We received so many creative entries for our writing contest this year! Here are our winners, along with a few other favourites.
Grand prize, kindergarten to Gr. 4: Bennett Johnston, Gr. 2, Winkler
The Snow Tracks
It finally snowed! I had been waiting for snow the whole year, and I was outside making the biggest snowball EVER!
Then I saw them: tracks! Not like dog or bird tracks, these were weird. They were BIG and round with squiggly lines inside, like someone stepped in the snow with spaghetti shoes.
I looked around. No one was there. Just me and the tracks. They went toward the woods behind our house. Mom says not to go too far, but … what if it was a snow monster, a Yeti, or Santa’s reindeer? Or a secret treasure? I HAD to know.
I started following them. My boots made crunch-crunch sounds, like potato chips. The tracks kept going and going. Sometimes they disappeared under the bushes, but then I’d find them again. I started thinking, “If this is a monster, what do I do? Throw snowballs? Pretend to be a tree?” My heart was beating fast, like when you’re about to open a present.
Then I heard something. A jingling sound, like tiny bells. My stomach did a flip like a pancake. The tracks stopped at a big tree with icicles hanging down like sparkly swords. Under the tree was … a door. A real door! It was round and glowing blue like a night light.
I whispered, “No way!” Then the door opened a little. I peeked inside and saw a tunnel made of ice. It was glowing like a frozen rainbow. And then—BOOM!—a tiny creature popped out. It had pointy ears and a hat that looked like a candy cane.
It smiled and said “You found the Winter Path! Want to see where it goes?”
I nodded so hard that my hat fell off. The creature laughed and grabbed my hand. We went through the door, and suddenly everything was shiny and magical. Trees were made of crystal snowflakes floating like balloons. Tiny animals wore scarves and skated on frozen ponds. It was like a secret winter world. I almost screamed because it was so awesome!
The creature told me they were getting ready for the Snow Festival, and they needed help hanging star-shaped lights. So, I helped! I climbed sparkly ladders and hung glowing stars while the creatures ran around giggling. They gave me hot cocoa that tasted like melted chocolate bars. One threw glitter at me and now my hair looks like a disco ball!
Then the festival started. The sky exploded with colours: pink, green and gold. Everyone cheered. I drank hot cocoa that tasted like melted chocolate bars mixed with magic. BEST. DAY. EVER!
Then the creature said, “Time to go home, but you can come back if you follow the tracks again.”
I walked through the door and WHOOSH—I was in my yard. The tracks were gone. Like they never existed. But in my pocket was a tiny glowing star.
So now I know: If you see weird tracks in the snow, FOLLOW THEM. You might find a candy-cane-hat creature and a secret winter world. Or maybe a snow monster. (But probably the cool world thing.)
Grand prize, Grade 5-8: Joanna Joy Omidiora, Gr. 7, Schanzenfeld
Falling for Christmas (Literally)
This was not how I expected my first night on the job to go.
I was dangling from Santa’s sleigh, the sack of presents slipping from my hands. I grabbed for the drawstrings, but the wind tore them away from me. Santa yelled my name, but the storm swallowed his voice. The bag plummeted as fast as my heart.
December’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, right? Not this one. I was tired, grumpy, and overworked—and now airborne against my will.
After the sack disappeared, I turned to see Santa looking crushed, like every cookie he’d ever loved had been stolen. Then the sleigh jerked, and suddenly I was falling too.
Mid-plummet, I yanked my parachute—because splatting like the elf last year wasn’t on my wish list. As I drifted down, irritation bubbled up. Why had the head elves picked me—Twitch—to ride the sleigh? My whole name screams “can’t sit still.” Delivering gifts on foot? Sure. Sitting calmly in a blizzard? Not my strong suit.
Still complaining, I slammed into a tree. Snow exploded everywhere. I detached my chute, retracted the rig (thank you, elf school), and climbed down. A soft thump landed beside me. A note. From Santa.
Dear Twitch,
Beside this note is a radar. “Sack” mode finds the presents. “Santa” mode finds me. Recover the sack and meet me. You have 10 hours, or Christmas is cancelled—and you’re no longer an elf.
