A Katie Kazoo Christmas (8 page)

Authors: Nancy Krulik

BOOK: A Katie Kazoo Christmas

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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!”

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.