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The Girl Who Missed Christmas:

Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Natalie.

Natalie was six. She lived on a nice house, in a nice street. She had a little brother called Joe, and dog called

Marmalade.

And most of the time Natalie was happy. She played with her friends. She played with her dog.

Sometimes she even played with Joe when he wasn!t being annoying. "ut there was one thing Natalie

didn!t li#e. $etting up.

%very morning her &ad would come into her room and say' ()!mon Natalie, time to get up.*

And Natalie would say' (Just one more minute.*

(Now, now, you!ll be late for school,* said &ad.

(Just one tiny minute,* Natalie would say. (+leeeeeeease..*

(Now, Natalie.*

(-t!s so warm in bed,* Natalie would moan.

And so it went on every morning. &ad would shout at Natalie to get up. Mum would shout at her.

And Marmalade the dog would bar#. And Joe would already be up. And then Mum would shout at her again.And the dog would bar# even louder. "ut Natalie ust pulled the cover over her ears.

"ecause Natalie ust really, really, really hated getting out of bed in the morning.

(/ou #now, Natalie, one day you!re going to miss something really important because you stay in bed to

long,* said &ad.

As it happened, something very important was about to happen. 0he nights were getting longer, and the

leaves were falling from the trees, and soon Natalie was getting very excited because it was getting close to

)hristmas.

And she had so many different things she had as#ed for. She wanted a new game for her Nintendo &S. And

a doll that cried real tears. And a new &1&. And lots and lots and lots of things.

Of course, she had to rehearse for the school play except she nearly missed it because she was sleeping in.

And she had to go and see Santa in the grotto but she nearly missed that as well because she didn!t want to

get out of bed.

(- ust don!t what to do about all this sleeping,* said Mum.

"ut Natalie didn!t care.

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-f - want to stay in bed, why shouldn!t -2 she decided to herself.

So finally )hristmas %ve arrived. And Natalie was so excited she found it really hard to get to sleep. She

wanted to stay and see if she could really see Santa. She tried ever so hard to stay awa#e as long as she

could. "ut eventually, she went off to sleep. And she slept. And slept. And slept.

At one point she heard &ad coming into the room to wa#e her but she ust rolled over, put the pillow over

her head, and went bac# to sleep again.

3inally she decided she she had been so long in bed that it was starting to get boring. She pulled away the

pillow and loo#ed towards the window. -t was morning.

(4ow, it!s )hristmas day,* said Natalie. (-!m so excited.*

She loo#ed towards the end of her bed. "ut where was the stoc#ing2 she wondered. 4here had Santa left all

his toys2 Natalie umped out of bed, and ran downstairs. She was 5uite out of breath because she!d never

umped out of bed before.

(Mum, &ad, its )hristmas,* she shouted.

She glanced around the room. Joe was playing with a new toy car.

Mum was folding away some used wrapping paper. &ad was reading a boring loo#ing boo# with no pictures

6 in fact, the sort of boo# Mum gave him every year. And Marmalade the dog was eating something that

loo#ed suspiciously li#e tur#ey leftovers.

(Mum, &ad, it!s )hristmas,* shouted Natalie, even louder this time. 0here was a silence.

%veryone loo#ed at her everyone that is except Marmalade who was busy eating tur#ey.

(-t!s )hristmasisn!t it2* said Natalie, more 5uietly now.

(/ou mean, it was )hristmas,* said &ad.

(/ou slept right through,* said Mum.

(4e tried to wa#e you,* said &ad.

("ut, but, but.* Said Natalie.

(- told you you!d miss something important one day,* said &ad.

(-t was really good,* said Joe. (4e had loads of food, and loads of presents.*

(And - missed it,* wailed Natalie.

And she started to cry. And cry. And cry.

(Sorry,* said &ad. (-t also means you didn!t get any presents from Santa. "ut don!t worry, there will be

another )hristmas next year.*

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(-t!s not faaaaair,* wailed Natalie.

("ut - always told you you!d miss something important if you didn!t get out of bed in time,* said &ad.

(Now, help me clear away all this wrapping paper.*

"ut Natalie ust wal#ed out of the house. She wal#ed through the garden. And across the par#. 4hen she got

there, she cried and cried. She was so upset about missing )hristmas. And she didn!t #now how she could

wait for a whole year. Now, it so happened that it was still very early in the morning. And the sun was onlyust coming up, so it was still 5uite dar#.

And at that very moment, Santa was ust trudging his way across the s#y in his sleigh on his way bac# to

7apland. 8e was very tired. And so were the reindeer, because they!d been all around the world delivering

presents to all the children. "ut, even though he was tired, he couldn!t help noticing one little girl sitting on a

par# bench all by herself. And crying and crying.

(4hoa there 9udolf,* said Santa. (- wonder what!s wrong with that girl.*

(Maybe she didn!t li#e her presents,* said 9udolf, who was hungry and tired, and wanted to get bac# to his

grotto to get some food. (:ids today; No gratitude.*

(4e better see,* said Santa.

And so he pulled the sleigh down into the par#.

(4hat!s the matter2* as#ed Santa.

"ut Natalie was so upset, she ust #ept crying, and her eyes were so full of water she couldn!t see anything.

(8uh, she!s probably upset because she only got one Nintendo, ten +olly +oc#ets, and a do

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(4e!ve still got a few things left in the sac#,* he said. (So go inside, and chec# the fireplace in your

bedroom in a few minutes.*

("ut, but.*

(Just go,* said Santa.

So Natalie stated to wal# home. And Santa went bac# to his sleigh.

(4e!re not doing another delivery are we,* said 9udolph. ("ecause, that!s overtime, that what that is-!ll

need an extra carrot for that.*

(Oh, c!mon you la