P.S. If you break or lose the radar, you’re screwed.
—Santa
Fantastic. Christmas rested on me. I switched to Sack Mode; a blinking red dot appeared, as bright as Rudolph’s nose, and off I went.
The snow thickened into a blizzard. The wind shoved me down every few steps until I finally collapsed face-first and stayed there. Why bother? Christmas felt pointless, and I didn’t even want this job.
Then came a soft jingle.
I looked up. Standing before me was Dasher—the peppiest, fastest, and most annoyingly cheerful reindeer alive. A note hung from his neck:
You have eight more hours. Do it for the kids.
That line punched me right in the chest. If I failed, some kid somewhere would wake up to nothing—thinking Santa didn’t care. I couldn’t let that happen. Also, suddenly time flies.
I climbed onto Dasher. “Go, boy.” Nothing. I clicked, tapped, begged—still nothing. Dasher looked at me like I offended his family tree. Then, with the slowest, sassiest move ever, Dasher pointed to the bottom of the note:
P.S. Dasher only moves when you say something nice.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He frowned. “Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. “You are… fast.” No reaction. “And… helpful.” Nothing. “And you have a … very shiny coat.”
That did it. He puffed his chest out like he won an award, crouched, and launched. I barely hung on as we rocketed towards the dot. Snow whipped my face, the radar beeped wildly—we were close.
Then Dasher skidded to a stop, launching me into a snow bank.
“A little WARNING next time would be great!” I sputtered. He just smirked.
Strange tracks snaked into the trees ahead. Big ones. Definitely not normal. “Oh perfect. Mystery footprints. Merry Christmas to me.” Dasher nudged me forward. The radar blinked faster.
We followed the prints until a bright red scrap fluttered in the branches. I sprinted toward it and found a clearing—there, sprawled over the sack, was a snow gremlin. Imagine a feral kid hopped up on candy. That’s the guy.
I crept forward, told Dasher to stay (and he listened)—then crunched a branch. The gremlin snapped awake, snarling. Classic. But like most troublemakers, he had a sweet tooth. I tossed him a few candy canes, luring him away just long enough for Dasher to charge in and headbutt him into what looked like oblivion.
I grabbed the sack, hopped back on, and offered the obligatory compliment: “You’re majestic, okay? Now go!”
Riding back to Santa, I realized something: sure, I dropped the presents—but I also saved Christmas. And that changes a guy. Even a twitchy elf like me.
THE SNOW GLOBE ADVENTURE
One Christmas morning, Julie and her family went to her grandma’s house for breakfast.
When they arrived, Julie jumped out of the car and gave her grandma a big hug. The smell inside the house was amazing—pancakes, eggs, and cinnamon rolls! Everyone was so hungry, so they washed their hands, sat down, and ate together.
After breakfast, Julie asked, “Grandma, do you have an attic?”
“Yes, my dear,” Grandma smiled.
“Can I clean it for you?”
“Of course, sweetheart!”
Julie ran upstairs, excited for an adventure. The attic was full of dusty boxes, old books, and spiderwebs. While cleaning, she found a beautiful snow globe with three little golden stars on it. Inside was a shiny castle surrounded by snowy trees.
Julie pressed one of the stars, and suddenly all three started glowing! She shook the globe—and in a blink, the world began to spin.
When the spinning stopped, Julie was no longer in the attic. She was standing in the snow, right in front of the castle from the globe!
“Where am I?” she whispered.
A small fox with bright blue eyes appeared and said, “Welcome to Winter Wonderland!”
Julie gasped. “You can talk?!”
The fox grinned. “Of course! I’m Shiloh. What’s your name?”
“I’m Julie.”
Shiloh wagged his tail. “Come on! You must meet the Wonderland Queen.”
Inside the glittering castle, the Queen sat on a silver throne. “Shiloh,” she said, “you’ve found the Globe Keeper!”
Julie shook her head. “Me? I’m not a keeper. I was just cleaning my grandma’s attic!”
The Queen smiled kindly. “You shook the globe, and it chose you. Winter Wonderland is melting, and only you can save it. You must find the missing crystal and join it with the one we have.”
