Page 12 December 1985 Cassiar Courier SECOND PRIZE SANTA’S LONG JOURNEY by Chad Clark, Grade 5 it was Christmas. | wondered if Santa would be warm enough for his long journey. | hoped Mrs. Claus gave San- ta enough blankets to be able to ride through the golden air. The grandfather clock in our hall struck 8:00; time for bed. | walked upstairs and got in bed. The sandman drop- ped sand in my eyes and soon | was fast asleep. Then sud- denly | was in Santa‘s workshop. | saw. many elves; some fat, skinny and some very small. Then Santa walked in and said “Time to load the toys”. All the elves started gathering toys. | followed one of the elves. He went to Santa’s sleigh and put the pre- sents in. Then he went to get more so | crept in the sled and hid behind some toys. Then Santa returned and got in the sleigh. He told his reindeer to mush and they flew into the air. Then | got a good look at the stars. Then Santa flew into a town (our town) Cassiar. To my surprise he landed at my house. | saw him get out of the sleigh and stretch. He had a red nose, blue eyes and a huge white beard. | crawled into the sack he carried toys in. To my surprise, he lifted up the bag and went down the chimney and | was in our living room. Santa started filling the stockings. | snuck upstairs and got in bed, When I woke up | looked in my stocking. In my stock- ing was a note “‘ left your favorite candy. Love Santa”. CHRISTMAS IN OTHER LANDS by Parminder, Grade 5 Once there was a little girl names Karin. She got lost and she looked all around. She saw smoke. She ran over there. She saw a girl. Karin ran to her and said, “Hello.” She didn‘t understand me. | smiled and she smiled back. She gave me food and water to drink. | said, “| better go.’ | ran and ran and | looked at my watch. It said December 25, 1985. | said, ‘‘It’s Christ- mas.”" A man said, “‘Over here it isn’t Christmas.’’ Some- body yelled my name. | ran and ran. Over the hill was my mom and dad. | said to my mom, “‘Over there is Christ- mas, right?’’ She said, ‘’Yes.”’ | was home safe. BaoPskens cer SEN ae RS WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS TO ME by Trevor Dick, Grade 5 Christmas in our family means a time for celebrating. We invite people over. It is very exciting to give to our friends as well as receiving presents from them. And singing Christmas caroles, finding the right tree, finding the gift for special people, are the most thrilling parts of Christmas for me. A Christmas tradition in our house is decorating the house and sending letters. We also eat special foods like turkey, ice cream. Christmas is very special for me when we go away to visit relatives and when | receive a gift I’ve dreamed about. “CHRISTMAS MEANS TOME by Jennifer Becket, Grade 7 We would like to thank all the children who sent in stories and poems for the 1985 Christmas Story contest. Weare only sorry that we cannot print them all. Thank you also to Betty Studd and Marian Craft forjjudging the contest and to Mrs. Vickery’s Grade 1 class for the illustrations. HONORABLE MENTION SANTA’S LONG JOURNEY ; by Tamara Harrison, Grade 5 Christmas Eve 11:00 p.m. Almost a new day. No school and just Christmas tomorrow. | can’t wait till morn- ing. | wanted to see Santa even though other people told me he was not real. But in my own world there would be a Santa Claus and everyone would be able to see him. No one would have to dress up like him. That would be some- ~ thing. All of a sudden | heard reindeer hoofs on the roof, | thought to myself “There must be Santa!’ | crept down- ¥& stairs quietly. | saw that big jolly old fellow with rosy cheeks and a cherry nose. He caught my eye. He beckon- ed me to go with him. So | did. He whispered to me “What do you like for Christmas?” | said with a low voice, “! would like a pound puppy” He opened his bag and pulled out a pound puppy. “Like this one?” he said. ‘’Yes’’ He wrapped it up and put my name on it and wrote ‘Love Santa‘ on the card. Then he quietly said ““Now, you go upstairs and go to :, sleep’’. So | did what he said. The next day | opened all ; my presents. The one that pleased me the most was the * *. gift with the card that read ‘Love Santa’. HONORABLE MENTION CHRISTMAS IN OTHER LANDS by Katherine Lanteigne, Grade 5 My favorite time of the year is Christmas and my fav- orite place for Christmas is in Bathurst, New Brunswick. | especially enjoy Christmas in Bathurst because it is not an English Christmas. Instead, it’s an Acadian Christmas, a little different from French. We eat different foods, such ‘as pu-ten pute, or dark onion gravy. Of course, we usually have turkey with it. ; We never open our presents on Christmas Eve, only on Christmas Day. It’s so fun! When my brother and | get up we run down the stairs like speeding bullets to see what we have received in our stockings and how many presents we've gotten. Even though we usually get up at 5:00 in the morning we have to wait a half hour for our parents to get up be- fore we can open our presents. Later in the morning we invite some of our friends over for a waffle breakfast. We go to church with them. Then they stay for a Christmas supper when we have a big supper. The food is good, the company enjoyable, making our Christmas special. SPEER EERE E EEE EEE EEE EEE TIS TS ; ¥ ¥e low him. | did. and fell asleep. FIRST PRIZE SANTA’S LONG JOURNEY | | It was Christmas Eve, almost Christmas Day. | was lying in my bed looking at the stars. | didn’t believe in Santa Claus . but | did like to dream what it would be