A Katie Kazoo Christmas

by Nancy Krulik

  “We have this cooking club,” Suzanne told her. “And this week, we all decided to bake cookies for the shelter.” She smiled brightly for the camera.

  Katie sighed. Suzanne would probably be boasting about being on TV for weeks to come.

  But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that everyone was having fun together on Christmas Eve. Even Mrs. Derkman and Mr. Brigandi. They were doing the twist in the middle of the dance floor.

  Katie smiled. Wow! Imagine Mr. Brigandi and Mrs. Derkman dancing together instead of arguing.

  Now that was a switcheroo even the magic wind couldn’t manage. It took Christmas magic to make that happen!

  That’s a Wrap!

  Chapter 1

  Try Our Special Christmas Pizza!

  Katie Carew and Jeremy Fox stood outside Louie’s Pizza Shop and read the sign in the window.

  “Christmas pizza?” Jeremy asked. “What’s that? Does he use green dough or something?”

  Katie made a face. “Ewww. I hope not,” she said.

  “Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Jeremy said. He opened the door and walked into the restaurant. Katie followed close behind.

  Katie was really hungry. She’d been shopping for Christmas gifts all morning. So far, she’d bought only one present—a Christmas tree-shaped doggie toy. It was for her cocker spaniel, Pepper.

  As Katie walked into the pizza place, she spotted her best friend Suzanne Lock. Suzanne was sitting at a table with Jessica Haynes, a girl from Suzanne’s class. Katie’s other friends, George Brennan, Kevin Camilleri, and Manny Gonzalez, were seated at the next table. Katie smiled. Louie’s was the perfect place for kids to hang out while their parents shopped.

  “Hi, Jeremy. Hey, Katie Kazoo!” George called, using the super-cool nickname he’d made up for Katie last year in third grade. “You’re just in time. Louie’s making a special Christmas pizza for us. Sit down.”

  “No way. Katie’s sitting with us,” Suzanne told George. “You guys can have Jeremy.”

  Katie and Jeremy looked at each other. They had been having fun together all day. They didn’t want to sit at different tables.

  “How about we push these two tables together?” Katie suggested. “Then nobody has to split up.”

  “Whatever,” Suzanne said with a shrug. But she didn’t sound too happy about it.

  “What’s in the bag?” Jessica asked Katie.

  “A Christmas present for Pepper,” Katie told her. “I’m going to wrap it and put it under the tree for him. I don’t want him to feel left out on Christmas morning.”

  “Katie, Pepper’s a dog,” Suzanne said with a laugh. “You don’t have to wrap his gift. It’s not like he’ll know the difference.”

  “I’m going to wrap it,” Katie insisted. “Pepper will notice. He knows a lot more than you think he does.”

  Nobody argued with her. There was no point. All of Katie’s friends knew she thought Pepper was the smartest dog in the world.

  “Pepper’s really going to like that toy,” Jeremy said, defending Katie. “Almost as much as I would like a snowboard for Hanukkah.”

  “Snowboards are so cool!” Kevin exclaimed. “Do you really think you’re going to get one?”

  “I sure hope so,” Jeremy told him. “I’ve been wishing for one for a really long time.”

  “You’d better be careful what you wish for,” Suzanne warned him. “Wishes don’t always come true the way you think they will.”

  Katie gulped. She couldn’t believe Suzanne had said that. Was it possible that she knew about the wish Katie had made—the one about being anyone but herself?

  Could Suzanne know about the magic wind?

  “Two years ago, I wished for a baby sister,” Suzanne continued. “And I got one. You all know what a pain Heather is. Having a baby in the house is nothing like I thought it would be.”

  Phew. Katie smiled. What a relief. Suzanne didn’t know about her secret after all.

  Just then, Louie came over with their pizza. “Here you go, gang,” he said as he put the tray on the table. “A Christmas special.”

  Katie looked down at the pie. Louie had arranged spinach leaves in the shape of a Christmas tree. He’d cut mushroom slices into small pieces and placed them like ornaments on the spinach-leaf tree.

  Mmmm, Katie thought. This pizza looks great!

  “It’s so Christmassy!” Suzanne exclaimed.