Shiloh’s ears drooped. “Your Majesty … that crystal is in Polar Bear Valley.”
The Queen raised an eyebrow. “Is that a problem?”
“N-no, Your Majesty,” Shiloh said quickly.
Julie turned to him. “Why are you scared?”
Shiloh sighed. “Polar Bear Valley is full of traps, avalanches, and three giant polar bears who guard the crystal. To pass, you must beat them in chess.”
Julie’s eyes sparkled. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
Their journey began. They dodged arrows, crossed icy mazes, and climbed up steep cliffs. Suddenly the ground rumbled.
“Avalanche!” Shiloh shouted.
Snow poured down the mountain, but Shiloh pulled out a magic carpet from his backpack.
“Get on!” he yelled.
The carpet whooshed into the sky and carried them safely to the top.
At the peak stood three huge polar bears waiting by a crystal that glowed like the moon.
“You shall not pass,” one growled. “Unless you beat us in chess!”
Julie sat down bravely. The game began. The bears were clever, but Julie thought fast.
“Checkmate!” she said with a smile.
The bears stared in shock.
“No one has beaten us in a hundred years!” the biggest one said. “Fine, the code to open the gates is: Polar Bears Rule!”
The gates opened, and Julie took the crystal.
“We did it!” she said. They jumped on the magic ice slide that led back to the castle, twisting and spinning all the way down. Everyone cheered when Julie combined the two crystals. The snow sparkled brighter than ever before.
Shiloh smiled. “Thank you, Globe Keeper. You saved our world.”
“Goodbye, Shiloh,” Julie said, waving.
In a flash, she was back in the attic, holding the snow globe. Inside, Shiloh waved at her from the tiny castle.
Julie smiled and whispered, “That was the coolest adventure ever.”
—Emir Raimzhanov,
Gr. 6, Parkland Elementary School
JULIE AND THE MAGIC SNOW GLOBE
One cold, blustery morning in early December, Julie Withersteps sat on her soft, pink bed feeling awfully bored.
Her eighth birthday had passed two days before, and she was already tired of her new toys. Absentmindedly, she picked up the snow globe that she had received for her birthday. It had a red cardinal with a woodland scene in it.
She shook it as hard as she could. Suddenly she was sitting atop the bright red cardinal that was in her snow globe.
This world was smaller than her own; she was half the normal size that she usually was. The cardinal though, was much bigger than usual.
She was flying high above a winter wonderland with snow-capped mountains, fluffy snow, gently sloping pine trees, and all sorts of woodland animals. It looked just like her snow globe.
Eventually the cardinal dropped gently into the branches of a thick pine tree covered with soft snow.
Julie slid off the cardinal, saying to herself, “I’ll call you Rosie!”
She landed beside Rosie, enjoying the quietness.
Suddenly, a terrifying sound from above startled her, making her fall off the branch she was sitting on.
A giant brown and white eagle landed on the ground beside her in a gust of wind. The eagle screeched, chasing Rosie away, saying, “Run away, or I’ll catch you!”
Julie ran, falling and hurting herself so many times when, of all things, a snowstorm came. She ran so hard, she thought her lungs would burst into a million pieces. She kept hearing the loud eagle behind her.
Finally, when she thought she would die, she hit something hard. Julie’s clothes were tattered and torn. Then she heard yelling, and she went unconscious.
Julie woke up after a while and both the eagle and the snowstorm were gone. She got up and looked around her.
She walked a ways ahead and noticed a sign made out of gingerbread that said, “Welcome to Gingerworld!”
All of a sudden a bunch of gingerbread people came and said, “Hello Julie! Welcome here!”
She was invited into the village made out of gingerbread and walked into one of the cozy, warm houses that was there.
Julie asked, “Do you have any extra clothes here? The ones I’m wearing are ruined.”
“Yes we do!” said one of the women, “I’ll be right back.”
When the woman came back, she was carrying a pink and white checkered dress with soft, black leggings and tan coloured moccasins.
In the house, while sitting on a soft chair, she was given a piece of hot gingerbread with tons of cream cheese icing and sour patch gummies. She was also given some candy cane hot chocolate by a gingerbread woman.
