DICKINSON PRESS CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

Look inside for 200+ local Christmas stories!

36TH ANNUAL DICKINSON PRESS

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK A collection of Christmas stories from local authors!

2 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

THANK YOU! THE DICKINSON PRESS WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK SPONSORS FOR MAKING THIS CONTEST HAPPEN YEAR AFTER YEAR: Pre-K/Kindergarten Sponsor: Rattle and Roll Baby Boutique 1st/2nd Grade Sponsor: Paragon Bowl 3rd Grade Sponsor: Backyard Play Cafe 4th Grade Sponsor: Todd’s Old Time Photo Parlor 5th Grade Sponsor: Runnings 6th Grade Sponsor: Bravera 7th/8th Grade Sponsor: Coca Cola 9th-12th Grade Sponsor: Dickinson Parks & Recreation Adult Sponsor: Liquor Warehouse Overall Winner Sponsor: Western Cooperative Credit Union Grand Prize Sponsor: Kirkwood Bank Thank you to all the students and adults who entered this contest, and to all the teachers and parents for helping to get the stories submitted.

Hard work makes it happen!

Thank you to the Slope Area Retired Teachers Association for judging the contest!

Thank you to the businesses inside this Storybook whose advertising directly supports the printing of each story we receive - typos and all.

This adds to the overall childhood story.

If any stories were missed, please contact The Dickinson Press for publication at a later date in the newspaper.

WATCH FOR THE WEDNESDAY, DEC. 27TH ISSUE OF THE DICKINSON PRESS FOR THE OFFICIAL CONTEST WINNER'S ANNOUNCEMENT!

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 3

PRE-K/KINDERGARTEN STORIES WINNER!

Everleigh Hoerner

SANTA'S SLED

Santa was hiking on a mountain. He found some reindeer so he could deliver presents.

They found a sled, and they rode with the reindeer floating. They floated until their sled broke from a rocky cloud who was pretending to be strong. A floating fairy came and fixed Santa's sled. And they rode back and there was eight missing presents! So the fairies found the eight missing presents and packed them in Santa's sled. Now they ride! They deliver all the presents. One got chocolate on it. They dropped it in the last house, where a girl saw Santa! Santa disappeared and got away before she could show her mom. She wished for a Christmas toy, but she couldn't remember what it was. So her mom told her to find one shepherd. She found where the shepherd was hiding. He had her present. It was a Christmas swimsuit. They all went swimming, the shepherd and Santa and the reindeer too, all wearing their Christmas swimsuits.

Leni Tormaschy

PRINCESS CHRISTMAS

I want a Princess Christmas, Pink and purple too! Glitter, presents, and crowns all around. No cookies, lots of pink cupcakes, with a big band too.

Unicorns would fly us all around the ballroom! A Princess Christmas would be a dream come true.

Jordee Olson

Teiah Hoerner

Two little elves on a Christmas tree. Now they move on to the tv. Now they move to the kitchen.

Now they eat all of Santa’s Cookies. Now they hide in the stockings. Now they move to the Chimney.

Santa lands on one of them. The other elf is hiding on a little girl’s bed. Santa was surprised there were no cookies on the plate. He decided to lick the plate. Santa found the elf on the bed. Then he said, “Where’s the cookies?” The elf then said, “I ate them all gone!” Santa said, "Your grounded for a week.” “Please don’t ground me for a week. I will give you $100.” The elf said. Santa said, “No I am grounding you for a month then.” Then the elf said, ”Aww man. You win!”

Christmas Kitty ate a lot of pie. He ate one pie. He turned on some music. He had a tummy ache. Then he ate another pie. Then another pie and a pine cake. He had a bigger tummy ache. Then he took a little sip of protein shake and he went to bed. In the morning he woke up and got some apple cider. He went back to bed. After that he woke up and he felt all better!

Jonathan Vetter CAT'S CHRISTMAS

My cat wants to go for a walk, but it is too snowy so he can’t go see Santa. He wanted his hat from Santa so he made his own. The hat he made had a hole in it and he didn’t have a snowing machine. He wanted to play in the snow and he did. I like my hat and I fixed the hole. And his name was Cat Catty Cat. He is having some fun in the snow and the snow is so cold and the snow is so white. He made snowballs.

He played in the snow until it was time to sleep.

Frederick Bleess

THE GUY THAT STOLE THE CHRISTMAS TREE

There was a robber named Jupiter who stole a Christmas tree. He took it from the place where you get Christmas trees without giving them any money because that is what robbers do. Then there was another guy who could help people. He showed up to take the Christmas tree back to the people who it got stolen from. That good guy is named Cat Attacker. He has a super big arm. But he got so tired from trying to grab Jupiter that he started to cry so he had to lay down and take a nap. Then there was a purple monster who was helping with the good guy. He had big horns and really sharp teeth. His teeth were deadly and he'll eat people if they don't be nice. So Jupiter the robber really didn't want to be bitten. But the monster got his body and shook him until he threw the Christmas tree all the way back to where it was supposed to be! The End!

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4 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

1ST/2ND GRADE STORIES WINNER!

James Vetter

THE DINOSAURS AND THE CHRISTMAS TREE

There are five dinosaurs in the forest. They couldn’t find the right Christmas tree. The dinosaurs kept looking and looking. The trees were all different colors and there is only one green tree. They all separated to try to find the green tree. The first one was named Rexy, the T-Rex. He found a yellow tree that was too big. The second dinosaur was named Joe, the stegosaurus. He found an orange tree. It was too skinny. The third dinosaur was named Seek, the pteranodon. He found a bunch of trees, but they all had animals nesting in them. The fourth dinosaur was named Shek, the triceratops. He found a blue tree. It was too fat. The last one was named Luke, the apatosaurus.

With his long neck, he found the right tree.

Then, Luke collected his friends and then said “Can we chop down this tree?” They all used something strong and sharp on their bodies to chop down the tree. Then Luke said, “Let’s bring it home for us to decorate it.” Seek lifted the tree up onto Luke’s back and they all walked home together. All the dinosaurs made the decorations out of wood. Rexy’s all had a picture of Jesus on them. Joe put a picture of Santa on his. Seek put a Christmas tree on his. Shek wrote all their names on the decorations. Luke made a picture of it snowing. When they were done decorating the tree, they all fell asleep and waited for Santa.

Penelope Barker

PENELOPE’S CHRISTMAS

Once upon a time, Penelope the snow girl was helping decorate the tree. Her mom was making pie. It was Christmas Eve, the stockings were filled.

The next day it was Christmas and it was snowing.

It was beautiful, we opened presents. Her brother Paul opened his presents and he got a dinosaur.

Her brother Eli got a robot and Penelope got some new headphones. Her mom and dad were happy for them, The End.

Lesly Arreola

Every Christmas morning my family opens presents. Then we go to my aunt’s house. Then we go back to our house. A couple of minutes later we go to church. After church we go home. Then my family has a normal day. My cousin comes over. I have a good time. Then my cousin goes back home.

Then I go to bed.

Afraah Batcha

On Christmas me and my mom got ice cream. I got strawberry ice cream and I got blue ice cream. My mom and me went to the dinosaur park. Then we went to my grandmas house. My grandma and my family went to the restaurant and to get donuts.

Then we went home.

Kelsie Boardman

One Christmas Eve I made a gingerbread house.

Then we made food. It was yummy! We had steak with broccoli. Then me and my mom sat on the couch. Then my dad came. Then my mom called my grandma so I could open my presents. Then I opened my presents. Then it was my bedtime. I went to sleep. Then next morning I ate breakfast.

Then me and my mom relaxed and watched a movie. At lunch time I ate sandwiches. They were yummy. Then I went in my room. I was happy!

Alonna Crawford

Christmas morning I set up the table for Christmas dinner. I got a Sonic doll. I was SO excited. I played with Sonic. I was Sonic and I got my sister. I got my brother. Then I went to family dinner. I ate a giant chicken. I ate the last piece. I love Christmas.

Charlotte Hallahan

Hadley Newman

One Christmas night we put flour cotton on the floor in front of the door to see if Santa came. I never get…coal. I get chocolate and candy corn.

Also TOYS! This year I hope I get a Jesse Toy Story toy and lots of cany corn. I like Christmas!

One Christmas morning me and my brother looked in our stockings. We got a Grinch stuffie.

We played with it. Then it was time for dinner.

We watched a Christmas movie. It was so cool.

Then we watched a Grinch movie. The Grinch stole Christmas and then he was so sorry. After the movie dad read a book. It was about the Grinch.

Then I went to bed.

River Hanson

One Christmas day we made cookies for Santa. The cookies were gone. The milk was gone. We got a lot of presents. I got a…Nerf toy! Then we opened our stockings. I got Skittles. Then we ate pumpkin pie. Then we ate corn. Then we went to papa and grandma’s house. We opened presents. We ate dinner. Then we looked for where the elf was hiding.

Then we went home.

Andrew Jiang

I like Christmas. I like the Christmas tree. I like the lights.

Zachary Jordan

Chael Fredrickson One Christmas day there was a…MAGICAL… Christmas tree! It was in the middle of New York City. The magical Christmas tree has been in New York City for a long time. It has powers. It can fly and it can teleport anywhere. It can turn into a toy Christmas tree. It used its powers to fly away. It almost went to the moon! We got an air balloon to get it and it is back in the middle of New York City.

Kenna Cutbirth

On December 25, 2022, I got presents and toys. I got a new Barbie dream house and LOL dolls. I also got clothes and costumes. I spent time with my family. It was a great day!

Abigail Fox

Once upon a time on Christmas Eve everyone was asleep. But there was a problem. A rocket was missing from the sleigh and Santa was lost on an island! How will he deliver presents now! Just then he had an idea. He called his elves. Then the elves came with their toolbox. They could not fix the sleigh without the rocket. Then he had another idea. He told the elves to split up. Some of them looked in the sky. Some of them looked under water. Some of them looked on top of the water.

Some of them looked on the island. Just then and elf FOUND the rocket! All the elves came back. It took a little bit of hours, minutes, and seconds. It was almost morning! They needed to hurry. Then they fixed the sleigh. They flew in the air delivering the presents. Ho, Ho, Ho merry Christmas!

Chael Fredrickson One Christmas day there was a…MAGICAL… Christmas tree! It was in the middle of New York City. The magical Christmas tree has been in New York City for a long time. It has powers. It can fly and it can teleport anywhere. It can turn into a toy Christmas tree. It used its powers to fly away. It almost went to the moon! We got an air balloon to get it and it is back in the middle of New York City.

Fabian Calderon Gomez

On Christmas I won the basketball game. After I won the game, I went home to sleep. When it was morning, I had presents. I saw the presents and I opened the presents. After I opened the presents I was playing with my toys. After I played with my toys I went to sleep.

Nolan Grayson

I like Christmas because mommy gets elves.

Mommy gets candy canes. There are candy canes on the tree and in the pantry. We have presents and decorations. There is a tree upstairs and downstairs. The lights on the tree are green and all of the colors. I get Minecraft toys. I like Christmas.

One Christmas night I wanted to get a YouTube camera. I was excited to get some different stuff too. On Christmas day I got a lot of presents. I liked all of the presents.

A Christmas Joke: What did the reindeer say to the other reindeer?

I will make your nose shine!

William Knopik

One Christmas day I opened presents. I got a Godzilla and a King Kong toy. My mom and me and my sister and my little sister were decorating the Christmas tree. My dad bought the Christmas tree. Fun Christmas Fact: Did you know that there is a Christmas Godzilla? He has a reindeer. He has a red nose. He looks…COOL!

Diego Lebaron

One morning it was Christmas. I woke up first. I woke up my dad. I said, “It is Christmas”. Me and my dad went outside with snow pants and jackets.

It was snowing. It was really cold. Me and my dad went to the house. We drank hot chocolate. Everyone woke up. Everyone opened their presents. I was fun. It was so FUN! Then we went to church.

We watched the people sing a song. It was beautiful. When we were done we went home. My dad played with me. It was fun. We ate food. When we were done eating food it was nighttime. We took a nap. I had a bad dream. I woke up because I was scared. Then I went back to bed. I was happy again.

Kendrick Loughnan

Christmas day I was going to the mall to see Santa and take a picture with him. I was so happy. I had a BLAST! It was fun. I went home and was playing with my family. Then I ate pizza and I was putting my Christmas stuff up. I was happy.

Jaxon Markegard

On Christmas me and my family play games together and go shopping to get Christmas stuff for decorations. I am happy. I love Christmas…

TRADITIONS! These are some games I like to play on Christmas - Jeopardy, Candy Land, and Sorry.

Then we play the card game Trash together. Then we play Jeopardy. Then I go to bed.

Reagan

On Christmas I went to my bubbies house. I opened presents. I had cake. Then I went home.

Then my dad came home. I love my Christmas tree.

I love my family. Then I went to my bubbies house again. Then I went home to go to sleep.

Colton Neurohr

My favorite thing about Christmas is Christmas morning because it is the best. You get presents.

You open the presents and play with them. My favorite thing about Christmas is all day because it is so much fun. Christmas is super fun!

Braxton Orcutt

One Christmas day I put out cookies for Santa.

My family woke up before me and I saw presents under my tree. The cookies were gone and the milk was gone too. I got spiderman toys and puppies. I got more candy canes and I saw Santa in the sky! A Christmas Joke: What did Santa do with his presents? He lost them!

Sadie Richard

One Christmas night there was a very big man that was very ho, ho, ho. He was the one and only Santa Claus! Santa jumped down the chimney and he…put the toys under the Christmas tree. Then he delivered other toys to the other kids. Then he went to other states. Then he went back to the North Pole.

Ceanna Ward

My family got a Christmas tree. My family got candy cane lights. My family got a…dinosaur light.

My family likes Christmas. I like Santa.

Jackson Radzak

There once was an elf named, Buddy. He lived in an igloo on the south side of the North Pole.

His favorite food was raspberries. So, one day, he thought he would go on a vacation. Buddy decided to go to Hawaii. But, there was a problem.

He was used to the cold and Hawaii is very warm and toasty. So, he traded, Gill, the penguin three times for swim shorts, a surf board, and a ticket to Hawaii. Buddy, boarded the plane and he was on his way. When he got there, he learned how to surf and he lived happily ever after. To Be Continued…

Tate

Santa brings you presents Able to spend time with your family Not being mad if you did not get what you wanted To take nothing for granted A family is there for you Can’t wait to open gifts Love one another Act good and be nice Use kind words Stay nice and be good

Lynnix

Santa claus comes All of the colors New toys The present All of the presents Cookies to give to Santa List to be on All of the singing Using toys Santa Claus brings presents

Emi

Singing songs with my family Almost time to open gifts No naughty list Time to buy a tree Always be nice on Christmas Christmas is awesome Love your family All the guests are here Use hats and gloves Santa is nice

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CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

6 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

1ST/2ND GRADE STORIES Acalieno Sleigh can fly with reindeer Across the sky it goes Night time we go to sleep Ten cookies on a plate with milk Always make cookies Christmas is beautiful Love Santa Claus Another tree for presents Usually we make cookies for Santa Santa is nice

Ellie

Sled with Santa Are you on the nice list No one knows what they are getting for Christmas Time to sing Christmas songs Afternoon filled with love Cookies are the best Love gifts Always having fun Use kind words Santa is the best

Kandon

Sneaking into the house Always eating cookies Need to give gifts To much gifts Always magic in the air Christmas is the best Lights and families Always watching if you are good or bad Using wrapping paper to wrap presents Santa is the best

Karver

Santa gives us toys Always wanting to play in the snow Not peeking at my gifts Trees are up Able to spend time with family Cookies to eat Lists of toys Almost time to open presents Under the tree there is gifts Sledding in the snow

Kenrix

Kiera

Can I eat a cookie Always make a list Now I run to the North Pole Do the reindeer get tired You have lots of fun Candles lite All the lights North Pole is cold Elves watch you.

Candy canes are red Another night we all enjoy Nice sights all around Drawing peppermints You are red and white Candy cane we eat you And candy canes go in stockings Nice people all around Evening light night

Christmas is near A family celebrates Christmas North Pole is where Santa lives Delivery by reindeer and Santa Yellow bells Claus helping reindeer A card to decorate No naughty list Everyone keeps their chimney off for Santa to come

Card to Santa At Christmas you get presents No being bad Do not steal presents You like Christmas songs Cookies for Santa Always Santa comes No eating cookies Eating candy canes

Nova

Roy

Cookies are good Always having fun with family North Pole is like ice Diving into the snow You are on the nice list Candy canes are good Are you on the nice list North Pole is very cold Elves help Santa

Steven

Cookies are yummy A bell rang No peeking at your presents Days are hard Yay, my presents are here Cookies are so so yummy A hard day Now I’m done Eat the cookies

Carter

Christmas tree is up Anyone can come Not being bad Dinner is good Your friends show up Careful family and friends when traveling And other people show up North Pole is cold Elves bring toys

Daxtyn

Waylon

Get toys I like when Santa eats my cookies Nerf gun Green tree makes me happy Eat cookies Red hat to wear Bells rang Red sweater Exploded nerf war Am happy Dog sweater Mild to drink About family Nice people get presents

Dominic

Gingerbread house I can slay all day No Wi-Fi connection at the North Pole Gingerbread man Everything is fun Ringing bells Best time ever Right time to play Everyone is nice A wonderful time Dinner is fun More time for fun A time to make you happy Nice time to remember fun times

Sophia Great Christmas presents Inside drinking hot cocoa Nice family members Great food to eat Elves giving me presents Reindeers coming to my house Big lights flashing Riding on big floats Everyone gathers together Always getting presents Delivering presents Music to listen to Always helping people Never being mean

Maya

Great gifts Inside with family playing games Nice family to come Great food to eat Elves and Santa coming to bring me gifts Reunion with family Bright cheerful songs to sing Racing down the streets to a parade Everybody having fun Always fun stuff to do Delivering gifts Music to dance and sing Always people having fun Nice people to be around

McKenzie

Green and red is Christmas It’s a Christmas miracle North Pole is the best Gingerbread is good Elves make presents Reindeer fo fast Bells ringing in the sky Rudolph the red nose reindeer Elves making toys for everyone Again next year Decorated cookies Mrs. Claus is the best About family North Pole is cold

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 7

3rd GRADE STORIES WINNER!

OVERALL WINNER

Zoey Hagerott

Addie Kleemaann

THE LONELY GINGERBREAD MAN

Once there was a Gingerbread Man. He lived in a plain gingerbread house up on Peppermint Lane. He felt so sad and lonely because his house had no candy and only frosting he had was holding his house together. He had no friends or pets. One day he took a walk in Frosty Forest. He thought he heard a “woof!”

He stumbled upon a cardboard box. That box was covered with frosting all over! The Gingerbread Man looked in the box and saw a small cute gum drop puppy wagging his tail. He reached into pet the small dog and the puppy started to lick him. Those sweet, sweet kisses filled his heart with happiness.

He decided he was going to take the puppy home with him. He took a Twizzler and gently tied it around the puppy’s neck hoping he wouldn’t freak out and led him home. The next morning he woke to Gum Drop kisses.

He decided the Gumdrop needed a Christmas tree. Together they decorated a Christmas tree and his house. The next morning he heard a knock on his door. When he opened the door he found a Gingerbread Lady smiling at him from his door. She wanted to let him know she just moved in down the road and she loved is decorations so much! With a full heart he invited her in for hot coco and a new friendship began. He lived Happily ever after.

would cause more problems then helping. Santa stomped in and looked at the mess that Micheal had made. Sorry Santa but Christmas might be ruined, said one other elf. Who on earth would want to ruin Christmas, said Santa all the elves pointed at Micheal. Micheal had caused such a mess in the workshop.

Santa looked at Micheal displeased,Micheal was to help clean up the mess he had caused and immediately leave the workshop ,he had to do janitor duty.

For the rest of the month, he felt ashamed at what he had done. He knew that next time he needs to be careful, because Christmas is so important to Santa, presents need to be done in a timely manner. Christmas was saved this year. The end.

SANTA’S PROBLEM

Once upon a time on Christmas Eve, Santa was getting ready to go to Killdeer to deliver presents. He got all of his stuff…the sled, the reindeer, the presents and one elf. Santa was gone for hours and hours and hours. It was a long, long way to Killdeer, North Dakota.

Finally, Santa and the reindeer were getting close to Killdeer.

My family and I were at the arena near Killdeer and it was my turn to barrel race. Just as I was heading into the first barrel, Santa’s sleigh crashed and hit the third barrel!! “Oh, my goodness gracious, what has happened?” I screamed. I looked over and saw that all of the reindeer were hurt. They had fallen so hard that their legs were lame.

Santa said, “Oh dear, I have 25 more houses to go.” So I said, “Here, take my horse.” And my friends said, “Take ours, too!” So, Santa did just that. He gave each of the horses a magic treat and what do you know? The palominos, the paints, the bay, the gray and the buckskin all flew up into the starry sky… the horses… were flying!

Santa and the horses delivered the rest of the presents to the children.

Santa and the horses came home, but they were sleepy and tired. We brushed our horses and gave Santa a snack. The horses got their normal grain and that made them all normal again.

From Our Families to Your Family

Azzy Dutchuk

SANTA STOPS THE GRINCH!

The next day, we were getting ready for the barrel racing at the arena. Flit was acting a little strange and I was feeling nervous. We were the first to run and Flit flew through the barrels! Our time was the fastest time ever and ever since then, my horse, Flit and I have won every single barrel race that we have entered!

The magic of Christmas Eve stayed with him forever!

Bailey Herring

THE CLUMSY = ELF

It was Christmas Eve morning all the Elves were getting ready for Christmas, one elf in particular named Micheal, he was so naughty and clumsy. He often

A week before Christmas, the Grinch tried to take over Christmas. The Grinch got out of Santa’s workshop and the Snowman tried to beat him up but he failed. Then the Grinch went back to his cave to get ready to go wreck Christmas again. When the Grinch was ready, the reindeer broke open the door like they were the FBI!! “Open up!” The Grinch screamed at the reindeer because they didn’t knock on the door! Then the reindeer beat up the Grinch.

Santa arrived and gave the Grinch presents. Each of the 35 presents were half-eaten cookies!! All but one of the 35 gifts had 100 half-eaten cookies! Then the Grinch got very mad and Santa said, “That’s what happens when you are bad and I am hungry!”

The Grinch tried to punch Santa, but Santa dodged him and said, “You have been a very bad boy!” And he packed up the reindeer and headed back to the workshop.

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CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

3rd GRADE STORIES Cheydon Morlock

SANTA IS GOING ON A VACATION

Santa flew to Antarctica to meet some penguins.

While he was there, someone wanted to be Santa but he was an evil person. He had a pet seal and he was from Antarctica. The evil Santa was going to do work, and set up cameras around the world. But, Santa found out and stopped him.

Santa found out that the evil Santa was really The Grinch!! The Grinch’s pet seal was begging Santa to be on the good list. “OK,” said Santa, but why do you deserve it?” he asked. “I didn’t help the Grinch,” said the seal. “OK,” said Santa. Then, Santa and the seal headed to the North Pole on the sleigh. When they landed, Santa and the seal saw a snowman with red, glowing eyes! Santa yelled, “Run!” Santa ran, but the seal didn’t run.

The seal wanted the snowman to be his friend. He was wearing a scary snowman costume, but that didn’t scare the seal. The seal took his snowman friend to meet Santa. Santa named the seal Jeff and he named the snowman Frosty. The seal and the snowman liked their names. All of them went to the playground, and soon, Mrs. Claus said, “Dinner’s READY!” So the seal and the snowman and Santa ran to the house and ate dinner and played Candyland. It was good to be home.

Lety Dolezal

AMY AND SPARTAN

The day before Amy’s Christmas break started was a cold and snowy day. Grandpa Jack and Tie were in the kitchen. “When will Amy be home from school, Jack?” asked Tie. “In about 60 minutes, Tie.” “OK, I am going to get some horse feed in town.” Tie headed to town and decided to pick Amy up from school. They headed to the feed store and bought the feed and went home. Amy and Tie put the feed in the barn and filled the feed buckets. They put Amy’s horse, Spartan in his stall, then Amy went to the house and Tie finished putting feed away. The next morning, Spartan was gone! “Grandpa! Grandpa!” “What, Amy?” “Spartan is gone!” “What?” gasped Grandpa.

What the family didn’t know was that there was a horse stealer in town! “Your dad should be here in 10 minutes,” said Grandpa, “I will call 911.”

“NO! Grandpa!” screamed Amy. “We have to go find Spartan now!” Amy turned and said, “Ohhh Dad, you are here.” “We will find Spartan, Amy,” said Dad. They decided to check the trails, but it was snowing hard. They saddled their horses and went into the blizzard. Dad was hoping that Spartan would smell the other horses and whinny for them. Meanwhile, the horse stealers had Spartan. They decided to leave him tied to a tree about a mile from the trail and find shelter for themselves. Dad, Amy and Grandpa came down the trail and Grandpa’s horse started to whinny and shake his head. They let Grandpa’s horse lead the way and they followed him to the tree where they found Spartan! Amy jumped off her horse and ran to Spartan. The small, black horse reared excitedly to see Amy and he nuzzled her hair. She cried with happiness, “Dad! Grandpa! This is the best Christmas ever-let’s go home.”

Jocelynn Hauck

NIGHT AT THE NORTH POLE

One day a kid named Jack was walking in the Arctic. It was two days before Christmas. Jack was far from home by now. On the way, he saw a seal pup, a penguin and an orca. Later, he saw a big hut. It was red with a black roof. Soon a storm hit and Jack was scared so he ran into the hut. It was nice and warm in the hut, when suddenly, an elf locked the door and the lights went out. It was very dark. Jack’s heart started to beat really hard because he knew he was trapped! It was night and Jack didn’t know if he would see his family again.

He was so scared, but then the elves let him go, but he was still on the couch in the hut. Jack knew he needed a plan, STAT! After seven minutes of thinking, he thought of a plan…and not just any plan…but, a master plan. Jack was going to trick the elves. He said, “Hey, elves, look outside fo the window.” All the elves ran to the window and started to look outside. Then Jack snuck the keys off the fireplace and ran out the door! It was really cold, so he put on his jacket and started to walk. He needed to find his family. After five minutes of walking, Jack could hear his family calling his name. Jack ran toward the sound and found his family!! Jack and his family went back home and lived together happily ever after

characters. So, when they put the short elf on the tough bull and pulled the chute gate open, he flew off! The elf was just too little to ride the mean bull and he landed in Canada! The elf was sitting in Canada for days…Finally, the real Santa came on his sleigh and found the elf. He saved the elf and brought him back to the rodeo grounds.

Santa asked the little elf, “Why didn’t you just fly home on your own?” The little elf replied, “Because I forgot I could fly!” “I thought I was just a bull rider!”

Liza Stadheim

MOLLY AND CHRISTMAS

Kathy Boschard

JOLLY AND JINGLEY’S LIFE

Chapter 1 Jingley’s Birth: Once there was an elf who had Down’s Syndrome. There were three holes in her heart. She was a happy little elf who liked to help, even tho it was hard for her. Chapter 2 Working as an Elf When Jingley was five years old, she went to Santa’s workshop to learn to make toys. But, the other elves made fun of her because her toys weren’t perfect. When she got home, she would always cry and would not want to go back to the workshop. But, she pushed herself to go and yet, the others kept bullying her.

This made Jingley sad. Chapter 3 Jolly Arrives One day, an elf came…an elf who also had Down’s Syndrome and they became good friends. Jolly made toys, too and the other elves bullied her.

Jingley was mad and tried to stop them from bullying, but it didn’t work. They kept making fun of the little toymakers. Chapter 4 Helpers and Inventors Years later, Jolly and Jingley were taking a break from working at the toyshop. The other elves were working and Jolly and Jingley came up with a song idea. “We should make a song,” said Jolly. “Great idea!” said Jingley, so they made a song called “Sparkle, Jolly, Twinkle, Jingley!” They kept adding to the song until it was finished. Then they took it to Santa Claus and he liked it. Chapter 5 Publishing the Song Santa took the song to the publishing Elf. Santa said, “Please make this into a song.” The Elf said, “OK, Santa!” He published Jolly and Jingley’s song and it became very popular. The publishing Elf had a great idea… Chapter 6 Songwriters The next day, the publisher Elf asked Jolly and Jingley if they could help him make new songs for the Christmas program. They said, “YES!” excitedly.

So that night, Jolly and Jingley had a party to celebrate that they are finally songwriters. Chapter 7 Years later…Jolly and Jingley grew old and one day, Jolly said, “I know we’ll soon be gone.”

“We have had a good life-we became famous songwriters,” said Jingley. Then Jolly said, “When they put that dust on us, we will be gone and I don’t know what to do!” Jingley said, “We’ll be fine, don’t worry.” They were gone, but no one ever forgot their legacy.

Addie Kleemann SANTA’S PROBLEM

Once upon a time on Christmas Eve, Santa was getting ready to go to Killdeer to deliver presents.

He got all of his stuff…the sled, the reindeer, the presents and one elf. Santa was gone for hours and hours and hours. It was a long, long way to Killdeer, North Dakota. Finally, Santa and the reindeer were getting close to Killdeer.

My family and I were at the arena near Killdeer and it was my turn to barrel race. Just as I was heading into the first barrel, Santa’s sleigh crashed and hit the third barrel!! “Oh, my goodness gracious, what has happened?” I screamed. I looked over and saw that all of the reindeer were hurt. They had fallen so hard that their legs were lame.

Santa said, “Oh dear, I have 25 more houses to go.” So I said, “Here, take my horse.” And my friends said, “Take ours, too!” So, Santa did just that. He gave each of the horses a magic treat and what do you know? The palominos, thepaints, the bay, the gray and the buckskin all flew up into the starry sky… the horses…were flying.

Marjorie Brown

THE HOLIDAY MISSION

One Christmas Eve in the forest lived a wolf family. The mom’s name was Shadow, the dad’s name was Bob, the big brother’s name was Blizzard and the other kid’s name was Chocolate.

They were putting up their Christmas tree and Chocolate and Blizzard were helping Shadow decorate it. “Do you want to get a turkey for dinner with me?” asked Bob. “Sure,” the kids said.

Soon enough, they got a turkey. The dad took the turkey back to the den, and when they were home, a bunny delivered a note to them. It was from Santa!

The note said, “Help! We were delivering presents and then we got lost in a blizzard! Now, we can’t find Rudolph-can you help us, please?”

So the family got ready and started to walk. They walked and walked and walked…Chocolate said, “Hey! What’s that red glowing thing in the snow?”

“I think it’s Rudolph!” said Blizzard. So they dug in the snow until they found him!

The wolf family was so excited that they ran to the cliff and howled and howled, “Aahhoooo, aahhooooo! We found Rudolph!” Their howls echoed all the way to the North Pole and Santa heard them. He knew Rudolph was safe!

Then the family took Rudolph back to the den.

“Who wants dinner?” asked Shadow. They were all hungry from their missing reindeer search so they sat down and ate. After dinner, the family took Rudolph back to the North Pole. He had a big job to do; after all, it was Christmas Eve! The wolf family was glad their mission was accomplished!

Lincoln Olson THE RODEO ELF

One day at a rodeo shortly before Christmas, they finally got to the bull riding. Before the bull riding started, the bull riders had dressed up as other people. Christmas was coming and the bull riders thought it would be funny if they rode bulls in costumes. Someone was Santa, another was an elf, a snowman, reindeer, Rudolph and Mrs. Claus. Weirdly enough, when the bull riders put the costumes on, they turned into those

On Christmas morning, Molly came down the stairs smelling the delicious banana bread her mom was making. “Yum!” she thought.

“Time for breakfast,” Mom said.

“Ok, Mom” said Molly. So, they sat down to eat breakfast. “Yum, thanks for breakfast!” said Molly and Dad. “You're welcome!” said Mom with a smile. After breakfast, Dad read from the Bible in Luke chapter 2.

After that, Molly asked Dad, “Who invented Christmas? Why do we celebrate Christmas? Why do we open presents?”

“Well,” dad said, “that is a lot of questions! I'm not sure if anyone actually invented Christmas, but in the 4th century, church officials decided to start celebrating the birth of Jesus every year.

The Bible did not say what day Jesus's birthday was, so they decided to celebrate on December 25th. Christians have been celebrating Christmas ever since. We give gifts just to celebrate Jesus.”

“Molly,” called her mom.

“Yes, Mom?” answered Molly.

“Time to open presents.”

“Ok,” said Molly. She got a silver snow globe with Mary and Joseph. “Oh, thank you, Mom!” cried Molly.

“You're welcome!” said Mom. And, she got a new coat. “Awe, this is the best coat I've ever seen. Thanks, Dad!” Molly shouted.

“You are welcome,” laughed Dad, “I am glad you like it!”

And that is what I call a good Christmas story.

