Holly's Jolly Christmas

Table of Contents

 

 

 

GROSSET & DUNLAP
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Text copyright © 2009 by Nancy Krulik. Illustrations copyright © 2009 by John and Wendy. All rights reserved. Published by Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. S.A.

 

Library of Congress Control Number: 2008050380

 

 

eISBN : 978-1-101-15088-7

For Connie, Glenn, Mally, and Tess. Thanks
for all the holly, jolly Christmases.—NK
For those elves from the Great White North:
Eric and Kelly—J&W

Katie Carew tried really hard to focus on her math worksheet. But it was so difficult. Not the math—actually, Katie was pretty good at doing these kinds of puzzles. It was just really,
really
hard to think about schoolwork when Christmas was so near!

Just then, Katie heard a really strange noise coming from the beanbag next to her.

“Sorry,” George Brennan apologized. “That was my stomach. Reading about candy canes is making me hungry.”

Katie giggled. It didn’t take much to make George hungry.

“I know what you mean,” George’s best friend, Kevin Camilleri, agreed. “I can’t stop thinking about the tomato and mozzarella salad my grandmother makes every Christmas Eve.”

“It seems like you dudes are already on your holiday break,” Mr. Guthrie told the class. But he didn’t seem angry. Mr. G.
never
got angry.

“It’s just that Christmas is only a week away,” Katie explained to her teacher.

“I’m so excited, I can’t sit still,” George added.

“You
never
sit still,” Kadeem Carter told George.

George laughed. “That’s true.”

“Well, George,” Mr. G. said. “If you can’t sit still, stand up.”

“What?” George asked.

The kids watched as Mr. G. went to the closet in the back of the room. He pulled out a huge bag of blown-up balloons. He was also holding a pair of red long underwear.

“Here, George,” Mr. G. said, handing him the long underwear. “Put this on over your clothes.”

George looked at their teacher strangely. Katie knew why. Putting on long underwear was a really strange request—even from Mr. G. And Mr. G. made
a lot
of strange requests.

But George did what he was told.

“Now, while George is putting on the long underwear, I’m going to divide the rest of you into teams,” Mr. G. said. “Katie, Emma W., and Andy, you’ll be Team One.”

Katie grinned. Emma Weber was her closest friend in class 4A. And Andy Epstein was the best athlete. So she was on a great team—no matter what weird game they were going to play. And considering the game included balloons and underwear, it was sure to be weird.

Once Mr. G. had put the kids into groups, he explained the game. “For this game, George is Santa.”

“George doesn’t look anything like Santa,” Mandy Banks said. “He doesn’t have whiskers or a big belly.”

Mr. G. smiled. “Not yet!” Then he pulled a white, cotton beard out of his desk drawer. “Here, George.”

George put on the beard. Katie giggled. George looked really silly.

“I gave Santa his whiskers,” Mr. G. told the kids. “Now you are going to give him his belly.”

Huh?
The kids all stared at Mr. G. Now they were
very
confused.

“Each team will have twenty seconds to fill Santa’s long underwear with balloons,” Mr. G. explained. “The team who puts the most balloons into Santa’s underwear will win. Team One, you’re up first.”

Katie, Andy, and Emma W. were given a bunch of green balloons.

“Okay, Team One,” Mr. G. said. “On your marks. Get set. Go!”

Katie worked as fast as she could, picking up balloons and shoving them into George’s long red underwear. It was hard. Especially because George kept squirming around.

“Hey! That tickles, Katie Kazoo!” George shouted as Katie shoved in a green balloon.

Katie grinned. She loved when George called her by the way-cool nickname he had given her back in third grade.

Suddenly, a funny sound started coming from George’s behind.

“What was that?” Kevin asked.

“One of the balloons popped,” George said.

In the end, Team Three won. They managed to stuff five balloons into George’s long underwear, although three popped.

“That game was hilarious,” Santa George said, laughing.

Katie giggled, too. The game
was
hilarious! But that was no surprise. There was always something funny, or exciting, or interesting going on in Mr. G.’s classroom.

The way Katie figured, being in class 4A was like getting a Christmas present every day. You never knew what you were going to find inside. But whatever it was, you were sure to like it!

Katie smiled happily as she unpacked her lunch in the school cafeteria later that day. Her lettuce, tomato, and cheese sandwich had been cut in the shape of a Christmas tree. And she had a red and white candy cane for dessert. Her mom was so nice.

“This is almost too pretty to eat,” Katie said, staring at the sandwich.

“I’ve lost my appetite,” Katie’s best friend, Suzanne Lock, said. She pointed across the table at George’s food tray. “Why do you do that?” she asked him.

George had mixed his mashed potatoes, green beans, and milk into a big, gray-green, mushy soup. “It’s fun,” George answered.