To be honest it seemed like Mr Christmas didn't really care about Christmas any more.

He was more interested in stuffing his face with mince pies and drinking glasses of wine than making sure children had a happy time.

This is the story of what happened next... 

nce upon a Christmas Eve,

In an ice white  valley

Far far away;

8 reindeer waited in a stable.

There was a big beautiful sledge parked in a shed.

And hanging on the back of the door there was a nicely ironed red and white suit…

But where was the man with the beard?  

Where was Mr Christmas?

Didn’t he know what day it was?

Didn’t he care how late it was? 

Mrs Christmas dashed into the kitchen, ironed some clothes, rocked the baby, stirred the soup, washed some nappies, took the mince pies out of the oven and dashed back out again.

It looked like Mr Christmas had done his usual trick when there was work to be done.

He’d vanished!

‘I’ll give him five minutes!’ muttered Mrs Christmas

As she 

Did the washing-up,

Changed the baby

Swept the floor and fed the penguin.

Still no sign of Mr Christmas.

She put on her clean, white apron and hurried across to the stable.

‘Come on my Beauties’, she called. ‘Time to get up.’

One by one, the sleepy reindeer lumbered to their feet and followed her across the yard.

Mrs Christmas was just squeezing the last drop of milk, from the last reindeer, when she heard singing outside.

Then someone crashed against the door:

And there was Mr Christmas!

‘Sorry I’m late’ he mumbled.

‘ Had an accident. Hurt my...thumb.’

‘You did what?’ said Mother Christmas.

‘How could you be so silly? It’s Christmas Eve.  There’s a barn full of presents out there. What on earth are we going to do now?’

‘Dunno’ said Mr Christmas shrugging his shoulders.

 ‘Maybe I’ll go and have a little lie down. I’m feeling a bit …funny.’

And before Mrs Christmas could say anything he went back out of the door 

Leaving behind a very cross Mrs Christmas.

She was used to Mr Christmas and his little accidents.

They often seemed to happen when there was work to be done,  which was very annoying and very tiring for Mrs Christmas, because she ended up doing the job on her own.

It was a good thing she wasn’t as clumsy as her husband otherwise nothing would ever get done.   

Though to be fair Mrs Christmas did have an accident once.

It was near the end of a very long cold winter and they were cleaning out muck from the reindeer stable. There was an awful lot of it, in some places it was halfway up the wall. Mr Christmas had hurt his arm so he was leaning on a fork giving Mrs Christmas helpful advice. Suddenly Mrs Christmas tripped over, fell forward and pushed Mr Christmas into the big steaming pile of reindeer poo!

What a terrible fuss Mr Christmas made. He went on and on about it for weeks afterwards. Anyone would think she'd done it on purpose!  

Mrs Christmas smiled quietly to herself as she hosed down the milking parlour, scrubbed out the buckets and hurried the reindeer back to their stable.

And that was where she found Mr Christmas. He was curled up in the middle of the hay manger, sleeping like a baby.

‘THAT’S IT!’ she snapped. ‘No more Mrs Nice Girl. Christmas is cancelled!’

She stamped angrily across the yard, kicked off her boots, made herself a pot of tea,

Fed the baby

Put two mince pies on a plate

And finally settled herself down by the fireside.

 ‘If he thinks I’m going to go out there and break my back loading up his flipping sledge, he’s got another think coming.’

Mrs Christmas sank back into the soft cushions and bit into a mince pie.

She was just starting to doze off when she the kitchen clock whirred into life and began to chime.  

‘Ding! Dong!' it sang 'Eleven-o clock. Ding. Ding.

She was suddenly wide awake again.

As she listened to the chimes she thought about the presents she'd spent the last two months wrapping up.  

All those books that would probably never be read.

All the games that would never be played. 

The teddy bears and dolls that would never be hugged.

The balls that wouldn’t be bounced.

All those tapes and CDs and silent drums?’ 

'Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!' went the clock

‘O Rudolph and Jingle bells!’ she sighed. ‘I can’t do this! It’s not fair on the children.’

She jumped up out of the chair, put on her woolly coat, pulled on her furry boots and hurried outside. 

First she had to grease the runners and drag the heavy sledge out of its shed...

Then hurry the reindeer out of their beds…

And rope and buckle everything up...

And fetch the maps!

And check the lists!

And feed the baby again.

Phew! It was hard work. Mother Christmas leaned against the sledge to try and get her breath back.

But she could not afford to rest for long

It was coming up to midnight. 

The children of the world were waiting and Mr Christmas wasn’t dressed.

The silly old fool wasn’t even awake!       

She ran back to the house, grabbed his red suit from the back of the door, made him a cup of tea and ran back out into the cold white night. 

She could hear his snores from half way across the yard!

Mother Christmas groaned.

Mr Christmas hated being woken up.

He would be grumpier than a grizzly bear.

He wouldn't even say 'thank you' for all the work she'd done getting everything ready. 

She put down his suit and his cup and and lifted the latch on the stable door.  

Then she stopped.

With a quiet smile, Mother Christmas hooked it back up again.

There was something she needed to do....

So next time it’s Christmas Eve.

And you’re lying in bed

Too excited to sleep,

Just close your eyes and listen...

You might hear the swish of a sleigh and the steady drumming of reindeer hooves.

And if you listen very carefully 

You might hear faraway sleigh bells ringing out over the rooftops.

And when you wake up in the morning you might get a very nice surprise

Because

You might be one of those lucky children who crawl to the end of their beds and find  

The present of their dreams.

Or you might be happier than a cat with two tails because it's your first proper family Christmas

Or you might find that Christmas is extra special this year because you HAVEN'T been given piles and piles of STUFF that cost piles and piles and piles of money but instead you've got one or two excellent presents and you're going to play with them all day

Or you might be feeling good inside because this Christmas you saved up and bought something for your sister. 

Maybe what you heard slipping and sliding over the rooftops wasn’t tired old Mr Christmas in his fat red suit and long white beard.

Maybe it was someone else

Someone who decided that this Christmas was going to be different

Someone with green furry boots and lovely sparkly earrings

Someone careful who remembered to put in batteries

Someone who was good at listening

Someone who knows what children really want for Christmas!  

copyright Jonathan Shipton 2006