  “I’m starving!” George declared as he started to grab a slice of pizza. “Louie, can we have some paper plates, please?” he asked.

  Louie walked over to the counter and grabbed six dishes.

  “What are these for?” George asked him.

  “To put your pizza on,” Louie replied.

  “What happened to the paper plates?” Kevin asked.

  “I’m not using them anymore,” Louie replied. “I’m trying to save some trees.”

  “Huh?” George asked.

  “Paper is made from trees,” Louie explained. “The earth needs trees to keep the air and land healthy. I don’t want any trees to have to die just so I can use paper plates. These plates can be washed and used again and again.”

  “They’re kind of like your Christmas present to the planet,” Katie told him.

  Louie grinned. “Exactly.”

  “Merry Christmas, Earth,” Katie said as she put a slice of pizza on her plate.

  Chapter 2

  “More latkes, Katie?” Mrs. Fox asked as she held up a platter of fried potato pancakes.

  “No thank you,” Katie replied. She was really full. First she’d eaten three slices of Christmas pizza at Louie’s for lunch. Now, here it was dinnertime, and she had just finished a whole stack of potato pancakes at Jeremy’s house.

  “Try them with the applesauce,” Jeremy suggested. “Latkes and applesauce go great together.”

  “Okay, maybe just one more,” Katie agreed. She took another pancake from the tray. “Do you eat these every night of Hanukkah?”

  “Some people do,” Mrs. Fox told Katie. “But we eat them only on the first night of Hanukkah.”

  “I’d never fit in my pants if we had these for eight nights in a row,” Mr. Fox joked. He rubbed his chubby belly. “I wonder if this is how Santa Claus got his belly.”

  “I never heard of latkes at the North Pole,” Katie answered. “I think Santa’s stomach is full of cookies.”

  “Santa doesn’t know what he’s missing,” Mr. Fox teased. He speared two more latkes from the platter.

  Mrs. Fox laughed. “I’m so glad your mother agreed to let you spend the first night of Hanukkah with us, Katie,” she said.

  “Me too,” Katie said. “I can’t wait to see what gift Jeremy is getting tonight.”

  “Neither can I,” Jeremy agreed excitedly. “I really can’t wait!”

  “Okay, I get the message,” Mrs. Fox sighed. “But before we get the presents, why don’t we light the menorah? After all, it symbolizes what the holiday is about.”

  “Hanukkah is about the miracle of the oil,” Jeremy told Katie.

  Katie looked at him curiously. She didn’t know what he was talking about.

  “A long time ago, the Jews fought a big war against the Greeks,” Jeremy explained. “They won the war, but their temple was left a mess. Even the holy lamp—the one that was supposed to always stay lit—wasn’t burning anymore. The Jews had enough oil to light the lamp for just one day. But somehow, that oil burned for eight days. It was a miracle.”

  “That’s exactly right, Jeremy,” Mr. Fox said proudly.

  Katie followed Jeremy over to the kitchen counter where Mrs. Fox had placed a silver candleholder. There were spots for nine candles. But Mrs. Fox had placed only two candles in the holder—one on the end and one in the middle.

  “We use the candle in the middle to the light the others,” Mr. Fox explained. “Tonight we are lighting the first candle, because it’s the first night of Hanukkah. Tomorrow we’ll light two candles. And then three. By the e
ighth night, the whole menorah will burn brightly.”

  Mrs. Fox lit the Hanukkah candle and said some prayers in Hebrew. Then she went into the hall closet and pulled out a huge box covered in silver-and-blue wrapping paper.

  “This is from Grandma,” she told Jeremy.

  “Awesome!” Jeremy cheered. “My grandma always knows exactly what I want. She gets me the best gifts.”

  “Wow,” Katie said. The box was big enough to hold a small snowboard. “Open it,” she urged as she crossed her fingers for luck.

  Jeremy smiled broadly as he tore off the wrapping paper and yanked the box open.

  But his smile soon turned to a frown. “It’s a coat,” he said quietly.

  “Not a coat,” Mrs. Fox told him. “A ski jacket. It’s got lots of pockets, and it’s very warm. But it isn’t very heavy.”

  Jeremy fingered the shiny black material. “I guess Grandma doesn’t always know what I want.”

