Pigling's First Christmas
Tracy Seeger
It was the first of December. Pigling woke up and looked out of the window in amazement.
"Mum," he called out, "the World's turned white!"
"Don't worry Pigling," said his mother, "it's only snow.
"What's snow?" asked Pigling.
"It's like frozen rain," his mother said. "It falls from the clouds like rain when it's very cold. When you get dressed you can go and play in it."
Pigling got dressed quickly and went downstairs.
"You can't go out in the snow like that!" his mother said.
"Why not?" Pigling asked. He was dressed in a tee shirt and trousers.
"Because snow is VERY cold," his mother said. "You must put something warm on."
So Pigling went back upstairs and put on a jumper, warm socks and boots, gloves and a thick coat.
"That's better," his mother said when he came downstairs again. "Just one more thing," and she pulled a woolly hat over his ears.
Pigling ran outside and started playing in the amazing white stuff. He had lots of fun. When his father got home from work he showed Pigling how to build a snowman, and they had snowball fights. Eventually they had to go indoors, and that night Pigling went to bed exhausted.
* * * * *
After a few days Pigling began to get bored with the snow. It had snowed every night but there was nothing new to do. Then, one night his father came home with a big cardboard box.
"What's in that?" asked Pigling.
"Decorations," his mother replied.
"What are they for?" Pigling asked.
"We decorate the house to celebrate Christmas," his father explained. He then told Pigling all about the birth of Jesus while they put up the Christmas decorations. There were long stretchy ones which they hung around the edges of the rooms, and smaller dangly ones which they hung from the ceiling. Pigling put tinsel around the clock and television and his father hung lights in the window. The house looked beautiful when they had finished. There were sparkly decorations everywhere, even in Pigling's bedroom.
Then, at the weekend, his father brought home the tree. It was a huge deep green pine tree. The needles pricked Pigling sometimes. They spent ages decorating the tree until it was the centrepiece of the room. It had tinsel and lights and baubles and crackers on it, and a beautiful fairy on the top. Pigling sat looking at it until his mother said it was time for him to go to bed.
"But I want to look at the tree," said Pigling. "I want to look at it forever!"
Eventually his mother persuaded him to go to bed, promising he could look at the tree again tomorrow.
* * * *
The next day his mother took him shopping for presents.
"Why are we buying presents?" asked Pigling. His mother replied, "Well, at Christmas everybody buys presents for all their friends and relatives to show they love them."
Pigling bought a big book about cars for his father, a pretty blue dress for his mother, and a toy doll for his baby sister. Then they went home to wrap them up and put them under the tree to wait until Christmas Day.
Pigling got very excited as the day grew nearer and nearer, and on Christmas Eve his mother and father told him about Father Christmas.
"Father Christmas is a big man with white hair and a log white beard," his father told Pigling. "He is very old and wears a bright red suit. He lives in Greenland for most of the year, but on Christmas Eve he travels all around the world leaving presents for all the children who have been good."
"How does he go around the whole world in one night?" asked Pigling.
"He has a magic sleigh and eight magical reindeer which he flys the sky in," said his mother. "If you think you have been good this year you must hang a stocking up at the end of your bed and if Father Christmas thinks you have been good too he will fill it with presents tonight."
So Pigling went to bed early and hung up his stocking. He left out a mince pie for Father Christmas and 8 apples for the reindeer. On Christmas morning he woke up very early and spent ages opening the presents in his stocking that Father Christmas had left. He noticed that the mince pie and apples had gone! He then woke up his mother and father and they sat around the tree opening the big presents. His father was very pleased with the book about cars, his mother loved the blue dress, and his baby sister played with her toy doll all day.
Pigling was also very pleased with his presents. He got a football, a book about the story of Christmas, a train set, a new coat, and loads of sweets! While he played with his new toys his mother and father prepared the dinner. They all ate lots and lots. They had turkey with stuffing, and Christmas pudding, and there were crackers with funny paper hats and jokes in them.
After tea they had a party. All their relatives came round and there was more food, drink, music and party games.
Pigling went to bed late that night, very tired but very happy. He had thoroughly enjoyed his first Christmas.
Copyright © 2009 Tracy Seeger. All rights reserved.