As she enjoyed her sweet treats, she was told more about the eagle. She learned that the eagle’s name was Windheart and that he bothered just about everyone in the winter wonderland. Also that his size was ten times bigger than a normal eagle.
Soon, one of the tallest gingerbread men approached Julie and said, “This is your bird, right?”
“Rosie!” Julie yelled.
With Rosie nestled on her finger, she continued sipping her cup of hot chocolate, when one of the gingerbread women said, “If you want to live here, the house next to this one is empty.”
“Yes!” Julie exclaimed.
Then the woman took her to the house and it was just as Julie liked. Soft, warm, comfortable, and cute, too. There was even a bird perch for Rosie.
The next day, there was a huge party for Julie to welcome her to town. There were fun games, delicious food, mostly gingerbread, and much fun and merriness.
After the party, Julie went to her new house and fell asleep on her bed, thinking, “Welcome to Gingerworld!”
When she woke up, she was sitting on her bed at home with her snow globe in her hand.
“What a strange dream,” she thought to herself before running to tell her mom about her adventure.
As she headed to the kitchen, she realized she was still wearing the checkered dress and black leggings she had been given in Gingerworld.
—Vivian Giesbrecht,
Gr. 5, Stanley
MYSTERY OF TRACKS—CHRISTMAS EDITION
It was a snowy day, the kind where the air smells like Christmas cookies, when I suddenly noticed tiny footprints dancing across the snow.
Well … I had nothing else to do, so obviously I became a DETECTIVE. Detective hat on. Black glasses on. Serious face activated.
After about 67 steps (yes, I counted, I’m a professional), something magical popped up: an ELF HAT. Just lying there. In the snow. Like it had quit its job at the North Pole!
I grabbed it and kept following the tracks until they led me to a tall building with a big sign saying Voice.
“What?!” I almost jingled like a Christmas bell. It was my favorite newspaper company—and the elf tracks marched straight inside like they owned the place.
I stepped in carefully, very detective-like, and saw a man.
“Eh … excuse me …” I whispered, trying not to sound like a confused Christmas squirrel.
“Oh, hi girly! Wait—” He paused, squinted, and then, “That’s my hat!”
He flashed a smile brighter than a holiday ornament. “Thank you!”
I said bye, and he added, with the confidence of someone who drinks hot cocoa for breakfast: “Yes, I am an elf!”
I laughed. “Ha-ha! Goodbye, Mr. Elf!” and jogged home, feeling like I’d just solved a North Pole mystery.
I mean … I knew elves aren’t real. (Probably.)
But something poked my brain. He did have big, pointy elf ears …
So I dashed back and peeked through a tiny window.
Inside, he was printing newspapers but his ears? Gone. Then I spotted a table with a pair of fake elf ears. Just lying there like they were drying after elf swimming lessons.
I slipped on the snow, fell dramatically, and laughed so hard I scared a passing snowflake. “Ha-ha-ha!”
Best. Christmas. Mystery. Ever, I thought, and headed home, feeling like a junior detective of the North Pole.
—Olivia Pogrebnaya, Gr. 6, Morden
THE PRESENT
One cold winter night, Santa was riding his sleigh. Just then he saw a snow storm coming up ahead. He did not know what to do. He was pushing and pulling his sled, it was a rough ride.
Then, one of his presents fell out. But Santa did not notice. So he just kept going.
He kept delivering presents, livingroom after livingroom. Then, when he stopped at the last house, he looked in the sack and saw … nothing!
Just then, one of Santa’s elves called him on the phone, and said, “One of your presents is stuck in the snow!”
Santa was filled with joy! But still sad because he didn’t know how he’d get it in time, as it was almost morning.
As the sun was rising, Santa had and idea! Since Santa was back at the shop he asked one of the elves to help him find the gift. They looked all around town. Then the elf had an idea!
The elf said “ Why don’t we check the forest?”
“HOHOHO,” said Santa “Let’s go!”
As they went to the forest the elf remembered where he had seen the present. Thankfully they found the gift. But it was already late, for the sun had already come up.
Santa said, “HOHOHO what do we do?”
The elf said “ I can go!”
“Really?” asked Santa
“Yes!” said the elf
“If you say so …” Santa said
And off he went.