Aspen Hoerner

THE PENGUIN’S CHRISTMAS

Once there was a penguin who wanted a Christmas tree. So she hopped on her iceberg to go to a forest. She paddled and paddled. It took a long time, but she finally got there. She found the perfect Christmas tree. She started heading back, but while she went, her iceberg melted. Luckily there was her best friend!

“Blue!,” Lane shouted. Blue took Lane home. Lane started decorating. She went to get some fish.

When she came back her tree was gone!

“Oh no, what shall I do?,” said Lane. “This is horrible.” Far off in the distance, she saw a reindeer.

“That reindeer has my Christmas tree, silver, and gold.” Blue took her to dry land. It was not cold there. “Come back with my stuff!,” shouted Lane.

She finally caught up with the reindeer. “Why do you have my stuff?,” said Lane.

“I took this for the newborn baby king,” said the reindeer.

“Baby king?,” said Lane. “It must be a boy, right?”

“Yes,” said the reindeer. “Here he is, the newborn baby king, Jesus.”

Lane learned the Christmas story. The end.

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 9

4th GRADE STORIES WINNER!

Kenadee Becker

LITTLE MICHAL’S CHRISTMAS

One day, Little Michal (a bunny),went on a journey. He lived with his Mom, Dad, and sister. Little Michal’s nickname was LM. LM was excited it was Christmas day. It was almost time for presents which LM thought were from Santa but, LM had to wait until later to open them. It was only morning and he had to wait until the afternoon to open the presents. After breakfast, lunch, and movies, it was time for presents. Surprisingly, LM only saw one present for him. Was he naughty? LM opened it. It had a button on it. LM pushed it and it formed into a photo booth looking thing. LM wondered what it was.“It’s a T.M. (Time Machine). A TM!”, exclaimed LM.“It’s yours! Before you use it we must read the instructions”,said Dad. “I think I want to go on the First Christmas they had to see Santa!” LM’s going to discover what the story was of the First Christmas. “I’ll read the instructions for you. So press the green button.”Just as Dad said, that Lm pushed it and the TM was off. “Nooo!”, said Mom. LM then was in a town which the T.M. said was Jerusalm. “Well, I guess LM will learn about the true meaning of Christmas. What we’ve been wanting,”said LM’s Dad. As LM got out he saw a woman. He landed in her backyard! Then, a man came out, his name was Joseph and the woman’s name was Mary. LM heard Mary and Joseph saying they were going to Bethlehem.

So, LM asked if he could go with them. They said, “Yes”; and then they went. When they

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reached a town, LM saw Mary was having a baby! LM saw some men who were called Wise Men go into the palace. They brought myrrh, gold, and frankincense, for the new king. Then they left. The King said to one of his men to dispose of this “New King”. Then LM ran and asked Mary if her baby was the “New King.”

“Yes”, she answered. Lm told her what the king said. “It’s okay; God will guide us”, said Joseph.

That’s just what God did. Mary named her baby “Jesus”. Then, the T.M. landed and it was time to leave. “Goodbye”, LM said, to Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.

Austin Anderson-Kelley I DON’T BELIEVE IN SANTA

In a big, gray house in a purple room, Stella had her best friend, Mary, over. Mary was telling Stella what she wanted from Santa. Suddenly, Stella said, “I don’t believe in Santa. Santa is not real. Do you believe in Santa?” Stella said. Mary hesitated and said “No.” But, Mary knew that she did. That day, on Christmas Eve, Mary could not stop thinking about what Stella said. Mary never had lied to Stella. Mary did not like the feeling after she lied.

Mary decided that she should tell the truth to Stella. Then, Stella came into the room and said, “We get to have a sleepover tonight!” “Cool!” said Mary. “I have to tell you something, Stella. I believe in Santa.” Stella was surprised by what she had heard and said, “Well, I don’t believe in Santa. We will find out tonight if Santa is real.” Mary said, as she had her arms crossed. Mary and Stella did not talk the rest of the night. They watched Christmas movies until bed. “We have to stay up the whole

Kaesen Maher

ALL YEAR I WAIT FOR CHRISTMAS

All year I wait for Christmas and now it is here!

Christmas has so much to offer for young and old. So many fun activities and family get togethers make it even more inviting. I will try to describe some of my favorite thing about the Christmas season. First the snow because there are snowball fights and if you fall it will be cushioned. Second when my dad comes home, I get to shovel with him and my siblings.

Third, ice fishing. You can explore islands and catch fish that you normally don’t catch in the summer.

I love the snow and all but what I love most of all is spending time with my family. I get to play with them, I get to eat with them, I wrestle with them, I play board games with them and I open presents with them. Jesuses birthday is the greatest time of the year. Another thing is the food that my grandmas make is amazing. The cookies are just delicious and the decorating with red, white, and green every where looks so good. On top of that, Jesus Christ our Savior is what it is all about! But this year our Christmas lights broke and it is almost Christmas! Dad wanted boring old one colored lights but 5 of our family members voted for colorful lights because they are more fun. When we went to the store, they only had boring ones. So instead of buying them, we made an online order 2 days before Christmas. The lights had not arrived and it was Christmas Eve, but then two hours before Christmas we got a knock on our door.

The lights were delivered and Christmas was saved.

Not only did we love our lights, but everyone loved their presents. We enjoyed our time with our family, our new lights, and celebrating Jesuses birthday!

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night.” Stella said. They tried to keep their eyes open, but eventually fell asleep. Stella started to dream about Christmas morning and how she would get a brand new scooter from her aunt Sara.

Mary was sound asleep and Stella was still asleep until…Boom! Stella rubbed her eyes. Boom! “What was that?” Stella said. Stella woke up Mary. “What, Stella?” Mary said. “Didn’t you hear that?” Stella said. “No.” said Mary “Just go to bed.” Mary laid her head down and tried to go back to sleep until…

Boom! Mary and Stella sat up. “Let’s go check what is going on!” Stella said. They got up and checked everywhere. The girls were in the garage.

“Let’s check outside.” Mary said. Stella and Mary ran outside. Stella whispered, “What is that?” Mary saw nothing until, bam! It’s Santa and all the presents! Santa had fallen off the roof! “Santa is real?”

Stella said. “Santa, you’re real! I guess I was wrong.”

Stella apologized to Mary and hugged her. Stella asked Santa if they could help with the presents.

Santa said, “You need to sleep.” Mary and Stella woke up in their beds. The girls were confused on what had happened. Was Santa using magic?

12-2 | 3-

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CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

10 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

4th GRADE STORIES Levi Haas

I CAUGHT SANTA

I saw Santa Clause coming down my chimney. I have security cameras inside, outside and on my phone where I could watch from my bedroom. My brother and I went outside, and I took my phone with. We pet the reindeer, and I told my brother all of their names. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen and Rudolph. I looked at my phone and saw Santa in the house, so we hurried inside and went back to bed. Then I caught the Grinch coming down the chimney, but Santa scared him away.

Anneliese Feland LOST & FOUND

Hello! My name is Belle and I'm a cat. I live in a home now, but I used to live in a shelter. My shelter wasn't like the shelters where everyone has a warm bed and plenty of food. No, my shelter was cold, wet, and the people were mean. Want to hear about my Christmas? Well then, just keep reading.

Two days ago, it was Christmas Eve. I was trying to sleep, but two things were keeping me from my rest.

One, the dogs were always barking. Two, my bed was hard as a rock. Then, one of the workers brought me some milk. I looked at it. It was cold and flaky.

The workers yelled a lot. None of the animals (dogs, fish, birds, etc.) liked it. There was one nice girl that worked at the shelter. Her name was Elly and her husband's name was Joe. They had a daughter named Lilly. Lilly (as I had heard Elly say) did not have any friends. I was shocked and sad when Elly didn't come to work.

When the sun outside was setting, a man walked

in. This is strange, I thought. No one has been here today. He talked with the front desk lady for a while.

Then, something remarkable happened.

"I would like to buy a cat," he said, "the one with the fur. Elly said her name is Belle." Elly. Belle. Belle!!!

That was my name! And I do have lovely white fur.

So, this must be Joe and that means Elly was adopting me!!

Seconds later, I was in a small red box with a shiny gold bow and tiny holes for me to breathe. Then, I felt a cold breeze. I heard a door open and close, and a loud rumble started. We started going faster. We stopped a few moments later. There was another cold breeze and then I heard a voice say "Daddy, what's in the box?" This voice sounded young, it had to be Lilly! Joe said, "you'll see tomorrow, sweetie".

It got very dark suddenly. Because it was dark and quiet, I fell right to sleep.

The next morning, I awoke to sunshine and the feeling of being gently picked up. Once I was on the ground again, the box was torn open. I saw Elly, Joe, and Lilly looking at me. I KNEW I had found a home.

The End

Cale Wanner

THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER

When I was nine years old, I had the best Christmas ever. Have you ever ridden on a double decker bus?

To begin with, Mom told me we were going to Garrison.

I said, “What is Garrison?”

Mom said, “It is a surprise.”

After mom said that I called my aunt to see if she wanted to come.

She said, “Yes.” I was so excited.

Furthermore, when we got to Garrison, I was really happy. We watched a play. It was called “The Christmas Carol. I thought it was so cool. When the play was over, we ate lunch, and I had a cheeseburger. It was very good.

Lastly, we saw a parade. The floats in the parade had bright lights. When the parade was finished, we rode on a double decker bus. I got to sit directly above the cab. It was so cold outside that the seats had window scrapers to brush the fog off.

That was the best Christmas ever because we got to have new experiences. I hope you have a jolly Christmas.

Camden Schmidt

JACOB AND THE THREE CANDY CANES

“Hmm,” said Jacob. “What should my story be called?”

“Jacob, dinner!”

“Coming Mom,” yelled Jacob.

Jacob’s Mom’s name is Lauren, his Dad’s name is Joseph, and his sister’s name is Sarah.

As Jacob was walking out of his room, three small candy canes appeared in his way. “Why hello there sir,” said one of the candy canes. “My name is Alihanjro. This is Sam and David.”

Jacob was too scared to speak. “Who are you guys?” asked Jacob quietly.

“Why, we are the Mythical Magical Three Candy Canes!” they said.

“Jacob, who are you talking to up there?” asked Lauren.

“Uh, just myself Mom,” said Jacob.

“How would you like a trip to Winder Wonderland?!” asked Sam.

“Um sure,” said Jacob.

“Well, off we go!” said David.

“Wow, this is amazing,” said Jacob.

“I know it’s super, duper awesome,” said Alihanjro.

“I’m freezing,” said Jacob.

“Here you go,” said Sam, while handing him a warm leather jacket.

“Where did you get it?” asked Jacob.

“In my back pocket,” said Sam. “Let’s take you back to our place so we can get you something to eat.” said David.

“Ahh, home sweet home,” said Alihanjro.

“Here’s some lasagna,” said Sam. “That was yummy,” said Jacob.

“Let’s go outside!” said Alihanjro.

“Ok!” said Jacob.

“All right, lets make some snowmen,” said David.

“Ok!” everyone replied.

“Wow, everyone’s snowmen look amazing!” said Alihanjro.

“I hope my Mom isn’t worried about me,” said Jacob.

“I really should be getting home.”

“We’ll send you home then,” said Sam. “Ok, well bye!” Jacob said. “And remember, if you ever want to come and see us again, you say ‘O mythical candy canes come to thee.’ Then, we will appear out of nowhere.”

“Oh, yeah. Only say it in December too. Well, off you go!” said Alihanjro.

Suddenly, Jacob was back at his house sitting on the floor. “Jacob!” said Lauren. “Where on earth were you?!” “ A place so magical,” said Jacob. “What?” asked Lauren.

“Lets just go and eat supper,” said Sarah.

“You bet.” Said Joseph.

THE END

Rejoice

for He is Born

May the miracle of the season brighten your heart and home this Christmas. As we count our blessings at this special time of year, we count you among them. With sincere thanks and best wishes to you and your loved ones at Christmas.

At Christmastime, may the company of loved ones present and the fond memories of those who have passed surround you with happiness and fill your heart with peace. We wish you all the very best this holiday season.

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CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 11

4th GRADE STORIES Ethan Wysk

THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER

When I was six years old, I had the best Christmas. Have you ever been surprised on Christmas with a special gift?

A month before Christmas I came out of my room so existed to play on the Xbox, but it was not on the TV! stand I asked uncle because it is his Xbox and he said he gave it away I was so sad.

When it was Christmas, I was so excited and nervous. Because my mom said if there is a ring, she will flip in shock.

We finally got the last present, and it was huge! when my brother and I opened it was the Xbox I was so happy All in all, it was the best Christmas because my stepdad proposed to my mom. And my uncle surprised me with his Xbox.

Lydia Corey

THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!

When I was ten years old, I had the best Christmas! I did not get many gifts, but Christmas is not about the gifts. It's about spending time with your family.

First, we drove seven to eight hours to Montana, Lewistown we got there really late. We went straight in the house and went to bed tired and exhausted. Then, I woke up early, but my mom had to wake up my brother and dad up. Then, I helped my mom make breakfast, it tasted so good. We watched “Ice Age” while we ate breakfast.

Next, we got to go bowling, but sometimes it gets boring because my mom keeps taking pictures

of my brother and I. I had fun and we also got to visit our friends in Montana. My mom made sandwiches for lunch and my dad helped out.

Cade and I played outside I played for a while, but cade wanted to go inside so he left. It was amazing that there was so much snow we had.

My mom woke us up on Christmas morning.

We had packed all our stuff and went in the car for our seven to eight hour ride home. I did not want to leave Montana, but when we got home, we rested for an hour and then we got to open our gifts. I got a jacket, a light up sign, and a few more little things.

That had to be the best Christmas ever because I got to go to my favorite place, Montana! I love it there. It makes me happy when I'm there.

Mia Schneider

THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER

When I was seven years old, I had my best Christmas ever. Have you ever gotten a surprise trip as a Christmas gift.

It was Christmas Eve. My whole family was heading downstairs. Mom had her video camera in her hand, dad was carrying Snoopy our dog, and Riley, Reid, and I were ready to open presents.

When we got downstairs, we all got settled in a seat. Mom got her video camera ready, dad got settled on the couch and we were on the floor.

We were ready to open presents!

First, we opened Snoopy’s gifts. He got a ball and lots of toys. We were excited because it was his first Christmas. Next, my brothers and I opened our gifts. Our presents were placed in front of us.

I went first. I open the wrapping paper.

“Rip”

What I found in there was a Barbie. In another present I got a Polly Pocket. Next, Reid went he got a blanket along with a baseball hat. After Reid it was Riley’s turn. He got Beat headphones and a video game. Lastly, mom and dad went. We got them mugs that said, “Best Mom Ever” and “Best Dad Ever” on them. Reid also made them a heart that was made of yarn and wood.

Then mom and dad gave us one last present. It was addressed to my brothers and I. Mom had her video camera ready. We started to open the present. There was a letter along with Disney bands in it. It said, “Dear Schneider kids, this July you are going to Disney World! From mom and dad.”

My brothers and I were so excited. It was my best Christmas ever because my parents surprised my brothers and I with a trip to Disney World. I hope you have a good Christmas too!

Addison Fugere

CHRISTMAS GONE WRONG

It was 5 nights before Christmas and 10 year old Story was excited to find in the stuff Santa left for Her. She only had five things on her list and what she wanted was to see family from far away.

They never came for Christmas, and she felt like she never even met them. Story didn’t want to think too much about them, but she didn’t want to forget them either. Her mom knew she missed them. SURPRISE! On Christmas morning someone came to the door, it was her aunt Cora!

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CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

12 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

4th GRADE STORIES Adley Bohlman

Christmas Santa checked his list. At Rudolph’s house Santa got pranked and all Rudolf got was coal. TO BE CONTINUED…

GRINCHMAS

Noah Adamson

One day on Christmas morning in North Dakota, Santa Claus was delivering presents like usual.

Until….his slay crashed. When he was laying there with no hope, he heard a “Grr” and a “Baaaa.” He looked behind the sleigh and it was the grinch!

The grinch said “I’m gong to be the one to take over the Christmas World.” Santa Claus went back to the North Pole, and when he got there, the Grinch had already taken over. That is when Santa realized Christmas was dead forever!

RUDOLF, MESSED UP

I’m sure you have herd of Rudolf, what happened to him after he retired?

He went off the rails, and you might say Rudolf could never go berserk, but he did! He robed banks and was highly weaponized with AK-47’s 357 Magnum’s and one you never have herd of fore boars. He was going to commit the crime of the century. Rudolf was never coming back from this! He already took so many lives and stole so much money. He was happy with his work leaving everything in destruction. Have a Merry Christmas. =)

Bennett Rood

SAVING CHRISTMAS

BOOM! SMASH! It all started on Christmas Day when the evil Christmas spirit attacked me and the other elves We all tried to warn Santa, but he was captured by the evil spirit! The elves grabbed Mrs. Clause and hid. When the evil spirit left all the elves got together and looked for Santa.

They weren’t able to find him so the elves picked a team of the best hiders, the best fighters and chose Bennett to lead them. Together they quickly found Santa they brought him back.

Bleu Hueske

THE MISSING PRESENTS

Neigh, ring, ring, ring, whoosh! Was that Santa Clause?

One Christmas Eve there were and two kids in bed sleeping dreaming. They were good kids.

They always got presents from Santa. Then, one Christmas morning they got up to see no presents under the tree! They knew something was wrong!

So, the tried to find clues. One of the boys found cookie crumbs on the floor but they lead to the table. The other kid found wet prints from the snow. He tried to follow the print downstairs and found the Christmas presents. The End

Brandon Sloop

One time there was Santa fighting the grinch, and it was cool! So, I set up a camera to see if I can catch Santa Clause! I got what I wanted in real life! I heard glass shattering and pots banging, so I snuck down stairs to see what the heck was happening! I saw Santa and the grinch. I was so confused so I looked on the camera, and it showed the grinch trying to steal presents. Santa Clause was fighting for Christmas. The grinch was stealing and making kids feel sad. Santa saved Christmas! The End

Gus Gordon

BAT SANTA AND THE MYSTERY

Once upon a time there lived a green goblin Who could disguise himself as anything he wanted.

One time he was running away from bat Santa and accidentally changed into a green Rudolph. bat Santa thought He was Rudolf, so he flew back to his cave and threw the real Rudolph in jail. Santa put fake Rudolph in charge, but fake Rudolph fell asleep against the bars. Real Rudolph stole the keys and put the fake Rudolph in jail.

Green goblin changed back. Santa walked in and saw his elf in jail. To be continued…

Hudson Benson

THE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

Whoosh, bang, Kaplow! The blizzard has been going on for a week already! We’ve had nothing to do all we’ve been able to do is play electronics. Plus, we had to go outside and do chores.

When It was 9:00 P.M. we watched the news and the person who was doing the announcements said that Santa Claus might not be able to

Reid Weber

I CAUGHT SANTA

deliver presents to all the kids In the world.

Tomorrow was Christmas everyone was worried.

Every kid prayed that Santa would make it. The next morning everyone found presents under the tree.

Jaxson Zent

THE GRUMPIEST ELF NO ONE HAS EVER SEEN

Stomp, Crash, and Boom! This Grumpy Elf is very grumpy. Every elf is looking at the Grumpiest elf no one has ever seen. This elf is not kind; he is angry and miserable. Santa is not happy with him, but Santa has an idea! He is going to put some “nice” powder on the Grumpiest Elf no one has ever seen. So, Santa did it! Now, the Grumpiest Elf is very kind to every Elf in Santa’s Workshop.

This is how The Grumpiest Elf turned into the kindest Elf.

It all started on Christmas Eve. I put cookies and milk out for Santa. I stayed up and wanted to catch Santa. I almost fell asleep but then I saw a guy in a red suit. It was my dad in red PJs. But I just took the presents and told him not to lie about Santa. So, I took the presents from my Dad and told him to explain. My dad told me that he always hired a guy on Chistmas that dressed up like Santa. Dad always said I was dreaming! Now I really know.

Rosalea Akin

THE CHRISTMAS KITTEN

THE NAUGHTIES

“Mew” said the little kitten. She did not know what anything was. She didn’t even know what fun was. She had nothing but an old mitten, but she didn’t know it was called that. The kitten had no home, so she trudged through the snow carrying her mitten. Then she heard a deep chuckle. She decided to check it out. She came to a giant workshop with a sign that said, “Santa’s Workshop”. Obviously, she couldn’t read. Her new name is Mittens. When Santa delivered presents, Mittens had the best day of her life. Merry Christmas!

Kaleb Arend

What would you do if you actually saw Santa and his Reindeer? One time me and my brother saw Santa and his reindeer. I saw Santa put the presents under the Christmas tree because I could not sleep and my brother, too. My brother saw him eat the cookies and drink the milk. Then Mathew and I saw Santa giving a carrot to his Reindeer and petting them, too. Finally, we saw Santa get in the sled to go back to the North Pole.

Johnnie Ray M Bird

Once upon a time, a kid named Isaiah woke up and went downstairs. He saw the presents under the tree, but none had his name on them. He called his friends Tilly and Fred, and he found out they all got coal! They realized it was Santa who gave them coal. They all went to The North Pole and asked Santa why they got coal. Santa said “You treated each other like garbage and didn’t act like friends.” After that they went home and were nice to each other.

NFL

One Christmas, Santa was flying in the sky. A deer got tired from flying. Old St. Nick fell on an NFL field when the Denver Broncos were playing the Browns. They had to delay a 29 to 13 game in the 4th quarter. Then his sled came crashing down. The whole stadium came down to see him and the reindeer up close. He got everyone a gift.

Merry Christmas

Lilliayn Carver

RUDOLPH GONE WRONG

Hi, my name is Spy Grinch and I’ve spied on Rudolph his whole life. It didn’t go right when Santa got him to guide his sleigh on Christmas. It went wrong. Rudolph wasn’t born with a red nose he was born with a green nose. He wasn’t bullied, he was the bully. Rudolph bullied so much that a reindeer had surgery and almost died. Rudolph didn’t have deer horns he had goat horns. On

Shaylynn Schmidt

Sophia Silva-Malonado

THE STORY OF NOT SANTA CLAUSE

It was the weekend, and I was watching a Christmas movie. I fell asleep because I was tired. At 3am on Christmas Eve I heard something. I didn’t know what it was, then I heard more. It sounded like jingle bell! I set up some traps. I put flour on the ground in case Santa Clause is in the house. I put some jingles on the door and by the fireplace.

I even put some cars on the ground by the fireplace, so he trips. Sorry Santa, it was my dad sorry.

Taelyn Roberts

SANTA AND THE ELF

Once upon a time Santa and his elf were getting ready for Christmas Day. Santa sent his

elf to start getting presents ready. The presents were getting made by Elf Bobby. Santa was drinking hot cocoa and watching if the children were being good or bad. Some were being bad some were being good. Then Santa realized that he gave the elf the wrong list! So as soon as the elf got done Santa was upset and told him that “I gave you the wrong list.” And that is the story of Santa and the elf!!

Teddy LaCore

Christmas is my favorite holiday ever. We go outside to play in the snow and go sledding. We make snowmen and put hats, rocks, hands, and feet on it. Then we go inside the house and drink hot cocoa with marshmallows. We also make cookies and get food for Santa and his reindeer. Then we sit next to the fire and wrap ourselves in a blanket and go to sleep. The next morning we make snow angels, drink cocoa, sit next to the fire and then go out side and make more things

Warren Olson

MY PET CHRISTMAS GOBLIN

My pet goblin is a cute little creature whose parents were killed by hunters. He ran and ran until he found a nice log cabin in the middle of the woods. He went inside and found some hot cocoa.

He was very cold, so he took of his boots and sat in a chair with a fire in front of it. He was kind of suspicious, but he got over it. He heard some banging and tried to run but he didn’t want to run into the person he thought it was the person who shot his parents.

Westen Hazen

Hi, my name is Westen. We can go explore a little family on Christmas Day in a small town in North Dakota named Taylor. The first thing they do is go to their grandma’s house to eat breakfast. Then, they open presents a little later. Next, they go outside and play and have fun. After that, they go back inside and eat lunch. Then, the kids go into the basement and play pool or catcher the flag.

The parents visit. Finally, they eat super and go home and go to bed.

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 13

4th GRADE STORIES Hayleigh Kendrick

A CHRISTMAS UNDER THE SEA

Once upon a time there were friends. Their names are Willow, Camila, and Ellie. They lived in a city called Merifia. Ellie’s tail was gold. Camila’s tail was purple. Willow’s tail was black. They went to a coffee shop and got some coffee. After they got home, the girls were having a snack at Ellie’s.

Ellie said, “I think we should go somewhere.”

“OOh! I got it. We can go to the beach.” exclaimed Camila. “But we go there all the time,” said Ellie.

“Now I’ve got this. We can go to a cave,” said Willow gulping down her juice. “Yes!” said Ellie.

They all agreed to do that. So, the next day, they all met at Ellie’s house for breakfast. They had some waffles. Then after they were done, they realized it was Christmas Eve! So, they went to grab some Santa Claus hats. Then after they were done, they started on the trail to the cave. Once they got there, they were confused. “This doesn’t look right, Camila,” said Willow. “But this is right, trust me,” said Camila. “OK,” said everyone. So, they went into the cave. Once they got into the cave, they saw something amazing. They saw…

“GEMS!” they exclaimed. They went rushing towards them. Willow saw a black one. Camila saw a purple one. Ellie saw a gold one. They wondered if they could keep them. So, they did. But what they didn't know that the gems held powers.

The black one held the power of friendship. The purple one held the power of love. And the gold one held the power of kindness. And when they touched them, they felt something weird. Ellie said,“I’ve heard about these gems, but I thought they were a myth. So, I read that these gems hold

Hope It’s Just What You’ve

Always Wanted!

May all of your hopes and dreams come true this Christmas.

As another Christmas gets into gear, we’re once again reminded of how blessed we are to have such great friends and customers.

We appreciate your business, and we wish you much happiness today and all year.

Merry Christmas!

Steffan Saw & Bike

121 3rd Ave. East, Dickinson 225-5075

great power. I think I might remember what they are. so, Willow, that black one has the power of friendship.” “Cool,” said Willow. “Yeah. Camila, that purple one is the power of love.” “Yay,” said Camilla. Then they went home and went to sleep.

The next morning, they woke up and realized it was Christmas! They got dressed and, went downstairs and started to open presents.

Ellie got a paint kit. Below got a sewing machine.

Camilla got a purple necklace. they all thanked each other.

Sophia Meier

Hi, my name is Julie. I'm a scout elf. It was a very cold winter the first night I was scheduled to see the Millers (the family I visit every year) and it didn't go so well. There was a big blizzard and a disaster. I accidentally hid somewhere too low and the new baby in the family touched me. I lost my magic. Let me tell you all about it! Keep in mind, the baby can crawl. I sat on the bottom of the fireplace and Jade, the baby, rendered me of my magic. (SANTA! IT'S NOT HER FAULT, SHE'S A BABY!) She didn't know she took my magic, she's a baby! Her parents came in later and saw her and came back with tongs. (I HATE IT WHEN PARENTS BUST OUT THE TONGS!) They put me on the top of the fireplace. Later that night, my friend Jacob, came with a stretcher and two of my other friends, Janine and Mia. They carried me back to the north pole on the stretcher. I got put in the I.E.H., the Injured Elf Hospital. I woke up in a few hours. “You guys, she's awake!” exclaimed Jacob. “How are you feeling?” Janine asked.

“Eh.” I said. Santa came with hot chocolate later.

“How are you, Julie?” he asked. “A little better.”

I replied. “Thanks for the hot chocolate, it's REALLY GOOD!” I thanked him. “I'll be writing a letter to little Jade’s parents saying you're okay.” he said. “Thank you.” I replied. I went back to the Millers after a week and a half. They missed me. I hid up high for the rest of my shift that year and was really careful about the baby. Olivia LOVED ME when I got back. (she's Jade's sister and 10.) I love her too. The kids were mostly good and they got TONS of presents! Maybe because they have like 30 family members. I was super excited to get back. Jacob and I missed each other. Anyways, when I got back to the North Pole, we all celebrated the new year together. We Had fun and there was LOTS of hot chocolate.

The end.

Fiona Renicker

THE BIG CHRISTMAS PRESENT

Once upon a time there was a family. There were five people in the family. The dad's name was John and the mom's name was Jewel, the oldest sister was Janette and the other sister was Luna.

Last but not least was the brother Mark. It was almost Christmas and the mom and dad said that instead of a lot of presents they would get one big present. We all keep begging mom and dad to tell us but they just won't! I can't believe that in 2 weeks it will be Christmas! I can't wait for that big present that Mom and Dad promised.

This Christmas my family is hosting at our house.

Last year Grandpa and Grandma hosted at their house but this year it will be at my house and I am excited! The problem is that, well, I'm not trying to be mean but my really mean cousin is coming. Well it's not just one cousin, they are

triplets. I know that it is horrible and they are coming to my house! The good news is their twin sisters are coming too so I am going to still be happy. Tonight I had a dream. It felt so real but it wasn't. My dream was that I was at the North Pole. I was shivering in the cold but the cool thing was that I got to see the northern lights. Believe it or not it was fun. If you don't think about how cold you are, or think about your frostbite then it was fun. Then I saw something... it looked like a shed of some sort. So I went to go see what it was and you'll never believe what I saw! It was one of Santa's elves' rooms but there was nobody in the room but then someone was coming! It was...then I woke up! It bugged me so much all day. Then I heard a knock, knock and mom said, "Come in".

It was my cousins. It was so much fun and at the end of the day Dad and Mom said "Ok you guys ready for the big surprise?" It was a puppy, a fluffy brown puppy! It was so cute and that was the big present! The End

14 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

4th GRADE STORIES Ariana Mohr

“Let’s deliver the presents,” announced Santa.

The end.

HOW STANTA GET HIS PET

Adelyn Wolf

Once upon a time there was a dog named Pippi who wanted a set of squeak dog toys for Christmas. On Christmas night she could not sleep. She heard a "thunk" upstairs she went to check out and she saw Santa! She saw Santa putting a present under the tree. Poppi wanted to see what else was in the sack. She crawled into the sack. Next thing she knew she was riding in the sleigh. Then in the next house, Santo opened his sack. He saw Pippi. He was startled, and he said hello to Pippi.

He asked how she got in there. Pippi barked.

Santa laughed. He let Pippi ride in his sleigh, and get the presents out of the sack. They he let Pippi play with another dog that was in another house, Santa laughed. They they went to another house. There was a trap for Santa there! Santa was putting a present under the tree when Pippi noticed a kid pulling a rope, and trapping Santa.

Pippi hid in the sack. The kid said"Yes, all the presents are mine!" But Pippi thought naughty, naughty, naughty. She jumped out of the bag, tore Santa of the net and through it on the kid. Santa said, "thank you very much Pippi." The kid was very mad and yelled at Santa. Santa said, "You are a very selfish boy, you do not deserve a present this year, Santa went up the chimney, finished the job, and at the end of the night, he returned Pippi home, and said, "you are very loyal. I bet you make your owner happy. Have a good Christmas and see you next year, Pippi!"

GOD’S FAVORITE CHRISTMAS

Luke Melland JUNGLE BELLS

In the jungle lived three gorillas. Their names were Bob, Boby, and George. They called themselves the funky bunch. George was the smallest and fastest. Bob and Boby were twins and very strong.

Every Christmas the boys saw pictures of families having fun in the snow. They decided this year they wanted to find a way to bring snow to the jungle. The problem was, it doesn't snow in the jungle! They thought about it and realized they would need help. The only gorilla they knew that could help was their grandpa, KONG, who lived on the mountain.

The next day, the brothers began their climb. It was a hard journey. They could finally see the top but there was a dead tree bridge they had to cross.

George used his speed to run across while Bob and Boby took turns holding the tree to cross.

They made it!

Kong was there to greet them and asked what brought them to the top of the mountain. George explained their plan for snow for Christmas. He wanted to launch himself into the clouds to shake out the snow. Bob and Boby wanted to smash the mountain and avalanche the snow down. The brothers tried their ideas over and over and failed every time. Finally, Kong stepped in. He told the boys the only way to get snow would be to pray to God. The boys bowed their heads, folded their hands, and prayed for snow. The funky bunch was confused. George wondered why their grandpa told them just to pray. Bob and Boby thought the same thing, but Kong was not confused. Boby asked, "Why are you so confident in praying grandpa?"

Kong replied, "Because God sometimes answers your prayers."

The funky bunch began their way back. They arrived on Christmas Eve and were sad to not see snow. They remembered what grandpa said about God and did not give up hope. They went to bed and trusted God would answer their prayers.

When they opened their eyes on Christmas Day there was snow!! They jumped out of bed and started to pay. While they were playing they heard

a noise from the mountain. It was grandpa on a sled with bells! He came crashing through their snowman and got stuck. The boys jumped on to the gorilla pile and played all day.

Lachlan Hoerner BELOW THE SEA

“We’re all happy to recover from the sleigh crash,” announced Santa. “Let’s start the feast.”

