It’s Christmas time, and Paddington wants to do something special. He suggests to the Brown family that they head down to the department store to see Santa. There will be a sleigh ride and a visit to Santa’s workshop, as well. Paddington is especially curious to see where Santa makes his marmalade. (I didn’t know Santa made marmalade, but who am I to argue with Paddington Bear?) The Browns are clueless about the marmalade too, which makes me feel better.
They headed off to the store and Paddington made a beeline to Santa. There were two huge sacks of toys, one labeled “boys” and one labeled “girls.” Unfortunately, there was no sack marked “bears.” The store manager is doubtful that he really is a bear and wants him thrown out, but Paddington announces that he has come for the purpose of turning in his Christmas list, and nothing is going to stop him.
They set off on the sleigh ride, but it didn’t go very well, either. They were supposed to be in the North Pole, but the only reindeer was plastic, and it had fallen over. The elves were mechanical – not a real elf in sight, and then Paddington disappears from the sleigh! The Browns start looking everywhere, wondering where he had gone.
Well, it turns out that Paddington had gone in the back to fix some loose wiring – the North Pole lighthouse was blinking oddly and he didn’t think it ought to be doing that. It sort of fouled up some of the other wiring, but that’s just par for the course. The press got wind of the fact that something “strange” was happening at the store, and customers lined up for miles around to come. The manager forgave Paddington and arranged a special meeting between Santa and the bear, and guess what Santa gave Paddington? A jar of marmalade, handmade by Santa himself. It turned out to be a very Merry Christmas after all.
(This book was published in 1997 by Harper Collins and was illustrated by R. W. Alley.)
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Merry Christmas Curious George!