"Oh what a busy, busy time of year. Christmas is coming, and I have so many things to do," said Kimmy to Angel and Zena, who had come to play. "I have gifts to make and cookies to bake, but that's not all. We'll get a tall tree, and hang three, four, or maybe more stockings."

Later, Kimmy was talking to Angel and Zena about Santa Claus. They could picture Santa's jolly, round face and his big smile that was nearly hidden by his long, white, bushy beard.

"I have a great idea," said Kimmy. "Let's get our crayons and pencils, each make a list, and call it "My Christmas Wish." This list will be special. We'll pretend that we can go to the North Pole and see how Santa and Mrs. Claus get ready for Christmas."

All of the elves work so hard in Santa's toy shop that Mrs. Claus bakes them lots of cookies for snacks. Some have red icing; some have chocolate icing; and some have green icing.
"Ummm, I really like cookies," said Kimmy, "I wish that I could be there to share some of them with the elves."

Santa's elves are very busy running here and running there.
"I wish that I could be there to help feed the reindeer and polish all of the brass bells," said Angel and Zena.

Kimmy thought of another wish. "I wish that Santa could bring Rudolph to Monroe, New York. It would make the whole town happy."

"I just thought of an even bigger wish," said Kimmy. "I wish that Santa Claus would come with ALL of his reindeer and take me for a ride. Up, up, and away we would fly. I would wear a green suit to match the color of Santa's green sleigh. As I fly by, I might even shake a bell or two myself."

"Well, I have the BIGGEST wish," cried Angel and Zena. "I can't write it down, because it is so BIG. I wish that all of the children in Monroe, New York could take turns flying around with Santa Claus. I can just see their BIG smiles."

Kimmy, along with Angel and Zena, was enjoying this pretend game very much. They were wishing that they could go and see where Santa and Mrs. Claus lived. They had been told that the walkway to the front door was lined with candy canes!

All of the sudden, they found themselves sitting at Santa's table. Santa was reading through his very long list of names of children who had been very good. Kimmy, as well as Angel and Zena, hoped that their names were on the list.

"Welcome to our home, Kimmy. Would you like some cookies," asked Mrs. Claus. "Santa and I will sing you some Christmas songs. How about 'Silent Night' or 'Jingle Bells'? Yes, 'Jingle Bells,'" and they began to sing.

The music could be heard in the workshop where the elves were working very hard. One elf was painting some finishing touches on the roof of that doll house. "I wonder if one of the elves made that little doll," said Kimmy. "I would like to have that as a gift for myself."

Kimmy saw an elf pick up a colorful book about the real meaning of Christmas. She thought that it seemed like a good idea to add the book to her wish list.

"This has been a very exciting adventure to visit Santa and Mrs. Claus and see how hard all of the elves work to get ready for Christmas," said Kimmy.

As the children watched Santa load his sleigh, they realized that it was time to say good-bye. "Before we go," said Kimmy, "we have just one last wish."


"Peace on Earth and good will to all the children of the world."



THE END