the counter by the back wall. He had not thought about the time that he got the news about the car crash since it happened and he had not even been in the kitchen, other then to throw away everything that had been left in the fridge, at all during the last three months. Benjamin went over to the flute and took it in his hand. It was truly beautiful. The roses on the counter had withered; most of the petals had fallen to the floor where they were covering the crystal shards from the broken flute. Benjamin grabbed a broom and swept up all the petals and shard and put them in the bin, before he returned to his wife with the cheese and chocolates.

   When Benjamin swept up the rose petals and crystal shards he saw the other bags he had left on the floor. He thought that he’d surprise his wife with the necklace he bought her for Christmas a little later in the evening, but when it was time for Matthew to go to bed Benjamin decided to surprise him with that magnificent teddy bear that he had picked out for Christmas. It was just as soft as when he held it the first time, much better than the ugly gift shop one. When Benjamin walked into Matthew’s room they boy was already asleep. Benjamin took the cheap raggedy teddy from underneath the arm of his son and replaced it with the new, soft and gorgeous one. He put away the old one with the rest of Matthew’s toys before he switched off the lights and left the room.

   Charlotte had tucked herself in already when Benjamin came into their bedroom holding what looked like a jewellery box and an empty glass. “I forgot that I had this,” he said when handed her the necklace. “And I thought we’d celebrate your home-coming with a glass of lemonade. It’s meant for champagne but until you’re allowed the real thing we’ll have to stick with lemonade,” he said and poured the glass to the brim. “I bought us a pair of Champagne flutes for Christmas, but this is the only one left so from now on we’ll have to share it.”

   In the early hours of the morning Benjamin woke up with a sudden unease. Charlotte was asleep and seemed at peace, but he still couldn’t shake the strange feeling. Benjamin got out of bed and went to the kitchen to have a glass of warm milk. The sun was just about to raise over the tree tops, it was going to be a beautiful day. Standing there in the kitchen sipping his milk Benjamin realized what had woken him. It was the first time in months that he didn’t have to worry about his wife, about his son, about anything other than the trivial things of our everyday lives.

   On his way back to the bedroom Benjamin thought he’d check in on Matthew, just in case. When he switched on the lights he saw that Matthew must have woken up during the night. He too must have been sleeping uneasy because the new, soft and cuddly teddy was seated at Mathew’s bedside and underneath the boy’s arm was the orangey-brown and raggedy old teddy bear.

The End

This story took a little longer for me to write than a story of this size normally would take. I have to admit that I wasn't terribly inspired when I wrote it. The original idea for it was actually the first I got for all four stories, and it got me excited, but I got off track somewhere and I'm not exactly sure what happened. All I know is that it's not my best work and I'm not that proud of it. I think the problem is that it's two stories, I have a tendency to want to tell too many stories in one. But in the end I like it, at least parts of it. Normally I would have killed off the mother to make it much more tragic, and in my mind more beautiful, and maybe that was the problem, but this is a Christmas story and I suppose the spirit of Christmas got the better of me and I couldn't bring myself to kill the mother of a little boy on Christmas.