810-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, Dacamber 16, 1995
ijh
I
idg
aft/
\
5°
iP°^
\Po c
ftPo
The Unhappy Christmas
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
“I can’t wait until Christmas,”
Jenny said for the hundredth time.
She dipped her finger into the
cookie dough to sneak a taste, but
her mother warned, “If you eat
anymore cookie dough, we won’t
have any cookies to eat on
Christmas.”
Jenny said with a sigh, “Wait,
wait, wait. We have to wait for
everything.”
She looked at the presents
wrapped in bright red and green
under the tree. She so badly
wanted to see what was inside the
boxes.
“I hope I get Samantha. It’s the
most beautiful doll I’ve ever seen,”
Jenny said.
“You shouldn’t count on it,” her
mother said. "You know the
American Girls dolls cost lots of
money something we don’t
have.”
“I know,” Jenny pouted, “but
it’s the only thing I really want”
Jenny squeeze her eyes shut
until she could envision beautiful
Samantha with her long lush hair
and sparkling eyes.
Jenny could almost feel Samant
ha in her arms. If she didn’t get
Samantha, she didn’t know how
she could ever be happy on Christ
mas Day.
All evening, Jenny thought
about Samantha even though her
older brother Derek called her a
baby as she paged through the doll
catalog.
The next morning, Derek came
into Jenny’s bedroom and whis
pered, “Quick. Get out of bed. I’ll
show you what you are getting for
Christmas.”
Jenny sat up immediately.
“How do you know what I’m get
ting,” she demanded.
“Come on,” Derek ordered.
“Mom and Dad are in the bam. I
know where they hid the presents.”
“They’re under the tree,” Jenny
protested.
Derek glared at Jenny. “Don’t
be silly. Those presents aren’t the
big ones they got for us. They hid
the other presents because they
wanted to surprise us.”
Jenny followed her brother to
her parents’ bedroom. Derek
already had the closet door opened
and pulled out some boxes hidden
underneath a stack of blankets.
There was Samantha, smiling at
her beneath the cellophane cov
ered box.
Jenny caught her breath in
amazement and reached out to
touch the lovely doll. Then her
’ slowly dropped to her side. “I
t get her out of the box until
istmas.”
oni e tH
A True Story
“Don’t be silly,” her brother
sneered. “I know how to open the
boxes and close them up again so
that no one will ever know they
were opened.”
“But... but... it wouldn’t be
right,” Jenny said.
“Don’t worry. Mom and dad
will be in the bam for hours.
They’ll never know,” Derek said
as he pried open a box that held the
motorized car he wanted.
Jenny shook her head. “But
Mom always said, ‘No peeking
before Christmas.’”
But Derek was already inserting
batteries into his car. Jenny
watched in amazement as the car
scooted across the room. Then she
looked back at the packaged doll.
She was so beautiful more
lovely than she had ever dreamed
from looking at the catalog.
Jenny hesitated.
“Open the box. You can do it,”
Derek said without looking up
from operating his car.
Jenny looked at the doll but she
couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty.
She knew her parents would never
approve of what Derek and she
were doing.
“I’m going to wait until Christ
mas,” she said.
“Don’t you say anything, Tattle
tale,” her brother warned. “You
looked so you’ll get into trouble
too.”
Jenny walked back to her bed
room. “At least I know that I’m
getting Samantha for Christmas,”
she whispered to herself.
The warm fuzzy comfort she
expected from knowing didn’t
come over her.
By the time Mom and Dad
returned from the bam, Derek had
safely packed the boxes away. Just
like Derek had promised. Mom
and Dad never suspected.
There were only a few days left
before Christmas. Jenny helped
her mother clean the house and set
the tabl6. She looked forward to
Grandma coming. She thought
about Samantha, but she never said
a word about her to anyone.
On Christmas morriing, Jenny
and Derek hurried down to unwrap
their presents. Under the Christ
mas tree, Jenny saw the oblong
present that held Samantha.
“You may open this present
first,” her mother said as she hand
ed the box to Jenny.
Slowly Jenny removed the
wrapping. She wanted to act sur
prise, but it was hard to act sur
prised when she had already seen
the beautiful doll.
“I can’t believe it,” her mother
said. “I thought she’d tear open the
box.”
V
\s
“Oh, thank you. Just what I
wanted,” Jenny said as she took
Samantha out of the box.
“I thought she’d act a lot more
excited than that,” Mother said to
Grandma.
Jenny couldn’t help but notice
the sadness in her mother’s voice.
“I am really excited,” Jenny
insisted. She was happy to get
Samantha but why did she feel so
sad at the same time? she won
dered.
' She was so busy thinking about
her mother’s disappointment that
she hadn’t notice Derek unwrap
his present until her father said, “I
can’t believe this. The car is
broken,”
Mother said, “But I know that
the car was fine when we bought
“Yes,” Daddy said. “I had
checked it out. I know that it
worked.”
Jenny looked at Derek.
“Well, we’ll have to take it back
to the store and exchange it
because it doesn’t work,” Derek
said.
Jenny remembered that the car
had worked when Derek had first
opened the box. She wondered
what had happened.
“Derek,” Daddy’s voice was
stem. “You played with this car
before, didn’t you?"
“How could I?” Derek asked
innocently.
Daddy looked at Jenny. She
burst into tears.
Slowly the whole sordid story
came out
“Well,” Daddy said. “There’s
nothing to do to change it now. But
I feel so disappointed that you
would disobey and search for the
toys. It isn’t any fun to give gifts
that you already played with.”
Jenny hung her head. It was a
sad Christmas. It could have been
such a happy one.
“I will never peck at my presents
again,” she promished. And she
never did.