As he got there, the family was already up.
The elf called Santa on the phone and said “Santa! Santa! Everyone is up and got a gift, except the little girl!”
“OH, NO! What if they see you? You will lose your job!” said Santa
The elf went into the chimney anyway. As soon as the elf touched the ground, the family saw the elf. The elf slowly stepped to the Christmas tree. The family just stared. The elf put the gift under the tree.
When the elf tried to get back up the chimney, he couldn’t get up. So he tried to call Santa, but it didn’t work. And worst of all, he lost his job. The elf was scared.
The little girl went up to the elf and said, “I’ve never seen you before, are you an elf?”
“ Yes!” the elf replied
The little girl asked her parents if the elf could stay with them. They said yes! They had lot of fun together and lived happily ever after.
—Hazel Wiebe, Gr. 4
THE FOOTPRINTS OF SOMETHING
It was a snowy night, and I was trying to sleep, but I couldn’t stop staring out the window. The snow was falling so gently, and I couldn’t wait to build a snowman in the morning. Then suddenly, I saw something strange—a big shadow moving outside! It looked like a tall figure walking in the snow. I couldn’t see it clearly because it was dark, but it made me so scared and curious. I kept thinking all night, what if it was a monster? Or a ghost?
When morning came, I jumped out of bed, brushed my teeth, and got dressed super fast. I ran downstairs and asked, “Mom, can I go outside?”
She said, “Not yet, have breakfast first.”
I sighed, “Okay…” After eating my cereal, I started to put on my winter clothes.
Mom said, “Wait, take Goldie for a walk!”
“Fine,” I said, and grabbed Goldie’s leash.
As I walked Goldie through the fresh snow, I saw something that made me stop. There were huge footprints—way bigger than a normal person’s! My heart started beating faster. I decided to follow them. They led me all the way to the forest. I started thinking—what if it was that same figure I saw last night? I was a bit scared, but I felt braver because Goldie was with me.
The footprints stopped near a cave. I felt nervous, but I wanted to know the truth. I took a deep breath and went inside with Goldie. And there — right in front of me—was a real, sleeping Yeti! I gasped and almost screamed! I grabbed Goldie, and we ran out of there as fast as we could.
When I got home, Mom asked, “Where were you?”
I said, “Just walking the dog!” She wrapped Goldie in a blanket and gave me hot chocolate. I sat on the couch, still thinking about the Yeti. Was it really real?
That evening, during dinner, I was so lost in thought that I barely ate. Later, I went to my room and found a book about Yetis. It said they’re just made-up creatures. But if they’re not real—then what did I see? I was so confused! Then I remembered my homework question in ELA: “Do you think Yetis are real?” I wrote, “Yes, I think they are … but I’m not sure.”
That night, I looked out the window again. The same shadow was there! This time I couldn’t take it anymore—I got dressed quietly and sneaked outside. The Yeti saw me and started running! I chased it through the snow as fast as I could. I even found an old bike and started pedaling after it. But it was too fast, and I lost it. I was so upset, but I went home and climbed back through my window before Mom could notice.
The next morning, Mom let me go out early again. I went straight to the cave. I couldn’t believe what I saw—the Yeti was there again! But then it did something weird … it unzipped its fur suit! And out came my three friends: Jacob, Mark, and Edie!
They were laughing so hard. “You should’ve seen your face!” they said between giggles.
I couldn’t believe it. It was all a prank! I started laughing too. I invited them over to my house and told my family everything. Everyone laughed so much that my cheeks hurt.
That night, we all drank hot chocolate and told funny stories. I learned one thing for sure—there may not be real Yetis, but there are definitely real friends who love to make you laugh!
—Ailin Raimzhanova,
Gr. 6, Parkland Elementary School
MY FUN CHRISTMAS!
La La La! Hi, I am Savannah and I love Christmas. Every year I do lots of singing at my gatherings. Although it’s loud, I love to do it. My favourite song is Joy To The World.
I also love to go to church. It is so fun! But the most important part is learning about God. I love God more than anything.
Every year I help decorate the tree and I love to do it. I did not put on the star this year. I have a mitten that I put on the tree and every morning I check it and I sometimes find something in it.