The elves cheered, “Yay, Santa! Santa!”

Santa is a cheerful, experienced man who has many elves. They help Santa do his job, which is to deliver presents on Christmas Eve. They work in the North Pole. Santa’s been through many problems. They’re usually sleigh crashes and spying children.

December 22, 3075, 8:00 a.m.

“Sir, thieves are in the area, but I’ll watch them,” Greg told Santa, “and your sleigh sunk 2.7 miles below the ocean’s surface.”

“What,” yelled Santa.

“Kind of reminds you of 1993,” questioned Greg.

Santa said, “I know how to get the sleigh back.”

December 22, 3075, 12:00 p.m.

Santa asked, “Is the submarine ready?”

“Just about,” answered Anter.

“Good,” replied Santa. Then he declared, “Elves, I know you’re afraid of being underwater. I need to use your gold to lure thieves into a submarine instead. Please put the gold in this basket. Anter, put the basket near the submarine on the shoreline. Greg, when I say, “now,” throw a snowball at the basket. Be quiet, they’re coming.”

The thieves saw the basket and charged at it.

“Now,” yelled Santa.

The snowball hit the basket and it slid into the ocean. The thieves jumped in the submarine and chased the gold. They chased the gold until it landed in the sleigh, which they tied to the submarine to sell and be rich. Once they reached the surface, Santa said, “Thank you for bringing my sleigh back, now to prison you go!” “What, no!,” howled the thieves.

“Where’s our gold?,” questioned the elves.

Santa answered, “It’s in the sleigh.”

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Morgan. But she wasn’t any normal girl, she lived in Heaven. No sin or shame. One day, God said she was going to Earth soon. She was confused. She asked God but He only said, “You’ll figure it out.”

Then BOOM! She was there. “Do you need help?” asked a girl. “You look like you need help. Oh! And my name is Meagen.” “Thanks for asking,” Morgan thanked her, “I could use some help.”

“Well, what do you need?!” exclaimed Meagan. “I know this might be crazy, but I don’t know where to go.” I’m new around here,” Morgan said. “Don’t worry, I got lost when I first moved here,” Meegan assured her. “So, where do you need to go?” asked Meagan. “The Golden Inn,” Morgan answered.

“Huh,” Meagan replied, “never heard of it.” “Don’t you know?! It has pearly gates and walls of gold!

You can’t miss it!” she exclaimed. “I don’t think there’s anything like that here,” Meagan replied, “was there that Golden Gate thingamajig at your old town?” Morgan suddenly realized that the Golden Inn was in Heaven. Then she answered, “Yes. And my town is many miles away.” “I live a block from here. And also, I love your clothes.

Where did you get ‘em?” Morgan started saying, “Heav- um, my old town?” “Coo..” “Meagan!” yelled a boy running over to them. “Who’s that?” asked the boy sternly. “This is my friend.” She paused, “What’s your name again?” she whispered. “Morgan,” Morgan replied. “Neat name,” he complimented her. “Morgan, this is Alex,” Meagan showed her. “Hey Morgan! Would you like to eat breakfast at my house?!” Meagan asked.

“Sure!” Morgan exclaimed. Morgan was excited to eat breakfast at her new friends’ house. Morgan walked by her friend Meagan’s side.

Once Morgan stepped into the house, she felt a lot warmer. “I’ll go get my parents!” said Meagan excitedly. “MOM! DAD!” Meagan yelled loudly.

“I NEED YOU!” Morgan heard Meagan’s parents coming down the stairs.

“What is it dear?” the mom asked. “This is my new friend, Morgan,” Meagan showed her mom.

“That’s nice dear. Now, it’s time for breakfast.”

Once they got to school, Morgan was talking about God. Meagan said she didn’t believe in God. “You should,” Morgan said. Meagan chose to believe. Then BOOM! Up to Heaven. The End

Hannah Skaarvold

A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

It was a cold, snowy night in a small village. A police officer was keeping the town safe, when he found a little girl laying in the snow. He picked her up, and was surprised that she will still breathing. He called for an ambulance to take her to the hospital. Once the little girl woke up, she was frightened. She did not know where she was.

The doctor asked, “What is your name?” The little girl said very quietly, “My name is Ella.” After talking with Ella, the doctor found out that her parents died in a fire, and she had no family left.

Once she felt better, the doctor had no choice but to sent her to an orphanage. The kids were not nice to her. At night she would dream about her

happy days with her mom and dad.

Every day, she would pray that the kids would be nice to her and that God would find a family for her. The longer she was there, she started to make friends. Everyone was excited and happy, because Christmas was coming. For the first time, she was having fun decorating with all the kids. Even though Ella was having a better time, she was still so sad that she did not have a family. She kept on praying to Jesus to send a family to love her.

She was getting nervous because Christmas was almost here. One day, Ella was making her bed when the Headmaster said, “Ella, I need you to come to my office.” She thought she was in really big trouble. When girls get called to her office, it is never good news.

Ella sat down, and she was very nervous. She could not think of why she could be in trouble.

The Headmaster said, “Pack your bag young lady, and tell your friends good bye.” Ella left feeling very confused. There was a car out front waiting for her. She got in the car with a gentle and kind looking lady. They got to a nice house, and inside was decorated so beautiful for Christmas. The husband walked around the corner, and to her surprise, it was the police officer that found her.

He told Ella that they always wanted a child, and that we will be a family forever! It was the best Christmas miracle, God answers prayers!

Ephraim Lefort

SANTA ON THE NAUGHTY LIST

Up in the North Pole was Santa’s workshop. You probably think that Santa’s list of who is naughty or nice is just for kids. If you thought that, you’re wrong! In fact, even Santa, the creator of the list, is on the list! He was always on the good list, but one Christmas he was on the naughty list. This story takes place in the North Pole and New York.

The characters are Santa, elves, and Mrs. Claus.

Santa is very mad in this story.

Deep in the North Pole, was Santa’s workshop. Santa was checking his list when he saw his name on the naughty list! He checked it twice! He thought it was a joke, but it just couldn’t be! A wave of dizziness came over him and then he fainted. He woke up and thought it was all a dream, but his name was still right there on the naughty list. He burst into the elves’ workshop. “Who wrote the naughty list this year?!” bellowed Santa Claus. A small elf scampered to the middle of the room. “Me, sir,” said the small elf. Santa put his face so close to the elf’s nose that he could smell the cookies on his breath. “Why did you do this?” Santa asked.

“Because you didn’t let me have a cookie,” said the elf. Santa yelled in return, “If I’m naughty, then the elves will be naughty. And if the elves are naughty, they won’t make presents!

I must tell everyone in the world that they won’t get presents!” “Why are you doing this?” asked Mrs. Claus. “Because it is very reasonable,” yelled Santa Claus. “Oh, really?” asked Mrs. Claus with a very stern tone. “Yes!” exclaimed Santa, “But I will need time to think about it.” Thirteen minutes later…“I’m going to tell everyone in the world that they are not getting presents,” announced Santa.

So he flew to New York City first. “People of New York,” yelled Santa through a megaphone. An elf cut him off, “We got a message,” he said while looking at his new titanium iPhone. “The elves made all of the presents.” So Santa flew back to the North Pole and loaded all of the presents onto his sleigh. Then he delivered them on Christmas Eve. The End

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 15

5th GRADE STORIES WINNER!

Carter Underwood

THE CHRISTMAS

Do you like to play in the snow? I think that almost everyone likes to play in the snow because you can have so much fun. I also like to set up a Christmas tree in my house and hang up ornaments. Then I help my mom bake cookies, and we decorate them. I like to get presents on Christmas Day. Like last year, I got a giant blanket, a race car, and telescope. This year, I hope I get a goalie bag or some socks. It is almost Christmas day, so we are getting ready for Santa to come. We turn all the lights on, set the stockings up, and turn the fireplace off.

It is Christmas day and I go downstairs to see that Santa had brought me a goalie bag. I also got some socks, a new pair of shoes, and a pair of pants and a shirt. Then I played in the snow for the rest of the day. OVERALL WINNER

Rune Eslinger MY CHRISTMAS

One Christmas night, I was watching a Christmas movie with my family. We were all snuggled up on the couch. It was getting later, and the clock was ticking tic toc tic toc. It was late at night about 12:00 and that's when I heard the sound. Everybody was asleep. It was like somebody landed something on the roof. Then I heard some sort of magical sound, footsteps and then I saw Santa. He said, “Ho, Ho, Ho! such a beautiful house.” Then suddenly, Santa looked over at my family and me. He looked a different way. Then saw the milk and cookies and he started to walk over to them. I moved closer to the end of the couch and CREEK!! The loudest creek ever it almost woke up my parents and my brothers. Santa looked over and that's when I knew my cover was blown. I went back and pretended that I was asleep. Then my elf Raphy. flew in and distracted Santa and said, “Sorry Santa, I made that loud sound.”

“Oh, that was you, Ralphy,” Santa exclaimed.

“Yep, that was me,” Ralphy said in a squeaky voice. They went back to work putting presents under the tree and putting more ornaments on the tree. When Santa was done, he remembered

that there were cookies and milk, so he went over to the treats that we made for him. I was looking over the arm of the couch, when Santa was done. He drank the milk and right when he was about to standup, I ran over to him and said, “SANTA!” He was startled to where he almost fell out of the chair. Santa did not know what to do with me, so he decided to bring me to the north pole. He used his magic to bring us outside and up to the sleigh and right before you know it we were in the north pole. Santa showed me around, I said hi to Mrs. Claus and I met my elf. The sun was about to rise so Santa had to race me to my house. It was morning, everyone opened their presents, and had a lot of fun using them.

Oliva Herring

THE GIFT OF CHRISMAS

Once upon a time there lived a family but not any old family, this family was the clause family. They lived at the North Pole with nine magical reindeer and thousands of elves. Incase you didnt already know, this was the Clause family. Let me introduce. There are 3 children. Noelle is the oldest she absolutely loves to ice skate, Christopher is the middle he goes by chris he is full of life, super funny and loves to be the prankster. Baby stella loves to eat gumdrops. I am sure you know the rest. One day Chris and Noelle were walking around santas workshop, they needed to get a present for there dad Santa. Noelle and chris were running everywhere, trying to find something, christmas is in 5 days! Noelle left the workshop with nothing, so did chris. They always enjoyed everything santa did for them. And wanted to make something special.

The next day Chris found Noelle writting a card, then he said, "how come you have something and I dont" Noelle explained to him it was the thought that counted. Home made cards come from the heart. Santa can have anything he wanted. So they both decided to make a very special card for there dad. Once he got back from delivering gifts on christmas, they gave him his card, he was filled with joy!!!!!! The end. The point of christmas isn't about gifts, it's spending time with family. Home made gifts, cards or even baked goods are always better.

Merry Christmas.

It brings us great joy to share our thanks and best wishes with all of you at this special time.

Your friendship and patronage have filled our year with joy and purpose, and we owe our success to your support.

We hope the cherished traditions of this festive season fill your heart and home with as much glee as they do ours. May your holiday season be merry and bright, and your new year happy and healthy. Best wishes to you and your loved ones this Christmas and always!

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Hwy 22 S. (1012 1st Ave SE) | Dickinson, ND 58601 1-800-743-2934 • 483-4369 | dickinsontruckequipmentinc.com

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

16 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

5th GRADE STORIES Evylyn Fridley All I see is ice shimmering in the light. But what has happened to the presents,why were they frozen? 1 day earlier. It was a snowy Christmas Eve in Dickinson, North Dakota. A fluffy white blanket lays over everything. Once we were all awake we decided to do some last minute walmart shopping. I needed to get some more things for my friend Edie. Once we got there we got the things that we needed and were ready to head out. We got home and had some brunch. After that we remembered that we were going to my grandma's house for dinner. So we got all of our stuff, grabbed our dog and got in the car.

When we got there we ate supper. After that we took a thirty minute nap just because we were stuffed.

Once we all woke up we opened our presents from my grandma. We stayed until church. Once we got back from church we immediately went to bed so that Santa could come without us seeing him. We also went to bed because we were tired. I jumped into bed and fell asleep right away. Before I knew it, it was morning. Right as I woke up, I went straight to where our tree was. But something was wrong. There weren’t any presents. I mean, there were presents, but they were all frozen. Then, I saw someone or something. I went chasing after it. I caught up…or so I thought. The person sprayed something at me. It was ice! Good thing I know how to skate. The ice was coming so I got ready to skate. I went flying across the ice. Slipping! Sliding! I almost fell but I kept my ground and finished. I stepped off the ice and went sprinting after him. Finally I got to be right on his trail. I tried to investigate to see who it was, but it was hard. He had white thistle-like hair and white crystals in his hair. Wait. I know who it is! It was Jack

Frost! “Hey, Jack Frost!” I exclaimed. “Why did you freeze my presents? You know I’m not mad, I just want to talk,” I said. “Well, it is because you decorated for Christmas early but not Fall!” Jack yelled. “I know it can be frustrating, but I forgive you,” I said. We made up and he ate with us.

Avery Hanson

THE CHRISTMAS GRUMPS

Once upon a time there was a village where there were cheerful times and happy times and they all were cozy in their homes. Then one day their cheer went away because of one awful person. Mrs. McPorter. She hated Christmas and everything about it and she would say, “Why like Christmas? Why like bows?

Why like that reindeer with a red nose?” She told the children awful stories of Santa Claus and that he took little children to make presents all year long. So eventually everyone started disliking Christmas, too, except one little girl named Autumn. She was the jolliest girl in town and she would say, “I love Christmas, I love bows, and I love the reindeer with the red nose!” She tried to cheer everyone up but nothing worked.

But then one day Autumn's big sister Avery came up to Autumn and said, “I'll help you Autumn.” As they walked down the street everyone looked so sad.

Autumn explained. “Why would Mrs. McPorter do this to everyone?" Avery asked in disappointment as the two girls still walked down the street. The girls marched right up to Mrs. McPorter’s house.

They barged in without knocking on the door. Mrs. McPorter said, “Go away whoever you are. You don’t have any business here.” But Avery and Autumn did not leave. They went up to Mrs. McPorter and exclaimed that Christmas is good and cheerful and

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that people are happy around Christmas time and that just because she doesn’t like Christmas doesn’t mean everyone doesn’t have to dislike Christmas and Mrs. McPorter yelled, “I hate Christmas!” Avery and Autumn said, “You stay grumpy, we don't care, just stay away from everyone else!” So she did but eventually she got lonely and lonelier and then she became the loneliest person in town. She went up to Avery and Autumn and said "I am so sorry for being so mean. Is there any way I can make it up to you?"

The girls told her to fix her mistake and tell everyone that Christmas is amazing and that almost everyone should love Christmas. So that is how Avery and her little sister Autumn saved the town of Jolly Vile. The End Or Is It?

Kyra Berger

THE DAY WE FOUND OUT

Tick, tink, tock goes the stairs as all the kids trample down. Yawn goes Lora and Michael, the adults in the wild house. It was Christmas day and all the kids' eyes were watering and they were about to jump out of their skin when the parents got there. “One, two,” the parents counted. “Wait one minute, where is Oliver?” they asked all the Kids. Mai whipped her head around with her long, black hair skimming her shoulder and her red Christmas pj’s with little white reindeers running across them. She shrugged her shoulders with her eyes about to tear up. “Shally, do you know?” Lora asked. “Nope,” she replied Michael said with a rush, “Let's look in his room.” They all trampled down the stairs into the girls' messy play room. At the end of the blue painted walls with clouds on them was Oliver's bedroom. Shally didn't hesitate as she furiously pounded on his door. No one answered so the parents went in. “Hello Oliver, are you here?” their parents

were yelling. They looked in his bed, bathroom, even his gross closet. His closet had lots of red coats, red pants, and one bottle of hair growing solution. Then they looked in the top of his closet with one blue storage unit. They found a big bag full of bells. Mai was about to jump out of her skin with excitement as she said, ”Oliver is Santa!” Both parents laughed and said with a chuckle,” Let's call him.” Michael looked very nervous. Woosh! On the other side of the phone Oliver was panting in his Santa uniform with eight presents in his hand. Oliver had a long white beard with red pants and coat, even a red hat . He was rushing to deliver all the presents when he found his phone buzzing. As quickly as possible he delivered the rest of the gifts. When he was done, he answered the phone. As he was talking to his dad the reindeer took him home. When he got there he explained to his parents still in his uniform. Mai was so happy she was right. The parents were so proud of him. Finally Mai got what she wanted: to open gifts and be with her family. The End

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CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 17

5th GRADE STORIES Gavin Logan

A CHRISTMAS TALE FOR A LIFETIME

Once upon a time a little boy named Andrew and his best friend, Crater, who lived in an orphanage. It was the time of year when all of the younger kids would be getting adopted. He dreaded this time because it made him depressed to see everyone he knew besides Crater get adopted. One Christmas Andrew got a kitten. Andrew loves his kitten. He named him Mittens.

“Crater, can you please come here for a minute?" asked Mrs. Pennyapple. “Sure, what do you want me for?” Crater asked politely. When Crater walked back his face was sad and droopy. He sighs, “I have some bad news for you Andrew. I have been adopted and I may never see you again, so I will give you a picture of me so you may never forget me.”

Later that night Andrew remembered his gift he was going to give to Crater. Andrew sighed and hugged his kitten, Max, and told him, “We will be adopted one day Max, one day.” One morning Andrew looked at the calendar. It was Christmas Eve and Andrew was the only kid left. Max was trying to help him feel better. All of the sudden… Crater walks in and says, “Come on brother, let's go home, and you to Max.” “What are you talking about Crater? You have been adopted but I have not. So what are you doing?”

Andrew asked. Then Mrs. Pennyaple walks in and says, “Welcome to the family Andrew.” “Wait, I’m getting adopted, how you adopted Crater. Why not me at the same time?'' Andrew asked. “It would have taken way too long and it would be past Christmas when you would be adopted,” Mrs. Pennyapple told them.

It was awkward on the drive home that day but it felt like home. So Andrew gave Crater his Christmas present and they all lived happily ever after. The end!

Courtney Wetzel

THE CHRISTMAS VISIT

On Christmas Eve night I was sleeping, dreaming about waking up on Christmas morning, getting all my presents, as Santa is delivering presents to other kids all over the world. After a while, I woke up from my alarm to set up my trap for Santa. I bring the rope to the other side of the room so he can trip and fall.

Suddenly, Santa came down the chimney, as I crawled to the kitchen. As Santa went to eat the cookies we left out to eat, I ran to his bag full of presents and hid inside. His bag was humongous. I thought it was just a big bag full of presents, but it wasn't just presents.

There were snacks and Christmas decorations. As I looked inside of the bag more I found a white hole going through the bag. I start to crawl to the hole and finally get to the end. I look out of the bag and I see elves working in Santa's workshop. “Christy, why aren't you making presents?” Myra the elf asked.

“Because it's Christmas Eve and all of the kids don't even know what they want for next Christmas yet!” declares Christy. Suddenly, there is a tall old lady that is wearing an ugly Christmas sweater that says Merry ugly Christmas. “Get back to work you two!” Sally the old lady says. “Yes ma'am.” the elves say. I pop out of the bag as the old lady leaves the room. The elves see me and scream. “Who are you? A spy, Santa's daughter, cousin, or his grand daughter?” says Myra.

“No, I exclaim! I was at my house then I went into Santa's present bag and now I'm here!” “Goodness, we need to get you back to your family before tomorrow morning!” Christy says. I wait for Santa to come back and then he finally comes back for his trip around the world. “What are you doing here little girl?” he asks.

“I'm sorry I snuck into your bag and got here,” I say.

“It's okay!” exclaims Santa. Santa takes me in his slay and we fly home. I lay in bed and dream. The next day I go downstairs and open my presents to see a baby doll. ‘’Thank you, Santa.” I say.

Jackson Roberts

WHAT CHRISTMAS IS

Have you ever heard of Christmas? If you haven't I’ll tell you in this story. Christmas is a holiday. It’s one of the best holidays in my opinion. It’s a great holiday because you get presents and get to spend time with family members. If you heard of Santa, and I hope you have, he is a person who flys around in a sleigh and hands out presents while you’re sleeping. He’s got reindeer that fly him to houses and deliver your presents. You may see Santa at your local malls or supermarkets. Santa has a big white beard with a red and white outfit with a hat. A lot of people celebrate Christmas. It snows and it’s cold but it’s a really good holiday to celebrate. Christmas is Jesus's birthday and we celebrate that because he saved all of our lives.

You can also watch movies like The Grinch or the movie Santa. There are a lot of Christmas traditions to celebrate with your family. It's fun to wrap presents and give them to your loved ones and see the smile on their faces when they see what you gave them to keep. People love Christmas and I do too because I love spending time with my family and getting presents and giving presents to family.

A lot of times it's hard to sleep because you’re so excited to get presents and see what you get. You can set out cookies for Santa and lay out some milk for him to drink. I hope you have a good Christmas and get what you wished for!

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CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

5th GRADE STORIES Teigan Wendlandt

THE STORY OF HOLLY THE REINDEER

There once was a reindeer named Holly. She lived at the North Pole. Her dad’s name is Rudolph, her mom’s name is Clarice. Holly too like Rudolph, had a red nose! Holly had a brother named Christopher.

Christopher was like all the other reindeer and laughed at Holly for having a red nose. Christopher was embarrassed for having a sister like Holly. At first, he accepted that she was different but know that Christopher has friends he acts all mean to her.

Holly keeps saying that she will run away, but her mom and dad don’t believe her. Holly and her dad talk a lot about there red noses but even whenever her dad talks to her she still hates her red nose. Holly does not believe that her dad was bullied. She does not believe that, because Rudolph was a big hero.

How could my dad be bullied, thought Holly? “He is so famous he could never know how I feel,” said Holly.

As Holly got older, she got more and more bullied.

One night Holly couldn’t stand it anymore. Holly packed her bags and left. The next morning Holly woke up and found herself in the middle of nowhere.

Holly was very scared home. She tried finding her way back to the North Pole but only got more lost!

One evening when Holly was trying to get back home, she met a snowman named Sam. They talked for a little while. Sam notice that there are no other reindeer around. Sam asks Holly where she was from.

When Holly told Sam that she was from the North Pole, Sam was shocked. Sam asks Holly “why are you in the middle of nowhere?” Holly told Sam that the reason she was out in the middle of nowhere was because she kept getting bullied. Holly told Sam that she couldn’t handle being bullied all the time. Sam asks, “is your dad Rudolph?” Holly answered, “why do you ask?” “Well, you have a red nose like your father does,” Sam said. Rudolph was bullied too when he was your age. “He was?” asked Holly? Yes, indeed he was.

Wow I never thought that my dad was bullied. “Let’s get you back home now,” said Sam. When Holly got home, she hugged her parents. Now that Holly was back home no one ever bullied Holly again.

LaKynn Decker

SANTA SAVES THE DAY

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house. It was so quiet, quiet like a mouse. Everybody at the North Pole was sleeping and of course Santa was snoring. All of a sudden, there was a squeal almost like one of the reindeer were hurt. Santa woke up, quickly and walked into the garage where the sleigh and reindeer were.

As he was walking to the garage, he saw all the elves sleeping. THERE he saw Rudolph laying on the ground with his whole leg bleeding and claw scratches all over him. He ran to Rudolph to make sure he was okay. Rudolph was not okay. He lost all of his magic, and this was not good boy this was not good Santa thought to himself. He looked up to see what would've caused this to happen to Rudolph. He saw a CHEETAH! The cheetah was running away. Santa thought of almost everything that he could do to help Rudolph. He had to do something fast because Christmas Eve was in 3 hours and later that night, he would have to deliver presents. He thought and thought and thought until he finally had an IDEA. He was going to go out early and go look for something to heal Rudolph, but the only problem was that they were missing a reindeer, so they had to work very hard to get that sleigh up into the sky.

It was finally Christmas eve morning and Santa was ready to go. He yelled,” Let this journey begin!”

Then they were in the air before you knew it. He was searching until there he saw the Clinic and dove down with his sleigh and reindeer. They landed on the roof. Santa told his reindeer to stay quiet and he will be right back. So Santa got out of his sleigh and walked into the clinic greeting them with a HO HO!! Then he went to the medicine part and grabbed

some medicine for Rudolph. There was only one special thing Santa didn't have to pay: he was Santa of course. After that he went back to the North Pole.

When he arrived, he gave Rudolph his medicine and prayed. All of a sudden, Rudolph had his magic back and they would deliver presents to everybody in 2 hours.

He called, but she had no internet, so she was stuck watching her cat with the laser light. Spider-Ham came down from the chimney. Actually, it was a pipe since condos don’t have chimneys, but it sounded fun because there was a blizzard going on outside.

With MJ’s smarts and Spidey’s, um, handsomeness, they can get this done. “The first thing I will need you to do is look for anything technical that looks important, okay? Okay,” yelled MJ. “I can hear you perfectly fine, actually, I think you busted my eardrums,” grumbled Spider-Ham. Spidey looked around the eye of the storm, and finally, after what seemed like 2 hours, he found it. “It looks like I found it,” he said to MJ, “I will send you the chip with all the info.” Spidey started to gain all of the data from the device, while he was doing that, he could hear the Green Gobbler cackling. When they were finished, the Green Gobbler went to prison and Spidey saved the day.

Damon Judkins

THE WONDERLANDS CHRISTMAS STORY

It was a foggy night out. Next thing you know it is about time to take off until…

Santa's sleigh was about to take off, but he had a special book that stopped the time for one hour. Next thing the elf realized the sack was too heavy. One of the elves ran upstairs to pull Santa's lever and set off the alarm to say the sack was too heavy. Santa heard the alarm, so he ran upstairs. He got to the secret book. He opened it up and put the spell on the whole world. The North Pole people knew what time it actually was so he told the elves to try to fix it as fast as they possibly can.

Santa's elves knew about Santa's secrets. One of them went to remind Santa about the secret sleigh.

So Santa said, “We might have to use it tonight.” He asked his elves that were working on his sleigh, “Is it about done?”

The little Elf said, “A little more time but we got it Santa.” If it isn’t working he might not make it around the whole world tonight. Little kids might not get their presents that they wished for on the Christmas list. So Santa didn't give up. He started to help the little elves with his big sleigh. A few hours go past as Santa thinks it's about done. The magic star was almost ready to take off again. Santa said Ho, Ho, Ho Merry Christmas to the Elf. The Elf said the next thing Santa have a wonderful Christmas and tomorrow we will celebrate.

Caleb Adams

HOW TO SETUP AND DECORATE A CHRISTMAS TREE

In this article you will learn how you will learn to set up the tree and to decorate a Christmas tree for and how to make sure that the tree is set. If you are a kid make sure that you have adult supervision. You will need help because the tree is heavy and some spots will be too high.

First, you will need to cut down or find a tree. Next, you will need to set up the tree. You could get something to make the tree stable. Lastly, you will need to make sure the tree has enough hooks for the ornaments. If you don't have enough hooks just deal with it or just go to the store and get some more.

Now, we get to the fun part of decorating the tree.

First, you will need to take the ornaments out of the basement. Next, put them in front of the Christmas tree. Then you will need to take the ornaments to the tree and decorate it. Lastly, you will put the presents under the tree.

In conclusion, we learned how to set up a tree decorate a tree and everything thing in between. I hope you can spend time with your family this Christmas.

Emmett Braegelmann MY CHRISTMAS

My Christmas started when my mom asked us to go to South Dakota for Christmas. We would go skiing, go in a hot tub and watch movies. It would be fun.

We started the three and a half hour drive through the mountains and over the border to South Dakota.

The first day we stayed in and watched the second Jurassic Park. We ate popcorn. It was a good night.

The second day we woke up early and went to Terry Peak. For those who don’t know, Terry peak is a huge skiing hill in South Dakota. While my sister was at the starting slope, I was taking the lift up and going to the big hills. We started with greens and worked up to blues and short black diamonds. I can’t lie, I garage

Zain R Bates

THE BLIZZARD

sailed a couple of times, but I think I still did good.

We left about 5 hours later when it was getting dark and came outside in swim trunks in negative zero weather. We had a relaxing time in the hot tub and after we came inside for the night.

The next day we woke up late. We opened our presents, shared some toys and tested them out right away. After that we did some sightseeing and relaxing. We watched some television and movies then we got dressed for the day and headed off to Mount Rushmore. It snowed that night so the mountains and trees around it were covered in snow. We would shake a tree when everyone was under it and get showered by the snow on that tree. There was also a museum with some facts and cool little snippets of history regarding Mount Rushmore. After we got through the museum, we went to the thing we were here to see the actual Mount Rushmore. It was especially pretty with the new fallen snow on the heads of the great presidents we have had. We went home to change into our swimwear and got into the hot tub once more.

I woke up for the last day in South Dakota. We really just packed up, went home back through the mountains and over the border back to my house by the southwestern corner of North Dakota.

Grayson Darr

A PETER PORKER CHRISTMAS

Just to be clear, this story is made by me, all me, Peter Porker, and not that other guy, Grayson Darr, he’s just trying to copyright everything I do. Anyways…

“Thwip!” Spider-Ham came swinging by in the blizzarding streets of New Yoke City. It was a real snow storm in the center of the state, New Yoke.

Spider-Ham didn’t know what was going to happen if he didn’t stop the snowstorm in the middle of June.

The Daily Beagle was already reporting on it. “The Snow globe in June” was on the front page of the newspaper.

As he got closer to the eye of the storm, he saw something green, the Green Gobbler! He thought, Spider-Ham leapt into the center. It was no use, it was like a sort of force field was blocking it. He couldn’t get to the center and now New Yoke City would be an entire snow globe! Spidey had to get help, he called the Scavengers, but they didn’t answer. They're probably bowling right now, like they always are, he thought.

Meanwhile, across the universe, the Scavengers are fighting to save a civilization that no one knows about. Plus, they think Spider-Ham is annoying, that’s why they never answer. There was only one person to go to now, his girlfriend, MJ the water buffalo.

Swoosh the wind splashing against the house and the snow building up became deeper.

The coldness is always getting colder. The day was December 1, 2022. I woke up and went to say good morning to my mom. Then I got myself some Breakfast. when I was getting my Breakfast it became all foggy. My mom exclaimed, “Hey Zain, it is all foggy.”

“Really?” I question ”Why did it get so foggy?” I went to get my phone and I checked the forecast and it said we are going to get 15 in. of snow. I started to say to myself, “What, how did it all the sudden we got snow?”

“WHAT NO! WE DON'T NEED MORE SNOW!” I heard my mom say.

Then I said, “ I will shovel this year.”

Jade Lael

WHAT CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT

Christmas is about being with your friends and family, opening presents, seeing what is in your stocking and celebrating Jesus’s birthday. What I do for Christmas is that when I wake up, I go upstairs into the living room and see that there are presents and the stockings are stuffed with stuff. Every year we always get the stockings and pass them out. Then my brothers and I get our stockings and then we get to open our presents. After we are finished, we see what is in our stockings.

We get dressed to go to my grandma’s house like we do every year to celebrate Jesus’s birthday because Jesus is special to us. We don’t go to Utah anymore because my mom is allergic to cats and when we would get there she started sneezing. She could hardly breath and sometimes she would need to go outside because of her allergies. She would take a walk so she doesn’t stay near the house where all the cats are at because there is cat fur on the porch. Some cats sit there or lay there so that's why my mom takes a walk.

Well anywho let's get back to the main part about Christmas. It is not just about presents and treats in our stockings what Christmas is really, about is spending time with family and friends. Christmas comes from your heart. It comes from inside you that so if someone tries to steal your Christmas, like from the movie The Grinch, he can’t steal their Christmas from the town.

Alexa J Lucas

CHRISTMAS THE BIRTH OF JESUS

Christmas is not just about the presents and food, it's about spending time with your family, having fun and your Christmas spirit. Plus, it is the day Jesus was born, but he was not born in a hospital like you, he was born in a barn with animals. So today, I will tell you about the life of Jesus. Mary got on a donkey and God walked and walked and walked to a small village.

Then when they got to the village they knocked and knocked and no one let them stay.

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 19

5th GRADE STORIES Isabel Dauksavage

RUDY THE GREEN NOSED REINDEER

Once upon a time there was a reindeer named Rudy.

She is Rudolph the red nosed reindeers twin sister and she had green nose. No one has ever heard of her because I guess everyone thought red was a better color. I want to share her story with you. Rudy was a special reindeer, she was intelligent, pretty and nice. Everyone thought she was perfect except for Rudolph, now don’t get me wrong, he still loves her but he didn’t like other people being in the spot light.

He’s different now. So anyways, she was always the life of the party but that changed when they got older because Rudy and Rudolph auditioned to be one of Santa’s reindeer. They both got in but for some reason they only made fun of Rudolph, they didn’t even talk to Rudy and no one knew why. One day an elf noticed the other reindeer were always mean to Rudy and Rudolph. He decided to write a song about them, to give them some recognition but the song didn’t sound good with two reindeer so he just choose Rudolph because he liked red. Rudy thought it was ridiculous but she went with it anyways and let him have the spotlight like he did when they were kids.

