Merry Christmas to all of my blog friends. I have a special gift for you in today’s blog. Maybe this gift will put you in the Christmas spirit especially if you are struggling to get there.
My book Holiday Adventures for Kids celebrates nine different holidays each represented by a story. Normally at this point I would direct you to my website but how silly of me. If you are reading this blog you already are at my website. 🙂
In the book Holiday Adventures for Kids the Christmas story is titled Cole and the Christmas Coal. It is my gift to you and if you get the opportunity take a few minutes and read it to your favorite munchkins.
Enjoy! 🙂
COLE AND THE CHRISTMAS COAL
Cole was one of Santa’s many elves. Like all the other elves, he worked long hours preparing for the biggest night of the year, Christmas Eve.
Each elf had a special job to do. Some elves built and painted toys. Others made delicious cookies and candies. There were even elves whose job was to wrap presents.
But Cole had the most unusual job of all. He and his assistant, Pockets, the pocket gopher, were in charge of preparing coal chunks for the boys and girls who had been naughty and not nice during the past year.
Very early each morning, Cole and Pockets descended the ice stairway into the North Pole coal mine. Pockets dug up the coal. Cole pounded, chipped, and sanded each coal chunk until it fit into a drab colored gift box.
Working with coal was a dirty job. Pockets always had coal chips stuck between his big buckteeth. Cole had coal dust under his fingernails, and when he sneezed, the hair on his head released a powdery, black cloud.
As the years passed, the other elves began to look at the coal-stained pair as a second class elf and pocket gopher. After all, making chunks of coal for naughty children was not nearly as important as their own jobs….or so they thought.
Soon Cole and Pockets were each other’s only friend. They did everything together. They sat together at the movies. They played hide-and-seek in the coal mine. They shared the same sled during the North Pole sledding parties.
Every first Saturday in December, Santa organized a banquet and dance. He wanted to thank the elves for their hard work as well as celebrate the approach of his favorite night, Christmas Eve.
Cole and Pockets never missed a celebration. They sat together at the banquet.
Afterward they would hang out around the table containing the punch bowl. Sometimes they danced. Pockets would keep time to the music by clicking his buckteeth together, which annoyed many of the elves.
During one celebration, Santa stopped the dance music to make a special announcement. He said that in two weeks, he would choose the work team that had done the most to improve the spirit of giving.
The winning team would get to ride the sleigh with Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. They would help Santa deliver toys to all the boys and girls of the world.
All the elves cheered. What a grand idea!
The next two weeks were filled with great excitement and busyness. The toymakers made perfect toys. The bakers made perfect candies and cookies.
The gift wrappers wrapped perfect gifts. And, yes, the coal miners produced perfect lumps of coal.
Everyone was especially nice to each other. Even Cole and Pockets received an occasional smile from the other elves.
As the two-week deadline approached, the tension and excitement mounted. Every work team hoped to be declared the winner.
Well, everyone except Cole and Pockets. They realized making lumps of coal was not a job worthy of such an award. And, of course, all the elves agreed.
There were only two days before Christmas Eve. The time to announce the winners had finally arrived.
The tired elves had just eaten the evening meal. They were relaxing around a huge bonfire and sipping hot chocolate. One of the elves played a guitar, and everyone sang Christmas carols.
After one of the songs, Santa Claus stood and said he would like to say a few words.
Choosing a spirit of giving winner had been a very difficult job, he said. He thanked them all for working so hard.
Santa said he had been checking information on the North Pole computer when he discovered something very interesting.
Santa explained that all the boys and girls from last Christmas who had received lumps of coal would be getting gifts this year. Of course that meant all of those children had changed from naughty boys and girls to nice boys and girls.
All the elves cheered.
Santa said because the lumps of coal delivered to those children last Christmas had encouraged the children to change their ways, there would be many more children to give gifts to.
Again the elves cheered.
And then Santa surprised everyone when he announced that the winner of the spirit of giving award would go to the work team that made the lumps of coal, Cole and Pockets!
For a moment the elves sat in shocked silence. Several selves began clapping, and soon all of them were standing and cheering.
Two of the larger elves put Cole and Pockets on their shoulders. They paraded around the bonfire as the rest of the elves cheered.
When Christmas Eve arrived, Cole and Pockets sat in the sleigh next to Santa Claus. All of the other elves gathered around the sleigh and wished them well.
Santa whistled to the reindeer, and the sleigh full of toys (and a few lumps of coal) rose into the star-filled night.
Cole and Pockets began a journey they would never forget.
The elves learned two lessons during that Christmas season. Every job has value and, most importantly, every person has worth. No one person is better than another.
Let us not forget.
Merry Christmas!