On Christmas I always put Christmas presents under the tree and on Christmas Day we open them and it is so, so, so, so exciting and fun!
—Savannah, Gr. 2, Blumenfeld School
GRAYSON’S ADVENTURE
One day Grayson was playing outside, looked down at the ground, and saw lots of footsteps. He followed the footsteps. When the footsteps ended, he saw a humongous Christmas tree.
He looked up in the sky and saw something. It flew lower and lower. When it was close enough to see, it was the legendary Noorah, the arctic fox who lights up the night sky for Santa by shining the Northern Lights. She wanted Grayson to hop on her back to go somewhere. He hopped on her back and she flew through the sky super fast.
Noorah brought Grayson to Santa and his sleigh in the sky. Grayson hopped into Santa’s sleigh. As he watched, Noorah shone the Northern Lights into the sky and it was a beautiful sight to see.
Out of nowhere, a blue bear stuffie came onto Grayson’s lap. He loved the stuffie so much he said thank you to Noorah a thousand times. He wished he could keep it forever.
Santa told him he could keep the blue bear and Grayson’s eyes sparkled because he was so happy.
—Grayson Sumner, Gr. 3, Winkler
A MAGICAL JOURNEY
Julie shook a snow globe and found herself transported to a magical winter wonderland. It was a white winter place. There were animals, trees, and there were acorns everywhere.
Julie walked on. Then after awhile she looked down and she noticed her hands were furry and her ears were much, much longer and she had a cotton tail. She had turned into a rabbit!
She hopped on and noticed a sign that said “Bethlehem.” Then she went to a stable and saw a baby lying in a manger. And his name was Jesus.
—Everly Harder, Gr. 3, Reinland
A CHRISTMAS EVE SURPRISE
“Wait for me!” Jorden shouted as he ran up the hill, snow flying up behind him.
“Hurry up!” Emma called back.
“Come on!” “Slow poke!” Dex and Cleo yelled, already on top of the hill, sleds in hand.
“Okay, I’m here,” Jorden panted, out of breath from climbing up the hill.
“I’ll go first!” hollered Cleo. She grabbed her sled, took a few steps back, and took off down the hill.
“Me next!” Emma exclaimed, as she followed Cleo down the hill. The other two followed and soon they were all running up the hill and sledding down non-stop.
Before long, it began to get dark and the friends started to walk back home, when suddenly, they saw something fall from the sky about twenty feet away.
“Let’s go check it out!” yelled Dex, already running toward the object. The others followed behind and soon found themselves standing beside Dex, looking down at what had fallen. It was a large bag, filled with colorful presents.
“No way, it can’t be, is it?” said Emma.
“Santa’s bag of presents!” exclaimed Dex.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, are you sure?” questioned Jorden.
“Of course it is, it’s Christmas Eve after all” Cleo said confidently.
“Well, what should we do with it then?” asked Emma.
“Keep it!” shouted Jorden.
“No way, if it is actually Santa’s, we should give it back” argued Emma, ignoring Jorden’s idea.
“But how?” asked Dex.
The four of them fell silent, unsure what to do, when finally Cleo spoke up, “Maybe we should look inside, there might be something that can tell us how to find Santa.”
“I still think we should keep it” mumbled Jorden, arms crossed.
Emma stuck her head inside the bag and searched for a clue. At first she didn’t see anything, then, just as she was about to give up, something caught her attention. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a shimmering piece of silver paper with writing on it. Emma grabbed the piece of paper and slowly stood up.
“What is it?” asked Dex.
“I don’t know” whispered Emma uncertainly.
“Let me see that” demanded Jorden, ripping the paper out of Emma’s hand. Jorden flipped the piece of paper over and read it to himself.
“What does it say?” asked Cleo with anticipation.
“It’s useless,” scoffed Jorden, as he threw the paper to the ground in frustration.
“It’s just a name tag” he said.
“Let me see that” challenged Dex, pulling it out from Jorden’s hands. Just then, gold lettering started to appear on the other side.