like to go where Santa lived. Suddenly, | heard a bell ring- ing. | opened my window and looked out. There was nothing. roof. Unexpectedly, | heard a noise in the living room. | | ran downstairs. There stood a fat man, with a big. white mustache, dressed like Santa Claus. ! thought it was my dad. So I'sneaked behind him and pulled on ‘his:mustache. He turned around and looked at me fora few minutes. | was frightened. It wasn’t my dad at all. My dad didn’t have blue eyes. | stepped back and he smiled at me. He told me not to be scared. He said he was Santa Claus. | didn’t believe him. | told him he had no proof he was Santa Claus. He took out a present from his bag and put it under the Christmas tree. Then he told me to fol- He climbed up on the roof. | couldn’t believe my eyes. There were five reindeers and a shiny sled. Now | real- ly believed him. He took my hand and we hopped on the sled. The sled started to move, suddenly we were in the air. | got a little sick because | had never been flown like that before. Up we went. | looked down from the sled. | could see so many lights. The houses and cars below looked like toys. Despite my excitement, | became drowsy Suddenly | heard a hard bump. | opened my eyes. | saw a gingerbread house and it was surrounded with oe by Christina Kwan, Grade 5 leheard another bell ring. It was coming from the hristmas Story Contest ° THE FUNNY CHRISTMAS by Jenny Beaton, Grade 3 One day there was a girl. He name was Jennifer. !t was” two days before Christmas and she didn’t have a present for her brother. She had a present for her mom and dad and sister. She wrote Santa a letter that said’‘Will you bring a car that tells him it is from me?” On Christmas Day her brother said ‘‘Look, mom, dad} Santa made a car from Jennifer for me.” CHRISTMAS EVE by Leslie Creyke, Grade 5 Something urged Santa It was time to go Through the blue sky. Something whispered ‘Toys’ The moon was bright yellow The stars luster-glossed But beneath the warm clothes Cassiar Courier December 1985 Page 13 — THIRD PRIZE «>: SANTA’S LONG JOURNEY by Alex Fiorella, Grade 5 It was Christmas Eve and | went to bed. While | was sleeping | had a dream about Santa, who turned into a reindeer so | had to take his spot. The next day arrived and | had to put all the toys in the sack because it was time to go and put the presents under the trees for all the boys and girls. But then | just remembered that | hadn’t trained the reindeer. So when we took off from the North Pole we continued up in the air until we reached Mars. | saw strange people and they were touching my clothes and digging in the sack of toys. In return | asked the king if somebody could fix my sled. Luckily somebody was able to fix my sled. So | decided to sleep in one of the houses. The next day | took the toys from the king. | told him children on earth would be much better. Then | boarded my sled and returned to earth. As | landed back on earth | woke up in my bed. | promised to make a special effort to be good. Bi EMNE NEY BZ WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS TO ME by Steven Vidovic, Grade 5 The most exciting time of the year for me is getting presents from someone and giving gifts to people. | dream of what I'll get for Christmas and wonder what I'll get for the special people in my life. To me, Christmas means getting a Christmas tree. Most of all, | love to decorate it. Sometimes at home we sing Christmas carols. | always put on my Christmas re- cords and play with my toys. On Christmas Eve we go to Church at midnight. When we return home from church we put on our pyjamas and go to sleep and have nice dreams about Christmas. snow. We went in the gingerbread house where there were five elves working on toys. Mrs. Santa Claus was mak- ing coffee. | was watching all those toys in amazement. Santa told me he had something else to show me. We boarded his sled again. Then we were in the sky again. After awhile we came down on a house roof. We jumped through a chimney and down we went. When we got Christmas means to me is getting out of school, staying up late. Christmas means to me is, giving and receiving present. Something urged him ‘Go’ Beneath the misty clouds Steamed with fog Tuk G ' shows me,that,my family is happy. « - WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS TO ME by Lisa Lanphear Christmas is my favorite time of the year because you get to give and receive presents. Our. Christmas is special so we always have big sup- pers like turkey,.mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and dessert. We sometimes go out for Christmas dinner to our friends or relatives. When we go to our relatives we usually stay for a week. | like going to my relatives because we go sliding down big hills and you can meet with friends down south. My family went to Hawaii last year for Christmas and we might go this year. In Hawaii Christmas is fun because you get to go swimming and snorkeling. ; In Cassiar | enjoy the smell of the pine when my dad and | go looking for our Christmas tree. We bring the tree home and all of us help decorate it. We have little Christ- mas ornaments that we hang on our Christmas tree. Some of them light up. We always decorate our house. We put macrame things up on our wall. We usually put a big Santa Claus on the wall. We put a statue on our table and it lights up. : On Christmas Day my best friend comes over. That's special to me because | get to show her all my presents. For Christmas dinner my family always dresses up. That Lyra: