A taste of christmas. A repeat due to a long call out but there is a new Constance Claus idea rattling about in my brain… https://decidinglybob.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/mrs-claus-fixes-christmas-2/
Tag Archives: Christmas
Double Trouble for Mrs Claus
Constance Claus loves Christmas as much as she loves her husband but, every year from November until December 26th a disaster happens. And at his tremendous age, Santa hated problems. Constance tried to plan ahead as, let’s be honest; most people like to have a trouble free life.
Last year it was the missing gingerbread recipe. The recipe was ancient, almost as old as the cook who had the job of baking five million perfectly formed gingerbread houses. Every inch of the North Pole was searched. This meant the elves were hungry, a lot more than usual and so Constance spent most of her days cooking and preparing meals. If, she often reasoned afterwards, if she hadn’t been busy feeding the hungry elves, then she would have solved the puzzle earlier. She found it – under the cook’s hat. It had risen as high as his pastry and was stuck to the top of it.
This year she began her anti disaster plan in July. The first thing she did was to make certain there was a copy of the recipe on her tablet. Next, she checked there was an awesome mountain of buttons for the Minion’s dungarees,then, enough paint for the rocking horses and on and on her list went. But she with the help of chief elf Enda, worked their way through it.
So by the second week of November she was wondering if she could finally relax.
The workshop was thundering through the long menu of toys and electrical gadgets that needed to be made. The new computer department was turning out to be a great addition as the technicians had rigged up a mechanical serving belt which brought the food straight from the kitchen to the tables at lightening speed.
“Too fast for me,” moaned Santa as yet again he was too slow to collect his dinner off the moving belt and it whizzed on to Slim who snagged it.
“But dear you are looking all the trimmer for it,” Constance said.
She was sitting before a pretty log fire with Summer, her cat, snoozing on her lap, when her walls began to shake and rumble. Strange, thought Constance. However, when the rumbling increased she jumped to her feet and went to investigate. Summer slid to the ground, shook himself and went off to find a more reliable less jumpy cushion to snooze on.
Constance wondered if Santa and the elves were playing a trick on her so she was a little wary of opening her front door. This was just as well, because when she opened it a chunk of snow slid off the roof and landed on her doorstep.
“This won’t do,” Constance muttered and picked her way through the mountain of snow.
Then she stopped and stared. She giggled because she couldn’t help it. The reindeers were playing dodge the snowball. And due to their very heavy appearance they were making the ground shake and groan under their hooves.
She frowned. “This is terrible, Rudolph you are looking a little chunky tonight.” She mused and then stopped and sniffed the air. He smelt of chocolate and something else. She stared at him.
“Is that marshmallow sticking to your coat?” He backed away and looked at her with huge sad eyes.
She went back inside but instead of sitting in her comfortable chair she peeped out the window. She noticed some of the reindeer sniff the air and stroll off towards the elves living room. Constance decided to follow.
In the elves living room she discovered the elves were having a snack. They had taken their shoes off and were sitting before a huge fire toasting smores. “Where did you learn how to do that?” She asked Santa who was managing to toast four at a time.
“Internet.” He said, “Try some. They are delish.”
She tilted her head to one side, “how long have you been doing this?
“Oh only a week or two. It’s just that we get so hungry with the extra work. It is a nice way to relax and we tell stories then head to bed.”
She looked around the room and noticed many of the elves were already asleep in their chairs. Just then the door opened and a young reindeer entered. He walked straight to a sleeping elf and very gingerly took the uneaten smore from the elf’s hand before moving to the next elf.
Constance did not want to be a spoilsport but she was worried. The reindeer needed to be fit and Santa, she knew would eat until his suit was close to bursting.
Over the next two weeks no matter what she did, the reindeer always found a way into the elves sitting room. She wondered if they were paying the elves to leave a door open. No, that is totally silly, she decided.
It was December and the workshop was producing toys at a frantic rate.
There was a “bang” followed by a “pop” and everything stopped. There was a shocked silence. Enda shouted, “lets find the fault.” An hour later they knew the problem. The generator couldn’t produce enough electrical power.
“We need to produce more electricity.It’s knackered.” Was the final statement from their workshop maintenance team.
