This story’s about young Kris Kringle
Back in the days when he was single
In fact when he was just a boy
He’d never received a Christmas toy

He thought “What if one could give a toy
To each and every girl and boy
A special way to celebrate
The birth of Christ born on this date”

His Mom and Dad had no clue
How to do what he wanted to
“It’s a nice idea that you had son
But there’s just no way to get it done!”

And as year after year went on by
Little Kris would try and try
To find a way to make his dream
More than just a Christmas scheme

Then when he turned twenty one
A spectacular phenomenon
He acquired some land at The North Pole
The first step taken to achieve his goal

When he arrived he met an “elve”
Who introdeced Kris to another twelve
When Kris told them of his Christmas plan
All the elves shouted “Yes we can!”

The very next day outside his gate
He spotted reindeer numbering eight
Then one elf watching outside with Kris

said “Listen while I tell you this…”

“Those deer are Magic and do you know why?
They’re the only reindeer that can actually FLY!”

Back in the barn Kris had a sleigh
And he shouted “NOW there’s a way!
Hitch those reindeer to my sled”
The elf called the others and off quickly they sped

The reindeer were happy to help out the cause
And they named Kris Kringle “Santa Claus”
The elves had been busy making toys
For all the world’s GOOD little girls and boys

The reindeer practiced in wind and in snow
Testing the sleigh to see how far they could go
But one test flight they flew a bit low
The newspapers reported “A UFO!”

The first North Pole Christmas was drawing near
And Santa was ready…presents, sleigh and reindeer
Then on the night of Christmas Eve
Santa was excited and ready to leave

The reindeer pulled, running fast as they could
The sleigh was quite heavy but the liftoff was good
They had to travel thousands of miles
But they knew they would deliver thousands of smiles

Some roofs were slippery and some chimneys tight
But Santa and his reindeer worked through the night
They got back to the North Pole just as dawn broke
A very tired Santa popped open a Coke

And that’s how it started that very first year
And became the Legend that we all hold most dear

I shouldn’t be telling you this stuff. I mean I could really get into a lot of trouble with other mutts in the canine club, but I’ve always liked humans…well most of ’em.
Being a dog, and when I say dog I mean a REAL dog, not one of those so called “purebreds” as they like to be referred to. Life is not really too bad…IF you’ve got the right “owner” (hate that term) Now I personally prefer table scraps but my…ah…family feeds me dry food and an occasional dog bone. I get petted a lot but not NEARLY as often as when I was a puppy, and I get outside almost too much. Hey, I’m not a big fan of cold weather or 100 degree days either!
We dogs understand humans lots better than humans understand us. Of course the intent of this story here is to close the gap between us a bit.
We can smell better than you can, although that sometimes is a major drawback believe me, and we can hear lots better too. By the way if you know which idiot human invented the dog whistle let me know. Some of my friends would be interested in “meeting” them too!
And also by the way, those electronic fences!!! Another idiot dude by dogdom standards. Not only do we have to learn how the stupid thing works the HARD way…but all those leashless mean dogs can walk right through and get at us. It isn’t fair…and it HURTS!
Oh I know….I know it sounds like we dogs don’t appreciate our humans but that really isn’t true. We’re not called “Man’s Best Friend” for nothin’.
We LOVE fetching sticks, well most of us do, some dogs are just grumpy. And we don’t mind getting slippers and bringing them to our human, although sometimes it IS tempting to just chew and rip ’em around pretending that they are freshly caught game.
But try to understand…we DO have instincts and were once wild animals that had to hunt and stuff before we were “domesticated.”
Let’s just enjoy each other’s company and dogs and humans will get along just great.  By the way…support your local SPCA.

Since Samantha got her red leather-bound diary with the heart-shaped lock for Christmas she had been entering each day’s activities and thoughts into it.
She had to admit after re-reading many of her entries in the last month that her life was…well…pretty dull.
“If this was anyone else’s diary I would actually feel sorry for the girl. But it is what it is and I must be completely truthful to myself and my diary.”
Then one night in February as “Sam” was lying in her bed and entering another “average” day’s activities into her diary she added…”And I wish that my boring green bedroom was a pretty soft pink.”
As she closed her book and inserted the key into the lock a flash of soft pink light glowed all over her room. And as she looked around she was amazed that her old boring room had turned into a beautiful pink with frilly lace curtains at the window.
Well naturally Sam was startled and she rubbed her eyes and looked again but her new beautiful bedroom was still her favorite shade of pink!
She got out of bed and went over to the window and touched the lace curtains and the perfectly pink wall and admired them both.
“How? What? and Why? were the first thoughts that entered her mind. Then she saw the diary.
“That must be it! When I entered my wish…Oh MY!”
Sam gently pinched herself to make sure that she was awake. “Ouch…yeah I’m awake all right!”
Then she put her key into the lock of the diary and opened it back up to today’s page. To Sam’s surprise, there was no line written wishing for the pink bedroom…it had completely disappeared!
She sat in her bed wondering what had just happened and as she looked back up at her window the old curtains were there and her room was back to its original pale green.
Sam thought and then decided to try and enter her “pink” wish into her diary again and once again as she locked the book her room turned into a lovely pink.
So Sam laid back on her bed with her head on the pretty pink pillow and soon went to sleep.
When Sam awoke the next morning her room was back to “Green Normal” and she just shook her head in wonder. She decided not to tell anyone about her magic diary but each night thereafter for many months she wrote her pink wish into her diary and slept in a lovely pink bedroom.
The “Magic” stopped on September 23rd…Sam’s birthday. The very day her parents had her bedroom redecorated in soft pink with pretty lace curtains at the window.

