The annual Star/Journal Christmas Story Essay Contest was a little slow to get started, but those that have been submitted from area youngsters are wonderful stories full of imagination and enthusiasm.
We thank all of the children who took the time to enter and share with our readers their creative works, and we thank the teachers and parents who encouraged them to do so.
This year our young writers were asked to tell us in 350 words or less about one of the following themes: The Best Christmas Dinner Ever – write a story about the best Christmas Dinner ever and why it was so special; or, The Magic Rocket – write a story about what happened when a child finds a magic rocket under the Christmas tree.
We offered two age divisions this year, Kindergarten to Grade 3, and Grade four to Grade 7. Prizes in each division are; First place $25, second place $15, and third place $10.
Enjoy!
Division 1 –
Kindergarten to Grade 3
First Place
The Magic Rocket
By
Bobby-Raye Farrow
There was a little Girl who found a really big present under her tree. She looked on the name tag it said “To Maddy”. She opened it fast. It was a really cool rocket. She was so excited she quickly grabbed it and ran outside. She got in and counted down, 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1…Blast off!!!!! She screamed so loud that her Mother and Father came out the door. They could not see her anywhere, they were worried. But she was having the time of her life. Maddy was in space, she landed on the Moon, and met 9 aliens. She landed on Jupiter and she met 8 purple aliens. Maddy landed on Mars and ate 7 mars bars. Then her rocket broke down. She crashed into her Tree House. Her Mom and Dad looked at her. They ran to her and gave her a big hug. She smiled and said, “Merry Christmas”
The End
Bobby-Raye Farrow
is in Grade 3
Mrs. Matthews Class
~~~~~~~~
Second Place
The Best Christmas Dinner Ever
By Curtis Farrow
One Christmas we were very sad. Our Dad had to work on Christmas Eve.
My Mama started cooking Christmas dinner.
We kids started hoping and wishing that Dad would come home. We put out presents.
My Mama was cooking a 25lb Turkey. Mashed potatoes, gravy, candy yams, Brussel sprouts, and stuffing.
She also was cooking for dessert Apple pie, Pumpkin pie, Muffins and cake.
Mama told us kids to start setting the table.
We got out all the good dishes and silverware. We put out the pickles and homemade cranberry Sauce.
Even though Dad was not coming we still set out a place for him at the table, wishing for a Christmas miracle.
Dinner was ready, so we all sat down at the table to eat.
Then we heard a car coming up the driveway!
We ran to the window and looked out.
We seen our Dad was here. Our Christmas miracle had come.
We all sat down at the table for the Best Christmas dinner ever!
The End
By Curtis Farrow
is in Grade 2
Mrs. Peterson’s Class
~~~~~~~~~
Third Place
The Best Christmas Dinner Ever
By Grace Farrow
The best Christmas dinner ever was when I went to Kamloops. I had breakfast with Santa. We ate marshmallows, cake and watermelon. To drink we had apple juice and water. We drove in our truck to the poop. Then we went swimming with Santa.
The end
Grace Farrow
is in Kindergarten
Ms. Simpson’s Class
~~~~~~~~
Division 2 –
Grade 4 to Grade 7
First Place
The Magic Rocket
By Tyson Schilling
It was Christmas Eve and Billy just finished getting milk and cookies for Santa.
“Mom how many?”
“Two”, she said.
“Mom, do you think Santa got me a puppy?”
“ I don’t know. You will have to wait until morning.”
“Okay” said Billy and went to bed.
“BILLY WAKE UP!” said Suzie “It’s Christmas.”
Billy got his pajamas on and ran downstairs. He was surprised by a huge gift that was marked from Santa. “Who’s it to?” asked Suzie.
“I don’t know. Lets open it.”
They both tore off the wrapping paper, stood back for a second. WOW! This was the coolest present they’ve ever seen. It was a North Pole Rocket. The first thing they did was climb up to the cockpit. They took flight going places they’d never seen before like China, Russia, Australia, and the Ukraine. “It’s getting c-c-cold” said Billy as he shivered.