“Right early lunch and lets chew on it.” Santa said.
Constance went for a walk. She always thought better when left to think by herself. Rudolph accompanied her, with Summer sitting on his back.
“I know you are trying to get fit and slim Rudolph but it is not working. You need a high intensity work out. Cross fit for Reindeers, I think.”
She let the thought rattle about in her head for a while and when she returned she called the maintenance team to her.
Three days later the workshop was producing more toys by the hour.
Enda smiled and said, “Thank you Constance for your brilliant idea.”
Constance beamed at him. “You are welcome and I think everyone is happy with this ….or almost everyone.”
Enda grinned. “Well if Santa insists on eating so much then he has no choice. He can’t have it all his own way, even if his name is Santa.”
They both looked over at the line of reindeer waiting their turn to get on the exercise wheel. Beyond the exercise wheel there was another line of reindeer happily munching on smore flavored hay. Santa walked alongside the reindeer. A giant pedometer declared, “well done Santa just 5,000 more steps to earn a whole smore this evening.”
Santa wasn’t worried as he had a date on the 25th with a dog called Bob who was currently stashing marshmallows in his christmas stocking. The deal was, Santa would trade his jelly babies for Bob’s marshmallows, then it would be home to smores and more smores.
Matt’s Christmas Adventure – 2
Breeze spotted something bouncing about close to Tulip’s house. He arrived at her door and went inside. “We- have- a -problem.” He said gasping for breath after his long run.
Tulip spun around and saw Breeze. She heard his words but noticed she was missing a cake. “You have a problem. You ate one of my Christmas cakes.” She was not looking happy.
He said, “I didn’t look.” He held out both hands to her and stuck out his tongue.
“Okay, sorry I believe you. But who took it?” When Breeze told her what he thought had happened Tulip was looking worried.
“But Matt could be anywhere by now.” She paced about her kitchen. “We need to act quickly. We don’t need a Matt on the moon for Christmas.”
“Cool.” Breeze said.
Tulip glared at him. “Who made the bubble?”
Breeze whispered, “Lovisma.”
Tulip walked out onto her porch and shouted for Lovisma. By the time Tulip returned to her kitchen Lovisma was sitting at her kitchen table eating a cake. Breeze quickly explained what had happened to Matt.
“I told him it was a silly idea but the boy insisted said he would tell everyone it was me who made the food at the last party go pop and bang everytime someone tried to eat.” She was smiling at Breeze whose tongue had been burnt by the sizzling food.
“I want you to bring him back now.” Tulip stamped her foot and the whole house shook.
Lovisma said, “No need to get angry or nasty. I will have him back in a jiffy.”
Breeze surprised them both when he said, “No, I think you shouldn’t bring him back so quickly. But this is what I would like you to do.” When he told them his plan both Tulip and Lovisma were shocked but they agreed it would teach Matt to behave in future.
Matt was wide awake. The sound of twinkling bells and whispers from the stars woke him. “Santa is near.” They whispered.
Matt twisted and turned about in the bubble but he couldn’t see one single reindeer.
The bubble was sinking slowly towards the ground. It landed in the clearing near Tulip’s house. Matt could see a large group. The children were jumping up and down and racing about. The adults were enjoying Tulip’s Christmas cakes and talking to …Santa.
“I’m over here,” he shouted as he watched Lily being lifted up into the sleigh to sit beside Santa. Matt was frantic he wanted to pet the reindeer. He wondered why no one could hear him or see him. It began to snow as he watched. He sat and cried. “I messed up, stupid me. I shouldn’t have gone looking for him. I should have known he would come to us. He always does.” As soon as Matt spoke the bubble burst . The snow felt cool on his skin. He ran towards the sleigh. Breeze blocked his path. Matt looked up at Breeze and said, “I’m sorry.”
Breeze said, “Don’t say it to me, you need to apologize to Tulip, Lily, your mum, Lovisma and Santa.”
Matt said, “Yes. I will. Can I…please see him and pet Rudolph.”
Breeze was a kind ogre and he couldn’t be angry with anyone. He hoisted Matt onto his shoulder and said, “Make way for the adventurer who got a little lost on his way here.”