“Whoaaaa” gasped Dex in amazement, as he started to read the words that were slowly appearing. The paper read:
If you can see this message that means that I have lost my bag of presents, in order to get them back to me and save Christmas, you must contact the elves.
“Well, what now?” asked Cleo confused.
“I guess we have to find the elves, but how?” responded Emma.
“Or, we could just keep it and move on,” suggested Jorden.
“NO!” shouted all of the friends in unison.
“Ok, ok” said Jorden, finally dropping the idea.
“Let’s look around some more and see if we can find anything else that could lead us to the elves,” suggested Dex.
The four of them all started looking around the bag when finally one of them spotted something.
“Look, there’s a phone number on the bottom!” said Emma excitedly.
“Does anyone have their phone?” asked Dex.
“No, nope, not me” they all responded, as they checked their pockets.
“My house isn’t far from here, I can run back and get mine” offered Cleo.
“Okay, go,” encouraged Emma as Cleo started to take off.
The three of them waited for Cleo to come back. After about five minutes, Cleo returned out of breath, phone in hand. She started to dial the number from the bag. The first time around there was no answer, but the second time she called, there, was, an answer.
“Hello, you’ve reached the North Pole,” said a small cheerful voice on the other end.
“Hi,” answered Dex. “Umm, we have Santa’s toy bag and the note said we were supposed to call you.”
“Oh yes, we’ve been hoping someone would call, thank you!” said the elf, sounding relieved. You could hear a keyboard clicking on the other end when finally the elf said. “We found your location, and we’ll be there in ten minutes!” exclaimed the elf and hung up.
“Well, I guess we just wait then” said Cleo letting out a deep breath.
“This is so cool. See, aren’t you glad we did the right thing Jordan?” asked Dex.
“I guess but it still would have been fun to keep the presents.”
—Zaharra Hildebrand, Gr. 8, Morden
DINO PATROL TO THE RESCUE
It was Christmas Eve night. Santa was delivering presents. While flying over the dinosaur forest one of his present sacks fell out of the sleigh and onto Holo, who let out a ROAR!
Tri and the rest of the dinosaur gang came running.
“Oh no,” cried Tri. “It’s one of Santa’s present sacks! A little help?”
Everyone laughed.
“Ok,” said Stomper, pulling the sack off Holo.
“What do we do?” asked Rocky.
“What we always do,” said Speed.”We make a plan!”
“Right,” said Rocky.
“This is the plan,” exclaimed Tri.”Pack up steak, cookies and hot cocoa and we will go after Santa and give him his sack back before it’s too late, ok?”
“OK!” everyone chorused.
TOOT TOOT TOOT!!
Holo looked into the darkness. “It’s the train,” he exclaimed!
“If we are fast enough we can catch it,” Allo said grabbing Santa’s sack. Everyone took off in a rush toward the train, grabbing food as they went.
“Jump,” shouted Brave!
THUMP!
They all landed in the boxcar. All of a sudden the door slammed shut.
TOOT TOOT!
The train took off. An hour later, Rex called out, “I see Santa!”
Sure enough, Santa was on the roof of a house.
“Santa’s leaving!” cried Tree.
“How do we get out?” Splasher asked.
“Leave it to me,” Pack said.
“And me too!” exclaimed Spike.
BAM BAM BAM! Pack thumped against the door with his head and Spike hammered the door with his clubbed tail.
CRACK!
The boxcar door broke open and they all tumbled out, laughing.
“Guys! Santa’s flying away!” shouted Dawn.
“She’s right,” Tri said. “He’s getting away!”
“Run,” Speed shouted!
They ran until they reached the bottom of a tall cliff.
“This is your job, Brave,” Tri said.
“Aye aye, sir!” Brave responded.
Brave picked up Santa’s sack with his teeth and climbed and climbed and climbed. At the top of the cliff, Brave jumped, throwing Santa’s sack toward the sleigh. Santa’s sack flew through the air and landed in the back of his sleigh!
“Mission accomplished!” cheered Brave.
Then they all returned home. The next day they found presents everywhere!
—Anastasia Klassen, Gr. 3, La Rivière
CHECK OUT NEXT WEEK’S EDITION FOR A FEW MORE HONOURABLE MENTIONS!