THE END

Rylee Petersen

CHRISTMAS MORNING FOR LITTLE ZOE

“I can’t wait for tomorrow, and I can't wait to see what Santa got me!” she told her mom. It was Christmas Eve for little Zoe and there was only twelve hours before Christmas morning. She wanted so many things like a bike, coloring supplies, and many other things. No wonder she wanted all of

this. She was only six!

“I want to stay up all night long!” Zoe said, screaming as loud as she could because she was so excited.

Her mom, on the other hand, told her otherwise.

“No, sweetheart, you have to go to bed. Otherwise, Santa won’t come. Besides, you have a long day tomorrow since you also have to go to Nana and Papa’s house and your aunt’s house, as well, to open all your gifts.” Zoe sighed as she walked upstairs to her bedroom. She really wanted to stay up to try to get a picture of Santa but at the same time she also wanted to get presents as well.

She was in her room doing many things like coloring, dancing, listening to music, and many other things. She started to get kind of tired so she decided to lay down in her bed. She closed her eyes and fell asleep and she started dreaming about what she would get from Santa and all of her family.

“Zoe, get up, it's Christmas morning. Come see what you got from Santa!”

Zoe’s mom told her. Zoe JUMPED out of bed and ran downstairs to the Christmas tree where the presents usually were.

“There are so many presents under the tree. I can't wait to see what Santa got me!” She decided to open the smallest gifts first since she liked small gifts better than big gifts. She opened the first one and she found a SNOWGLOBE! She also got a bike, markers, and lots and lots of makeup. After she opened the gifts she went to her other family’s houses and opened more presents. She was so glad that she had a wonderful family. Would you be excited to go downstairs to get many presents? What would you do? How would you react, and would you have a good time?

gifts now. But before opening gifts we ate a delicious meal. We all gathered around after the meal and talked a little bit and then opened our gifts.

This is what I had been waiting for for a whole year.

The best part of Christmas is celebrating Jesus Christ and gathering as a family.

Kaylynn Crisp

THE TALL PINE TREE

Kaiden Bachman

THE BEST CHRISTMAS

It was the month of December and I was so excited when I woke up because it was Christmas. I had been waiting for this day for a long time. After I ate breakfast, I was ready to open my presents but my mom said, “No, you can’t open a present yet.”

I Asked “Why not, Mom?” She replied, “Because we are going to open them in the afternoon when our whole family is here. I waited anxiously for my family to arrive and to pass the time I looked out the window. Around noon, I finally saw some of my family arrive, and I was so excited. We could open

Hi, my name is Gabe. I’m a very tall pine tree, and I live in the forest. I always feel very awkward with the other trees. The reason I feel awkward is because I’m the tallest tree. I have a friend named Faith. She is a very loyal friend to me. When Christmas comes along the town’s people come into the forest and decorate the trees. They can't decorate me because I am very tall. All they can decorate is my stump. I feel very sad that they can't decorate me the whole way. My dad told me that I was going to be a very tall pine tree like my mother. Faith told me that even though I am a very tall pine tree, one of these days they will decorate every part of you. I felt more confident and better than I did before. When the next Christmas came around they figured out a way to decorate every part of me.

Stryder Roller

THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

Did you know that the true meaning of Christmas is not about presents, Santa or Christmas trees? It is about Jesus' birth, and how Jesus came to earth. He is the true gift. Jesus came to Earth in human form.

Jesus was sinless, which means he never sinned. He came to save us from our sins. If we believe and follow Jesus for our whole life, we will be saved and go to heaven. That is how you know that Jesus is the true gift.

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CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

5th GRADE STORIES Gavin Selle

It was very fun sledding with my dad.

Once we got back to the lodge, we packed up our sleds and went back home. When I got home, I thought it was a very fun Christmas with my father. It was definitely a memory I won’t forget

THE MISCHIEVOUS ELF

One day, Jerry the elf got mad at Santa Claus.

Santa said, “Go to the elf corner.” Then Jerry the elf vowed to himself never to help Santa Claus again. The next day he made tools that purposely broke when he built them. So, Santa Claus sent Jerry to the mischievous elf corner.

The next day, he told Santa that he was leaving.

So Jerry traveled from the North Pole to the United States. He lived there for many years.

During that time the TV was invented. One day while watching a TV program, Jerry saw a child not getting what he wanted. Jerry the elf realized that’s exactly how he had acted toward Santa Claus. So, he decided to go back to the North Pole.

He traveled through the Ice Candy Kingdom, then through the maze of candy. He rushed through a snowy hill of ice. He was almost there, but suddenly he was stuck in a blizzard. He might not make it in time. By the time he got there, Santa was preparing, and elves are not supposed to go into Santa’s special room while he prepares gifts, but Jerry needed to. All of a sudden, the alarm went off at Santa's workshop. This alarm meant that there weren't enough presents.

Jerry the elf went in and told Santa that he was sorry for what he had done all those years ago.

Then Santa replied, “Jerry, I accept your apology, and I need your help getting this alarm to stop ringing.” Then Jerry said, “Okay, I will surely help you.” So Jerry helped Santa turn the alarm off.

“Thank you for coming back,” Santa stated. “It is time to make my amends. I will promote you, Jerry, to Commander Mill.”

That Christmas every child got their present and Commander Mill became General Mill. The following years of Christmas were great and happy.

Jerry no longer was a mischievous elf. His heart had changed, and he decided to be obedient from now on. Also, Jerry got some presents of his own.

Samson Caudle

THE TRUE TRUTH OF CHRISTMAS

It was Christmas Day and Peter, John, and Joseph went on an adventure through town.

First, they got on their snow gear and then went on an adventure. They saw so much out in the town. When they got back home, they were just in time for presents and all the delicious food.

The boys all got a lot of great gifts. Peter got a racecar, John got a Lego set, and Joseph got a puppy. Peter and John were mighty jealous. Their mom came over and said, “Don’t be jealous. God’s commandments say don’t be jealous.” Peter asked, “Who is God?” John replied, “I don’t know.”

Their mom was sad and said, “Boys, get your nice clothes on now!” Peter said, “Why?” Mom replied, “We are going to church so that you can learn who God is.” So, the boys listened to their mom and got their nice clothes on and were ready to go to church. John said, “What is this church?” Peter said, “I don’t know?” Joseph said, "Me neither?”

They went inside and were very confused. Peter said “What is this place?” Joseph said, “I think it’s a big present.”

John said, “I think it’s a rich man’s house.” Just then the service started and an hour and a half later it was over. Peter said, “I get it.” John said, “Me too,” Joseph said, “Me three!”

After the service, they went home. They were sad about how they had acted. They felt really bad. The boys went to their room and apologized to God. They were so happy afterward. They ate their food thankfully. They went out into their town and surrounding towns and taught about Jesus for 70 years. Peter, John and Joseph lived a long life. They heard Jesus say, “You have done my commands thank you.”

Teigen Wolf

A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

Once upon a time on Christmas Day, Santa’s elves quit on him! He had no idea what to do. After a year of research he knew he had to find a way before Christmas. He knew he needed to get his elves back, but how, he thought to himself? He was wondering why his elves would have quit on him. After that Santa had a light bulb of why his elves quit on him. He thought his elves had quit on him because they are always doing the work while he was always in bed doing nothing. Finding Elves: Santa got his winter gear on and went to look for his small, sneaky, slick, and hard to see elves. His chin was going up and down, his hands were shaking, and he looked like an ice block with the cold wind blowing on his face. Santa thought he was so close to his elves. After two days of traveling, he was so cold that he fell to the ground shaking. THUD! It was so loud. All Santa needed to know is that he had to walk thirteen more feet.

“Hey, guys, did you hear that THUD?” “Yes, we did!

Should we go check it out?” one of them asked.

“Ummm.... Santa is that you?” they asked when they lifted up his head. “Oh my gosh Santa! Guys, it is Santa. Come on, we need to warm him up!”

Please Come Home. “Where am I?” Santa asked.

“Santa, calm down,” one of the elves whispered.

“Elves! Oh my gosh! I am so happy to see you guys.

What were you doing out here? I was looking for you elves. Please come back. I promise I will do my part and not be lazy and Help.” “I don't know,” the master elf replied. The rest of the elves said they should go back and let Christmas live. “Okay! We will go back and let Christmas live.” Santa checked his watch. “Oh my, there's only 3 hours and 36 minutes left until Christmas night. We need to get home fast. We better start walking.”

“What do you mean to walk?” one of the elves asked. “Remember, you have your watch. Just teleport home.” “Oh, yeah.” Santa scanned all of his elves and with a click of a button, Bam! It worked. “Let's save Christmas!”

Chaston VanSon

CHRISTMAS IN THE SNOW

I woke up this morning at 7 a.m. ready for Christmas break. My father said, "We are going on a sledding trip to the Big Horns.” This is a giant mountain in South Dakota. As soon as I heard those words, I started packing. I felt very excited for the trip because I rarely go on trips with my father. Once I was done packing, my dad asked me to help load the snowmobiles into the trailer.

It was an enclosed trailer not a tilt bed. Once we had them loaded in, we started heading for the Big Horns. We saw a lot of deer, elk and even some moose! When we were pretty high up, my ears started to pop a lot. We stopped to ask some guys if they were okay because they were parked on the side of the road. We stopped because we thought it was a really good thing to do. They said that they were okay, so we continued heading up.

It took hours and hours and hours, but we finally got there. Once we got there, we went to a lodge to check in and get a room. That night we were up very late playing pool and practicing shots with the stick. The next morning, we got the sleds out of the trailer and we were off! We went very far and sometimes I had to stop on the trail because my dad needed to go into the fluffy snow to keep his sled cool. We went for a very long time and even got a little lost. We finally found our lodge.

Caleb Freeman

THE CHRISTMAS PLEDGE

Once upon a time in the North Pole Santa was hiring new elves. Santa was up to his neck in paperwork. Meanwhile, Mrs. Claus was hiring new cookie elves for Santa. Santa was slow because he had not had cookies. Mrs. Claus was also in the process of hiring cookie making elves. The workshop elves felt that they were never going to get the presents built without their new elves and Santa.

Santa was putting the new elves, Greg and Tom, into their positions. He placed them in the painting section. But since Santa did not get any cookies till the next day he forgot to have them pledge not to ruin the toys. But Santa's assistant noticed and had Tom and Greg pledge to Santa. Greg had not paid attention to the part about not to paint his own way. So, when Santa got his cookies, the toy working elves got their assignment. When Greg got the first toy, he painted it in all sorts of colors. Santa was very unhappy! So Greg had to retake the pledge, but he did not change his ways.

He kept painting the toys his own way. Finally, on Christmas Eve Santa fired Greg. Unfortunately, Tom had to repaint Greg's mistakes. Santa gave Tom a reward for his accomplishments. Tom Saved Christmas and that is why the pledge is important to the elves.

Emmie Hammond

SANTA’S SECRET IDENTITY

One cold December evening, a few days before Christmas, the elves were working very hard on making toys and wrapping presents. They were weary and wanted to have a break. Santa had a

deadline to meet and said, “Not now, keep working!” The elves got angry and started to storm out. Santa was too quick for them and leapt forward to press the emergency lockdown button.

One elf named Buddy ran forward and swatted Santa’s hand off the button. But unfortunately the lockdown still worked.

Santa yelled, “You’re locked in here now,’’ he laughed. “I’ll be back in five minutes to tell you a little secret and bring the reindeer too.’’ With that he walked to his office. The elves bunched together and formed an idea. They got the reindeer and told them that Santa wasn't acting like himself.

When five minutes passed, Santa came back. He bent over Prancer and whispered, “Prancer, I am the Easter Bunny.” He began to pull off the mask.

It really was the Easter Bunny.

Buddy screamed, “Now!’’ Two elves leaped from the ceiling with two ropes and tied up the rabbit.

Buddy had told them to tie the rabbit when he screamed “now.” By the way, reindeer have very good noses and they know Santa’s scent. Rudolph came forward and started to sniff the air in search of Santa. He sniffed at a closet and tore it down.

Sure enough, there was Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Santa stormed over and grabbed the weeping bunny. The Easter Bunny said, “I’m so sorry.”

They all forgave him but told him to leave the workshop, but Mrs. Claus did not let him leave without a cookie and some hot chocolate. The rabbit left and went to look for a place to stay. He found a nice leprechaun who was willing to have him stay over for the holiday.

Averie Wood

THE CHRISTMAS FIASCO

There once lived a family of four on the outside of Dickinson, North Dakota in a nice little log cabin. The parents' names were Mavea, and Scott.

They had two kids named Charlotte and Dillion.

Charlotte was twelve and Dillion was nine. They loved Christmas and always gave the best gifts.

The kids had always wanted a cat but could never afford one. Their dream cat was one that looked as white as snow.

One day the kids were playing Go-Fish when they heard a small ‘’meow’’. Their parents must have heard it too because they came rushing to the door. The kids waited a few moments, and then their mom and dad came inside holding a cat. “A cat!” yelled the kids. ''Can we keep it? Please!?”

Charlotte asked. ''Well-uh-um, sure!’’ said dad.

Mom raised an eyebrow at him. “Okay, but you two are taking care of her.” pointing to Charlotte and Dillion. Dillion ran up and scooped up the cat. “Ew! She's so dirty. Let's give her a bath!’’ said Charlotte. So, they did and noticed how beautiful she looked. “Wow! Her fur is so white; it reminds me of our hearts after Jesus forgives us of our sins.’’ said Charlotte. “Yeah, that's so true, now that we gave her a bath!’’ said Dillion.

As they were getting ready for bed Dillion said, “Hey, why did I just notice the cat is so fat? Have we just not noticed it?’’ Dad and Charlotte looked at him. “I guess I haven’t noticed how plump she looks,” said dad. After both kids were asleep the cat wandered around the house and into the heater room and soon fell asleep.

The next morning Charlotte and Dillon woke up and found the cat was nowhere to be seen. They looked everywhere and soon heard many loud “meows’’. They followed the sounds and slowly wandered into the heater room. The kids saw that the cat was surrounded by 5 small kittens! They were very excited, but they knew they couldn't keep them. After eight weeks, they gave them away. In the end, they decided to name the cat Mystery because she always brought mysterious surprises!

The 12 Days of Baseball 12 Fastballs Humming 11 Pitchers Pitching 10 Runners Sliding 9 Fielders Creeping 8 Coaches Yelling 7 Batters Swinging 6 Bats a Breaking 5 World Series Rings 4 Knuckle Curves 3 Bullpens 2 Catchers Gloves And a Badlands Big Sticks

Grand Slam Win

Merry Christmas from the

BadlandsBigSticks www.badlandsbigsticks.com

22 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

5th GRADE STORIES Maci Schwan

THE RED BUTTON

“Jangles and Buddy, please step forward,” Ms. Zoey called. Today, all the young elves picked their jobs in Santa’s Workshop. Jangles stepped forward and put her little hand in the bag.

“Weather Watcher” she called out. The Weather Watcher made sure the weather was clear for Santa on Christmas Eve. Buddy stepped forward and put his hand in the bag. “Loader” he read.

The Loader loaded all of the presents that the Present Wrapper wrapped. “You- new elves,” Ms. Zoey pointed at Jangles and Buddy. “Get to your positions! It is Christmas Eve tonight!” “Yes, ma’am,” Jangles said, but Buddy said, “Sure, Mrs. Grinch”. Ms. Zoey frowned at him.

Jangles was sitting by the giant telescope, yawning. She was soooo bored! Suddenly, she saw a red button on the side of the telescope. Jangles decided to push it. The telescope started spinning round and round; then it blasted through the wall and onto Santa’s sleigh.

Buddy rushed forward to put the present he was holding into the sleigh. Then it popped back out. He put it back in. Then all of the presents in the sleigh and the telescope came flying out and flew towards Buddy. Buddy went flying onto the telescope and it started flying around the workshop. The elves were running around screaming.

It was such a racket, Santa walked through the workshop door. “What is going on?” he asked.

“The whole workshop is falling apart!” Slowly, Santa started floating upward and he clapped his hands. The telescope stopped spinning and landed softly on the ground.

Buddy hopped off and then the male elves put him on their shoulders and cheered. All the female elves oohed and ahhed as the workshop looked good as new.

“Santa, Santa, -hic-, Santa, I am so so- how did you -hic- do that?” Jangles asked, running towards him, tears glistening on her tiny face.

“Oh,” Santa chuckled. “Just a little Christmas Magic.”

Jaxon Rambousek

THE CHRISTMAS GLOOM

One night, Santa was sleeping in his bed the day before Christmas Eve. Mrs. Claus went to wake Santa the next morning at 8:30 a.m. When Mrs. Claus woke Santa up, he was startled. Santa got dressed and went to his elves' workshop.

Meanwhile, the Grinch was getting all ready for his plan. It had taken him 16 years to find the North Pole. He screamed! “Yes! I finally know where Santa lives.” So, the Grinch wasted no time. He hopped in his car with his dog Max. It took them 7 hours to get to the North Pole. He dressed up as an elf and went in. Yes he was in now. He heard Santa laugh ho, ho, ho. Now, all the Grinch had to do was to get the cologne with a special sickness in it. He needed to get Santa’s attention. The Grinch said to Santa, “Santa, a big crash has happened!” “Where?” Santa replied.

Right over there he pointed. Then he quickly sprayed the cologne on Santa. “Never mind, I guess the elves fixed it. “Okay.” So the Grinch raced back to his car and waited until the next day.

When Santa woke up the next day his temperature was 105 degrees! And it was Christmas Eve. So, Mrs. Claus planned to give out the presents to everyone. The Grinch was so happy that Santa was sick.

The next day was Christmas Day and Santa’s temperature was 106 degrees. Now all the children were sleeping. So Mrs. Claus was getting ready to give out the presents. But the Grinch was also getting ready to steal all the Christmas

things that he saw so he could throw them away! The Grinch was in the first house, but surprisingly Mrs. Claus went to the same house as the Grinch. How ironic that they were in the same house at the same time! The moment they saw each other, each of them made really mean expressions. Mrs. Claus made a very fast move on the Grinch and his dog Max. And just like that they were both in jail. Mrs. Claus got all the presents to all the houses in the world. By the next week Santa was all better. His temperature was now 98.6 degrees, which is the normal temperature. Mrs. Claus saved Christmas.

Connor Black

SANTA’S SICKNESS

December 24th, which was Christmas Eve, Santa Claus was going to his first house to deliver presents, but suddenly Santa got really sick. He knew why he got sick. It was because it was snowing like crazy. Santa would not be able to deliver gifts to all the boys and girls. He knew he had to get back to the North Pole. It took a while for the reindeer to get Santa home. When they arrived, his elves helped him to his room. Mrs. Claus gave Santa some medicine to help him get better. But after a while, she knew he was not getting better.

So, she took him to the doctor and his temperature was 106° F. The doctor prescribed him lots of medicine. Mrs. Claus scrambled to get Santa back home. Then after a while, his temperature went down a little, but then it went back up again. Mrs. Claus was scared that he was never going to return to normal.

After one year Santa was still so sick. He missed two Christmases. He was so sad that he missed those Christmases, and was missing the kids and families. Santa was so miserable.

Then after a year, he finally started feeling better. He was feeling almost normal! Santa thanked Jesus for making him feel better. His temperature was actually 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Christmas Eve was that day! Since Santa felt great, he hopped in his sleigh and flew to the first house.

Hooray! Santa Claus saved Christmas that day and for many years to come.

Ellie Hammond

ELFO’S VACATION

Once upon a time there was an elf named Elfo who thought he was too good for the work. So, he decided he would quit working and go live in Miami.

He knew he had to leave at night when Santa was dreaming about cookies, Santa sees everything except when he is sleeping. The only other elf Elfo told was his friend Buddy. Buddy wanted to go but his part in helping Elfo get out of work was telling Santa that Elfo got a sliver of a candy cane stuck in his hand.

Elfo’s plan was to sneak out at night so no one else would see him. Buddy thought it would be a good idea to keep watch over Elfo while he snuck out to make sure no one would see him. So, Elfo decided to leave at 10:00 p.m. When it reached 10:00 p.m. Elfo left. He started with a quick jog, but after twenty minutes Elfo started to walk.

When the sun started to rise, Elfo had made his way to the ocean. Elfo had a problem. How would he get across the clear open water? A little while later Elfo saw a dolphin jump out of the water.

Elfo swam to the dolphin and climbed onto the majestic creature. Elfo swam and came upon the land of Greenland. He collapsed next to a tree and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

The next day Elfo hit it hard and walked all the way through Greenland and through almost all of Canada. That night he found a very good place to sleep. He woke up at 6:30 a.m. and walked the rest of the way through Canada and to Nebraska,

which is in the United States of America. When he woke up the next morning, it was beautiful.

He walked the 1,762 miles to Miami. When he got there he was so happy even though it was eleven at night when he got there. He forgot it was Christmas Eve because he was so anxious to get some sleep. He fell asleep under a palm tree thinking about what he was going to do on the beach the next day.

The next day instead of waking up to warm sunlight, he was back in Santa’s warehouse. He was so sad to be back to work.

had an idea. He knew exactly what he was going to get Theodore for Christmas. By the time Christmas came around, Theodore was so sick of his job that he wished he was one of the reindeer. Then he wouldn't have to do his job and he would be the one who got fed and cleaned. The other elves said that he couldn't come to the Christmas party because he didn't know how to make toys. As he started home he met Santa. Santa stopped him and gave him a gift. He said thank you and continued walking home. When he got home he opened his present, and inside was the gift to make toys.

A BAD ELF

SANTA WENT MISSING

Khloe Kelley

One December, in Santa's workshop, there was an elf named Peppermint. He was a naughty elf.

Peppermint would throw toys at other elves, but no one would dare to tell Santa what he did.

Peppermint was Santa's favorite. If they would tell Santa what he did, Peppermint would make up a story about them and get them fired. Santa would believe Peppermint and not the other elves.That night Peppermint was getting ready for bed when suddenly he heard a voice. The voice was saying, “You better get everyone's job back that you have gotten rid of.” “Why?” asked Peppermint. The voice replied, “Why?” Because if you don't, you will get fired.” “Oh no! I don't want to get fired,” Peppermint replied. So Peppermint rushed to Santa and said, "Please, let everyone come back to work that I've had you fire! Please! Please, I don't want to get fired!"

Santa looked at Peppermint and spoke to him with kindness. “Thank you for listening to me Peppermint. I will not fire you. In fact, I will give the elves their jobs back. But on one condition.

That is if you change your behavior and are kind and nice to everyone.” "Hey, you are the voice that spoke to me! Yes, I will be nice, just please let me keep my job,” said Peppermint. “Okay, it's a deal," said Santa. “Oh, thank you so much, Santa,” Peppermint shouted excitedly. Then Santa told everyone to come back to their jobs.

Now everyone had a great life working in Santa's workshop, including Peppermint. And that's why you should follow the 9th commandment, which God states, “You should never lie.’’ If you do not follow God’s commands, you could end up like Peppermint because he almost lost his job!

Reid Woodworth THE ELF’S WISH

Theodore couldn’t make toys, which was fine, if you weren't an elf. For some reason he messed up when he tried making anything. His father was the best toy maker there was. That's just one of the things he hadn’t inherited. Since he couldn't make toys he had to do the job everybody hated, tending to the reindeer. It smelled like rotten apples and a dead skunk mixed together. Plus it was lonely. He had to sit there every day, all day, and could only get a few hours of sleep! He almost fainted when he found out he had to have that job. At least he had one day off, which was Christmas Day. In fact all the elves had that day off. Plus they had a party while Santa was gone all night giving away presents. He still didn't want the job though. Everyday got worse and worse. Each day he wished he knew how to make toys. One day after he got back from tending to the reindeer, he sat on his bed. He had the worst day today. He slipped and fell face first in a pile of reindeer poop. By the time he got home, he smelled so bad that he almost fainted. He sat in bed and prayed that he knew how to make toys.

While he was praying, Santa came in to check on him to see how his job was going, but instead he stood by the door and watched Theodore. Santa waited for him to say something, but Theodore didn't notice him standing there! Just then, Santa

Lily Scanlon

One day Mrs. Claus was with the reindeer in the stable. She gave each reindeer a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows and candy canes in it. She also gave each of them a sugar cookie. Then she came back to pick up the mugs of hot cocoa because the reindeer drank it all, she passed by to grab Dasher’s, but he had not drank his hot cocoa or eaten his cookie.

Mrs. Claus was very concerned about Dasher. So she walked home from the stable to her house and went upstairs to tell Santa that Dasher was sick. She went to Santa's room, but he wasn't there so she went to the workshop, and he wasn't there either. She checked the sleigh, but sadly Santa was nowhere to be found. She called the elf patrol to find Santa. Mrs. Claus thought maybe he was still in the workshop because his sleigh was still there. The Elf Patrol flew with their jetpacks to New York City. They searched the Empire State Building and even the Statue of Liberty. They went to Hawaii and stayed there for a little bit because it was so warm. Not like the North Pole which was extremely cold. They finally left and searched the whole world but didn't find Santa.

While they were on their way to tell Mrs. Claus that they didn't find Santa they heard a voice saying, “Please, come and help me!” The elves said, "Hey that sounds like Santa!” So they followed the noise, but when they got to the place where they heard the noise there was nothing there. But they still heard it. It seemed to be coming from the ground, so they called all the reindeer except for Dasher and the reindeer dug a hole. When they finished digging the hole they saw Santa tied up to a chair. It ended up that they found the person responsible for Santa going missing. It turned out to be a jealous elf that had tied Santa up. The other elves and reindeer saved Santa and Dasher eventually got better. Everyone at the North Pole had a great Christmas. No one was sick, no one was hurt, and Santa was safe.

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 23

6th GRADE STORIES WINNER!

Ashton P Lenz

Census day is a busy day, hard work for innkeepers like me. But I do remember a census about a decade ago where a wonderful miracle happened. One fateful day the inn was filled to the brim. It was my first census with lots of work. We even had to cook extra food. Suddenly a couple was at the door. My father was talking with them when they walked away disappointed. About an hour later my dad said to me,”Go tell that couple to return for, someone has just left. They went to the inn across the street.”Yes sir,” I replied. I ran across the street to find the couple. The man working there said,”My boss sent them to his stable about a mile from here.” I ran about half a mile and walked the other half. Finally I came to the stable. I was approaching the back when a baby cooed. I looked in the window and saw the couple, donkeys, horses, and cattle. There was also a baby lying in the manger wrapped in swaddling cloth. I remembered how the priests sacrificed animals.

They would wrap a perfect lamb in white cloth to protect it and bring it to the altar to be sacrificed. For some reason I couldn’t help but pay attention to the baby. Suddenly it was broken when two shepherds walked in and said,”We have come to worship the Messiah for we saw angels come to us singing glory, glory.” That’s when I figured out he was the Messiah, born in Bethlehem the City of David just like Isaiah prophesied Even the animals came to him like they knew who he was. I decided to run home to tell everyone “What!”

My dad said,”There is no way the Messiah is being born tonight.” Suddenly there was a knock at the door, it was the shepherd! He was telling everyone about the Messiah. So the baby was really Jesus Christ and I made sure to tell everyone about him.

ding. Finally, someone answered it. She had a very kind and sweet voice as she spoke, “Hello, dear. Are you asking a question about the party?" I answered with a yes. I asked, “what attire should be worn?”

She spoke once more “Formal will work, dear” “okay” I said Later that week I attended the party. It was so fun and the one thing I loved was I could enjoy the holiday season.

Sophia Edmond

THE CHRISTMAS CAROLS

One morning I got up, and I heard Christmas caroling, so I looked out my window and they were singing at the ice-skating rink by my house. I shut the blinds quickly and went into the kitchen for breakfast. After eating some nutritious strawberries with a bagel and one egg over easy. I set off for town. While walking to the store I heard the caroling again. I mean it's the day after Thanksgiving. Does anyone want to hear this already?

However, all I heard was, “Deck the halls with boughs of holly Fa la la, la.... as they sang happily.

It's so annoying when Christmas is here because I have no one to share it with. Finally, I arrived at my home and ate a delightful turkey sandwich with some left-over pumpkin pie, which tasted rich, along with some and juicy, red cranberry sauce.

December 15: This sunny morning, I awoke to the delightful sound of caroling. They were singing Joy to the World. This time I really enjoyed it though.

I skipped down to the kitchen and there was a red and green tinseled ribbon decorating my downstairs. There was even a Christmas tree! It's like an elf visited here. I drove to town, and it looked like a glitter bomb exploded. It was so bright that it could light the state of Illinois. Anyway, everybody was so caring, for instance one person bought me a hot chocolate. I also heard some compliments on

William Campbell Trent III A CHAOTIC CHRISTMAS

my clothes too. While walking to my car, I saw a flier that read, Snow Daze Christmas party Date:24th Time: 5:00pm to 12:00pm Where:220, buffalo street Bring food! See you there!

Any question, call 618 789 2023!

I took a picture of it and thought, “I guess I won't have to spend Christmas alone.” As I drove home, I contemplated what to wear, so I called the number on the invite and for a little while all I heard was a

Day one : Two days before Christmas, at the power plant, some material spilled on some snow, a tree, and some decorations, creating a monster.

The monster destroyed the power plant, luckily, none of the radioactive material was damaged. It could’ve caused a disaster. We still have to catch the monster. Day two : On Christmas Eve, The monster was on the highway on the way to the city, the military is trying to stop the monster with bullets, it's not working too well. Later they brought a tank! It may seem good, but the monster is getting bigger, and is starting to fight back. In the middle of day two : they brought more tanks, and helicopters, the monster is throwing ice chunks the size of a human. Next the monster is throwing alive snowmen at the military, and the snowmen are doing a number on them. The snow monster took down our helicopter, and it's nearly two miles away from the city. Day Three : Christmas! The monster made it into the city and it’s destroying buildings, There’s nothing we can do. A jet just crashed into the monster destroying it! Still, the damage is pretty bad, a little fixing will help.

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24 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

6th GRADE STORIES KiAnna Staiger

desk and wrote the letter to Santa and believed for the best. She put the letter in the mail the next day. On Christmas Eve, the family was decorating the tree, eating snacks, and playing games but Cassandra didn’t want to help. She participated but everyone knew her heart was not in it. The family put out cookies and milk for Santa then went to bed. Naomi was wishing for the best. She hoped Santa would deliver the kitten. The next morning, the family got up but Cassandra had to be forced to go see what Santa had brought. When she got to the tree, she heard a tiny meowing sound and it got her attention. There in the middle of the front room floor was a big box with lots of holes in it. The box had Cassandra’s name on it. When she opened it, there was a beautiful little orange kitten in it with a red bow on its collar. She was so excited to have another kitten that she almost cried. She named the kitten Callie and everyone was so happy. It turned out to be the best Christmas for Cassandra. Naomi was so happy because she knew it was because she helped that Cassandra got her new kitten. Naomi learned that helping to get someone’s Christmas spirit back was important and was glad her sister was happy

NEW SUPRISES

One more day until Christmas! This is my first Christmas with my foster family. There are gifts to wrap, treats to eat, songs to sing and love to share. People tend to tell me that I am a bundle of joy, and they are right. Although I lost my family 5 years ago, something that was my whole life, I still manage to find happiness. I wake to reality; I am in the kitchen standing there for who knows how long, so I walk into the big airy living room to find a couple presents under the bushy tree already. I examined some of the little packages. One has the name Kendra written on it. It takes me a minute to realized, “That’s my name!” I love receiving presents, I also love gifting presents. I live in California where the snow stays away but the Christmas spirit is everywhere.

“Kendra, it is time for dinner,” called the person cooking. “Coming! I yelled, while scrambling to get to the kitchen. When I turned the corner, I saw juicy ham, steaming potatoes and a pile of chocolate brown puddings. We softly said grace and then ate the outstanding food. After Christmas Eve dinner, we cleaned up and Sarah my foster mom announced, “One round of cards then off to bed.”

I won that round, won a candy cane and devoured it in three bites. That night when I hopped off to bed I fell into a quick, soft, dreamless sleep. The next morning, I woke at six am, put on my worn purple robe and half fell, half tripped down the stairs. When I finally ended at the bottom of the stairs, I announced in a loud voice, “Santa came!

Santa came!’’ The red stockings we set up the night before were packed full and there were colorful presents under the green tree. I took a big breath and smelt pine needles from the tree along with warm smelling sugar cookies that were still in the kitchen the night before. When the whole family got downstairs, my youngest step sibling said, “Open your present first!” I opened the bright wrapping and was flabbergasted. “You're going to adopt me!” I yelled, half crying, half laughing and hugging them all. That was the best Christmas ever!

Isla Staiger

ELVES ON THE SHELVES

Hi, Merry Christmas. Get comfy because I have a wild and chaotic story for you.