A few minutes later there was a sign that said North Pole and a secret tunnel opened. As they flew in it got warmer and smelled like candy canes, fresh paint, hot chocolate, and cookies. Once the rocket landed, they hopped out and started looking around. “Hello, anyone home?” Heads popped out of no where and lights turned on. Elves started to sing and make toys again. A man dressed in white and red came up to them and said, “Hello I am Santa. I will give you a quick tour of the workshop.” So off they went.
Santa brought them to the toy making station where all the elves there were kept busy. Lastly Santa brought them to where he keeps the Book of Wishes. “Do you know what you want?”
“Ya!” They both said.
“Billy wants a puppy and Suzie wants a Lego Friends set”
“How did you know?”
“ I know what everyone wants”
“Did you get us our presents?”
“You will have to find out.”
Off they raced. As they said good-bye they jumped in the rocket and went home. Billy and Suzie both got what they wanted and the next day the rocket was gone.
Tyson Schilling
is in Grade 7
Barriere Elementary
~~~~~~~~~
Second Place
The Best
Christmas Dinner Ever
By Maggie Dana
It was Christmas morning and Frost, the reindeer, was waking up to the sound of her brother running around the room shouting with glee.
“Russell!” Frost said, “You woke me up!”
Russell turned around and looked at his sister. “I can’t help it! It’s Christmas!” He said excitedly.
“Oh, yeah!” Frost said, “I forgot! Let’s go wake up mom and dad!”
Russell agreed as Frost and Russell raced to their mom and dad’s part of the cave and shouted, “MERRY CHRISTMAS!” Their mom stood up and smiled, meanwhile their dad groaned. He was tired and sore from delivering presents the night before.
“Wake up, daddy!” Frost squealed in her dad’s ear as Russell started jumping on their dad’s belly.
“Come on, Dasher.” their mom said. Dasher got up and stretched as his fawns dashed around the floor, as he walked to their Christmas tree. Russell and Frost were hollering and squealing, then there was a knock at the cave door.
Frost and Russell’s mom opened the door to see her sister, her nieces, her nephew, and brother-in-law.
“Sister!” She exclaimed. “What a surprise!”.
“I knew that it would be a real treat for my sons and daughters to see their cousins and aunt and uncle.” Her sister said.
Frost trotted over with Russell next to her. “Cousins?” Frost asked nervously.
“Yes!” One of them exclaimed. “I’m Bell, and this is my sister Holly, and my brother Adam and his twin sister Eve.”
Frost and Russell smiled. “I’m Russell,” Russell said, “And this is my sister Frost. It’s nice to meet you. I can finally play with a boy my age.”
Frost rolled her eyes. When they sat down to eat, there was salad, buns with butter, cranberry sauce, and much more.
“This is the best Christmas dinner ever!” Frost said.
“Especially with family and food!” Russell added.
The rest of the day was full of fun, like games, music, dancing, and much, much more.
“Merry Christmas everyone!” Frost exclaimed.
The End
Maggie Dana
is in Grade 7
Barriere Elementary
~~~~~~~~~
Third Place
The Magic Rocket
By Connor Farrow
Gage Just rushed home from Exton’s house, because his Mom said he had to be home by 4:30 to decorate the tree. Gage was so excited because tomorrow was Christmas Eve!
When he got home the tree was set up and ready to be decorated. Gage was hungry from rushing home, so he ran to the pantry and grabbed a chocolate bar and a can of pop. He went to the other room to decorate the tree. When he got there the tree was a beautiful 7’ tree.
“Wow!” Gage yelled. “It’s beautiful.”
“Isn’t it” said his Dad, “let’s decorate”
“I will get cookies and egg nogg” Said his Mom
“Okay” said Gage. “Dad and I will get the decorations.”
So Gage and his Dad went downstairs to get the decorations. In the meantime his Mom was grabbing the cookies and eggnog. When she was done grabbing the goodies the boys had already started decorating the glamorous tree.
“Hey Mom, I found the Angel” Said Gage
“Awesome” Said his Mom
Soon they found the shining bulbs and hung them on the tree. Then they had an excellent meal and dessert.
“Time for bed” said his Mom
“Okay” Said Gage, “tomorrow is Christmas Eve you know?”
So Gage went to his room and fell asleep. ZZZZZZZZZ….THUMP! Gage woke up got on his housecoat and ran to his Mom and Dad’s room.
