Monday, December 20, 2010

The Tale of Two Geese

A Christmas Story
by: Izabella Mingolla and Ted Archer

While exploring the North Pole, Jackie, Bella and Ted hear about 2 geese, 2 beautiful White Geese. They asked Mr. & Mrs. Santa about the geese and were told the story of the 2 geese. This is their story.

It seems the 2 geese were heading home in the winter and took a wrong turn in New York. (I hear it is easy to get lost in New York.) They flew for days and saw the lights for a huge workshop and decided to stop. Little did they know they had reached the North Pole and were about to call Santa's home their own.

They were tired from the long trip. (Long trips always make me tired.) They decided to make a home from the new and cold. (Rumor is that it is cold and snows always in the North Pole area, and we can confirm that rumor)

The geese made a shelter from snow and sticks and began to rest from their travels. It was at that point Santa noticed the latest residents of the North Pole and called Mrs. Claus to take a look. Neither of them had met their new guests yet. but were excited to see they had company. Mr. & Mrs. Claus loved the elves and reindeer, but were always excited to hear new stories, especially from geese since they fly nearly as much as Santa does and certainly have some stories to tell.

Mr. & Mrs. Claus stepped into the cold, although it didn't seem so cold to them as they LOVE cold weather. Santa introduced his wife and himself to the geese, who were pleased to make new friends. The geese explained they they must have missed a turn and thought this looked like a good place to rest, even if it was much colder than their old home. The geese described Florida to Santa & Mrs. Claus, that is where the geese lived last you know. They told Santa they should take a vacation there; they believe Mrs. Claus would love the beach as much as the snow.

After a couple of minutes, the geese noticed lots of eyes looking at them from the workshop door. It looked like most of the elves and reindeer were watching to see who was outside. They were as excited as Santa & Mrs. Claus to have company.

Santa & Mrs. Claus smile and invite the geese into the workshop. Of course, the geese accept the wonderful offer. Once they step inside the workshop, they were amazed. They have never met elves and reindeer before. They try to remember all the names as best they can. The geese are taken on the grand tour of the workshop. There is so much activity going on in the workshop that they again amazed. Then the chief elf in charge of production takes them to an observation deck, which shows off the production floor of the workshop in full force. There are more toys being made than the geese had ever seen. The toys could fill thousands of toy stores.

But, the geese didn't understand WHY all of these toys were being made. They kept looking at all this hard work and all these toys and just couldn't explain it. So, they walked over to Santa, and politely asked if he could explain why he was doing all of this work.

Santa, of course, was happy to explain Christmas and how he travels the world over one night each year to deliver presents to all the good little boys and girls. He also explained that the elves do all of the toy creation here year round so he can deliver them on the most special of nights, Christmas night.

As the geese listened to Santa, they had an idea. Perhaps, they could get home when Santa delivered presents. Surely Santa would not notice 2 extra packages if he has to take presents to all the good little boys and girls.

The geese headed to the production floor of the workshop. They watched the packages get filled with toys and realized that was their chance. They would sneak into packages marked for Florida and they would seen be home. They went over and located two large boxes to be delivered to Sam and Jill (a brother and sister near where they had lived.) They snuck into the packaging area, jumped into the boxes and covered themselves with wrapping paper so the elves would not notice them when the boxes were closed. The packages were sealed and were loaded on the sleigh.

Santa begun to prepare for his trip that night, as he does each year. He checked his list twice, made sure no packages were empty and each package contain the right gifts for just the right boy and girl. When Santa reached Sam and Jill's presents, he knew something wasn't as he expected. Santa opened the 2 large boxes and found the 2 lost geese.

Santa asked why they were in the boxes and they explained that they were cold and lost, and while everyone at the North Pole had been so friendly, they just wanted to go home. Santa smiled, put the geese on his lap, and said, "all you had to do was ask, and I would grant your Christmas wish."

The geese cried with excitement. Santa made a spot for them in the sleigh right beside him. Never had they flown so far, so fast, and never flapped their own wings. When Santa reached Florida, he gently picked up the geese, laid them down next to a small pond, smiled with a twinkle in his eye, and continued on his task. The geese were home, warm, and happy. And, Sam and Jill got the presents they were to receive from Santa .

The End.

Ted and Jackie: Thank you so much for teaching Izabella how to make homemake cookies and sifting the flour. She absolutely had a great time and I think we should contact a publisher about this story! We love you - The Mingolla's