So, it was Christmas Eve and I went to the mall to buy presents for my family. The problem is I never know what to buy Ava for Christmas. I was searching for something marvelous to give her. I was looking around for about a half an hour then these two demented teenagers started chasing me! WHAT SHOULD I DO? Then the intercoms come on and I almost rejoice because it might distract them. Turns out it did. Sadly, the lady stated on the speakers that the store was closing in 15 minutes! That didn’t matter, I just wanted to get away from these insane people. I found a spot in the garbage can. It was about 30 minutes before I came out. I jumped out and I was sticky and dirty from all the garbage. I completely forgot it closed! I started walking around and came across a store named Christmas Wishes. There was a wall of stuffed elves. I heard a muffled noise come from the other side of the room. When I turned, there was a pyramid of them. They all jumped at me screeching, “Attack!” They carried me into the main area of the mall and then made a circle around me trapping me inside. I snarled, “Let me out!” They exchanged surprised glances.

An old looking one walked up. His shiny grey beard gleamed in my flashlight on my phone. His hazel eyes studied me deeply. He croaked, “You may leave if you take one of us to keep.” “Alright I guess.” That’s when out of nowhere a dog jumps on

Mariia Horianska

me. It's drooling all over. Then seven of the little elves jump on the dog. The officer comes and says, “Merry Christmas, fellas. Trying to escape again?”

The leader responded, “You know it. She might take us home.” The officer made a deal with me.

He said if I bring all of them home, he won't press charges on me. “You have to pay us at least twenty bucks. It's because no one wants them. “Deal.” I got home at 1:56 A.M. I decorated the house with elves and went to bed saving Papa Elf for Ava. Now that was a crazy night.

Payton Ingman

CHRISTMAS KITTEN

Once upon a time, there were two sisters named Naomi and Cassandra. Naomi was the younger sister and she loved Christmas more than anything else in the world. Cassandra hated Christmas because when she was six years old, her cat ran away from home and never returned. After that, Cassandra’s parents didn’t want the girls to get any more pets. That made Cassandra very sad and so every year at Christmas she got very depressed and didn’t want to participate because the memory of her cat made her that way. Naomi asked Cassandra why she hated Christmas and when she found out, she had a great idea.

She would ask Santa to bring Cassandra a new kitten for Christmas. Then she realized that she would have to get their parents to let her keep it. Naomi started talking to her parents about maybe getting another cat, but they were not excited about it at first. They told Naomi that they didn’t want to have to mess with feeding it or changing the cat litter. They told her no. Naomi wanted her sister to get the Christmas spirit back so she thought and thought how she could get their parents to change their minds.

Finally, Naomi thought of an idea. She would just tell the the truth about why Cassandra hated Christmas so much. She knew her parents worried why Cassandra didn’t want to participate in the Christmas activities, but they couldn’t figure out why. One day after school, Cassandra had band practice and Naomi was alone with her parents.

She decided that now would be a good time to talk to them about the cat. She told them the truth about why Cassandra hated Christmas. When the parents understood why Cassandra was sad, they decided that Naomi had a great idea to get her to love Christmas again. The parents told Naomi that she could write a letter to Santa and ask for a kitten for her sister. So, Naomi sat down at her

ON CHRISTMAS EVE

Christmas time has come, and my family is getting ready, everyone is so nervous, but happy. Except for my brother, Kevin. “Santa Claus is NOT REAL!” my brother growled. “Kevin Thomson, change your tone please!” yelled my mom from the kitchen. My mom hates it when Kevin has an “aggressive tone”.

“Santa Claus not real, Santa-” Kevin sang. “I believe in Santa Claus anyway!” I interrupted him.

“His not real, I will prove it!” Sometimes we can even fight over anything, but not at that time. We both felt the sweet smell of mom’s food. My mom likes to spend the entire day cooking large Christmas dinners! I felt that my stomach was empty, and I guess my brother felt it, too. We looked at each other and started to run to the kitchen. Me and my brother were always racing to see who would first get the food, but he always won. We came into the kitchen, and mom was still cooking.

“Looks yummy!” I replied. “Because it is,” answered my mom in a soft tone. “We have some news for you. Kevin, you are already twelve, you can take care of your sister. Me and your dad are going on Christmas vacation, both of you will be home alone. Kevin, you can go to the supermarket and buy some food if it will be needed. We are leaving in ten minutes.” “Wait, but mom-” “No, Kevin, you’re not going with us. We’re going alone.” mom answered. “Dear, let’s go.” mom called for dad. The night had come. Kevin somehow made-up mac and cheese, so we had dinner. “Time to go sleep, mac and cheese eater.” my brother yelled.

“Okay, good night, then.” I said. I went to sleep, and I saw Kevin go to bed, too, and turn off the lights. Time to sleep. Good night, me. The next morning, my parents were still not there. I looked under the Christmas tree and saw so many gifts!

They were all colorful, so I started to open my gifts, and saw Kevin wake up. “What is going on, wait a minute, but, but how?” Kevin was shocked and amazed at the same time. “See, I told you that Santa Claus is real!” I said in a joyful voice, opening my presents.

“Keeping Jesus Christ, the greatest gift, the center of this Christmas season.”

Michelle De Koekkoek Broker/Owner, Realtor 360.815.0095 701.444.3070

wrppi.com

“We are in the People business ~ Real estate is how we Serve”

Are you looking for a flexible, rewarding career?

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 25

6th GRADE STORIES Oliver V. Tutorow

Jacob Rosales

THE CHRISTMAS WISH

I started as a fresh Christmas Eve. For Jesse as he woke up on the bitter wintry morning. He was extremely excited for the day, so he jumped out of bed and rushed to the kitchen to make cereal.

Then he thought, “Oh boy, this is going to be a great day!" After he ate his mom asked him to go buy some roast beef for Christmas dinner. As Jesse was walking, he was thinking, “I can't wait to see all my cousins on Christmas.” When Jesse got to the store, he got roast beef, and he knew the storekeeper a bit say they chatted about what they are doing for Christmas and headed home.

On the way home Jesse found a penny. It was a peculiar penny because it was silver, so he picked it up and went home. At home he went rushing to his mom and showed her the penny. She asked, “where did you get this?” Jesse responded, “I found it near the grocery store.” His mom then told him, “Those type of pennies is rare and are said to have good Luck.” After the conversation with his mom Jesse went outside. He played in the snow with the penny. Then the penny started shimmering and an elf came out. Then the elf yelled, “I am the magic Christmas elf, I will grant one wishes!” Jesse was Shocked. He had never seen an elf before let alone a magic one. Then Jesse decided to see if it was true, so he took his one wish, “I wish can fly!” The elf nodded and added, “your wish is my command.”

Then Jesse closed his eyes and jumped. He did not feel the ground, so he opened his eyes, and he was floating. Jesse was amazed, so he grabbed the elf and put it in his pocket and went inside. Jesse sneaked to his room and put the elf on the dresser

THE CHRISTMAS STORY

The guy that started it all was Santa Claus. What I want to talk about with Santa is that thank you for bringing me presents and making this happen. I like Christmas a lot. I just wanted to thank you. I do not know if you are real or not but I hope you are. I like when my family comes over and we eat and open presents. It is so much fun when it’s Christmas. Thank you for all of this I want for Christmas is a Ps5 and that is all please I want one.

Jackson Samman

TONY STARK: A CHRISTMAS STORY

the elf was mad and grunted, “why did you shove me in your pocket?” I responded, “I needed to keep you secret, so my mom doesn't find out” Then he remarked, “You could have told me that.” Then Jesse and the elf just shrugged it off and Jesse whispered, “I will have Christmas with my mom, I will see you again, and thank you for my Christmas wish.”

One day there was a person called Tony Stark.

He was trying to save Christmas from Thanos.

Thanos hated Christmas because he never got any presents. So he was gonna steal the presents from everyone's house. The only reason Tony knew was because he had a vision about it. In the vision he saw Thanos breaking into houses and putting all the presents in a bag.

To stop Thanos, Tony set a trap. The trap was a house that had all christmas stuff like lights around the house. Thanos would go in it and when Thanos enters it explosives would go off killing Thanos. If the plan worked Thanos would be dead and Tony would save christmas. If the plan didn't work then Thanos would ruin christmas. On the night of Christmas Tony was behind the house with the trap. He watched Thanos break into houses with a big bag and every time he came out of a house the bag got bigger with more presents. Finally he heard Thanos breaking

May the spirit of the season blossom all around you and fill your heart with gladness. It’s a pleasure serving this community, and we look forward to seeing more of you in the new year. Thanks for your trust and support!

Steve Schneider, BFA™ APMA™ Financial Advisor

Lyndsey Filkowski, BFA™ APMA™ CFP® Financial Advisor

Zaira Burnett

THE SAD CHRISTMAS

Hi, My name is Zaira Burnett I go to a middle school named DMS in Dickinson, ND and this is my Christmas story! It was Christmas Eve and all the boys and girls were making cookies and getting milk ready for Santa Claus. At the North Pole Santa was getting ready and training the reindeer on the route they would go on that night until Santa realized that Rudolph was missing! “I can't deliver presents without Rudolph! I need him to guide my sleigh tonight!” Said Santa.

The other reindeer helped Santa look for him but he was nowhere to be found. Not only that but the elves had been put under a spell and have been put to sleep! “Now who is going to make the toys?” Santa asked himself. Now Santa has been hit in the head with a nutcracker! Someone was trying to sabotage Christmas and they were doing a good job. All hope was lost. “I guess it's official Christmas is canceled.” said Mrs. Clause.

Just when all hope was lost here comes Rudolph to the rescue! He used his super speed to make the toys! All the children got presents that night.

Don’t worry about all the gadgets and devices you’ll get.

With 1 GiG Internet, it’ll be the best Christmas yet!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

30 1st Ave E, Suite 1 Dickinson, ND 58601-5265 701.483.5735 planwithLFP .com

in realizing his plan had worked. He activated his ironman gear and flew up to avoid getting hurt.

By the time he was in the air the trap was set off, exploding the whole house and everything in it was destroyed including Thanos. Tony had done it, he killed Thanos and more importantly saved christmas.

701.483.4000

consolidatednd.com

26 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

6th GRADE STORIES Brynlee Meuchel

THE CHRISTMAS MIX-UP

One day before Christmas Eve in New York City 10:00 am.

Santa had just gotten to the mall and put on his bright red Santa suit. While he was getting ready, he thought to himself “Where is Buddy the Elf, he always greets me in the morning.” Little did he know he was in for a big surprise. In came Frosty the Snowman franticly looking around as if he was looking for something.

The Snowman screeched “Where am I?” Santa replied, “You are in New York City!”

Frosty sobbed “I’m in New York! I'm supposed to be in Frosty Ville!”

He hollered out, “Oh no Oh no, I’m going to melt if I don’t get out of here!”

Santa remarked, “Well I can try to help you after my shift, but I can't right now, so how about you go outside and wait and then I will find you after my shift, Ok?” Frosty added, “Ok” Meanwhile in The Small Town of Frosty Ville.

The kids are frantically running around trying to find Frosty.

One of the kids yelled to their mother, “Mommy we can't find Frosty!”

The mother cried “Come over here I’ve found a reindeer with a red nose!”

The kids all came running over hollering “What did you say Miss,” “huh” They squawked.

The mom replied, “Why, I think its Roudolph the Red nose Reindeer!”

The children stared at Rudolph for a short while then......

Rudolph explained, “I need to get back to the North Pole so I can help Santa fly his sleigh or else there will be no presents!”

Meanwhile in Who Ville Cindy Lou Who was skipping up the hill to go see Mr. Grinch, but when she got there, she passed through all the signs and knocked on the door and then out came MR. HEAT MISER. Cindy Lou Who asked him why he was there, and he slammed the door in Cindy Lou Who's face. Then five minutes later his stepbrother Mr. Snow Miser came out and proclaimed, “Don’t mind him, anyways what did you need?”

Meanwhile in the town of Snow and Heat The Grinch was in the house of Mr. Snow Miser.

Mr. Grinch came out and went downtown wondering where he was when he had woken up and thought oh, I should go see if I have any mail.

When he left, Mr. Grinch was too focused on his mail to figure out he wasn’t in Who Ville.

At the end everyone gets back to where they belong, and it ends up being a happy ending!

The End :)

see it. There was so much happiness as the family took in the magic of the Christmas house. The Happy Ending.

The nutcracker welled up with heartfelt gratitude.

“This Christmas”, he thought, “I will change my selfish attitude.”

THE NAUGHTY NUTCRACKER AND HIS NO-GOOD, NOTORIOUS PLAN

THE CHRISTMAS HOUSE

There once was a nutcracker who was excited about Christmas extremely. No shocker there, for this happened routinely.

He was about to come out of storage, which felt like a cage, and stand tall on the mantle, as if from a stage.

But the human boy stretched out his hand, and wait, what was this? A new toy elf, so grand!

The nutcracker was distraught, how could his boy have forgot?

Silently he cried out, “I am here!”. He no longer felt quite so premier.

Boxes lay everywhere. The boy picked up and tossed the nutcracker into a square of cardboard despair.

He landed in a box of what could only be junk with a very loud clunk.

The nutcracker was sad and hurt, being caught un-alert.

He just knew the elf must be evil, perhaps mind-controlling the people.

Looking up from the deep, dark below, the nutcracker decided, “That elf has to go.”

The night before Christmas, while all were asleep, he cooked up a plan that would keep him from defeat.

He would disguise himself as the elf and throw it away in his place. That elf would be gone without a single trace.

But to be sure the elf was forever thrown away, he would put his old clothes on the elf to lead the people astray.

That night he did all he said he would, for his black hatred of the elf still stood.

He knew that he could rest easy knowing a job was well done, for tomorrow was Christmas, the time for real fun.

But he woke up to an empty house! The only sound he heard was the squeak of a mouse.

He was filled with sadness - no joy, no gladness.

“We were moving!”, he realized, suddenly with regret. “They took him in my box and now me they will forget.”

Then a rattle of keys he heard at the door, for the little boy had come back for him once more.

This act of love was the cure for his depression that had pushed him into a deep dark pity session.

THE LEPRECHAUN WHO RUINED CHRISTMAS

Aften Heinle

It all started when Maybell and her best friend, Stella, were decorating Maybell’s house, Christmas was twenty-five days away. Stella and Maybell loved Christmas, for it was their favorite. The tree was a wonderful sight. It glittered red and green, with rainbow lights and ornaments all over it. Yes, the tree was beautiful. “The last thing to add is the star!” Maybell happily sang. The star was placed carefully. Out of nowhere, Maybell’s older sister, Zoe, yelled, “no, no, no! It's all wrong!” Zoe had a more unique perspective than the girls did. Zoe was much more organized than Maybell. Maybell fought back,” I think it looks great." Zoe shook her head. “No, it doesn't.” Stella yelled, "you didn’t even help out!” Meanwhile, as the girls fought, Zoe tripped on the plug-in cord for the lights. When she fell, the whole Christmas tree fell, too! The ornaments crashed; glass flew everywhere. The star fell on Stella’s head. The sharp part. "Ow!” she cried.

The front door flung open. “What is going on?” It was their mother. She had a disappointed look on her face. Her eyes widened when she saw the fallen tree. She saw Stella rubbing her sore head. "Oh my gosh! Stella, are you okay?!” She said softly, “I’m fine, but I’m going home.”

Maybell cleaned up the mess, feeling crushed. She wanted to do something special to bring Christmas cheer to their small gray house. Their father used to decorate the outside before he died. Maybe she could lift everyone's spirit by suggesting it.

After thinking about it, she told her mom the idea.

Her mother loved it and they got to work!

Outside, Maybell and her mother were placing the lights on the roof. Zoe was inside, looking at her phone. “Aren’t you going to come help us?” said Maybell. “We really want you with us,” said her mother. Zoe yelled, “No way, mom! I’m busy!”

Later that night, Zoe heard the fun they were having, hearing them sing as they worked. She eventually helped. They had so much fun decorating together. They set up a fake Santa, sled, and eight reindeer. Glittery icicle lights sparkled on trees and the roof. It looked magical and intrinsic because they combined their ideas. Everyone stopped to

Tyler Whipple

Esley Laumb

Once upon a time in Ireland, there was a leprechaun. This leprechaun was named Tom. He was not your normal leprechaun. This leprechaun did not like Christmas. Why? Well that is a good question. Maybe he was caught, lost his magic and was betrayed by the king of leprechaun’s which we all know is Lucky from the cereal “Lucky Charms”.

Because of the lack of magic, his happiness was going down and down. That means he could not have Christmas spirit.

Tom was once a very good leprechaun with a bunch of gold and was using it for good and giving it to everyone. But one day it rained. You are probably wondering what that has to do with Tom being rich. Well that day he was outside and was giving away gold like usual. Then it just started to rain out of nowhere! Then, all of his gold melted!

Why, well gold back then was made out of chocolate! Just like that Tom was poor. But, besides being poor, Tom could not buy any magic! He only had enough magic to fly to one place and could not come back. But, the most important thing is that without magic he will die!

So, the thing that he wanted to do before he died was to go to the North Pole. But, he did not want to just go to the North Pole; he wanted to have a chance to live longer. How will he do that, he is going to steal the magic from Santa! Absurd, I know right! …. *Later in the North Pole* Tom is very frantic while he is looking for Santa.

Soon he finds an elf but he almost gets stepped on, because the elves cannot see him because of his size. He only has a little bit of magic left but to find Santa he would need to get bigger. So he uses some of the magic he has left to grow. Finally he finds an elf. He finds his way to Santa’s workshop. He goes to the reindeer and tries to take the magic from them! Then out of nowhere he fades away! The reason, well let’s just say he was on the naughty list.

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 27

6th GRADE STORIES Caleb Goettle “Wake up!” says Santa, “It's time to start making some toys!” “Ugh,” say all us elves back to him.

Now that I was old enough, I could finally start my training to make toys. “It’s 10 days till Christmas, and we are behind schedule, so that means we have to start work early.” After that, all the elves started getting ready.

“What the heck is this?” I asked the head worker elf. “It's your worker suit,” he replied, “You have to wear it while you make toys.” I then put it on and we head to the workroom. “Okay, you will probably be working in this area,” he said, pointing at the stuffed animal section. “You should ask one of them how to make a stuffed animal. “Okay,” I said.

There I was, learning how to make a stuffed animal. It was kind of hard and I pricked myself while doing it a couple times, but eventually I got the hang of it. Every day was the same after that. I would get up, get ready for work, and make stuffed animals. Then the process repeats the next day.

I worked every day for nine days and then it was Christmas Eve. “Settle down, settle down!” said Santa, “I have a special surprise for a special someone.” He then looked at me, “I would like to invite someone to come with me on my sleigh to deliver presents…

Caleb, will you come with me for being such a good toy maker?” He asked me, “I- I- I- I” I stuttered, then I paused. “Of course I will, Santa,” I answered proudly.

The next thing I knew, I was riding on Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. “Whoo!” I screamed happily. After a while, we were at our first house and

Santa told me that I could go down with him. “Grab the skateboard,” he told me. We hopped down the chimney without getting a scratch. “What are you doing?” a little girl asked, peeking her head out of her door. “Ummmmm, you should go back to bed,” I said, “because if you don't then you won't get any presents from Santa.” “Are you an elf?” she asked.

“Yes, I am an elf,” I answered, “but you should get some rest, and then we will put your present under the tree.” “Okay” she said, and she left the room.

THE END.

Karis Lewton

It was December 25. You are walking down stairs, when you see Santa sitting on your couch. He looks very sad. You don’t know if you should help him or not, but you decide to ask him why he looks sad.

He says Mrs. Claus is mad at him. So you decide to ask him why, and he said that she is mad at him because he never gives her a Christmas gift. You’re very surprised because he gives everyone presents.

You decide to help him by telling him this: “I can help you make a card for her if you would like,”. He starts to smile and he jumps off from the couch and says “Yippee, thank you!” You grab paper and colors from your cupboard, you and Santa work on the card and soon it looks great. Santa thanks you for all your trouble and hops out the window. You turn around and see a bunch of presents under your Christmas tree. You are very excited, and exclaim “Yay!”

Brehea Meek

THE DMS CHRISTMAS SLEEPOVER

One awesome night Alivia and I were in the DMS

r e t n i W

READING PROGRAM

gym having a Christmas sleepover on Christmas Eve! We set up beds. After that Alivia asked if we should play hide and seek in the dark upstairs.

I was scared so I decided to say yes. We went upstairs and started. I was hiding first. I went towards a little hidden area. Alivia then came to find me. She looked around the whole up stairs.

She looked once around the whole up stairs and she still couldn't find me. She looked and she looked and she couldnt find me at all. She started to get really worried. She started to call me on my phone but I didn't answer because I didn't bring my phone with me. Alivia got really worried now she thought that hide and seek was a bad decision.

She decided to call Grace and Karis and Alivia in

Let The Good Times Roll!

Here’s hoping everything plays your way this holiday season.

For all the good times we’ve shared with you this year, you have our heartfelt gratitude.

Merry Christmas!

JAN. 1ST- MARCH 1ST

READ BOOKS AND WIN PRIZES! FREE AND OPEN TO ALL AGES! Dickinson Area Public Library

139 3rd St W 701-456-7700 dickinsonlibrary.beanstack.org

a worried voice told them how she lost me. After that I found out I was lost and I couldn't tell where I was because it was so dark. Grace and Karis were like how did you lose her and they couldn't really help Alivia because they didn't know what to do when they weren't there. So Alivia got even more worried and almost started to cry. Then Taylor Swift came into the buliding to get something in the band room but she couldn't find a pencil in the band room so she went upstairs and found me! I was so happy she found me! Then she saw Alivia and told Alivia how she found me.The story behind this is don't play hide and seek in the dark and in a big place.

257 1ST ST. EAST DICKINSON, ND

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28 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

6th GRADE STORIES Cassidy Swanson

FAVORITE HOLIDAY TRADITIONS

I like going ice skating with my family. It's fun to spend time with my family. My little sisters can ice skate really well. They improved a lot the last few times I could go in the middle of the rink without a helper for the first time. I went with my friends a few times and they skated well. We like going sledding. One time, me and my sisters crashed into a tree. They did not hit it too hard but my littlest sister got a little more hurt. She was bleeding on her lip. They were scared to go by themselves again so me and my younger sister had to go with them.

They were still scared but they felt better. We like sledding and ice skating. Those are the two things we do the most in the winter. We also like building snowmen when there is enough snow. This year we didn’t have a lot of snow. We are kind of glad about that but it is still fun to build snowmen. One time we tried to make our family but we only made one snowman. It did not go so well. We made the first part then when we made the second part we tried to put it on the top then it fell off. We tried to put more snow on it to keep it there. We had to go inside the next day when we saw the top of the snowman fall off. Those are some of our favorite holiday traditions.

Kadance Weisweaver

MY TRUE STORY ABOUT SANTA CLAUS

It was the day before Christmas Eve. Bella yelped, “I hope I get a new sweater! I am starting to get sick of wearing yours! No offense,”. “None taken,” Rose said as they walked home. “Oh! Rose, what do you want for Christmas?” “A sweater for my skinny pig Nory,” Rose answered. Rose was on her block when Nory ran up and jumped in Rose’s arms shivering. “Nory! How did you get out?” Rose yelled in shock. Bella gave Rose’s sweater back to cover Nory because Nory had no hair and there was snow outside. After Rose and Bella went to their houses and set up their trap for Santa Claus. “Bella, are you there? Over,”. Rose and Bella had walkie talkies to talk to each other, and Nory is always next to Rose when she uses it. “Yes, and my trap is set! Is yours?

Over,"."Yes! My trap is set. Over,”.

They eventually fell asleep but when Rose was asleep Nory was able to catch Santa Claus.

Kingdom Williams

WHERE’S SANTA CLAUS?

Once upon time, Rudolph woke up in the morning and saw the village like always.

He walked to the village and started looking for Santa Claus, but Rudolph couldn't find Santa Claus. Rudolph asked Frosty the snowman. But he said, “Sorry, I don't know where Santa is. Maybe ask the elf over there,”. So Rudolph went to the elf.

Then Rodulph asked the elf “Do you know where Santa Claus is,”? The elf said, “I don’t know where he is. Maybe ask Mrs. Claus.

Maybe she knows?” So Rudolph went to go to Mrs. Claus’ house, but when he went inside he didn’t see her.

Rudolph was sad. He thought Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus forgot about his birthday. So he went back inside the cabin sad. But to his surprise he saw Santa claus! Everyone was there, even Mrs. Claus! He thought everyone forgot about his birthday but no, everyone was there! THE END

Caleb Witte

THE STUBBORN OLD CHRISTMAS TREE

One day in Santa's workshop he was setting up his tree but it was stubborn. The Christmas tree was so stubborn that it reboxed itself. You have been

chosen to help Santa put up the Christmas tree that won't let you set it up. You were woken up

by Santa one day and you were shocked you could hardly believe you met Santa Claus. Then Santa asks will you ride in my Sleigh tonight and you respond, “Yes I will ride in your Sleigh tonight,”.

Then Santa said, “We are going to the North Pole,”.

You arrive at the North Pole with glee you see Santa's elves working and making toys left and right.

Then Santa leads you to the main house in his workshop you say “I like your room,”. Santa replies, “Thanks, it took me a long time to set this room up but the stubborn old Christmas tree won't let me set it up,”. You say “I like your room but I don't think a Christmas tree can fight back,”. Santa says “Are you sure about that?” I say, “I think so”. Santa says, “Ok, see for yourself,”. But it’s Christmas morning and you can't help.

Eli Binstock

Every year you wait to hear the Christmas cheer.

Christmas is my favorite time of the year because of all the presents Santa brings and all the other gifts I get from my family but most of all because Jesus was born on that day. I also like going sledding and ice skating.

I’ll tell you all about our traditions. When I wake up on Christmas morning, I run to the stockings to see if Santa came. He always does. We always go to mass with the family. Every December a group of reindeer come and see how the flight will be to make sure they can pull it off, and they always do it when it's snowing or blizzarding. On Christmas Eve we go to “NORAD Tracks Santa” and watch Santa fly to all the different places in the world.

There are also fun games you can play there and a new game added every day of December. I hope you enjoyed my story, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good reading!

Elinah Miller

13 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS

December 12, 2023 My name is Ameilia and I have two sisters. Their names are Sophia, and Elizabeth. We are all triplets. We are all 15 years old. There are 13 days till Christmas!

12 days later…

“YAY!, One day till Christmas! ugh I wish it was already Christmas,” Ameilia says.

Mom calls us for dinner.

“Coming!” we all say.

“I made your favorite,” said mom, and we ate.

(Ameilia) Im dreaming about how many gifts i'm going to get. I really really want the iPhone 13 ALL my friends have. They are either getting it on their birthday or just randomly getting it. I'M LITERALLY SO JEALOUS! (Sophia) I am so tired but I just CAN'T sleep at all!

I think it's because I just want it to be Christmas already, but I mean it's TOMORROW. I can't wait.

I've been saving up my money to get Ameilia the iPhone 13 but… I don't have enough money. I only have $450 so my mom is gonna help me buy it because the one I want to get her is $900! It's so much money so my mom is also gonna use $450.

Morning, December 25, 2023 Mom calls us for breakfast and we all ate.

“Let’s just open presents,” says mom.

“Can I open my presents first?” says Ameilia.

“Yes, you may,” said mom.

I start opening my presents. “Wow, I have a lot of presents. I want to open the big one first. OH MY GOSH its a Stanley. I-I- I’ve been wanting this!

Next present!”

I open my last present OMG its the iPhone 13 ive always wanted this. “How much was this?” Ameilia says. “$900. It was a lot, but Mom helped me buy it. $450 is how much we both had,” Sophia said.

Sophia and Elizabeth open their presents.

“Omg its a makeup kit and a Stanley!” said Elizabeth.

“Yay, I got a Stanley too. Now we all match!” said Sophia.

McKenzie Phillip PRESENTS

I creeped down the stairs to see what Santa got me last night. It was around 3:00 a.m. Creak!!!

I flinched at the sound hoping that my mother wouldn’t be awoken. I got to the last step. I closed my eyes hoping that nobody would hear me. When my foot touched the ground my eyes opened. I heard some footsteps so I hid behind the kitchen island. Then I saw him. It was Santa!!!

I watched as he set down my presents and how he went back up the chimney.

I darted for the presents. I opened them. A large lump of coal fell out and a crumpled up note.

Dear Jeremiah, I wanted to teach you a lesson to not try and watch me give you presents. So I gave you coal. Please never EVER try to find me again.

Sincerely, The Grinch…

Tesher Roadarmel MY CHRISTMAS

My favorite thing to do on Christmas is spend time with family,open presents and eat my family’s delicious food. My favorite Christmas movies are “Christmas Vacation” or “Elf”. We watch both those movies every year. We always put costumes on my dog and he looks so funny. My favorite Christmas tradition is to eat my grandpa’s homemade breakfast, pancakes, sausage and fruit juice punch. It is so good. I am kind of famous in Dickinson because every Christmas the star that lights up at Rocky Butte is my great-grandpa’s star. Fun fact- he actually built that star with his own bare hands. I am so glad to have this family. They are the best family ever and I love all of them.

Ally Umwiza

WINTER WONDERLAND

It was Christmas, and my sister and I raced downstairs. Dad was making breakfast.

We ran to the Christmas tree. My sister, Erica, opened one present under her name.

“Yay!” I opened my present, it was a Nerf gun!

“Yes, now I can shoot you to wake you up!”

“Dad, why would you get him that?” she whined.

“It wasn’t me, maybe your mom,” he answered.

My mom doesn’t live with us, but visits on our birthday. My sister and I are twins, but she's three minutes older. She uses that against me a lot, but I’m stronger.

We opened our other presents. When we were done there was one more present, it didn’t have a name.

“It’s mine,” Erica cried.

“Hey, that's not fair,” I snapped.

“It’s probably from Mom, and I’m her favorite,” she commented.

“No one is Mom’s favorite, she loves all of you equally,” Dad interrupted.

“Then why did she leave us?” I said.

“Hey Eric, be nice,” Erica told me.

Dad went back to cooking. While I was thinking about Mom, Erica stole the present from my lap and opened it. The present was a pair of Air Jordans, Erica and I wear the same size shoes. I know.

Wow. “Wow, these are mine!” Emma announced.

“No way,” I barked.

“That’s not fair,” I stated.

“So?” She snapped.

We started tugging on it.

All of a sudden we were in some wintery place. Still with the shoes.

“Where are we?” I asked.

We were looking around and we saw an elf.

“More kids,” the elf sighed.

“If you want to get out, go to the north.”

“OK, thank you” Erica thanked him.

We were walking on the path when we saw a cottage.

“We should go inside,” I told Erica. “ Yeah, maybe this is what that guy wanted us to find.”

When we entered the cottage, we were greeted by a wizard in a long robe.

“If you want to leave, all you need to do is wear one shoe.”

“That’s it!” I blurted.

“Yes” he responded Erica and I put on one of the shoes, and all of a sudden we were transported back where we were.

Dad was still making breakfast.

“Dad, did anything happen?” I asked.

“No, why?” he said back.

“Nothing” Erica blurted.

That would be an adventure that I would never forget.

Jaysik Wilhelm-Lorenz MY FIRST DAY AS AN ELF

I woke up at 4:24a.m.. I was too excited for my new job as an elf. I went downstairs to take a shower so I didn't stink on my first day as an elf. After that I went to the kitchen to eat some breakfast. I had some pancakes because it's my favorite thing to eat in the morning- marshmallows, whip cream, and sprinkles. After that I was really full so I went to brush my teeth. I use peppermint toothpaste to brush my teeth. Santa gave me the peppermint toothpaste as a gift at my interview. After that I got in my sled and went off to the workshop.

Once I got there I was greeted by a lot of elves.

Then at the end of all the elves there was Santa.

He showed me around the workshop and where I would be making toys. I have my own table to make toys for kids around the world. Once Santa was done I started making toys. I was in charge of making toy cars. I got to put them together and paint them with different designs. After a little while it was time for lunch.

We all went to the cafeteria. When we all got there we got to pick between cookies or pancakes.

Of course I picked pancakes. Then I put marshmallows, sprinkles, and syrup on top. While I was making toys I made 3 friends. I found where they were sitting and I sat with them. After 20 minutes it was time to go back to work. But before we had to go back to work we had to throw our trash away.

We went back to the workshop to make more toys for kids. At 4 o’clock Santa came to say good job to all the new elves like me. At 5 o'clock, it was time to go. We packed all your things and left.

When I got outside I found my sled, got in and left the workshop. When I got home I ate some more pancakes and did the dishes. After that I got in the warm bath to clean up for the day.When I got done I got a warm glass of milk and went to bed to have good dreams.

Merry Christmas fromPrairieBarnsConstruction, LLC!

As we build towards the new year, we wish you a season of joy and lasting memories.

