The spirit of Christmas. Everybody loves getting presents at Christmas. But are they really so important? Perhaps something is even more valuable on this holiday. Let’s find out what the hero of this fairy tale discovers.
Make your child the main character. Replace this (_____) with your child’s name.
The spirit of Christmas
In a big city, the spirit of Christmas was in the air with lots of snow on the ground like every year.
The adults were busy digging out paths from house to house so their children could play with each other.
That day, _____ family was preparing for Christmas and about to go shopping for a present.
“Daddy, Daddy, when can we go?” _____ asked impatiently.
His dad looked out of the window and was very surprised.
“Oh, son, just look at how much snow there is outside. I can’t even see our car.”
“Get dressed, _____. Here is a shovel so you can start digging the car out. Your mom and I will join you soon.”
_____ put on his clothes and went outside. He was itching to go shopping, so he started shoveling at once.
He needed quite a lot of strength to dig out so much snow.
A few minutes later, _____ gasped out, “This is hard. Perhaps I need to take a rest.”
“Weet-weet! Tweet-tweet!” What was this sound?
Ah, it was a bird tweeting up in a nearby tree, donning a beautiful black cloak of feathers.
“Hi, Colly! What’s up? What are you tweeting about?” _____ set his eyes on the bird.
The bird kept on tweeting and flew over to _____.
“Oh, you must be hungry!” _____ realized. “You won’t find anything to eat in so much snow. Hang on a sec, Colly!”
_____ rushed to the barn where his mother kept grains and scooped up a handful of seeds.
“Here you go, enjoy, Colly,” said _____, Watching in amazement as the bird ate the seeds.
Knowing he had to keep on digging, _____ grabbed the shovel and continued his work.
Suddenly, _____ heard a voice from behind. “Excuse me? Could you please help me?”
It was a little girl who looked sad for some reason.
“What happened, sweetheart? How can I help you?”
“Yesterday I left Mister Bear outside to get some fresh air. After the huge snowfall last night, I can’t find him anywhere now.”
“Do you remember where you left him? I think I can find him with my shovel.”
“Thank you. He is somewhere in the yard near my house.”
_____ followed the girl toward her house and began looking for Mister Bear.
“Look! I think I found him!” _____ suddenly shouted after a few minutes of digging.
“Oh… Thank you so much!”
“You must be more careful next time, Mister Bear, ok? I was worried about you!” the little girl said to her stuffed animal.
_____ left to head back to his father’s car.
“I’m feeling tired but I have to push on so we can go buy presents.”
_____ was digging hard…
…when he suddenly heard a loud voice. “One, two, push! One, two, push!”
Some people nearby were trying to push a car out of a snowbank.
“If we had another helper, we could push it out,” one of them said sadly.
Seeing no one else around, _____ decided to give them a hand.
“Well, boy, let’s do it together. One, Two, push!”
The driver hit the gas pedal, and two others plus _____ set their hands against the trunk and shouted, “One, Two, push!”
Suddenly, the car broke free!
When _____ returned to his father’s car, he realized just how tired he was.
His dad and mom came out of the house, looking really surprised.
“Hey, son, what have you been doing all this time? Now we have no chance to get to the shop before it closes.”
“Sorry Daddy and Mommy,” said _____. “I wanted to dig the car out so badly, but I just couldn’t do it.”
“I had to feed a bird, help a little girl find Mister Bear, and then push another car out of a snowbank. It took so much time…”
“I shouldn’t have helped! Now I’ll be left without presents,” _____ said sadly.
“Oh, I see!” his mom exclaimed. “Don’t worry, son. Presents are not the most important thing at Christmas. We can go buy them tomorrow.”
“They’re not? What’s the most important thing, then?”
“The true spirit of Christmas is to help others without expecting anything in return, which is so important. I’m so proud of you!”
His dad agreed. “Your mother is right, _____. We’ll go shopping tomorrow. Now, let’s go dig the car out.”
Later that evening, _____ mom made delicious hot chocolate. The family sat by the fireplace, enjoying the evening.
Although they couldn’t buy presents, _____ wasn’t sad at all because he now understands the true meaning of the Christmas spirit.