  “Jeremy!” Mrs. Fox scolded.

  “I mean, it’s really nice,” Jeremy corrected himself.

  “You’ll call her later and thank her?” Mrs. Fox reminded him.

  “Sure,” Jeremy answered.

  Katie felt bad that her best friend was disappointed with his gift. “You’re going to look so cool in that coat,” she said, trying to make Jeremy feel better. “You should definitely wear it to school on Monday. You’ll look like a professional snowboarder.”

  “A snowboarder without a snowboard,” Jeremy groaned.

  “You never know,” Katie said. “You still have seven more nights of Hanukkah. Maybe you’ll get a snowboard tomorrow.”

  That perked Jeremy up. “You really think so?” he asked her.

  “Would you two like to play dreidel?” Mrs. Fox interrupted. She pulled out a little clay top with four sides. Each side had a Hebrew letter on it.“You get to eat whatever you win,” she continued as she handed them each a bag of chocolate money.

  “Yum!” Katie exclaimed. “Playing games with chocolate money. Now this is my kind of holiday!”

  Chapter 3

  Usually, Sundays were lazy days in Katie’s house. Her parents liked to sleep late, then read the newspaper and drink coffee. Katie played with Pepper, hung out with her friends, or read a book.

  But this Sunday, the Carew house was bustling. Katie’s dad was busy putting up Christmas lights. Katie and her mom were placing the finishing touches on their tree. Pepper was happy just sitting on the couch and sniffing the air. It smelled like a mix of pine and gingerbread.

  “These gifts look really pretty,” Katie said as she looked at the pile of presents beneath the tree. She pointed to a box that was wrapped in shimmery blue foil. A small, folded paper swan sat on top of the box. It looked like the swan was swimming on a beautiful icy pond.

  “Lauren, the new gift wrapper at Thimbles Department Store, is amazing,” Mrs. Carew said as she walked into the living room with a box of ornaments for the tree. “Everything she does looks like a piece of art.”

  Katie picked up another box. It was wrapped in green and red paper. In the center, Lauren had placed tissue paper folded into the shape of a poinsettia flower. “That one’s almost too pretty to open,” Mrs. Carew said.

  “Almost,” Katie agreed. “But I’m still dying to know what’s inside. Maybe I could open just this one.”

  Mrs. Carew chuckled. “There are just a few more days until Christmas, Katie.”

  “But Jeremy has already opened one of his gifts. And he’ll get another one tonight. And another the next night, and . . .”

  “That’s because he celebrates Hanukkah,” Mrs. Carew interrupted her. “We open our gifts on Christmas morning. That’s how we have always done it.”

  She placed a small white dove ornament on a branch of the tree. “There. I think we’re finished. Take a look.”

  “Wow!” Katie exclaimed.

  The tree was so tall, it almost reached the ceiling of the living room. Red and green lights shimmered among its branches. And there were so many ornaments. Some were really old, like the snowman ornament that had been Katie’s mom’s when she was a little girl.

  Other ornaments were brand-new, like the fuzzy cocker spaniel Katie’s grandmother had made for her.

  Some were very traditional, like the angel on the top of the tree.

  And others were just plain silly—like the Rudolph ornament Katie’s dad had hung near the top of the tree. Its giant red nose blinked on and off.

  “I have a few more gifts to put under the tree,” Mrs. Carew told Katie.

  “Any for me?” Katie asked her.

  “Could be,” Mrs. Carew answered mysteriously.

  “Ruff! Ruff !” Pepper barked suddenly.

  “Don’t worry, Pepper,” Katie told him. “I have a present for you, too. In fact, I’m going upstairs right now to wrap it.”

  Katie stood up and walked toward the stairs. Pepper followed close behind.

  “You can’t come with me,” Katie told him. “Your gift is supposed to be a surprise.”

  But Pepper wouldn’t listen. He kept following Katie up the stairs.

  “Mom!” Katie cried out. “Could you keep Pepper down there with you? I want to wrap his present.”

  “Pepper, come here,” Mrs. Carew called. “I have a special treat for you.”

  At the sound of the word treat, Pepper raced toward the kitchen. That gave Katie just enough time to run upstairs and lock herself in her room.