“I’m really getting full already and it’s only…I have to wait until he stops shaking his head so that I can see the clock…ah….yeah…WOW 6:46 AM… that’s a new record.”
“You know some of this stuff he throws away isn’t all that bad. This one about the five legged cat is pretty good…oh but wait…um… dangling participle in that second paragraph and inconsistent tense…and….yeah…he was right to chuck that one.”
“OUCH! Another paper cut. HEY…CAN’T YOU WAD THEM UP TIGHTER BEFORE YOU THROW THEM AT ME HEMINGWAY!!!”
“Oh what’s the use he can’t hear me anyhow. What was that last one about?”
“A two headed cow that argues with himself constantly…he’s into the “weird animal syndrome” again. Didn’t work before…LAST FIVE TIMES!”
“I wonder if I can get moved to the spare bedroom so I can finally get some sleep. Naw…won’t happen. He likes the fact that I look like a basketball goal and I guess my decor won’t integrate into that lilac and pink bedroom anyway. I’m doomed!”
“Hey…you know what…I just noticed? It’s been 14 minutes since he’s trashed me with a reject wad and he’s been typing like crazy.
You don’t suppose…Naw couldn’t be…but then….he’s still at it. Do you think….”
“He’s jumping up and down and whooping…you know I think he actually finished writing something…He’s holding the pages…let me see if I can….OH JUST TURN THEM TO THE LEFT A BIT SHAKESPEARE SO I CAN SEE…”
“Well…I’ll be…there’s the title…”SILLY GRANDPA’S WASTEPAPER BASKET!”

I am a great big Oak tree
And I’ve been here for years
The children play around me
They shout and yell their cheers

I love it when the Spring comes
And my leaves just start to pop
But my secret wish is
I wish that I could hop!

Oh I’d jump around the grassy slope
I’d run through underbrush
And sometimes I’d just walk slowly
I’d not be in a rush

I’d be careful not to step
On tiny living things
And I’d only go where I could get
My limbs through openings

But my feet are way below the ground
Attached to roots real deep
I need them all to stand so tall
Especially on a hill so steep

‘though it gets kinda boring
Always standing here
I guess it’s what I have to do
Year after year after year

I know that I will never be
Free to run around
But Gee, I’d be so happy
If I could just sit down

Six sets (of six items each) from which the author needs to select 6 single items (one in each catagory) and then write a short story including those subjects selected by rolling a die each time.

Category One …PROTAGONIST

1.Young Girl
2.Young Boy
3.A Dragon
4.A cardboard Box
5.An ant
6.A disappearing kitten

Category Two…ANTAGONIST

1.A Snake
2.A Mosquito
3.Hurricaine
4.Crazy Cartoon come to life
5.Runaway Train
6.A Grandpa

Category Three…SETTING

1.A Pond
2.The Dessert
3.A Cave
4.An Island
5.City Park
6.A Carnival

Category Four…TIME

1.1865
2.1925
3.2200
4.Midnight
5.4th of July
6.New Years Eve

Category Five…NUMBER OF CHARACTERS

1.Two
2.Six
3.A Thousand and One
4.Five
5.Twelve
6.Thirteen

Category Six…TYPE OF STORY

1.Happy
2.Scary
3.Silly (my favorite)
4.A Little Sad
5.Narration
6.Third Person

Story doesn’t have to be very long…(but must include all categories.) HAVE PHUN!!!

“Monique, you are so lucky to live in France…it must be wonderful.” Susie said to her “friend”
“Oui…it is….how you say…exquisite!” Monique replied.
“Could you teach me to speak French?” Susie asked.

“Oh Oui Mon Amie…that means “Yes my friend”

“It’s SOOO exciting having a friend like you Monique.”

“Susan…are you talking on the phone? It’s too late for that….now go to sleep…you have school tomorrow Dear!” Her mother had called from the hallway….”Yes Mom….I know….I’m in bed….Good Night!” …and Susie turned out the light and pulled up the pink coverlet with the fleur- di- Lis design that she’d gotten for her seventh birthday last week.

The next day Susie taught her school friends how to say “Yes my friend” in French. There were many conversations containing “Mon Amie”and “Oui” among Susie’s friends and they all seemed to love saying things in French as much as Susie did…AND they all wanted to meet  Susie’s new friend Monique.

“Well Monique DOES live in France….ah….Toulouse France to be exact. That’s in the south of France you know near the Riviera.” Susie advised.

Susie’s friends ( the REAL ones) were very impressed. They didn’t have foreign friends that spoke foreign languages and nearly all of them wished that they did. Each day her friends would ask “Did you talk to Monique last night?” Sometimes Susie did and sometimes she didn’t. Her friends seemed disappointed when Susie reported no conversations and no new French words or sayings for them at school the next day.

After about ten days or so Susie reported to her friends that Monique was going on vacation with her family and wouldn’t be calling for awhile. Susie’s friends were all disappointed to hear the news but knew that they’d just have to wait until Monique and her family returned to France after their vacation.

After two days of no “calls” from Monique, at about seven o’clock at night just after dinner, Susie’s doorbell rang. Mr. Jenkins,  Susie’s dad answered the door since it was homework time and Susie was up in her room studying.
Then she heard her father call out “Someone to see you Susan Dear…a Miss Monique….from France!”