The Kringles love Christmas. In fact, everything in their world revolves around it. The father owns a jingle bell company. The mother owns the Mistletoe-and-Nail Salon. They keep their tree up all year long. Sophie and Chris, the children, have presents galore – and still want more.
Auntie Claus watches all this with a disapproving eye, and suggests that perhaps they get too many presents, but the Kringles won’t hear of such a thing. So Auntie does her best to instill good values in the children, having Sophie over for tea and giving her good Christmas advice, such as how to hang a garland, and she always tells Sophie that it’s better to give than to receive.
Every year, Auntie goes on a long business trip and is gone from Halloween to Valentine’s Day. This year, Sophie has decided to put an end to the mystery and stowaway in the luggage. To her surprise, Auntie puts everything in an elevator and pushes the button – and they go up and up and up for at least an hour. When the elevator comes to a stop and Sophie feels it’s safe to come out, she’s amazed – they’re in the North Pole, and she’s mistaken for an elf!
They need a volunteer to go get the Bad Boys and Girls list, and Sophie is just sure she’s on it. She raises her hand and heads off to get it, only to find that her name isn’t there – but her brother’s is! She imagines what it would be like on Christmas morning if she got all the presents and Chris didn’t get any. It was just too much, so she erased his name, but there was a blank spot. So she wrote her own.
When she brings the list back, she discovers that Auntie Claus is actually Santa’s sister, and he’s going to give her a ride back home so she won’t miss Christmas. When she gets home, she finds that Chris got his presents after all – and that it really is better to give than to receive. And how fun to discover that you’re related to Santa!
(This book was published in 1999 by Silver Whistle and was illustrated by the author.)
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Merry Christmas, Curious George!