  Quickly, she pulled the new chew toy from her closet. Then she laid out a few sheets of Christmas wrapping paper and pulled tape and scissors from her desk drawer.

  “This is going to be the most beautiful gift under the tree,” she told herself as she began to cut the wrapping paper in the shape of a Christmas tree.

  An hour later, there were scraps of wrapping paper all over Katie’s bedroom. Katie had tape all over her clothes and hair.

  But the Christmas tree-shaped chew toy was still unwrapped.

  Katie had discovered that it wasn’t so easy wrapping Pepper’s present. It was a really weird shape. Every time Katie tried to close one end of the paper, another part would tear or rip.

  No matter what she did, Katie couldn’t get Pepper’s gift to look as nice as the gifts from Thimbles Department Store did.

  “Grr,” Katie grumbled loudly as she struggled to tape another piece of paper to the chew toy.

  Squeak! The toy seemed to yell back at her as she pressed down on it to wrap.

  “Will you be quiet?” Katie shouted at the toy.

  “Are you okay in there?” Katie’s mother called from the hallway.

  Katie blushed. It was embarrassing to be caught talking to a doggie chew toy!

  “Sure,” she said quickly. “I’m just finishing up with Pepper’s gift.”

  “Do you need help?” Mrs. Carew asked.

  Katie probably could have used some grown-up help. But she was determined to wrap Pepper’s present all by herself.

  “No thanks, Mom,” she told her. “I’ve almost got things wrapped up in here.”

  Katie put the last bit of tape on the top of the gift. She sat back and looked at her work. The chew toy was sealed up tightly, but it was also a mess. She hoped Pepper wouldn’t mind.

  A little while later, the phone rang. It was Jeremy.

  “Did you get your snowboard?” Katie asked him excitedly.

  “No, not tonight. But I’m pretty sure the snowboard will be next,” Jeremy answered.

  “Why?” Katie asked.

  “Tonight, I got these awesome snow goggles from my cousins. I think my family is making sure I have all the right clothes so that when I get the snowboard, I’m ready to go.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Katie told him.

  “I know I am. I’ll be snowboarding over vacation,” Jeremy said confidently.

  “If it snows,” Katie reminded him.

  “Oh, it will,” Jeremy assured her. “It always snows during winter vacation!”

&
nbsp; Vacation. Katie adored that word. And the day after tomorrow it would be here!

  Chapter 4

  Katie loved the way class 4A looked at Christmastime. Her teacher, Mr. Guthrie, had decorated the room to look like the North Pole. There was an igloo made of Styrofoam bricks near the blackboard. White paper snowflakes hung from the ceiling. Colorful Christmas lights framed the windows.

  There was a Hanukkah menorah on the windowsill. Beside it sat another candleholder. But this one held seven candles. Katie had never seen one like that before.

  No doubt about it. Everything you could want for the holidays was in that classroom. But as Katie sat down in a beanbag chair, she noticed that something very important was missing . . .

  Their teacher!

  “Where’s Mr. G?” Katie asked her class-mates.

  “Do you think he’s absent?” Emma Stavros asked.

  “No way,” Mandy Banks answered her. “Mr. G. is never absent.”

  Just then an old woman with a big pointy nose burst into the classroom. She was wearing a long robe and a scarf over her head.

  “Hello, everyone,” she greeted the kids in a deep voice.

  “Hey, that’s Mr. G!” Andy Epstein said, laughing.

  “Why are you dressed like that?” Kadeem Carter asked their teacher.

  “I’m not Mr. G. I’m La Befana!” the person in the robe and scarf answered.

  But the kids weren’t fooled. Not for a minute.

  “Very funny, Mr. G.,” George said, laughing. “Good one.”

  But Mr. G. wasn’t admitting that the kids were right. “I’m La Befana,” he insisted again. “And I’m getting ready to give all the good girls and boys in Italy presents . . . but not until January sixth.”

  Katie stared at Mr. G. Her teacher had done some weird things before. But this was definitely the weirdest!

  “They don’t get gifts in Italy until January sixth?” George asked.

  “That’s right,” Mr. G. told him. “In Italy, the big gifts are delivered by La Befana, instead of Santa. And they don’t come until January.”