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The meeting with Father Christmas

Twins Lucy and Jane were the last children to be involved in Christmas. They did think it was a silly Idea for Mr. Christmas (Father Christmas, of course) to jump down the chimneys and give them their presents. They didn't hold a brief for such superstitious nonsense. Anyway, it was their custom and they had to follow it. The twin's mum was making roast beef and hot chocolate pudding. The presents (which were a lot) for the twins had been kept under the Christmas tree, which was decorated with balls, candles and a lot of other things. After dinner, they had a flask of coffee before going to bed. When the Twins said goodnight to their parents, Mum and Dad smiled mysteriously but said not a word. As they were getting ready for bed, Lucy said- "Do you know why Mum and Dad were smiling that strange smile, Jane?" I do not, said Jane, but it was weird. Well, chortled Lucy, let's get ready for bed and wait for the silly Mr. Clause to give us our presents. Oh, yes, said Jane and together laughing, they put out the light. And were soon fast asleep. Well, Jane and Lucy must be fast asleep but Mummy and Daddy were not. They were busy writing a letter to Father Christmas telling him to pay a visit to the twins. Any magic can happen on the Christmas eve and Mum and Dad said some magic words and the letter flew to Father Christmas. These were the magic words:
Oh Letter,
Go to Nether land
For there is Father Christmas
And he should read this letter
Before anyone says
A flask of tea and a crust.
Well, the letter flew all the way to Nether land and when Father Christmas read the letter, he smiled. In the middle of the night, Lucy and Jane were woken by a strange 'ahem ahem' kind of voice. After waking up, they nearly screamed out loud. There was Mr. Clause sitting on Lucy's bed. Mr. Claus stammered "Lucy, what do you want? I want you to believe that climbing in from Chimneys and keeping your presents under the tree isn't a silly idea, and oh, by the way," said Father Christmas, "I don't come from the chimney. I just say a few magic words and that's it. So, I don't want you two to believe that Christmas is a silly Idea." Okey dokey said Jane trying and failing to be cool. Well, bye then said Father Christmas. Bye said the twins together, their voices quavering and you can be sure that from then on they never thought Christmas was a silly Idea and never joked about it.

( December 2002 )