PrairieBarnsConstruction, LLC

701-690-6224 www.prairiebarnsconstruction.com

30 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

6th GRADE STORIES Cole Leavitt

PREPARING FOR CHRISTMAS

Elves always get to work right after thanksgiving, most elves work to make toys for all the children in the world. Others go and feed the reindeer and other Christmas animals, as well as preparing Santa’s sleigh for the flight around the world to deliver the presents to all the kids in the world. Some few head to children's houses around the world to keep watch and tell Santa if some are naughty or nice.

Children around the world love when these elves come to watch them, they always cause mischief and hide around the house. The children always get into the Christmas spirit by having a mischievous elf to find everyday. All the Christmas magic and spirit goes into powering Santa’s magical sleigh that flies around the world every Christmas to deliver presents to all the kids in the world. There are even elves who work in the town of Santa's workshop. These elves work in all kinds of shops, grocery stores, pancake shops, candy shops, magic shops… There are endless possibilities of which shops they work in! There are also elves who go around town decorating for Christmas and replacing old decorations. After that, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph all start training for the giant journey around the world by practicing pulling sleighs, racing around the town, and hauling around sleighs full of supplies for the town. After everyone does their part, all around the world kids can get their presents every Christmas, thanks to the help of the elves, reindeer, and Santa.

Cora Stadheim

THE SECRET OF GIVING

“Oh, Mom, look!” Kendra exclaimed one snowy afternoon as she strolled through a store with her mother. Her attention was drawn to a bright blue pair of shoes on the shelf. She had longed for this exact pair for as long as she could remember.

“Please, Mom! Can I get these?” she begged.

Her mother turned toward her and smiled. “You really want those, don't you?” Kendra nodded enthusiastically. “I understand, but right now we're shopping for your sisters, not you.” Her mother said gently.

Kendra agreed, yet, as they shopped, she found it hard to focus on gifts for her sisters. She kept seeing things that were on her Christmas list. Her mother reminded her again and again she was shopping for her sisters. Finally, Kendra stomped her foot and said, “Mom, why do I have to get them anything, anyway? They're not always nice, you know. Katelyn bends my homework. Kami scribbles on it. They take my things without asking.

They...”

“Honey,” Mom gently put her arm around Kendra's shoulder and pulled her close, “I understand they aren't always nice, but are you always nice? Do you always do the right thing?”

With eyes cast downward, Kendra shook her head.

“No, of course you don't!” Her mother agreed, “Because no one is perfect. What if, because of one unloving deed, everyone decided not to get you anything for Christmas? How would you feel?”

Shocked, Kendra replied, “That would be very unkind and I would feel unloved and forgotten!”

Her mother nodded, “Yes, anyone would. So, what about Jesus when He died on the cross for us?

Why did He die? Was it because we were kind and good?”

Kendra looked her mother straight in the eye and said softly, “No. It was because he loved us.”

“Exactly. He loved us very much then, and He still does today. He loved us so much that even though we would sin so many times and do many hurtful things, He still chose to die for us. That is why we

give gifts every Christmas, to symbolize Christ's love.” Kendra listened thoughtfully as Mother continued, “So, considering Christ's gift on the cross, should we give to others because they deserve it or because we love them?”

“Because we love them!” Kendra smiled, with a newfound understanding of Christmas giving.

Dreamys Morin

A JOB UNTIL CHRISTMAS EVE!!!

Hi, you better get comfortable because I brought you folks a story about a girl who tries to help her family out by getting a job. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you folks that she only has her siblings left because her parents had died when they were young. Their ages were 10, 8, and 7.

Okay! don’t you folks think I should get started with the story?

The story begins with a girl from Brooklyn. Her name is Allysa, for short people call her Ally.

Along with her sister, she works as a housekeeper at a hotel.

One morning, Ally made breakfast for her brother and sister. Her sister’s name is Kylie, and she is sixteen years old. Her brother’s name is Gabe, and he is fourteen years old. Ally is the oldest, but she still must cook for her siblings because they really do not know how to cook except for a few things.

“Quick we are late for work!” as Ally shouted through the hallway.

“Okay, be out in five minutes” yells Kylie.

“No, you should have been dressed long time ago,” as Ally replies. Kylie comes running out of the room to put on her coat and shoes.

Then both Ally and Kylie ran out of the house, so they would not be late. After a few hours, Kylie goes to a party, and Ally takes over for Kylie, and they both have a specific time to finish.

Then Ally was going to her last room until a guy came around the corner, and Ally ran into him by accident. She felt so bad that she kept saying sorry repeatedly.

Ally did not finish the room on time, and both her and her sister got fired because of that. Later, a guy came to her door and asked if she wanted a job until Christmas Eve. Ally said, “Yes,” and they Traveled to England. When they got there, he showed Alley around the place. She found out she was working for the guy she ran into by accident the day she was fired.

She that she must be a governess for his daughter then she started to like the king. Later, he liked her but after he married her, she became queen. she liked him since he made her feel special even his daughter love Ally as special.

Bodey Hammond

WHEN YOU GIVE A HAMSTER A BIBLE

Hi I’m George a copying hamster.Like if you say “You smel”l I’ll say it back like”YOU SMELL EVEN MORE HA HA HA!”But the hahaha is like a witches cackle. Anyways lets get to the Christmas stuff. Now I know that everybody says Christmas is about giving not getting sharing,caring and all that stuff. No thtas my only answer to that stuff.

Now everybody reading this is mad how isn’t it well I’m going to tell you.It’s about Christ ur Lord who came into the world. Now I really know that everyone is steaming mad like he gave his life to us and like I know but that wasn’t on Christmas now was it.Now you guys are like “how does a HAMSTER KNOW THIS!”Well I have a little hmster sized Bible and I took reading class for hamsters. Now I know that might sound boggus but Its not the Bible guides me in every thing I do. For example there was this guy named Enoch who followed God so much and loved Him so much that he walked and talked with Him for 300

mind boggling years! Then you get to Noah who’s lived for almost a thousand years and survived a world-wide flood and with 2 of every kind of evry singal animal on the earth Boy would that stink. Now we are in the new Testamen .Did you know that Jesus was actually most likely born in the spring.Then started asking questions priests didn’t know when He was five and had millions of followers and twelve He especially chose to be his main followers. Now for some comedy AKA the best dad jokes ever #1 when you’re cold go in the corner it’s 90degrees #2 someone wanted to change their name to vertebrate and they asked someone over the phone for some more names he coulden’t come up with any so he said I’ll cal you back #3 (the final one) our neighbors are really into classic music but their garage floor is hard rock. That was the Christmas story.God bless you merry Christmas.

Kolton Dearden

THAT ONE SPECIAL CHRISTMAS

Once upon a time, in a far away land there lived a special heart warming island that invented a quite particular holiday we know as, Christmas. There were over three hundred people on that island about a town's worth of our tiniest state fitting over three apartments, two hundred buildings and ninety three sheds and half of the island had trees and then the day came the day they invented the holiday called Christmas, and the date was the twelfth month, the twenty third day of the fourth century. They chopped down enough trees to be able to breathe on the easter islands! Then they lit over twenty thousand candles while decorating their trees and their houses and then the lumberjacks swung their axes and chopped the biggest tree down. They set it up in the center of their huge town, and started to decorate it with shiny spheres they called ornaments. Next colored on light bulbs red and green the two main Christmas colors, and put ladders on the tree branches.

Then they attached all the lights and the rest of their ornaments on the huge tree. You could have seen it anywhere in the United States. It was that bright and then they sang beautiful Christmas carols. It made the entire world smile and cheer as they sang along to their Christmas carols. Then the next day came and they all realized what day it was. They were all excited that the day is almost here! They screamed with cheer all over the island; it could've been heard all the way around the world! That's when the first snowflakes fell from the sky, tis be true, it was their first time seeing these white flakes fall from the sky. They were so shocked to see white flakes that fell from the sky as well as seeing gray clouds produce snow flakes as well as they did rain. They were trying to figure out what to do. All of a sudden their tribe leader sayed “we shall build sleds, our scientists created the idea to play in the white flakes as they dance their way down onto our blessed island and we celebrate our Savior God.” Then they started to give presents to each other under the tree. Then the 25th day came. They all cheered with glee!

Olivia Gilseth

THE SNOW STORM

One night there was a terrible snow storm. It was unforgettable. The whole town was peaceful, not a snowflake in the sky. One of the families that survived the storm was just sitting on the couch watching the movie “ELF” but in the middle of the movie they heard the wind howling. They were so confused they decided to look outside and what they saw sent shivers up their spine. It was Christmas Eve at 12:00 am. They didn't see Santa.

They saw so many clouds. The whole family knew something was off. They ran down stairs and the

youngest was crying. The two oldest were trying to calm her down, as the storm went on it got worse and worse it felt like it never stopped. The storm wasn't just any storm, it was three natural disasters at the same time: a tornado, earthquake, and a blizzard. The family understood what was happening. They heard a story called “Santa Didn't Show Up”. The mom told the whole family that the story is coming true. The reason Santa came every Christmas Eve night at 12:00 is because he would fight off the storm. The next day the only three families that survived got a letter from Santa saying that he got tied up so the storm would hit the world and that the storm took out the whole town. They were the only survivors.

Frankie Ludlum

THE DAY SANTA WAS STOLEN

Once upon a time in a far far away land, there was a village called Snowy Alley and Snowy Valley was very close to the North Pole. The day before Christmas Santa was in his workshop checking the nice and naughty list when the doorbell rang.

Santa got up to see but then a snowman came out of nowhere and tied Santa up. Santa yelled, “Help me elves. “The Elves ran to the workshop to try and save Santa but then more snowmen came and stopped the Elves from saving Santa.

The leader of the snowman Mr. Puff said, “If you want Santa back then bring me the best blueberry pie there is in the world.” So Santa's head elf Edde had a group meeting about how to make the best pie in the world. An elf named Kaisen said we could use the magic blueberry from the Forest of Doom. All the elves agreed because there was one other choice they needed to save Santa before Christmas was ruined so they set off to the forest of doom. When they arrived there were all kinds of dangerous creatures. They had to be concise in the forest of doom. Halfway in the forest five big mean trolls jumped out of some bushes. The trolls told the elves if they wanted to pass they had to give them a peach pie. Easton, a fellow elf, had a peach pie with him and he gave up on the condition that they don’t hurt them so they let them pass. Finally, after a lot of pies, they reached the blueberries but then an evil elf named Twinkle and his dog Chessestick said, “You have to answer my question if you want the blueberries.”

The question is what is Santa's real name, no one knows Santa's real name except for a boy Joshua and a boy named Jace they both said, Saint Nicholas.” Twinkle was impressed and gave them the berries. They went back to their workshop and spent three hours making the best pie, then they called out to the snowmen when the snowman tried the pie he it loved and gave Santa back.

Santa was proud of the elves for going into the forest of doom just to save him. They lived happily ever after the end.

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 31

7th - 8th GRADE STORIES A CHRISTMAS WISH

Once Upon a Time, there was a girl named Katie. She lived at an orphanage. She hated Christmas, she hated the idea of everyone getting together with their family and spending time with each other, mostly because she did not have a family. Every year for Christmas the only thing she got was a chocolate coin and a candy cane.

Katie was thirteen now and she knew that nobody would ever want a teenager. Katie’s best friend, Sarah, loved Christmas, She loved the fact that everyone got together with their families, which made her want one even more. Katie kept telling her that she was never going to get adopted anyway so she should just stop wishing. One day, Katie went into her room and saw Sarah packing a bag. Sarah told Katie that she was getting adopted. Katie was in shock, she never expected Sarah to get adopted. Katie was happy for Sarah, but she was also sad because she knew she would never see her again.

Christmas eventually came around which made her hate Christmas even more because she was all alone. She had no one to eat her chocolate coin and candy cane with. About an hour later, Sarah came back with her

parents. Sarah told her to pack her bags because she was going to be adopted and she and Sarah would be sisters. And they all lived happily ever after. The End

Amy Davila

CHRISTMAS TERROR

On Christmas Eve Holly and Hope spread Christmas cheer. In the town of Christmas Cove, there is a Christmas cheer meter. While they were delivering presents they turned around, and suddenly didn't recognize where they were.

They looked up and saw a sign that said “ WELCOME TO CANDY CRAZE.” They looked at each other in shock. They were in a different town! It wasn't far but they didn't know the way back. So they asked for directions but nobody answered.

Hope knocked again and then they heard footsteps. Suddenly the Door swung open hitting the wall with a “THUNK”. Before they knew it something or someone pushed them in. Hope and Holly woke up shivering, realizing they woke up in a snowy globe, alone and cold. As they slowly trudegd through the deep snow, they could hear a faint sound. As they ran the faint sounds grew louder and louder. they saw young children sledding and having snowball fights. Every house is well decorated with lights in a tree. As Holly and Hope walk further into the town they see a Big house that sits on a small hill. As they ran to the small house they felt a sudden sense of warmth

and home. They looked around and saw a barkery. The pies looked very familiar just like the one their family make every year.

From the smell of warm pie and hot cocoa, they thought it would be a safe place to stay overnight. Here I see it's not a myth sour path people were REAL oh the joy that came over Holly was unexplainable.

As Hope was walking by out of the corner of her eyes she saw Sour Patch fishing for Swedish fish and the great blue gummy sharks. Everyone looked so happy and so bright compared to Candy Ville. Not for long though after someone found out they were Elves. Suddenly people started freaking out running into one another. Sooner or later a Siren was going off. Later on, nothing was as it seemed everyone was screaming and fighting some chasing after them they seemed so evil, Not so much now candy canes were being thrown, and Christmas trees were being knocked over.

Gingerbread houses crumbling. IT WAS CHAOTIC. Then Holly and Hope took a candy cane and smashed it against the snow globe as the jumped out of the snow globe.

RE

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

ADE

R'S C H OI C

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2021

BEST OF THE WESTERN EDGE RE

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SS THEDICKINS ON PRE P ON

2022

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BEST OF THE WESTERN EDGE

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2020

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THE D ICK INS

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SS THEDICKINS ON PRE P ON

THE D ICK INS

Rebecca Miller

THE D ICK INS

WINNER!

BEST OF THE WESTERN EDGE RE

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THE CARE YOU WANT,

FOR THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE.

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32 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

7th - 8th GRADE STORIES Zoe Whipple

THE GRINCH ELF

There once was an elf that worked for Santa. This elf was tired of Santa’s joyfulness, happiness, and jollyness and he was sick of the world finding joy in this holiday. So, this elf gathered the other elves that worked in Santa’s workshop and made a plan. This elf’s plan was to ruin Christmas and he had the perfect way to do it. He was going to rig all of the presents that Santa was going to deliver on Christmas Eve and create chaos in the world. But he wasn’t going to stop there, he was going to attempt to capture Santa. When this elf explained his plan to the others, some were hesitant, but he was able to convince them.

They got to work. They drenched the clothes in tomato juice, they put rocks in the toy cars, and put dirty socks in all the stuffed animals. But that’s not all. They also snapped all the wooden trains Santa handcrafted. Before they knew it, it was time. Santa was about to take off to deliver presents to the world. But little did Santa know that Christmas was ruined. The elf knew that the world would have a rude awakening on Christmas morning when they joyfully opened the presents Santa left them. Once Santa was in the air and was off to deliver presents, the elves celebrated the beginning of their uprising. When the mastermind elf was making a toast to the rest of the elves about their plan he exclaimed “As a wise man once said ‘merry christmas you filthy animals..” The elves cheered. Santa was finally back. Santa was walking to his house where Mrs. Claus was waiting for him. Then this mischievous

elf decided this was the perfect time to capture Santa. He did it! Then this elf did a victory dance.

When the world woke up for what they thought would be a joyful Christmas morning, the parents were confused and the children were sad.

Christmas was ruined and would never be the same without Santa. The elf had finally canceled Christmas. But what’s to become of the world without Christmas?? I guess we’ll find out next year.

every one showed up to his and gave him presents cards and they all hide and the snowman went outside and saw all the presents And cards and he was never so thankful in his life. And everybody came out from hiding every body said “Merry Chrismas!”.and that was the end of the jolly old snowman.

Johnny Jordan

HOW CHRISTMAS STARTED

Jason Jones

SHREK ON CHRISTMAS

One day, it was Christmas Eve, shrek was putting his kids to sleep then suddenly… He heard footsteps on the roof it was late at night he was in his pajamas and ugly Christmas sweater. He went outside to see what the noise was he saw deer on the roof and heard his wife screaming inside. He went inside to see what was happening and he saw one of his good friends santa clause they sat down and started to chat. They talked about everything how it was going in the North pole the elves and some other stuff how shreks kids were doing. How shrek's wife was doing and more stuff that was happening in their lives and slowly they just started ranting and it all turned bad they both drank a little to much eggnog.

They started having arguments about everything sports and just a lot of other conflicts. Eventually they started fighting after that they passed out and woke up in the morning and forgot what happened. In the morning Someone was at the door it was the elves but i didnt see them at first because i had to look down. They were to short for me to see after that we all had jolly time and had a lot

of fun together. The night Shrek had planned was boring but santa saved christmas for him and made it fun and then the elves made christmas day even better they all had so much fun together. since that moment they were bestfriends and gott even closer shrek ended up moving him and his kids and wife up to the north pole. The elves and santa and shrek all became even closer it was like they were non-biological brothers and they lived lived together happily ever after.

Cooper Bren

THE JOLLY OLD HAPPY SNOWMAN

Once there was a snowman he had a nickname and that was the jolly old happy snow man. The reason they called him jolly is he was always happy and cheerful and reason why is every time christmas he would always give presents to all the little snowmen and one christmas it was his best and also his last cause he was melting and everyone heard about it so on christmas day

Once upon a time, on a night just like tonight. A boy named Mason Jraz was laying in bed, wide awake so excited because it was Christmas Eve night. But when he fell asleep, he started thinking. Thinking about where did Christmas originated, and why was Christmas created? Then he fell asleep and had the most adventurous dreams.

So when Mason first fell asleep and was entering a light sleep, his dream began in a dark void and he couldn’t see anything. But then something appeared, it was small, and fast and Mason could only catch glimpses of it. But when he least expected it, an entire world appeared with war going on and countries fighting against other countries. After starring in excitement and fear.

Mason felt a tap on his shoulder then he looked over and saw the thing flying by around him just a second ago and it happened to look like a fairy but it looked like it could sit on his shoulder like a parrot. And as he was admiring the little fairy.

It apparently it’s able to talk. Then it told Mason ``You are witnessing the war between Rome and itself in the 4th century, when Rome separated itself in two.” Then Mason asked, “Why are we here.” The little fairy said “We are here because

Cheers to you! With Greetings and Gratitude FROM ALL OF US AT DAN PORTER MOTORS

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CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 33

7th - 8th GRADE STORIES Parker Logan

this is where Christmas originated.” Mason then thought about this then he asked “Well why did we want to have Christmas. We must have wanted to have it for a reason.” “We created Christmas for one important reason and I’ll tell you soon just look in front of you.” Said the fairy. Mason looked in front and saw little lambs prancing and a man with a shepherd's crook in his hand approaching a woman. And the woman was holding a brand new baby. Mason asked, “Is this the reason Christmas was created, because of a baby?” The fairy replied, “This is Jesus, he was born on this day. This is why the Romans created this holiday.” After Mason thought about this for a good while, he then woke up and thought about everything the little fairy had said. On how the Romans created Christmas to celebrate the birth of a new being and how long we’ve had Christmas. Then he remembered that it was December 25th and that he has yet to wake up his parents.

SANTAS MAGICAL ADVENTURE

Brayden Wiesinger THE BLIZZARD THAT TRICKED US ALL

One day in June it started snowing,.,/ and everyone lost track of time. They thought it was almost Christmas and the calendars had lost track of time. The toys went on sale, the clothes went on sale, everything was on sale, and the stores were busy. Santa and his elves had to work double overtime to get caught up with the toys. He was so busy with the toys that he forgot about his sleigh, and the day he was about to take off he remembered. His sleigh was the only thing in the universe that could tell the

right time. He saw that it was only June 24, not December 24, so he unloaded his sleigh and went to tell the world what day it really was. When he got to America, he told all the news stations the truth about the day, then China, And the rest of the world. Everybody was really bummed that it wasn’t Christmas, and that Christmas wasn’t for five more months. The End

I awoke to a very loud noise as I watched in horror. Santa was doing a swan dive face first in the snow. As I sprinted I realized he could perish any minute while I remembered my coat, hat, boots, and mittens. When I stood over Santa, I was in denial.

“Yes Yes Yes. I knew I could count on you, the brother of Marley and Sou. Ok, we have lots to do.” Said the big man in red. Now where is my sled?

“Santa Santa this is a dilemma you are in no shape to continue and I won't let ya,” I said As the big man spoke I realized we must get him home but I didn't know the way and where the sleigh was. But then he called out by name.

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and Vixen, now Comet and Cupid, Donder, and where are Rudolph and Blitzen?

With no sleigh, no reindeer, and no hope we sat and thought about what we could do but we had no clue. Then I thought “How about we venture back and have the elves locate the reindeer and sleigh.”

Santa exclaimed “Hey great idea kid. First, we must travel through the candy cane forest, then the gingerbread village. From there we must brave the tundra and the sugary circuit, travel the syrup sea and just wish the yetis take pity on me!”

As we voyaged along we rose to alarm. We were fine as we hit the village and some kids asked about our pilgrimage. The cold was awful. We were tired and hurt and I wondered, “hey Santa,

what event occurred?" He said, “Rudolph slipped and rolled and took the sleigh on a wonderful fall.” I was hungry and Santa exclaimed, “Little boy just eats a sugar plum or another candy.”

As we approached the sea we hitched a ride on a narwhal and witnessed the Swedish fish swim he said, “ No humans besides me and Misses have ever witnessed this trip.”

As we approached the yetis cave they looked in dismay the abominable snowman stared and laughed and exclaimed, “Yes, you may use the portal and voyage back to the pole now you must dash away all.”

As we arrived we heard “Hooray you saved Christmas thanks man now we must deliver!”

After that night I was the savior of Christmas!

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CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

34 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

7th - 8th GRADE STORIES Kiya Prescott THE ELVES

Once upon a time there were elves, and they were naughty. They would get in trouble all the time.

Their names were Tim and Tod, and they were brothers. One day they got caught and had to go to the dungeon. They were caught stealing candy canes and eating them. All the other elves were mad and had to make much more for the children.

There were only two days left until Christmas and they were short by 10,000 candy canes. This was not Tim and Tod's first time going to the dungeon, and it was not going to be the last.

While Tim and Tod were in the dungeon, they had a bright idea to try and escape. They did not know how they were going to, but they knew for sure that they did not want to stay in there any longer.

This dungeon was like a jail cell but creepier. One of them was going to try and distract the guard, and the other was going to steal the keys. They did this right before it was nighttime so they could sneak out at night.

They successfully got out, but they still had to get out of the building. They slowly opened the door as the guards were asleep so they would not wake them up. Then they started running out of the door. No one ever saw them again! They were worried about them, but they still had to do Christmas. It was the day of Christmas and Santa delivered all the presents and candy canes. Thankfully, they made the rest of the candy canes that they needed and had another successful Christmas!

The End

Bailey Johnson It was the week before Christmas Eve, and the suspense was unbearable, except for Kris. Christmas was always somewhat depressing for him since his family couldn’t afford much except for some notebooks for him to write in, or a simple shirt or pair of socks from Walmart. He appreciated his family a great amount, but he wanted to get something nice, like his best friend Sal always did. Sal got the nice stuff, the stuff you’d be jealous of such as the new iPhone or a cool gaming setup with LED lights that shone vibrant colors to make his room pop. Kris sighed, knowing he’d just get a pair of socks. He always did. His drawer was filled with cheap white socks from Christmas, and he always had to pretend he was thankful. Though he didn’t truly love the gifts he received for Christmas, the fuzzy warm feeling of happiness still tingled inside of him. He was overwhelmed with joy just getting to see his family together, unwrapping their new book, or a new pack of pencils. But this year was different. His big brother, Noah, was sick. Very sick. He had gotten cancer, and his family poured all their money into making him better. Noah was always there when their parents weren’t, and Kris was absolutely devastated that Noah couldn’t be there anymore. Noah was barely hanging onto life, and Kris was determined to get him that treatment he desperately needed.

For all that week, he did extra chores for the elderly and made sure to start a fundraiser at school, practically begging people to help poor Noah, rotting away in the hospital bed. Kris had a day or two before Christmas break, so he had to work fast. At the end of the short school week, he had raised 2,000 dollars. That was not nearly enough for the treatment. That day, Kris went home and cried with his mother. He cried for Noah, and all the Christmas’ he’d never spend with him again.

But there was a miracle. A knock at the door could be heard, and when it was answered, Sal’s father had come to donate. Kris’s family was able to pay for Noah’s treatment. This was all Kris needed, for this was the best Christmas of all.

Jory Stenberg

Lyncoln Thomas

HOW RUDOLPH SAVED CHRISTMAS

On the foggy morning of December 4, Rudolph woke up and walked outside; he could feel the snow whipping and hear the wind howling around his cozy, warm barn. Rudolph wished he was still inside that warm barn but instead was on his way to see Santa. He finally arrived at Santa’s big office and heard Santa exclaim, “Good morning Rudolph, how did you sleep?”

Rudolph replied, “I slept amazingly, thank you.” “ I have a task for you” Santa said in his calm voice. Rudolph responded quizzically “what is the task?” Santa said, “Can you please go fix up the sleigh for me to give kids their presents?”

Rudolph bounced excitedly “are you kidding me, I get to do that for you?!” “Yep you do!” Santa laughed at Rudolph’s excitement. Rudolph was working hard on the sleigh; he was finally working on the last part… the wing, one last twist and bam, DONE! Rudolph stood back and looked proudly at the work he had done, Santa would have a great flight. Finally, Christmas Eve had arrived. Santa put the bag of presents in the sleigh, he rounded up all the reindeer, they all came except Cupid. Santa called to Cupid “Come on, it’s the best time of the year, time to deliver presents!” Cupid replied quietly,” Santa, I’m sick.”

Santa looked around and said ”I’m sorry but we don’t have anyone to fly in your spot.” Cupid said, “what about RUDOLPH?” Santa turned and looked at Rudolph “Can you fly for me tonight Rudolph?” Rudolph looked at Santa in disbelief and said, “me? YES!” Rudolph and all the rest of the reindeer hooked up to the sleigh and took off into the night. When they got to their first stop, Santa jumped out of the sleigh and dropped down the chimney to deliver the presents.

Rudolph was so excited, his first year helping Santa. Stop after stop they landed, delivered presents and took off, the night was what dreams are made of. Finally, the last presents were delivered and they arrived back at the North Pole. Santa hopped out of the sleigh and walked up to Rudolph “how did you like leading my sleigh tonight?” Rudolph said, “I loved it!” Santa responded with “Rudolph, you saved Christmas!”

The end.

Violet Greff

LEAN SAVES CHRISTMAS

Swoosh, the headmaster heard something coming from downstairs. She slowly crept into one of the orphanage’s rooms, peaked inside, and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. That’s when she heard a small cry coming from the large wooden doors. She walked to the door that was letting in a cold breeze, opened it slowly, and saw a young child around the age of five sitting on the steps with nothing but a teddy bear that said Lean.

She brought her inside, changed her into a night gown and sent her off to bed.

Eight Years Later It was the day before Christmas, when Lean realized that the girls didn’t have presents.

She went to Ms. Harris and asked, “Why aren't there any presents?”

Ms. Harris said, “I'm not getting them anything I don’t want to waste my money.”

Lean was determined to get the children presents even if it meant more chores. She walked to her room and looked through her closet for anything she could give the children, there was nothing. Time had flown because it was already time for bed.

Knock knock, Lean woke up with a startle. She wrapped a blanket around her and walked down the stairs to answer the door. She opened the door and saw nothing, but a deserted street

SANTA GONE CRAZY

Santa was a very jolly man and loved to do his job, but one day he realized it was the same thing over and over again. He always would fly to the same places and do the same thing, but Santa did not like this and was going to change that. First Santa decided to make the reindeer make the toys and the elves fly the sleigh. Next, he was no longer going to give the bad kids coal, instead he would give them rotten eggs and vinegar. Also, he changed his flying route. Finally, he no longer made hot chocolate, instead they made apple cider.

The elves thought Santa has gone crazy. Even Mrs. Claus thought he was crazy. The elves had to stop Santa before Christmas night. They got Jeff, one of Santa’s best friends, to help them. They told Jeff to talk to Santa about going back to normal. Jeff met with Santa and they talked for a while about the good old days and then Jeff talked about what Santa was doing. He said the elves cannot stand having to try to fly the reindeer, do not know how to make toys and everyone does not like apple cider. Jeff told him to go back to his old ways, but Santa liked to change some things at least. So, Santa talked to everyone about going back to the old ways but changing some things. Santa kept the changes to the route but he brought back everything else. The elves, reindeer and Santa were all happy in the end. The end

William Grist

A SHORT CHRISTMAS TREE POEM lightly dusted with snow. She started to walk away and heard a knock again. This time she slowly opened the door and stepped outside, and it all went black. She woke up in what seemed to be a toy factory. There were many small people who wore red and green suits with red hats and name tags.

Lean had stopped believing in Santa the day she was left on the steps of the orphanage, but she knew they were elves and that she was in Santas workshop.

Lean walked over to one of the elves and asked, “Where am I.” the elf didn’t respond. Suddenly it went silent.

A man in a red suit walked down the steps and said loudly, "Is Lean here.” Lean walked over to him and said,” I'm Lean, are you Santa?” he said,” I am, let's get you some presents.”

She followed him to a sled full of presents and got in. They flew back to the orphanage.

He dropped of the presents and said’ “Have a great Christmas Lean.”

Family Christmas A Christmas feast No one ate the least A fun little game to play No one won any fame A little after game dessert The dessert was ate by many No one under the age of 8 ate Some started to take some naps As the day began to start ending Everyone was to lend a helping hand As some started to leave Goodbyes were said tears were shed The end

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 35

7th - 8th GRADE STORIES Max Manolovits

Hannah Greff

Trees are starting to thrive Holiday cheer is going to arrive Elves are starting to head back to the North Pole

H-Happiness O-Opulent T-Tempting

Flying through snow that likes to blow Ice freezing on the way while people put fall decorations away Rudolph is going guide the sleigh Santa is flying over bays Through towns and cities covered in lights

C-Creamy H-Heavenly O-Out of this world C-Comforting O-Obsessive L-Luxurious A-Addictive T-Temporary E-Exquisite

North Star shining big and bright Ornaments are being hung and sleigh bells ringing Everyone gathering around and singing Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow.

Jack Nasset

Making Gingerbread men EATING apple pie Reindeer Ripping paper Yippy CHRISTMAS carols HOHOHO Really cold In a snowbank Sledding Toys Making CHISTMAS dinner Around the tree Secret Santa

Shaunie Mayer

Holiday Memories Memories being made.

Everything is just right.

Red and green lights all around.

Riding in a one-horse open sleigh.

Years go by so fast.

Caroling door to door.

Home for the holidays.

Rushing to church.

Icicles on rooftops.

Sending letters to Santa.

Traveling to family and friends.

Making cookies.

Angels watching over families.

Savoring family time.

JOY TO THE WORLD MAY THE HOPE AND BEAUT Y OF THIS SEASON EASE YOUR CARES AND FILL YOUR HEART WITH HAPPINESS. WE’RE GRATEFUL TO BE SHARING THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON WITH ALL OF YOU, AND WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR FRIENDSHIP!

ST. LUKE’S HOME

PARK AVENUE VILLA

242 10TH ST. WEST DICKINSON, ND 701-483-5000 WWW.STLUKESHOME.COM

1050 PARK AVE. DICKINSON, ND 701-483-3000 • WWW.STLUKESHOME.COM

WE EXIST TO DEMONSTRATE THE COMPASSION OF GOD BY PROVIDING QUALITY CARE THAT ENHANCES THE DIGNITY AND RESPECT OF EACH PERSON WE SERVE.

ASSISTED LIVING WITH THE COMFORTS OF HOME

36 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

9th - 12th GRADE STORIES WINNER!

Maeva Kuehl

Ruby Nasset

THE SNOWGLOBE OF SPIRIT

Johnny was ready for Christmas to be over as his dad carried out the last present.

“Here bud, I got you something special,” his dad says. Johnny reluctantly tears open the small present only to be met with an ancient-looking snow globe. Johnny was unimpressed and he stormed off to his room. “Johnny wait-” His dad called after him. Johnny slammed his door behind him.

His room looked like a lump of coal; all the Christmas spirit was sucked out. As he lay in bed, he took a closer look at the snow globe.

A town with wooden cottages was covered in snow and Christmas decorations. He decided to shake the snowglobe and suddenly his room filled with snow and slowly morphed into the town. Johnny was in shock and found the closest cottage for shelter, the cold nipping at his skin. Inside was a short stubby man. The man turned around, seeming unfazed by Johnny’s presence. “Welcome to the North Pole,” Lucky exclaimed.

