A Christmas Surprise, Irene González, 2nd Intermediate

It was Christmas Eve, in Santa’s house everybody was very nervous and busy getting the gifts ready for the days after. Tomorrow is going to be a special day! It’s Christmas Day! Santa’s Elves were working hard to put presents on the reindeer sled while Santa was thinking about tomorrow in his bedroom. He was tired because they had spent too much time making toys, but he must stay awake, there was still work to be done! In a small town people were celebrating this night with a traditional family dinner. After dinner, the family members sat down around the typical fireplace and sang songs or played some instruments and the kids ran around the Christmas tree. However, outside of the city, there were families that needed food and they didn’t have it. This was happening in Teddy’s house. Teddy was nine and he had never received any present for Christmas. He lived with his parents and his grandparents in a poor small house. Everyday, they ate the same food but cooked it in a different way, but always the same…This didn’t change when the Christmas arrived. His parents had great hopes that the situation could change in the future, but his father had lost his job and Teddy didn’t know… Anyway, since he had learnt to write, he wrote a letter at Christmas time and he asked always a red wooden car toy. Then, he ran to the nearest post office and he handed over the letter to the postman and came back home with a smile in his face. He was a child, and he believed in the magic of Christmas like other children! But his parents felt very sad because they couldn’t give away any present for Teddy As every Christmas, Teddy hung his Christmas stocking on a fireplace and he waited until the morning for his toy, but it never arrived…That Christmas would be different! It was a wonderful Christmas morning, it had snowed all night long and the streets were empty, everybody was opening their gifts at home. At the same time, at Teddy’s house everything goes as normal. Teddy woke up very quickly and went to the fireplace, took his stocking but there wasn’t anything. Then he went to the kitchen, where his mother was cooking, he hugged her and he started to cry, it made her feel bad, but she couldn’t change it. When Teddy started to feel better, said his mother: -“I’m going to remain seated under the fireplace until Santa Claus comes”-. Santa Claus had a rest, but he couldn’t sleep thinking if he had forgotten to visit everywhere. For this reason he decided to come back to town, although it was in broad daylight and he had worked at night The streets of the town were crowded with families, Santa Claus could see them while the children pointed out to the sky. They were very surprised, they could see Santa Claus too! It was almost midnight, and Santa Claus was searching if any child could be without a gift yet. He was driving his reindeer sled very fast when suddenly found a small poor house and then he thought: -“It’s so small that I haven’t been able to see it before and it likes a ramshackle house, it’s impossible that somebody is living here”. He wanted to run down inside the chimney, but he thought that it was the day after Christmas and if somebody was living there, somebody could be frightened. Santa Claus knocked on the door and a smiley child opened the door, he was Teddy!! Teddy couldn’t stop shouting! He was very happy because Santa Claus was in his home! Then he woke his family up and everyone looked at Santa Claus with amazement. Santa Claus opened his big sack and he gave a gift for everyone. Teddy could enjoy with his gift: a red wooden car toy! And the rest of his family believed in Christmas that time.