A Katie Kazoo Christmas (2 page)

On Saturday afternoon, the kids in Katie’s cooking club gathered in the Carew family’s kitchen. They were all very excited. This wasn’t just any meeting of the cooking club. This week, the kids were baking holiday cookies!

“
Mmmm
. These are delicious,” George Brennan said as he bit into a tree-shaped sugar cookie.

Suzanne made a face. “George, wait until you’re finished chewing before you talk,” she told him.

George opened his mouth wide, showing his half-chewed cookie.

“Ugh,” Miriam Chan groaned, turning away from George. “That’s so gross.”

“These cookies are really yummy,” Emma Weber said, trying to turn the attention away from George. “I can’t wait to bring them home. My brothers and sister will love them!”

“My mom says I’m not allowed to bring any cookies home,” Mandy Banks told her. “We have too many sweets in the house already.”

“I know what you mean,” Kevin Camilleri agreed. “My house is filled with candies and cookies. And of course, we have my Aunt Edna’s fruitcake. We get one of those every year.”

“I
hate
fruitcake,” Suzanne said with a frown.

“So do I,” Kevin agreed. “Everyone in my family does. We never eat Aunt Edna’s cake. We always bring it to the homeless shelter on Christmas Eve. Then we help out by serving dinner there.”

“I bet the people there don’t like your Aunt Edna’s fruitcake, either,” George teased.

“I think it’s nice that Kevin’s family takes food to the shelter,” Emma W. said.

“So do I,” Katie agreed. “In fact, I have a great idea!”

Jeremy Fox smiled. He loved Katie’s great ideas. “What do you want to do, Katie?” he asked.

“I think we should make a whole lot of cookies,” Katie said.

“We’re already doing that, Katie Kazoo,” George said, using the cool nickname he’d given Katie back in third grade.

“No, we have to make more.
Lots
more,” Katie explained. “Then we can wrap them up like presents and take them to the homeless shelter for its holiday party. I know the people there would love them as much as we do!”

“That
is
a great idea, Katie,” Jeremy agreed.

“Maybe we could help serve food at the holiday party, too,” Emma W. suggested.

“It’s really lots of fun,” Kevin told her.

“Ruff ! Ruff !” Katie’s dog, Pepper, barked. He leaped up and put his paws on the kitchen counter. Then he reached his mouth up and tried to eat a cookie.

“No way, Pepper,” Katie said with a laugh. She moved the plate of cookies out of his reach. “These are for the people at the shelter. I’ll get you one of
your
cookies.”

She reached into a cupboard and pulled out a dog treat. She tossed it high in the air. Pepper leaped up and caught the treat in his mouth.

“Good boy,” Katie said. She patted him on the head. Then she turned to her friends. “Okay, so it’s settled. We’ll all meet here on Christmas Eve to watch the Christmas house-decorating contest. After they pick a winner, we’ll go over to the shelter together.”

“I’ll have to ask my mom since it’s Christmas Eve,” George said. “We usually spend that night together as a family. But I’ll bet she’d let me go serve food at the shelter for a little while.”

“I know my parents will say it’s okay,” Emma W. said. “They’ll probably even come and help.”

“Why do we have to do this on Christmas Eve?” Suzanne demanded.

“Because that’s the night they choose a winner in the house-decorating contest. And it’s also the night the shelter has its big party,” Katie explained.

“But
I
can’t go on Christmas Eve,” Suzanne said. “I’m going to the Cherrydale Christmas Extravaganza that night.”

“That’s okay,” Jeremy told her. “There are plenty of us. We won’t even notice you’re missing.”

Suzanne stuck her tongue out at Jeremy. He stuck his tongue out at her.

Katie sighed. Jeremy and Suzanne were both her best friends. But they didn’t like each other very much. “Come on, you guys,” Katie said, trying to calm them down.

But Suzanne was too mad to calm down. “If you are going to give the cookies away without me, then
I’m
not going to help bake them,” she declared. She threw her mixing spoon down on the counter and stormed out of the kitchen. A few seconds later, the kids heard the front door of the house slam behind her.

“Suzanne just doesn’t have the holiday spirit,” Jeremy said with a shrug as he bit down on a star-shaped cookie.

After Katie’s friends left, she helped her mother clean up the kitchen.

“I’m going to take Pepper out for a walk, okay, Mom?” Katie asked when they were done.

“Sure, honey,” her mom replied.

Katie put on her coat, put Pepper on his leash, and walked outside.

Katie gasped. Clearly Mr. Brigandi had been really busy!

Now there were even more decorations on his lawn than ever before. Katie looked up at the giant wooden nutcracker right at the edge of Mr. Brigandi’s walkway. It stood tall and straight, like it was guarding the house.

Beside the nutcracker stood a beautiful ballerina statue. It wore a pink tutu and had a silver crown on its head. Katie could hear the ballerina’s motor purring as the statue turned around and around on its wooden toe shoe.

Obviously Mr. Brigandi wasn’t giving up his first-place title without a fight!

Mr. and Mrs. Derkman seemed as determined as Mr. Brigandi to win the house-decorating contest. They’d added a giant Frosty the Snowman to their Christmas display. They had also sprinkled fake snow all over their lawn to make it look extra festive. And there were so many bright lights on their trees that it looked like the sun was shining all around their house.

“This is the most beautiful block in the whole world!” Katie shouted.

On Sunday morning, Katie woke up early and got dressed. She wanted to go to the mall with her mother. Mrs. Carew was the manager of the Book Nook bookstore in the Cherrydale Mall.

Usually, Katie’s mother gave Katie money to spend when she went to the mall. But today, Katie was carrying her own money in her pocketbook. She’d been saving it up all year. She had $17.45! She was going to use the money to buy gifts for her parents and Pepper.

“Hello, Katie,” Mr. Krasner, the owner of the Pet Stop, greeted her. “I’ll bet you’re here to buy a present for Pepper,” Mr. Krasner said.

Katie nodded. “I want to be sure he has a gift to open on Christmas morning. It’s not fair for him to be left out.”

“I have just the thing for him,” Mr. Krasner told her. He held up a red and white candy-cane-shaped toy. “This is a great chew toy. It even smells like peppermint. And you know how dogs like mint!”

Katie sniffed at the toy. “Yum,” she said. “It’s perfect! Pepper will love it!”

Mr. Krasner walked over to the counter with Katie. He put the candy cane in a bag. Then he added a few dog treats to the bag, too. “The candy cane costs $2.25,” he told Katie. “The treats are on the house. They’re my present to Pepper.”

“Thank you,” Katie said as she handed him two one-dollar bills and a quarter. “And Pepper says, ‘thank you,’ too.”

Mr. Krasner laughed. “Tell him I said, ‘you’re welcome.’ ” He winked at Katie.

Katie smiled and took her bag.

“Wait a minute,” Mr. Krasner said as Katie walked away. “Aren’t you going to go to the back of the store and visit the guinea pigs and hamsters? Their cages are decorated with green and red chew sticks. I thought it would put them in the Christmas mood.”

“I’ll have to visit them another day,” Katie told Mr. Krasner. “I have a lot of shopping left to do.”

“Okay,” Mr. Krasner said. “Have a great holiday!”

“You too!” Katie said. “Bye!”

Katie smiled as she left the store and walked around the mall. She couldn’t wait for Christmas to come. But first, she had to finish her shopping!

Katie wasn’t the only Cherrydale Elementary School fourth-grader shopping that afternoon. Katie soon spotted Suzanne and her mother standing outside a kids’ clothing store. They seemed to be arguing.