“What are you?” Johnny stuttered. “I’m an elf, duh,” Lucky replied. “You’re here for a reason, just like all the other kids who lost their Christmas spirit, but I’ll help you get it back.” Lucky turned the corner and Johnny followed. “Here is where we get your memories,” Lucky explained, “I’ll enter your name, it'll bring up why you don’t believe anymore.” Johnny rolled his eyes and watched as Lucky typed his name into a huge gold machine. Lucky then turned a crank and Johnny watched as a blue orb morphed into something he couldn’t believe. The light was now him and his family laughing last Christmas. The memory played through until the end when Johnny fell asleep and his mom carried him to bed, carefully tucking him in.

Tears stream down Johnny’s eyes, remembering his mom’s love for Christmas. He had ruined that spirit after she passed away last year. Riddled with guilt, he realized he had to bring the Christmas joy back to his family.

His heart had taken a turn for the better, he knew what to do. Lucky nodded at him and the snowy world morphed back into Johnny’s room. Johnny crept out of his room, careful to be quiet. He stuck the snow globe on top of the mantle of the living room.

Standing back to look at it, he knew his mom would’ve loved it.

Domynic Barnett

This all started with this little boy, in a Winter Wonderland, of the North Pole. This little boy's name is Scott. One night he went to sleep in his warm cave with a warm fire, and when suddenly he awoke to a cold breeze, the fire went out. Scott heard a sniffing sound.

Scott shouted “hello!” Scott heard nothing, so he approached the sniffling sound and saw that it was a reindeer. He got on the reindeer, and it took off. It was flying. Then, the reindeer went to what seemed to be a small hut with a bunch of little moving things. but as he got closer I realized those little moving things were elves. All the elves lined up, so Scott could introduce himself to the elves one by one. Then there was this last one, He said” I think I have seen you before in a book, I think you look like Santa Scott.” I said “No he is just a lost boy in a winter wonderland and now in this amazing place, with all of you, the amazing elves.” Then all the elves started chanting “Santa, Santa!” So there he was named Santa. Then the elves said you should get some rest. So, Scott did just that. When he woke up he was amazed by what he saw. A festive big house that was his own

THE SNOW GLOBE

that was as big as the white house and started telling each and every elf thank you and what to do, like he has done this forever.

Abigail Dupre

It’s Christmas Eve and Remy’s family is moving to Reindeer Village. When they finish loading their luggage into their small car, they all climb in and are on their way. As they drive along the snow-covered roads they spot cute little animals and the many snowy mountains the Arctic possesses. They arrive in Reindeer Village and head toward their new home, passing other reindeer and the businesses and stores within the town.

Remy guesses that the reindeer who are out and about are doing some last-minute Christmas prep. Upon arriving at their home, their neighbors come over to greet them and after minutes of talking, the neighbors gift Remy and his family some freshly baked gingerbread cookies. Remy and his little sister steal a cookie from the beautiful glass plate before running into the house.

They munch on their yummy cookies and explore, each one of them claiming a bedroom. That evening Remy and his family head to the town square, to participate in one of the reindeers’

many traditions, counting down till Christmas and Santa’s arrival. All of the reindeer stand together, hold hooves, and sing. They then hear a jingle and a ho-ho-ho, and the sound of a magical sleigh nearby. Santa lands his sleigh in the town square. “Ho ho ho!” Santa shouts gleefully.

“Merry Christmas!” “Santa!” many of the little reindeer children shout with joy. Everyone shouts with joy, but not Remy. He is having a great time and is excited to meet Santa, but he notices something, Santa looks worried. “Santa, are you okay?” Remy asks Santa, receiving strange looks from the other reindeer. “Well, thank you for asking Remy,” Santa climbs down from his tall, shiny sleigh, and walks into the crowd, “You see, I only have 7 of you pulling my sleigh tonight.” Reindeer all throughout town square gasp. After inspecting the sleigh, the reindeer who isn’t there’s family looks sad. Santa looks around, “I need a brave volunteer to help pull my sleigh tonight.” Beyond excited, Remy looks up at his mother, and she nods assuringly. “I would like to volunteer!” Remy shouts with ambition and joy. Santa looks over at Remy, “Thank you son! Yes, come over here and join us, you will travel the world tonight!”

It was Christmas day, and presents lay under the tree, awaiting their time to be opened by the children. Gently fallen snow covered the ground.

Lights were hung on every house and every Christmas tree was covered in ornaments of all shapes and sizes. The smell of pine and peppermint filled the homes, longing for the joy of the holidays.

It was about 7:00 when Henry got out of bed, excited to see what was waiting for him under the tree. He made his way to the living room where his two little brothers, Freddie and Brady, were waiting with his parents to open gifts.

“Good morning, Henry dear, would you like something to eat before digging into the presents?” asked Mom sipping on a cup of coffee.

“It’s about time you got up Henry, we’ve been waiting forever!” announced Freddie eagerly, interrupting Mom. “I’m good Mom, it looks like everyone is ready to open presents.” Henry said ignoring Freddie’s remark.

Henry reached down into the pile of presents and picked up a little red box, with the name Henry written on it in big black letters.

“Who’s this from?” Henry asked his parents. “It doesn’t say?”

“Hmmm, I don’t know?” Mom replied looking at Dad with a confused expression. “Open it up and maybe it will say.”

Henry took the cover off the red box and a layer of tissue paper lay inside. Seconds later, he took a small snow globe out of the box. It was a beautiful snow globe, but Henry noticed something that caught him off guard. In the snow globe, was their house.

“Look at this!” Henry shouted showing his parents.

They all looked at the snow globe in amazement.

“Let me see!” yelled Brady reaching for the snow globe.

Brady grabbed the snow globe out of Henry’s hands and began to shake it. Suddenly the whole house began to shake, and books were falling off the shelves. The sound of dishes and ornaments shattering spread throughout the house. The gently falling snow outside turned into a white wasteland, and snow was piling several feet high.

Henry ran towards Brady, grabbed the snow globe, and set it down. The house stopped shaking and the weather began to clear up. Everyone spread terrifying expressions across the room as they looked down at the small snow globe.

Carter Brown

A CHRISTMAS HAIKU

Snow falls gently down Lights on the houses shine bright Joy and cheer prevail

Jaycia Thomas

IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME

It’s a season in December A holiday we all remember A time of joy and celebration It’s a time of love and utmost jubilation When snow is on the ground and happiness is all around The lights are hung, and people cheer as the holiday draws near We drink hot chocolate and decorate the tree and wear Christmas sweaters as silly as can be Outside the cold wind blows but inside the fireplace glows We all know and love this season and call it by its name It’s Christmas time now, let’s all join in the reindeer games!

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 37

9th - 12th GRADE STORIES Aubrey Whipple YOU ARE LOVED

It was Christmas morning. The winter chill came running through Timothy’s house. He had no tree, no lights, and no one left to spend Christmas with. He hated Christmas.

His wife, Monica, had passed away on Christmas Eve six years ago. So every Christmas he was reminded of being alone. No one helped when he felt so lost and alone. He never felt loved anymore. He found no joy on the day of December 25th.

Timothy sat back in his rocking chair and looked out his window. He saw a new family moving into their home.

He saw children sledding on snow drifts, he saw the trees bend in the wind. He watched the snowfall dance across the sky. He thought about how he missed Monica. He hated Christmas.

A little later in the day he heard a faint knock on his door.

He was perplexed at whoever it could be and why they had come to his doorstep. He opened the door, just a crack, seeing a small girl, with big brown eyes looking back into his. The child had a coat much too large for her and in her hands she held a casserole. “Merry Christmas, sir.”, the young child said to him with a smile, handing him the casserole. “My family is having a Christmas dinner tonight and we wanted to invite you to join us.” Timothy couldn’t believe it. “Why do you want me to come?”, Timothy asked the young girl. “Because it’s Christmas and everyone deserves to know they are loved.”

The night came and Timothy had decided to go to the girls home for Christmas dinner.

He was welcomed at the generous family’s table and they enjoyed the meal all together. They laughed and talked of old memories. Timothy was even given a gift. It was a photograph of Jesus holding his hand out to you. It had an inscription saying, “We love because he first loved us.”

Later that night, the young girl who had welcomed him so kindly came over and talked to him.

“Hello, sir. I'm so glad you decided to come! I hope you had a very merry Christmas!”, she said with a smile. “Thank you. I haven’t felt loved in a long time. But now, I know I am.”, he responded with a smile and a twinkle in his eye.”

With Much Appreciation We Wish You A Happy Holiday Season

Wishing you and your family the Gift of Faith the Blessing of Hope and the Peace of His Love at Christmas and always.

Heidi Uecker, HIS, BS, MBA, Licensed Hearing Instrument Specialist

112 3rd St. W., Suite 203 • Dickinson 701-483-3588 • 866-396-8388 www.miracle-ear-dickinson.com

38 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

9th - 12th GRADE STORIES Emily Manolovits Many cookies on the table Even presents under the tree Rising early in the morning Running to see Yelling down the hallway Christmas morning is here!

Hearing Christmas music makes me Rush to open presents Impatient as I am Stepping on ornaments Tumbling over them Making me fall right in the Amazing tree when trying to get back up Something was missing! All presents had gone missing

Willow Mestan

THE REAL REASON FOR CHRISTMAS

Hi! My name is Sylvester, and I'm a cat. You may not know this but a cat's favorite holiday, like many humans, is Christmas! Who wouldn't love it? We celebrate this special season in as many ways as our owners, by being kind and merry, giving gifts, and doing favors. We also get all sorts of fun new things to play with, like the ornaments on the tree (who cares if one or two come crashing down?) or the Poinsettias (which might be missing a few leaves). Overall, this season is just wonderful! Every morning you get to wake up to your humans brewing their favorite Christmas coffee. We cats try to be extra merry by not tearing down your curtains or ripping needles off the tree. Sometimes you even get an extra snuggle. If that's the case for you, your cat is extraordinary! Most of us will either sit and growl, more than likely at you, or we won't truly be snuggling, we will just be using you as a pillow. We also like to leave presents every day until Christmas, in unsuspected places like your pillow, the shower, and other hidden realms.

We always enjoy seeing the glee on our owners faces when they find them. Sometimes we even surprise them on the spot with a lovely hairball to the leg. They always seem to enjoy that most of all. Our owners are always pleased with us at the end of the year, for our immaculate display of good character. But more important is the real meaning of Christmas, every creature coming together to worship God and thank him for the birth of His son, Jesus. That's the real reason for Christmas. The End

Ashlynn Swindler CHRISTMAS STORY

It was the day before Christmas, and all the elves were working hard to get everything ready in time. Toys were being built, gifts wrapped, and reindeer were being wrangled. Tinsel and Noel had different jobs. They had to get Santa's sleigh ready. They walked to the building where the sleigh was kept, and when they turned the lights on the sleigh was missing.

They had no idea where the sleigh could have gone. They decided to split up and look. Noel went to the reindeer stables. She checked everywhere but could not find the sleigh. Tinsel checked the storage building. All he found was old Christmas decorations and old toys. They met at the building where the sleigh was kept and looked in every room. No sleigh was found. Tinsel decided to check the takeoff area. No sleigh was found. Noel checked behind the workshop.

No sleigh was found. They checked for hours and chose to tell Santa the sleigh was missing.

They both walked up to Santa’s office and knocked on the door. He opened the door, “We can't find the sleigh” Tinsel said. Santa looked confused at first, and then started to chuckle.

“Merry took the sleigh to go wash it, he must've

forgotten to tell you two.” Noel and Tinsel walked out of Santa’s office and headed towards the wash area. When they arrived, they found Merry snoozing away in Santa’s sleigh. Noel woke her up, and they helped Merry clean the sleigh.

After they finished cleaning the sleigh, they put all the gifts in the back. Santa put his suit on, and the other elves got the reindeer ready for takeoff. The sleigh got put on the runway, and off Santa went to deliver gifts.

Grace Dazell

O COME, ALL YOU UNFAITHFUL

The hot stage lights illuminated the piano, and an eager audience held their breath as the pianist began to play. Her hands flew delicately across the keys, producing an ever sweet melody as each note blended with the next. The music gently faded, and the listeners rose to their feet as one body, clapping and cheering. The warmth of the stage lights turned to cold darkness, and all that was left of the scene was the ringing of applause in Dottie Meier’s ears. She lay in the dark silence for a while, relishing her most recent dream.

Falling back to sleep came harder than waking up, due to the echoes of music that hung like a joyful, faint memory in her mind.

Her mind still raced the next morning, as it often did, with uncertainty and questions of how, instead of living her true joy of sharing her music passion with the world, she had succumbed to the lowly position of teaching a group of immature high schoolers musical theory. Dottie snapped back to reality just as the students finished taking their seats. She dismissed them to rehearse for the upcoming Christmas concert, one of the biggest events at the school by far.

The room brimmed with Christmas melodies from wall to wall. And as the days passed by, the clamor of it all was soon replaced by a clear melodic refrain. Dottie admired their hard work but still wished for more.

A longing for true happiness still burned within her, a flame that she felt would never go away.

The night of the Christmas concert was no different. The audience shuffled in and took their seats. Dottie watched from a closed curtain,

as butterflies quivered uncontrollably in her stomach. The audience quieted down as the first student took the stage. One after another, each performed what they had planned. Dottie readied herself to end the program, when the last student began to play an unfamiliar piece.

The student began to sing a song by Sovereign Grace, and the lyrics hit Dottie like a freight train. “O come, all you unfaithful, come weak and unstable.” She stood there frozen for a moment, realizing she was the unfaithful one, and all this time she had been searching for an everlasting joy that can only be found in Jesus Christ who came down that first Christmas night.

Pierson Frieze

SANTA’S SKY SURPRISE

Once again Christmas came around and Santa thought to himself about how riding in a sleigh was getting quite boring and wanted to change it up this year. So he went looking for another way to deliver presents and Christmas spirit. First, he found a jetpack, but he declined that choice since it would be hard to carry presents. He kept looking everywhere whether it would too small or just wouldn’t be just right. At last, he gave up but then he noticed the sun was blocked so he looked up and saw a “HOT AIR BALOON!” He joyfully yelled as he ran back to the workshop and had the elves make him one. Christmas Eve came around and there he was flying delivering presents to boys and girls in a hot air balloon. As Santa delivered the last present, he said to himself, “What a successful and exciting year this was.”

Jaycee VanLishout

THE CHRISTMAS STAR

There once was a little girl who loved Christmas.

Her house had many decorations, and lights so bright you could see them down the block. But there was one thing missing; the star up on her tree broke. This was no ordinary star; it was a special one. One she got from Santa only a few years ago. The little girl felt disheartened. That night, while laying down for bed, she thought of Santa Claus. She pictured the elves hard at work, and the reindeer playing in the stalls. She slowly drifted

to sleep with a smile on her face. When she woke up, she wasn’t in her bed; she wasn’t in her house at all! All she saw was snow sitting on the window frame in a room lit by a fireplace. She rubbed her eyes, still drowsy from sleep. She thought this must be the North Pole. She got up, walked through the halls, and saw quite a sight. Boys with pointed ears, hats and shoes popped around the corner. She immediately knew they were Santa’s Elves. One grabbed her hand and led her down the halls, she reached two great big doors. They had engravings of elves, reindeer and a sleigh. The center in big red letters said “Santa Claus’ Office”. The elves pushed open the doors, and she saw a man.

The man had a big, white beard, small glasses, and a round belly. He was wearing a red shirt and pants with white fur on the cuffs. “Santa!” she cried, staring up at him. He smiled and laughed a jolly laugh. The girl ran up to him, astonished at the sight. She told him all about the star, and how he gave it to her, then how it broke. He listened and told her, “Now, now, don’t get too upset. You can take the star from my tree!” Santa then reached up on his tree and grabbed the star. The star was so bright and beautiful; not nothing like she had ever seen before. Santa picked her up then said it was time go. He sprinkled her with Christmas Spirit, waved goodbye, and she closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes, she was back home with the star in her hand. She ran down the stairs as quickly as she could, and placed the beautiful star on her tree, a smile on her face.

Jozie Stenberg

A BACKWARDS CHRISTMAS

As Santa and the elves were loading the sleigh something felt... off. Once they finished, Santa took off for the first house. The first gift was for 15-year-old Noel. Santa thought it was very strange that she had asked for a pink and purple pony, but he left it under the tree and carried on. Up the chimney he went, loaded his big red bag, and got ready to take off. Santa called his to reindeer like normal, “On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer, on Vixen, on Comet, on Cupid, on Donner, on Blitzen!” Santa’s sleigh rose into the night and started going BACKWARDS! The sleigh then turned upside down and flew to the next house.

Santa pulled on the reins to try and flip the sleigh right-side up, but nothing worked. He then arrived at the next house and the same thing happened!

This time the present was for a 4-year-old girl, and she had asked for the newest iPhone. Santa went up the chimney, loaded the bag, and once again the sleigh flew in reverse and upside down. House after house, city after city, this happened repeatedly. When Santa arrived back at the North Pole Mrs. Claus met him at the stables. She gave him a cup of cocoa and they walked to the workshop.

Santa told Mrs. Claus what had happened, and she laughed. “Oh Nick,” said Mrs. Claus, “You always know how to make me laugh.” Days passed and Santa could not forget about his crazy Christmas Eve. Santa went to his elves, and he asked them to check the footage on the Jingle Cam to see if anything strange had happened. Everything seemed normal. Santa walked to the Cocoa Café to get a cup of the famous Candy Cane Cocoa. He sat and thought over what had happened before he set out that day. Later that night Santa sat reading a book, trying to take his mind off the event, when suddenly he remembered something. That night a new elf hooked up his sleigh. Santa went back and checked the cameras again. It turned out the elf had put everything on BACKWARDS. This had caused his list and sleigh to be backwards. Santa watched as the elf hooked up piece after piece...

BACKWARDS!! Suddenly everything that night had started to make sense. Having all the equipment BACKWARDS makes the Magic of Christmas work in reverse.

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

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9th - 12th GRADE STORIES Michael Greff

elves will need help making the presents. As they say, when old traditions die hard, new ones arise.

THE SUBSTITUTE

Natalie Wiesinger

It was the day before Christmas and everyone in the North Pole was sleeping. Everyone except for Santa, who was laying on his bed. He had come down with a cold. Santa had been feeling sick for a while now but did not want to think about it. He had been in the workshop working on toys when he fainted and fell to the floor. He had woken up in bed and Mrs. Claus was sitting beside him. He asked what had happened and she told him how she had found him in the workshop.

He was scared that he might not be able to deliver presents tomorrow. He understood what he had to do. He had to find someone to run the route for him. He was trying to think who would know the route best. The tooth fairy might but not everyone had lost a tooth yet. He could send one of the elves, but they were too small. He knew that he must be forgetting someone. When finally, he thought of just the right person. He knew who would fly his sleigh on Christmas night. In the morning, he called up the Easter Bunny and asked him if he would do it. The Easter Bunny said he would gladly fly the sleigh, but he didn’t know how to. Santa told him not to worry about it, Santa would walk him through it. Santa taught him the reindeers commands and their names. He taught him how to steer and how to stop. Finally, Christmas night had arrived. The sleigh was full of presents and the reindeer had their reigns on.

The Easter Bunny had been made a suit, so he looked like Santa. He hopped up on the sleigh and bid everyone farewell. Then he said the famous words “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night”.

S-Santa N-Noelle O-Ornaments W-Winter F-Family L-Evergreen A-Angels K-Kindness E-Elves S-Sleigh

Jada Ottmar S - Santa Claus T - time with family N - naughty & nice list I - icicles C - Christmas H - holly O - ornaments L - laughter A - all together S - snowflakes

Allison Grist

A long time aGo, There was a lIttle Gingerbread Man. This Gingerbread maN loved Christmas a lot.

StartinG after Thanksgiving The GingerbrEad man was always singing Christmas songs eveRywhere he went.

He sang so much, others Began to leave him out.

He was Really sad, so he made a plan to make theEm like him again.

For A whole week he didn’t sing, and the others starteD including him again.

Without his Music, he wasn’t as jolly.

Others saw how sad he wAs, and sang him his Favorite Christmas soNgs to cheer him up and to make up for being bad friends. Every Christmas since, the other Gingerbread Men are always happy to hear his joyful songs.

Laila Poff

GOOD CHRISTMAS

Christmas eve is here again, a young girl with rosy cheeks putters around. She turns a snowy corner, her eyes widened. 3 older boys bullying a stray puppy. The young girl gathers all her might.

“HEY! LEAVE HIM ALONE!” Her voice booms, the boys look at her. She can see the agitation in their eyes. They scatter. Once they're gone the little girl goes up to the small white dog. She hesitantly puts her hand out, her small fingers trembling. The dog moves back. She gets closer.

“I'm not gonna hurt you little guy!” She says, the dog hesitantly walks up to her. The girl picks the dog up. He was frigid. She takes off her hat, and wraps the dog in it. “I think I'm gonna keep you.”

She mumbled, the girl's family barely had enough money to feed themselves. The girl ignored this fact. “I’ll call you Dusty!” She smiles, the dog lets out a happy bark.The girl knows better than this.

She looks up at the sky. “Dear Santa, please help my family this year.” She says with a twinkle in her eye. She holds her new puppy closer to her chest, the two of them walk home. She walks into her small home. “Mom…?” Her little voice said. “Your home Chelse! Finally!’ Her voice was panicked. The little girl's voice cracked. “I'm sorry mom! But I couldn't just leave him!” Her mom looked at her confused, until she looked down into her arms. “Oh..Chelse..” Her mom held her.

She let out a sigh as she held the young girl. “I know you're going to ask to keep him,” her mom sighs. “and…yeah, you can. I love you Chelse.” The little girl's eyes lit up. “Really! Thank you Mom!” Her mom smiled. “Now get off to bed, your brothers and dad are already asleep! Santa will be here tomorrow.” The little girl brings the puppy to her bed, and slowly drifts off. Santa touches down onto the roof. He knew all about Chelse’s good deeds. He knew about the struggles her family has been facing. He left…a christmas miracle. Her family woke up the next morning, and found all of their wildest dreams under their tree. Money,

Sampson Swindler

food, dog toys, dog beds, toys, blankets. Everything. Chelse looked up at the sky again, and whispered. “Thank you Santa.” Now that was a good christmas.

Hailey Steiner

STEINER’S CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

The definition of tradition is the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way. Some of us may have traditions like putting the Christmas tree up right after Thanksgiving, or maybe keeping their Christmas decorations up until July. Our Christmas traditions are a bit different than what you might think... You see my family traditions are helping Santa deliver presents. It’s not as easy as you think even though it has its benefits where we live. Mott, North Dakota is a smaller place for sure, so it is easier distance wise. The hard thing is everyone knows everyone. We can’t just get caught delivering presents like nothing or else the jig is up. We need to be secretive and sneaky while then having to act surprised when someone

tells us what they got. Knowing every present everyone could possibly want does make getting birthday presents really easy. This all went down the drain in one year, though. We were doing our normal tradition, and I was delivering presents to one house. It was Savannah’s house, a good friend of mine and a classmate. I knew what she would want, but let me tell you this present was a piece of work. She wanted a new puppy for Christmas! I don’t know why Santa thought it was a good idea to put the puppy into a box with holes cut into it.

My task was to get it into her room. I thought it would be easier since her room was in the basement, but it was a nightmare. I used the magical dust Santa gave me and got into their house with ease until their puppy, Ranger, saw me. Saying a puppy was an understatement for this dog since he was huge. He began to jump on me and alerted Savannah that I was there. Being caught made me lose our family rights to help Santa out on this hectic day, but at least Savannah did get a new puppy. Plus, I was allowed to name the puppy so that was good. Though who knows, maybe the

My family gathered around the table.

Everyone having a good time Red and green Rudolf Your presents under the tree Christmas Happiness Rounding up the kids for dinner I love my family Swindler Christmas Time spent with family My friends showing off their presents All the family relaxing and eating too much food Stiener Christmas

40 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

9th - 12th GRADE STORIES Hunter Smith

CHRISTMAS STORY

Once in a snowy forest, a happy family was looking for a perfect Christmas tree for their home.

The family was made up of a married couple and their two boys. The boys were named Jamal and Joquin, Jamal was the oldest at 14. The family searched for many hours upon hours for this elusive tree, getting distracted by the beauty of the forest and all that it held. The snow sparkled in the branches of the trees as the sunlight reflected off of it. So, The air didn’t move much due to all the trees being so close together. The closeness of the trees made it harder for the family to find the tree they wanted. After many hours in the forest dad suggested they split up to cover more ground and find their Christmas tree before dark fell. Jamal and Joquin went together and searched high and low for the perfect tree. Marking a few trees here and there that were particularly nice looking or had cool branches.

Jamals phone rang, it was his dad asking if the boys found any good trees. He replied in the affirmative, so dad started walking the boys with their mother in tow. He briefly wondered if the tree would have a dead bird or half acquired in it because boys are weird, and he was their age once. He found the boys in a clearing with three or four trees sprinkled within. The boys ran to their dad exclaiming about the perfect tree. Dad decided to have the boys show him the trees that they had found. The first tree the boys showed them was barely two feet tall, it was cute but wouldn’t be due when it came to hanging ornaments. The next one looked like it was on a diet of no leaves and was honestly just a dead log on the ground, but he humored the boys with a few thoughtful sounds making it seem as if it were a tough decision, it wasn’t. The afternoon was filled with the boys running rampant through the forest proclaiming that this tree was perfect, or this tree was perfect and bickering about echo was right and why they were stupid. Finally, mom wandered off by herself and found the perfect tree. For their wonderful family loving Charismas dinner gathering get together. THE END

Marcus Watson

Nicholas was walking with his older brother Kris back to their cabin they lived near their hometown of Northern Polus, the town was beautiful and always smelled of baked bread, Nicholas was known throughout the town as the most generous boy you could ever meet, with a heart of gold and hair lighter than the sun, he had a goal of being the most generous person on earth and giving gifts to all the children of the world. They were coming back from hunting and were headed back to their home.

“Kris, how much longer?” Nicholas asked with worry in his voice Kris answered annoyed “Not long now, we’re almost there.”

After walking for so long they finally make it, but to their surprise, their parents disappeared.

“Where’s mother and father?” Nicholas asked “Not sure, wherever they are they left a note,” Kris states.

Kris found a letter, “My dear sons, your mother and I are hiding now, there are foreign soldiers on our land trying to take us to camps. By the time you get this, they’ve taken us already, we’re sorry this happened to you, my sons. Love father.” Kris read aloud.

“So where do we go?” Nicholas asks with a panicky voice.

“Not sure. The town’s been destroyed, we’ll have to travel far to escape the war.” Kris answers After a long time of walking and hiding from soldiers, they approached a forest that smelled of sweetness and tart the trees looking red and white. They see all these short figures come out to meet them.

“Don’t be frightened, we’re elves; we can help you on your journey, follow us, we will lead you to a place of ice, and no one will find you.” The elf answers The Elves guide them through their Elf forest till they reach the icy land, the glaciers floating in cold waters and white bears far out. But when they made it, Nicholas contracted a disease that had no cure.

They built a little village for the boys and the elves to live in.

Kris came to visit Nicholas as his end was near, “Worry not little brother, I’ll carry on your dream.” Kris said Kris became Santa after his brother’s passing. Kris got used to traveling the world, but during the other months, he would travel and meet his own Mrs Claus.

They had a son and named him Nicholas.

Audrianna Aloisi SANTA NEEDS HELP

It was weeks before Christmas, Santa and his helper elf Kenzie were making sure the other elves had everything they needed to make the billions of toys for Christmas. The workshop was like a wooden mansion, filled with handmade desks, stairs, and tiny elves. The elves worked hard but still had many toys to make, which had Santa worried. As weeks go by the elves get more and more done, they’ve finished just in time.

Santa and Kenzie load up all of the presents on Christmas Eve and set off. It’s almost Christmas day and Santa realizes there’s still many presents left.

Kenzie starts freaking out, trying to think of something. Kenzie was the lead Elf for the past 2 decades, she can’t mess up now. She spots a snowman, a jolly ole snowman. She quickly tells Santa her plan and he immediately goes to the snowman. Santa tells him that they need help with the rest of the presents.

The snowman introduces himself, his name is Frosty the snowman. Frosty was a very kind snowman, he had lightly painted cheeks, a cute smile and a friendly persona. He had a little cute black hat on, he was about 6ft tall, towering over Santa and Kenzie.

Frosty wasn’t like any other snowman, he could talk! And walk! Frosty was eager to help Santa and Kenzie, he was so excited.

“Thank you so much Frosty!” Santa said.

“Well how can I say no to the one and only Santa?!” Frosty exclaimed.

All of them get into Santa’s bright red and gorgeously decorated sleigh. It was beautiful, all of the green and white went perfectly with everything else, it blended in flawlessly. The seats were covered in a soft textured red velvet. They took off, excited to deliver presents.

They had barely made it in time, all of the presents got delivered to all of the kids. As they were finishing up Santa dropped Frosty off where Kenzie had first seen him.

Frosty, with an enormous smile, waves goodbye to Santa and Kenzie.

Santa yells out, “Merry Christmas!” before disappearing.

As night becomes day, all of the children surround their Christmas trees like piranhas swimming to their food. All around the children scream and shout in glee. Eventually the kids go outside and play while their parents watch from afar.

The sun rose, so now it was Frosty's turn to say goodbye.

Piper Scheitlin

IS SANTA REAL….?

The night before Christmas is always so exciting.

Every kid sleeping tight in their bed, dreaming of the next morning to come. Hoping to wake up and see the real Santa. Some odd, magical reason led to the fact that no one has ever seen or caught him. As some start to wonder… is he even real? It took this one curious little girl one Christmas Eve night to find out the truth. She set brilliant traps everywhere. There were at least 25 traps! As she was patiently waiting she started to doze off. As her eyes start to shut the alarm in her headphones set off. She jumps up and runs

to the living room. To her surprise Santa wasn't what she expected. Looking up at her parents in the net hanging from the ceiling. They were holding presents labeled “from: Santa”. As she runs to her room her parents yell “We can explain sweetheart!”

Tears in her eyes as she runs away she yells back “No presents can ever make up for this!!”

She cries all night and falls asleep. The next morning she woke up to her parents waking her up with breakfast in bed and tried to explain.

“We got a text from Santa saying he was sick so we had to help out and put your presents under the tree.” her mom tells her while she hands her some hot coco.

“I'm just a little hurt that you guys didn't tell me before. It's okay I want presents!!” she says as she jumps out of bed and runs downstairs. They all go downstairs and start to open presents and have a great Christmas, with hot coco and warm breakfast with laughs and hugs.

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 41

9th - 12th GRADE STORIES Kaitlyn Kadrmas CHRISTMAS STORY

Once upon a time in the picturesque town of Dickinson, North Dakota, there lived a kind-hearted girl named Emily. Christmas was approaching, and the town was abuzz with excitement. Emily couldn’t help but wonder about the true meaning of Christmas. One snowy evening, as Emily gazed out of her window, she noticed a homeless man shivering in the cold. Touched by compassion, she decided to invite him in and offer him warmth and a hot meal. The man's name was Mr. Jones and he had fallen on hard times. As they sat by the fireplace, Emily listened to Mr. Jones's story. He had lost his job and his wife, leaving him feeling hopeless and alone. Emily's heart went out to him, she realized that the true meaning of Christmas was not just about gifts and festivities but about spreading love and kindness to those in need.

Determined to make a difference, Emily rallied the community together. They organized a Christmas charity event to raise funds and collect donations for the less fortunate. People from all walks of life came forward, offering their time, resources, and support. The event was a grand success, and the town was filled with a renewed sense of hope and unity. Families in need received food, warm clothing, and toys for their children. The joy and gratitude on their faces warmed Emily's heart, Reminding her of the spirt of Christmas. On Christmas Eve, as Emily and Mr. Jones stood outside, gazing at the starry sky, a miracle unfolded before their eyes. Snowflakes started to fall from the sky. They twinkled so brightly, that it was as if they transforming into tiny shimmering lights. It was as if

the universe was acknowledging their acts of kindness and spreading its own miracle glow. At that moment Emily realized that the true meaning of Christmas was about selflessness, compassion, and the power of love. It was about coming together as a community to support and uplift one another, just like twinkling lights in the night sky. From that day forward, Emily and the town of Dickinson continued their tradition of giving back during the holiday season. They understood that the true magic of Christmas lies in the simple acts of kindness and the genuine connections forged with others. And so the story of Emily and Mr. Jones became a timeless reminder that Christmas is not just any day, it is a day of love and faithfulness.

Rachel Tay

LOVE AT CHRISTMAS

Josh and Avery were a lovely couple. They had been together for 8 months and loved each other so very much. Josh would do anything for Avery.