of ha Christmas means no homework or school Christmas means to me is watching the shows you never got to watch when you were in school. Christmas means to me is cutting down and trimming the tree: And many more but they aren’t thought up yet! WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS TO ME . by Bobby Jovanovic Christmas in my family means love, care and happin- ess. But to me, most of all is that | get presents. That’s what Christmas means to me. | also want to have fun with my dad, mom and sister. Christmas most of all is to go to Yugoslavia and see my grandma and grandpa for Christ- mas. | also wish to go up to Whitehorse to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins. | hope that we get a Christmas tree so we could decorate it and put bulbs, lights and a star on the top of the tree. | want my aunt, uncle and cousins to come to our house for Christmas. - WER +" “That's what Christmas means to‘me-. PAB SA OR Ne FERRARA AAA AAR AAA AK AAA AAA EKA down there was a Christmas tree and Santa put a present.under a Christmas tree. After that we went from house to house giving presents to all the boys and girls. As we entered one house | looked at the clock and it struck mid- night. “Dong!” Suddenly | was in my own bed. | quickly ran downstairs. There | saw the present Santa had given me and | knew it was not a dream. HAHAHA KKK KAKA KKK KAKA REAR AK KK EEK KKK ERE HK HONORABLE MENTION SANTA’S JOURNEY by Janice Coran, Grade 6 | woke up Christmas Eve morning and walked over the window. The pane was frosted and the window glass was foggy. | stared outside for a long time. | thought maybe Santa would forget about. my letter! wrote him. The letter > said: “Dear Santa: How are you doing? You must have hundreds of letters - to read. | didn’t want to ask for anything. | just wanted you to stop by. I'll leave you a drink and some cookies Have a nice trip. | Sincerely, Janice. P.S. Merry Christmas. My sister came in and leaped at me. “Mom says to go help her bake cookies” she shouted. “Coming” | hollered after her. | walked into the kitch- en. The smell of freshly baked cookies was in the air. | help- ed mom with the baking. That night | lay awake for a long time. Finally | couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. | dreamt that Santa had already been to Asia, South Africa, South America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Can- ada was all that was left. | pictured him travelling in the dark in his sled. Hours past. Finally, | heard the bells. He was here! Santa was here! | heard someone calling me from behind. A bright light shone in my face. | awoke. | walked into the living room. Under the tree there were loads of presents. | looked at the dish | had:set-out+for Santa. It was empty. Santa hadn't forgotten. Each young heart gladdened At fondly remembered Christmas Eves. OBR I aE AE IC I ae 2 A AE 2h HE CK CK A A A ACCC Oe 2 a i a OK a THE HAPPY CHRISTMAS by Raina Mcintosh, Grade 3 Once there was a little girl. She had never got a Christmas present from her mom and dad. One Christmas her mom came out with a card, It said: “Dear Stacy: You will have a Christmas present. Love, Mom” Next her dad came out with a present. She opened it. It was a kitten. WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS TO ME by Robbie Randell, Grade 5 Christmas is the time of year when | get very excited. It is the time of year when all of my family goes looking 3 for a Christmas tree. We bring the tree home and decor- » 3 ate it. | put the lights on the tree while my Mom and Dad 2 E put on the tinsel. Bites The most exciting moments are on Christmas Day. | get up very early, creep down the stairs to get my Christ- “™ mas gifts. During the holidays | also like skidooing, playing in - the snow. Also school is out for a while. During Christmas | go to Peter's house and stay overnight. . We have a big dinner on Christmas day. We cook.a big turkey dinner and invite many, of qur friends, over... and that’s what Christmas means to me.. SANTA‘S LONG JOURNEY : by Peter McGuinness One Christmas night | had a dream. | dreamed Santa went on a journey to Mars. When he got there a little creature sprayed him with specks of dust. He gave them all presents. From there Santa set out for Venus where the mean old ghoulies live, but you see, Santa didn’t know that they would try to kidnap him. Santa finally arrived on Venus. When he got off his sleigh he could see not a single creature in sight. All he could see were dry hills and mountains. Then all of a sud- den all of the ghouls jumped out of their hiding places and grabbed Santa. They took all his toys. Santa asked “What” are you doing?” The chief answered “‘We do not know why you come to our planet.” “But you must give me back my toys for all the child- ren on the other planets.’ pleaded Santa. The chief said “No, | need the toys for our spaceship.” “Well, if you let me go | could give you some of the toys but ! can’t give you all of my toys because Christmas means a lot to all the little children on planet earth. So please give me back my toys” begged Santa. “| know you need them for your spaceship but please give me them.|m- agine how you would feel if you spent a lot of time writ- ing a letter to me, then it came time for me to give you your present but | couldn’t because | didn’t have it.” ~ ‘Well’ said the chief, “‘I‘ll let you go if you give me some toys.” “Okay.” said Santa. After Santa gave the chief some toys he returned to earth to give gifts to all the boys and girls. ML