So it was that Matt got to talk to Santa and more importantly got to spend time with the Reindeer. As he was saying goodbye to Santa Matt was startled when Santa placed a parcel in his hand. “Specially for you Matt. Remember to be good.”
When the reindeer were mere dots in the sky Matt tore the paper off his present and discovered he was holding a ball of glass. “It’s a bubble,” he mumbled.
“Shake it,” his mum said.
When Matt shook it he saw a tiny bubble rise from the ground, snow was dancing within the glass and against a dark sky a tiny sleigh raced across the sky. He smiled and said, “Cool I won’t forget. He always comes to visit.”
Christmas Mystery at Mudpile Wood.
The week before Christmas Mudpile wood was a busy place. Presents were being wrapped and cakes were baked.
Fairy Tulip met Hamish. He was wearing a white apron and a chef’s hat. He didn’t look happy.
“Where did Breeze go?” grumbled Hamish. “He promised to help me cook my pudding. I think he must be lost.”
Tulip said, “Hamish you are silly, we can’t lose a seven foot Ogre. It just can’t be done.”
“Well he has vanished.” Lovisma shouted wobbling by on her broomstick.
Lovisma was practicing a new trick. Riding her broomstick while standing on her head and spinning. So far, it wasn’t going well. She demolished the Gingerbread house, put a hole in the giant Christmas cake, Mrs. Groundsel had made. The cake looked like a very large doughnut with sprinkles on top.
“I hope he’s shopping.” Matt said. “Maybe he will buy me a pet crocodile.”
“No, he doesn’t like shopping, he gave me the list. I did his shopping months ago.” Tulip said.
They decided to search for him. Mrs Groundsel and Matt went to search the caves, the witches to search the mountain tops. Tulip and Hamish searched the wood then decided they would go and sit in his favourite tree. He was bound to show up soon. It was getting close to lunch time.
“Something awful must have happened because he missed second breakfast.” Hamish whispered.
“Hmm…” Tulip said looking into the sky. “Never mind Breeze. Snow is about to fall. Lets tell the others to get the sleds ready.”
Hamish said, “we broke them last year when we had that crazy race off the frozen waterfall. ” He sighed. “But it was good fun. We forgot about the sleds till now.”
Everyone came out of their houses to watch the snowflakes dance and twirl their way to the ground.
“But we have no sleds, ” Lisbeth said. Nobody was smiling, they loved sledding.
Matt raced back inside and returned with an old wooden tray. “This will have to do, come on everyone.”
They trudged to the top of the hill field and took turns at flying down the hill on the tray. “It’s not great but it’s better than nothing,” Matt said.
Suddenly they heard a rumble. It was growing louder.
“Thunder?” Mrs Groundsel wondered. She didn’t like thunder or lightning.
“No, but perhaps we should take shelter hurry.” Tulip ushered everyone into the wood.The ground was shaking making everybody hop or bounce about.
Then above the rumbling noise they could hear a familiar sound of Breeze laughing. With a swoosh of snow he raced past them on a giant sled.
They chased after him, “wait for us.”
He applied the brake and the giant sled shuddered to a stop.
” Where did you get it?” Tulip asked him.
“Borrowed the idea from the elves.” He told them. “It took a bit of work but all of the elves helped make it. Come on, get on. This is great. Hold on tight and let’s go.”
They rushed to sit on the sled. Breeze took off so fast Tulips hair escaped from its ponytail.
“Oooh watch out for the waterfall,” they cried as they zipped along scattering snow as they went.
Breeze smiled and kept going. The women closed their eyes, the children held their breath because they could see the end of the frozen waterfall. Suddenly they were flying high above the valley.
“We will die this time, ” Hamish grumbled thinking of his uncooked Christmas pudding.
There was a soft jolt and looking high above them they saw the reason. Laughter rang out as the giant fluffy parachute opened and brought them slowly to the ground.
Breeze looked at them and said, “I’m hungry I need a snack. Next ride will be after lunch.”
He was whistling as he made his way to Hamish’s house, because Hamish always made the best lunches in the wood.
Mudpile Wood 