Although they were dating, he lived very far away from her. This was due to Josh’s past. Josh was from a broken family where love never existed, especially during Christmas time. His parents would fight and argue and the Christmas spirit was never present. Josh could not take any of this and decided to move out at a young age to a lonely house in the middle of nowhere. Though this act had hurt him a lot, he knew it was best for him.

It was around Christmas time and colorful lights were everywhere in the town with snow filling the streets. Avery went to visit Josh and had asked him to come over for a Christmas dinner at her house because he had never met her family. There was a problem though; her house was in the town

which Josh despised. Josh wanted to say no so bad, but wanted to make his girl happy. Saying yes, she jumped into his arms making him smile.

Not entering the town for 20 years, all the lights and decorations disgusted him. Finally entering his girlfriend's house, the smell of gingerbread cookies hit his nose. Christmas carols were playing and children were in the living room watching “The Grinch''. Dinner was almost ready and Josh could not wait to get this over with. After all, he was doing this for his girlfriend. They started doing Christmas activities like hanging up ornaments on the Christmas tree. Josh was slowly enjoying this but did not want to give in. Not knowing, he had a smile across his face.

Soon enough, Josh was singing, laughing, and having fun with Avery’s family. He had regretted wasting all his time alone and not celebrating Christmas with people who love him. Josh was as happy as a kid in a candy store as Christmas memories were flowing through him. Seeing and believing in Christmas, he felt the spirit and love all around him. Josh decided to move into the town to be closer to his girl and her family.

He also decided to look for his family so that the Christmas joy could be spread all over.

“I love you Josh”, said Avery with delight.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS bravera.bank ADV-252

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CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

9th - 12th GRADE STORIES Aaron Tuttle The house where no one goes, all alone lived the man who had no joy. He always stayed inside, never once came out, ever since he was a young boy. He never liked Christmas for as long as we’ve known. He never put up decorations or lights or anything for the holiday. Every winter his lake freezes over, and I sometimes catch a glimpse of him ice-fishing. I always figured it would be best not to disturb him. Every Christmas Eve, the town falls asleep awaiting for Saint Nick.

I catch him in the sky sometimes, and he always skips the man's home. So, I wrote my gift list this year, ending with a question.

“Why do you skip the old man?” hoping for a response I wake up the next morning to a neatly folded slip of red paper. A response.

“As a young boy, his mother passed away. Her favorite Holiday was Christmas. Without her, he fell down the Grinch path. So for his final list, he asked for me to never stop by his home again.”

No more gifts? I didn't know what to do. But I got an idea. I grabbed my jacket and dashed to the outside of town. I stumble to his house. Closer than anyone would even think about going.

The smell of dust and wood coming from the chimney. I peeped through the window and saw the old man. Sitting all alone at his table with an empty seat across from him. An empty plate sat in this empty spot. I jump to the door and ring the doorbell. The door opens.

“What.” He says, looking down at me.

“Hello sir, I was wondering if you would like to join me and my family tonight for Christmas dinner.” I asked, looking back at him He blankly stares behind me at the town, searching for his answer.

“Why?” He asked.

“Because I know Christmas is better with people.

I understand you lost someone close to you” “Yes, my mother. She loved Christmas.”

He looked behind him at a faded pink chair next to his fireplace. His mother's chair perhaps “I don't think your mother would want you to stop celebrating. She would want you to keep going. For her.”

“Fine,” He says, grabbing his coat He steps through the town gates and stops.

A tear falls down his face.

“It's beautiful,” he says.

Logan Hibichuk CABIN RULES

It’s been three years since I've last seen my brother. There was nothing we could do. Almost a week before Christmas my parents found a nice cabin in the woods to rent out. The family's green Ram SUV blaring Christmas music and my little brother growing ever restless from being stuck in a car all day, I never liked traveling. As I stepped out I was immediately buffeted by strong winds and almost sharp snowflakes, which scratched at my already chapped lips. We all hurried to take in our bags, as I got to the door the wind gusted and nearly pushed me off my feet.

We all got settled in when my father noticed a piece of paper taped to the counter island with big letters at the top that said “CABIN RULES, READ ME.” As we read the paper the more ominous it became, from “Rule 1 clean up your messes” to “Rule 11 if you hear anything on the roof stoke the fireplace.” That was when Christmas arrived, around dusk when we usually open up gifts, that's when things picked up. The wind grew to monstrous strength and battered against the cabin, yet it stood sturdy.

Then there were loud thuds on the rooftop

you’ve been naughty and not nice.” The head elf asks Santa “how do we be nice?” Santa told them that they should return all of the trees and decorations, so all the elves grabbed the trees and decorations and put them all back in the houses all around the world while Santa delivered all the presents. The elves saved Christmas, HOORAY! The elves feel joy for the first time in their lives.

Santa asked them to be his little helpers in the North Pole and they agreed. Santa and the elves go back to the North Pole and start making presents for next year. As of now the evil elves are nice maybe not next year!

Isabella Samman

FORGOTTEN ON CHRISTMAS.

getting closer to the chimney, we stoked it and that was that, and nothing happened until we were getting ready for sleep.

The thuds returned along with a jolly laugh but there was nobody downstairs when it started so we all had to push ourselves to get downstairs and by the time we reached the chimney it ceased, all of us stricken with lingering terror.

That's when my brother screamed for us to help him, a long pale, and spindly arm stemming from the chimney latched to his ankle. Before we could even cross the room he had been taken, reeled up the chimney, fearful screams echoing, and then not. leaving my brother at the mercy of whatever was on the other end of the chimney.

We burst through the front door with our belongings already on us, and hurried to get in the car, for the rest of the night we battled sleep and an icy road to get far away from that cabin.

Since then we've never felt safe at home and every Christmas, we hear a distant and distorted “Ho Ho Ho!” taunting about our loss that day.

Cayden Poeverlein

THE LITTLE EVIL ELVES

It was a cold and snowy night before Christmas and all the little children were getting ready for bed thinking about their presents they got to open in the morning. Their parents were staying up talking, laughing and drinking eggnog. As everyone is falling asleep, something sneaks into all of the houses in the world. Someone is stealing all the Christmas trees, all the decorations and even Santa’s milk and cookies. It was as if Christmas had disappeared. What happened?

Little evil elves had stolen everyone’s Christmas!

When Santa saw what was going on, he went house to house and he saw no Christmas trees or decorations in sight. As Santa trots along one of the houses, he sees little tiny footprints the size of an elf.

“OH NO,” says Santa, “It’s the little evil elves, they have stolen Christmas from all the families!”

Santa pondered for a moment but couldn’t figure out what to do as there was no way to replace the trees and decorations before the children woke up on Christmas morning. What could he do? While Santa was trying to replace Christmas, he saw an evil little elf out from a rock. Santa calls to the evil elf. “Evil elf, evil elf, come out at once!” All of the evil elves came out from the ground behind the rock. Santa asked them why they stole all the Christmas trees and decorations. The evil elves said to Santa they did it because they didn't get a thing for Christmas.

“Santa, why do humans get presents and we don’t?” The elves said. Santa replied, “Because

Once upon a time, there was a girl. This girl loved Christmas. Every year she would beg her parents to cover the house in lights until it was as bright as the sun. Out of the whole Christmas season, the little girl only had one problem.

Santa forgets about her. Her parents always said that Santa couldn't visit every child on Christmas. That never made sense to her because he is Santa. Every Christmas she would have hope.

Then when she would come down the stairs the tree would only have a single present under it.

The gift from her parents. She never let the disappointment get to her.

“This will definitely get his attention,” she would say as she put a large sign by their chimney.

No matter what she did, she was forgotten.

When December 1st came around she started doing what she always did. Her parents had called her into the kitchen to tell her the news.

“You're gonna have a baby brother,” This was the best news she had ever heard.

As the night went on she had a constant thought, “Santa is gonna skip him on Christmas too.”

She knew she would have to do something to get his attention. But what could she do that she had never done before? She went on with writing him a letter. The little girl wrote him letters every year. This one was gonna be different.

“Dear Santa, I have always wondered why you forgot me every Christmas. Why not give me coal if you didn't think I deserved it? This isn't about me though. I am going to have a baby brother. I don't want him to go through what I did every Christmas. So please don't forget him.”

The girl reread the letter one last time before slipping it into the mailbox. She walked back inside with little hope but she knew she would always try. The only thing the girl could think about was Santa missing her brother. Before she knew it, it was Christmas Eve. That night she did the only thing she could think of, put out fresh cookies and prayed.

As she walked down the stairs on Christmas morning something caught her eye. The living room was filled with presents. She was over the moon. As she looked around she saw her parents smiling “I guess he finally remembered.”

Sequoia Lambert

In the stables of the chilly North Pole, smelling of fresh icy snow, a reindeer named Rudolph.

This reindeer is special, with a red glowing nose.

You’ve heard how jolly and happy Christmas can be. Simply that's just the traditional genre of this holiday, but is it all true? The tradition doesn’t quite go how you would think, but I need you to listen to me.

Let’s look at Rudolph, he’s in the grimy, stinky stables all day, not even a breath of fresh air.

He is weak, lying there every second of the year.

This reindeer is sad and alone, treated so poorly.

Barely fed, paid attention to, oh the poor creature. Being the wife of Santa, Mrs. Claus, have I

never believed to have a husband so wretched as Santa to let this lead on. A man of great glee like a mask, but behind, a man of terror.

My heart hurts watching Santa still use Rudolph for his sleigh, Rudolph is too weak… I must now go, I pray this night will end hastily.

This Christmas will be a good one I tell you.

We’ve already completed preparations for the sleigh, with the reindeer harnessed, and magic fuel to fly. The elves are such good helpers, they never get tired, they never stop making toys, machines I tell you. Now I must go deliver jolly gifts to poor and rich. “ Hey stop slackin’ off ya wretched deer!” I yell, “ Stand up, or else.” Rudolph may be trembling, but he just needs to toughen up. “ Get on with it Rudolph!” Finally, the runt turns up. A rough ride it tis’, but gifts are to be delivered regardless the condition. “ Rudolph, get a darn move on, we don’t get all night! Hohoho,” I yelled, but he kept near passing out mid-flight.

The sleigh starts to shake. I don’t know what to do, he’s now completely fallen asleep, the brittle thing. The sleigh is now falling. I can’t control it.

Gifts are everywhere. “ Rudolph! Wake up” he’s gone completely unconscious. We aren’t going to make it, we're both falling hastily through the air. I must call and say my farewell. “ My dear wife, I won’t be making it back, Rudolph passed out.”

“True karma it tis’? To treat a poor soul as you did?” Mrs.Claus says, “ He was far to weak and malnourished, you should have known beforehand.” “ I’m Sorry...”

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 43

9th - 12th GRADE STORIES Grace Mayer WINTER WONDERLAND DREAMS

It was a cold winter morning in Dickinson, ND. Leana was bored so she decided to go thrift shopping. Leana is a 16-year-old only child who lives with her parents and she loves thrift shopping. Leana arrived at the thrift store and she saw something that caught her eye right away. She grabbed it as soon as she saw the most beautiful magical looking snowglobe ever.

It was blue but with white snow and pretty trees almost like a forest but there were animals there too. Leana arrived home and showed her mom.

Suddenly her mom touched it and then she turned into snow.. Leana was scared she did not know what to do. She started to cry then she thought for a moment, “Wait let me touch it to see what happens too..” She touched it and then she suddenly saw snow-crusted trees, sparkly snow, a big magical castle, and majestic animals. She was speechless; she had no words. She was looking for her mom and she could not seem to find her anywhere. So she started to follow the footprints that led to the castle. She thought her mom had to be in there. As soon as she got to the snowy castle doors, she knocked and then walked in. A trap set off and suddenly Leana knocked out. Leana then

woke up in a room with her mom.

They were shocked and did not know what was happening. They talked about an escape plan but there were no windows or anything.

Then Leana had an idea, she slowly wiggled her wrists out of the handcuffs as the elf guard was asleep.

She got up to help her mom too.

“I am so glad you are okay Mom,” Leana said.

“We need to get out of here as soon as possible,” Leana’s mom stated.

They tried to go past the guard but they caught them and then that’s when Leana woke up…It was all a dream, yet she wished it was real because it was so surreal. Leana stood up and then saw the snow globe.

“What!” Leana exclaimed.

An elve then whispered in her ear, “You’re mine now.”

THE END

Keira Jones

There once was a little elf named Noelle. Now, Noelle wasn’t known for her hardworking nature, with her being more inclined to mess around and laze in Santa’s sled. Every year when Christmas inched closer and closer, the elves worked even harder. However, Noelle just goofed off as usual.

The other elves scolded her but all she did was shrug them off. All until one fateful Christmas day.

That day, tension hung in the air like heavy stones.

Elves were working and running around as if they were schools of fish. While Noelle was wandering

Wishing all our customers a joyous

Christmas Season!

around the workshop, she stumbled into a huge garage where Santa’s sled resided. But she noticed something off about it. One of the legs holding up the sled had a screw sticking out and the front handle seemed dislodged. She looked at the open toolboxes and back at the sled, shrugging.

“They must be fixing the sleigh or something, I’m sure they’ll notice.” As night steadily crept in, unease grew in Noelle’s thoughts, but she pushed them aside. Santa was just about to hop in his sled and deliver presents when the sled broke down suddenly. The whole North Pole yelled out in panic. It was only 30 minutes until Santa had to be out delivering presents to all the children! Noelle's fears had been realized as all the elves struggled trying to figure out what had gone wrong. She knew she had to do something, or Christmas would be ruined! Noelle pushed through the crowd of elves surrounding the sled. Noelle grabbed the toolbox and with her knowledge of what was wrong before, fixed up the sleigh with determination. All the other elves watched in awe as the sleigh began to function again.

One elf turned to her, “We’re so sorry we ever doubted you, Noelle!” “I should’ve fixed the sleigh when I saw it earlier. I could’ve ruined Christmas!”

Noelle replied, shaking her head. She looked down at her feet in regret until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Santa! He smiled at her warmly.

“But you didn’t, Noelle. You fixed the sleigh and saved Christmas for so many good children.”

Noelle smiled as all the other elves smiled at her with adoration, and soon enough, Santa was off delivering presents to children all over the world.

Noelle smiled as she saw his sleigh race across the sky.

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44 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

ADULT DIVISION STORIES WINNER!

Stephanie Boutelle

THE LONELIEST CHRISTMAS TREE

Once there was a lonely Spruce sapling that stood in a park, surrounded by many other species of trees. Every fall he would watch as the other trees changed colors and wished with all his heart that he could change too.

Yet when the weather grew crisp, he would once again be surrounded by shades of brilliant red, sunset orange, and golden yellow.

All the while he remained the same color all year long.

To make matters worse, when snow began to fall and winter came, all the other trees would go into a deep slumber. The Spruce would stand alone in the empty park while his friends slept, and the children stayed inside their warm houses.

As the years went on the Spruce sapling grew into a voluminous spruce tree. Then one winter day, the people began to act very funny. They marched into the park carrying ladders and boxes upon boxes. The spruce tree watched curiously wondering what could be in them.

The people began to wrap strange ropes around him which made him feel a little scared, but he knew the people had always been kind to him, so he tried not to panic.

Then they pulled beautiful balls of every color out of the boxes and started to hang them on his branches. The spruce tree thought he looked very beautiful in all his different colors. They finished by adorning a golden star atop his head.

As the sun began to sink, more people came.

They sang and played and drank what looked like very hot cups of mud. A funny man, dressed all in red, gave the children little striped canes.

Then the mayor gave a speech and the spruce tree looked in awe as the strange ropes around him burst into light. So too, did the star on top his head, shining brightest of all.

He gazed in wonder and thought this was possibly the best day of his life and couldn’t wait to tell all his friends. Weeks passed by and people came to take away all his beautiful ornaments which made the spruce very sad. He was cheered up when his friends awoke in the spring but a small part of him always missed those few weeks in the winter when he had been the most wonderful tree of all.

Then one cold winter day, the people came again

.John Loghry Twas the week before Christmas, A single father and his kids Sat down to watch a movie and not one that he forbids.

But a family Christmas movie for his children for a treat, One he knew they would enjoy; “ Miracle on 34th Street”.

After the movie was over, they looked to me and asked?

“If there really was a Santa Claus, or if that was in the past”?

I ignored their question, as any good father would do, I sent them off to bed, without a single.. “peek-a-boo”.

But, I sat in front .. of the Christmas tree and thought, The best way to explain, the presents I had bought.

I sat and thought, throughout the whole night, The next morning came and I had the answer right.

Do I believe in Santa Claus, Do I believe he lives?

Do I believe in sharing, and the happiness it gives?

Do I believe in a smiling face and eyes lit up with joy?

When Christmas morning finally arrive and children play their toy Do I believe in the tranquil setting, that only love will cast, When you wish a “Merry Christmas” to everyone you pass.

Do I believe in Christmas, the lights and trees adorn, The presents that we open, the day that Christ was born.

Well, yes, I believe in Santa Claus. and Yes, he’s real to me And I would give anything to sit upon his knee.

Amanda Bowman

What I want for Christmas!

Every year the same old question arises.

What do you want for Christmas?

I always answer, well you know I like surprises!

But this year what I want can't be bought at a store, no,this Christmas I want a whole lot more!

I want all of my friends and family to be safe. This world is becoming a scary place.

I want lower gas prices,no more rises in inflation.

This year I would love to be able to afford a vacation.

What I want for Christmas this year is harmony and peace, not the beginning of world war three.

I want to make a nice holiday meal for my family to eat.

So if we could make groceries cheaper that would be sweet.

My hope is for our country to be strong again,not weaker, so maybe throw in some new government leaders.

I want people to love others and just be kind.

But we need this every day and not just at Christmas time.

Maybe less stress and some bills to be paid.

A little less work and more time to play.

No more fighting and diversity.

Let's all come together in perfect unity.

Add in some egg nog and good holiday cheer.

This is what I want for Christmas this year!

Hannah Tormaschy

BARNYARD TALENT SHOW

It was Christmas eve night. The North Dakota skies set the stage with burning streaks of orange and blue. Every animal old and young excitedly hastened into the barn for the annual barnyard talent show. The winner received extra feed and utmost praise on Christmas day. The judges filed in, wise and perceptive as old age brings. "Welcome, and good luck!" as they lit the tree. The chickens opened, clucking "Jingle Bells" out of tune. The kittens tapped danced to the horse's rendition of "Prepare Him Room". The K-9's performed a tacticle present saving demonstration.

Judge Bud the mutt called "Walter, your poem is up next!" I cleared my throat and lifted my head.

Public speaking is something we mini donkeys dread. I set fear aside and started to recite, voice clear and eyes bright. "Long ago, my Granddaddy shared a story with me. That on a starry night, my ancestors stood in a barn full of glee. A baby had been born, who they called a king, So the animals gathered to rejoice and sing. Years later they watched that grown baby die, The cross marking on my back carries their cry. The barnyard talent show is a time to reflect, To celebrate the gift that was truly sent."

Silence filled the room, I hung my head low thinking I'd truly ruined the show. The judges dismissed everyone to bed, and I went to sleep as tears streamed down my head. My spirit was crushed, my heart dismayed, I had only hoped to bring joy that day.

The next morning, I walked to the trough, and was shocked to see the feast and celebration that lay before me. The farmer, his wife, and their children present too, not one person or animal was missing from the group.

"Your poem was true" Bud said. "So instead of a winner, we gathered our best to celebrate the king, and declare this day blessed."

Kacie Kostelecky

CASTLES IN THE SKY

Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch Her feet sunk in the fresh spring snowThe last expected that seasonShe twisted her face up to the sky Smiled, A big, bright, sunny smile, "I'm going to build a castle so big that it touches the sky!" so she began, day and night, piling the snow up higher and higher untilFinally, she could touch the clouds with her tiny pink fingers Hiding in her little pink mittens "YES!" She shouted, throwing her fist in the air.

Suddenly, she froze, solid.

Her eyes shot open wide as she heard a loud, Cracking sound beneath her Before she could take her final breath, she was swallowed whole by the avalanche.

Sometimes we're so busy building our castles in the sky, We forget to check for dangers waiting nearby.

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 45

ADULT DIVISION STORIES Anonymous Once apon a wish of a Christmas star. I wished for you to not be so far. You may still see us from the heavens above. For we can only feel you in the cool winter air. My wish upon the miracle Christmas star would to go back tens years in time. A time for questions, hugs and another last goodbye. For now I will seek the twinkle of my little star. To remind me of the happiness and love that was seen in the twinkle of your eye.

Geno Sloan

A CHRISTMAS TREE FAREWELL

My husband and I lived in central Mexico for several years while working on a project for General Motors. We enjoyed our stay, and particularly loved a mountainous town named Guanajuato, with colorful adobe homes built on steep hillsides.

We purchased a large painting of that beautiful city to display on our living room wall after retirement. Fifteen years later, my husband died of a massive heart attack. That November I put an ad in our local paper offering to give away our 6-foot Christmas tree, complete with lights and decorations. Since my husband was gone, the holiday spirit was not the same for me. I didn’t want to decorate the large tree that we had enjoyed for so many years, so had purchased a very small tree instead. On Sunday the phone rang. A woman with a very strong Latino accent asked about the tree. She and her family worked for a rancher about 60 miles away, but asked if I still had the tree. I agreed to save it and they arrived about an hour later. Walking in the front door,

they immediately zeroed in on the large painting above my couch. “Is that Guanajuato?” the man asked excitedly. “That is our home!” He explained that when they were not in the U.S. working for the rancher, they lived very close to that city in Mexico. I spoke to him about our stay in Mexico and the project my husband had helped construct.

“Oh, I know the factory!” he said. “It covers the valley below Guanajuato!” I told him how much we had enjoyed our time living in his country. The couple had small children; this was the first time they wouldn’t be home in Mexico for Christmas.

I was so happy to give them our tree, adding some extra strings of lights plus a large bag of ornaments. The spirit of Christmas was back in my heart. I think my husband nudged me toward placing the ad for the tree. Why else would a couple, so far from their country, find such a coincidental meeting on the prairies of North Dakota??

Hayley Reed

ESCAPING ON CHRISTMAS

The snow that has fallen left everything soft like a blanket. No matter where I go my footsteps will lead him back to me. I close my eyes and listen.

Then I run. I am not used to the cold air, my muscles already strained, as I run toward the sound of water. Snow does a funny thing to sound. It swallows everything whole. I haven’t made it far; I can taste blood. I try to hold my sweater shut as I run, my boots too big threaten to come off in the snow. I hear the loud slam of a door.

He knows. It sends electricity through my body.

My mind screams to keep going. I launch myself through the limbs of pine trees that dare to keep

me here. Suddenly, I feel cold water on my feet.

I pause, for only a moment. My breath floating up above me, escaping into the night. I close my eyes, “Mommy you look like a dragon” a memory. I shake it all away. He would be 8 years old now. I hear a noise behind me. I crouch down, close to the ice-cold water, my feet numb. Now Silence. I begin running in the stream. My feet feel heavy. Minutes feel like hours in the cold.

I cross along a shallow run and crawl up the embankment. Again, I hear a snap somewhere behind me. Keep moving my mind screams. As I break into an opening, I collapse to my knees. A tree stands before me, wrapped in warm white lights, twinkling. It takes only moments before a large hand clamps on my shoulder. The smell of him so familiar, it’s almost comforting. He leans in close. “I made it just for you.” I close my eyes, the pain finally registering. Disappointment making my head spin. He was not chasing me; he was herding me. “Don’t cry.” He whispers. “I know Christmas is your favorite.” Anger and vile rise from my stomach. I feel the sharp edge of broken metal with my index finger. “This will be the last Christmas you steal from me.” My voice so low, I am unsure he hears me. I see as the confusion in his eyes turn into a mixture of anger and shock as I drive the jagged piece of metal, into his throat.

Ours screams are swallowed whole by the snow.

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CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

46 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023

ADULT DIVISION STORIES Megan Donivant PEBBLES

“SANTA NEEDS YOU!” the bulletin read, with an image of a white-gloved finger pointed in my direction. “This sounds serious”, I think to myself. “What if Christmas is in trouble? Don’t worry, Santa, I won’t let you down.” I rip off the pre-cut tab of paper from the advertisement and read the hand-written number on it, 701-NRTHPOL I stuff it into the pocket of my tux and rush home.

I slide into the entryway of my wind-chilled igloo apartment and reach for the phone. My beak pecks out each number with precision and anticipation. Finally, a ring. “Ho Ho Ho!” a recording plays. “You’ve answered the call to be part of a very important mission. I need you, my friend, to bring cheer to a special group of young boys and girls. Your mission – if you choose to accept it – is in Dickinson, North Dakota. Report to 40 –”… when suddenly the call drops. Wait – what??

I pick up the phone and dial again. “We’re sorry.

The number you have dialed has been disconnected or is no longer in service. Goodbye.” No! This can’t be. Santa! The Mission! The kids!! They need me. I can do this. I can find my way. I won’t let you down, Santa Sir. I took the first Polar Express out of town and headed North. It took one train, two reindeer and four hot chocolates before I land at the Dickinson-Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport.

As I waddle into town, something catches in the web of my foot causing me to tumble forward.

“What the -- ? a peppermint? Ouch!” Bewildered, I continue my journey when another peppermint appears. And then another. And another. I follow the trail of red and white-striped candies all throughout town until the last peppermint is gone. I look up to face a large building that reads Hagen Building, 402. “Four-Zero… the mission!

This must be it!” I make my way up the stairs and reach for the door when a young and vibrant woman opens it for me.

“Hi!” she smiles, “I’m Julie. Santa said I’d be expecting you. I assume you found the peppermints he left for you. Welcome to DPS Early Childhood Preschool, home of the Penguins.

We’ve been searching for the perfect mascot for our kids, and I think you are PERFECT for the job.

Welcome home, Pebbles.” I stand posted on the 2nd floor of my new home. Everyday I’m greeted with smiles and high-fives by young boys and girls excited for another day of play and learning.

Families even stop by to take pictures with me.

Santa was right; this is an important mission. I smile knowing the cheer I bring to all of them and the cheer I’ll continue to bring year after year. I’m Pebbles, the Dickinson Preschool Penguin, and this is my story.

Rev. Lou Whitmer

THE PINK TELEPHONE

One December morning our mother took us on a rare shopping trip to Dale's Variety in Hettinger.

As we stood wide-eyed in this wonderland of toys, mom encouraged us to choose a toy for a child our same age. She explained it would be sent to a Children’s Home in Fargo and given to a child who had no family, no home and most astoundingly, no Christmas presents.

Could such a thing really BE?! After careful deliberation I chose the prize gift: a rendition of a 1950’s desk phone--pink with a blue receiver, and a bell that dinged when you dialed. We paid Mr. Quickstad, then piled into the ’52 mercury.

At home the gifts were elaborately wrapped and be-ribboned, and a handmade card attached.

Mom told us how happy our gift would make another child, but I was not convinced about this

the love and connection they shared.

As the clock struck midnight, Emily and Luke exchanged a tender kiss under the mistletoe, sealing their first Christmas together with a promise of many more to come. They fell asleep that night, their hearts filled with gratitude for the beauty of their love and the magic of Christmas.

And so, Emily and Luke celebrated their first Christmas together, cherishing the beauty of the season and the joy of being in each other's arms. They knew that as long as they had love, they would always find beauty in the simplest of moments, not just during Christmas, the but throughout their lives together.

give-away plan. Sure, we had parents, grandparents, toys, and a Christmas tree--but did I have a pink telephone with a blue receiver and a bell that dinged when you dialed? We once again squirmed into our snowsuits then imitating three Pillsbury Doughboys, waddled up the Post Office steps. I handed my gift to the clerk and skeptically watched it disappear. Christmas Eve morning we decorated a birthday cake for Jesus. As our masterpiece was created, mom told us the Christmas Story. That night after opening gifts with grandparents, our pajamas went on with nary a whine. The first piece of cake was cut for Santa, and we scurried off to bed. On Christmas morning we found our stockings filled with the usual trinkets, plus three extra gifts—Santa had really outdone himself! I don’t remember what my siblings received, but my extra gift was a pink telephone with a blue receiver and a bell that dinged when you dialed. It was my first lesson that giving doesn’t hurt a bit. Mom died just a few years later, but her gentle spirit and examples of living remain. Each Christmas season my heart is warmed by the memory of my pink telephone. As we head into this year’s gifting season, we do well to remember that each one of us is a gift waiting to be given to another. We have different outer wrappings, but inside we are quite alike.

We all dream, laugh, love, and cry—and within we all carry the image of the Creator.

Emma Dazell

HOLIDAY TENSION

Isabella Burke

Once upon a time, in a quaint little town, there lived a young couple named Emily and Luke.

They had recently moved in together and were eagerly awaiting their first Christmas as a couple. The air was filled with anticipation and the town was adorned with twinkling lights and festive decorations.

Emily and Luke spent days preparing for their first Christmas together. They carefully picked out a beautiful Christmas tree and lovingly decorated it with sparkling ornaments and colorful lights. The scent of freshly baked cookies filled their cozy home, and they wrapped presents for their loved ones with care.

On Christmas Eve, Emily and Luke snuggled up on the couch, sipping hot cocoa and watching the snowflakes gently fall outside their window. The room was filled with warmth and love as they exchanged stories of their childhood Christmases and shared their dreams for the future.

As midnight approached, they bundled up in their warmest coats and ventured out into the snowy night. Hand in hand, they strolled through the town, marveling at the beauty of the twinkling lights and the joyous laughter that filled the air.

They came across a small park, where a group of carolers were singing their hearts out.

Emily and Luke joined in, their voices blending

harmoniously with the melodies of the familiar Christmas songs. The sound echoed through the night, spreading joy and cheer to all who heard it.

After singing their hearts out, Emily and Luke continued their walk, their breath visible in the crisp winter air. They stumbled upon a small pond, frozen over and glistening under the moonlight. They couldn't resist the temptation to lace up their ice skates and glide across the ice hand in hand.

As they twirled and spun, their laughter filled the night. They felt as if they were dancing on air, their hearts overflowing with happiness. The beauty of the moment was not lost on them, and they cherished every second of their first Christmas together.

Eventually, they returned home, their cheeks rosy and their hearts full. They cozied up by the fireplace, exchanging heartfelt gifts and creating memories that would last a lifetime. They reveled in the simple joy of being together, knowing that the true beauty of Christmas was not found in extravagant presents or lavish decorations, but in

It seems the holidays are always two-fold.

There is tension of opposing forces that collide, Causing one to believe that they must decide.

They feel they cannot hold both in their hands, And are left to wonder when they will understand.

Joy does not come as a lonely traveler, But is joined by sorrow as its companion.

Some are caught up in the wonder and joy of the season; While others’ focus is on the empty seat at the table.

How can one have joy if sorrow seems glued to their heart and mind?

Peace is not always in solidarity, As busyness finds its way into its company.

Crackling fireplaces, worship, and time with loved ones bring peace; Yet these pockets of rest are outweighed by tight schedules, shopping, and other things.

How can one have peace if busyness seems to never cease?

Love is in our churches and homes, Yet it seems that heartbreak also roams.

There is real, sacrificial love on display; But for some, loneliness and heartache are not far away.

How can one feel loved when their heart is so shattered?

This season is dynamic and ever-changing, With no single emotion alone in domination.

Through all that seems contrary while opposing another, There is Someone that holds all together.

The One who created emotions and space, The One whom we long to see face to face.

He came as a babe to live as we do, That He might empathize with our weakness, And sacrifice His life for the sake of His name.

Pain is still present, But we are not alone.

We have access to the King, Who sits on the throne.

The One born on Christmas, And then died on a cross; The One who came to seek and to save all those who are lost.

He did not stay dead; But rose on the third day, Defeating sin, death, and the grave.

In Him there is joy, peace, and love; Perfectly provided to all who will trust Him. Though it may feel confusing, The tension of it all; One can truly hold both in their hands after all.

For they are held by the One who holds all in His hands, Has provided His Spirit, and truly understands The heartbroken, the weary, the hurt, and the hopeless.

He gives the gift of eternal life, And that life is to know Him.

CHRISTMAS STORYBOOK

Save The Date!

The Dickinson Press 2024 Christmas Storybook Deadline: Sunday, December 1, 2024 Send us your best Christmas story or poem for your chance to win one of 11 prizes donated by local businesses!

Details and official rules will be in The Dickinson Press November & December 2024!

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 | 47

This Christmas, our wish for you, is a blessed season that fills your heart and home with hope, warmth and great joy!

As we wrap up 2023, we are especially grateful for the trust and support of this community. Our commitment to local journalism and service to our neighbors here remains as strong as ever, and we wish everyone peace and good health in 2024 and beyond.

Happy Holidays from WCCU! Western Cooperative Credit Union would like to thank our members for their support over the past year. We look forward to conitnuing our partnership and serving you in the coming year.

May you and yours have a very prosperous and joyous new year!

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