“Mom and Dad I heard a big THUMP!!!”Gage yelled
“Okay, calm down” Said his Dad, “Take some deep breaths.”
“Okay Mom and Dad. I was dreaming that I got a rocket ship and I went to blast off and then THUMP!” Gage Said.
“Okay go back to bed” said his Mom “I will wake you in the morning to go skiing.”
So gage fell back to sleep in his bed.
“Gage…Gaaage….GAGE!!” Said his Dad
“Ahhh ….what… you scared me!” exclaimed Gage
“Do you want to go skiing?”
“Yes”
So Gage grabbed an apple then went down the stairs to get his cozy wool toque, gloves, scarf and his warm boots on. Then they jumped into their 3500 dodge and then he buckled himself and started eating. Dad started the Truck “VROOOM!”.
“Off to the hill!!” Dad said.
“Hooray” everyone shouted.
When they got to the hill they rented there skies and jumped on the chair lift and headed down the hill.
“Wee” shouted Gage
The next time they went down Gage fell. THUMP. Gage was cold so they went home. It was 4:30 so they had dinner. After dinner they went to Church. They went home and grabbed cookies and eggnog for Santa. Hung up their stockings and went to bed.
In the morning Gage awoke and ran to the Tree to find a big present from Santa. He awoke his parents then they came out and watched him open it. It was a rocket!!!!
“Just what I wanted” Said Gage.
Gage and his Dad were constructing the rocket. When Gage fell inside. Then the rocket blasted off! It landed at Santa’s work shop.
Gage was starving and he needed something to eat. So he knocked on the door.
An Elf answered and said “Hello, How may I help you?”
Gage was amazed. He said “May I please speak with Santa?”
“Sure” Said the Elf.
Gage was stunned, it was amazing. There were Elves working everywhere. When he seen Santa he nearly fainted.
“Santa Sir, I would like to go home please” Gage stammered.
“No Problem” Said Santa. Santa did a funny dance and the next thing Gage knew he was at the front door of his house in the rocket. He came out and hugged his parents.
Mom said. “Where were you?”
Gage said “I cannot remember!”
Then they had a Merry Christmas.
The End
Connor Farrow
is in Grade 5
Mrs. Williams Class
~~~~~~~~~~~
Honourable Mention
The Magic Rocket
By Georgia Clough
Long ago there lived a boy named Joie. he was the happiest boy in Barkerville.
It was only one night to Christmas.
He got so excited his head almost exploded.
That’s how excited he was all right!
Then they had a nice Christmas dinner.
In the morning Joie ran downstairs so fast it looked like he had no nose.
When he got down, there was an odd shape present under the tree. It said: Joie From: _____
It was odd all right.
For some reason he got a tingling feeling on his toes and hand.
When his parents woke up he opened the present and it was a toy rocket, and it started to fly on its own for some reason. They were serious about it!
Then they found a note saying, “dear Joie, I found this in my attic, it was a present to your great grandpa, so I decided to give to you. It was a great invention I made all right.
Joie was pretty lucky about getting this present.
Three years later Joie still enjoyed the magic rocket. He still remembered what happened all right.
Georgia Clough
is in Grade 4
~~~~~~~~~~~
Honourable Mention
The Magic Rocket
By Macky Jackson
Once upon a time there was a small eight year old boy named Billy.
“Christmas is coming Billy,” said Billy’s Mom.
Billy rushed down to the basement and got the holiday decorations.
Billy’s Mom set up the tree, and Billy put on the ornaments.
Sixty-four hours later it was 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Billy went to bed wanting for Santa to come.
When Billy woke up he went downstairs to see all the presents., but there was only five presents.
Billy ran upstairs crying with disappointment.
Billy’s Mom came upstairs to Billy’s room and asked him “What’s wrong?”
“There are only five presents,” said Billy.
“What if the presents are what you wanted?”
Billy always wanted a pair of roller skates.
One hour later Billy came out of his room and looked at the presents. Four presents said Billy’s Moms name, Jenney.
Billy opened one present. It was a pair of roller skates. Billy wasn’t surprised.
Billy put on the roller skates, zoom!
Billy was flying around the room and out the door.
This is the best Christmas ever!
The End
Macky Jackson
is in Grade 5
