Christmas Body_fb_s_12_14_2016-ilovepdf-compressed
A Christmas Surprise for Layne, Finley, and Avery from Mom & Dad
- Page 3: for Layne, Finley, and Avery Merry
- Page 6 and 7: This little mouse’s story began e
- Page 8 and 9: Pulling the mouse-sized bag after h
- Page 10: As she waltzed through the snow and
- Page 13 and 14: AT T H E TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN... ...
- Page 17: The mountain was so tall and the sl
- Page 20 and 21: SURROUNDED BY SNOW ON ALL SIDES...
- Page 22 and 23: It was a raindeer!!!
- Page 24: It was all the mouse could do to ho
- Page 28 and 29: Placing the gifts carefully into La
- Page 30 and 31: ‘Twas the night before Christmas,
- Page 32: Welcome to the storieChild family W
A <strong>Christmas</strong><br />
Surprise<br />
for Layne, Finley,<br />
and Avery<br />
from Mom & Dad
for Layne, Finley, and Avery<br />
Merry <strong>Christmas</strong>!
‘Twas the night before <strong>Christmas</strong>, and all through the house<br />
Just one creature was stirring: a small <strong>Christmas</strong> mouse.<br />
While Layne, Avery, and Finley peacefully slept<br />
This brave little mouse in the Hunters’ house crept<br />
Her red bag was empty, her mission completed!<br />
The journey was long, but she had succeeded!<br />
She carefully scampered towards the tiny mouse door<br />
Through which she had entered only moments before.<br />
But before she went out, she quietly said,<br />
“Merry <strong>Christmas</strong>, dear children, asleep in your beds!”<br />
Then she wiggled her whiskers, and scurried away<br />
Thinking how it would soon be <strong>Christmas</strong> day.<br />
What was this <strong>Christmas</strong> mouse doing, you ask?<br />
Where did she come from? What was her task?<br />
Let me tell you her story, and soon you will hear<br />
An amazing adventure that brings <strong>Christmas</strong> cheer.
This little mouse’s story began earlier that same<br />
<strong>Christmas</strong> Eve night...
...while she was home in her cozy mouse hole.<br />
She was drinking hot chocolate, listening to <strong>Christmas</strong><br />
music, wrapping the presents that she would<br />
give to her forest friends, and thinking about how very<br />
wonderful <strong>Christmas</strong> is.<br />
But, despite her overflowing <strong>Christmas</strong> joy, something<br />
was bothering her. She knew that <strong>Christmas</strong> joy was<br />
not something to keep to herself; she knew that sharing<br />
with others was at the heart of <strong>Christmas</strong>.<br />
She was so very warm and cozy there in her<br />
mouse hole, but she couldn’t stay there! She had to share<br />
her <strong>Christmas</strong> joy!<br />
The mouse packed her red sack full of<br />
some special surprises, and set off!
Pulling the mouse-sized bag after her<br />
as she emerged from her tree hollow, the mouse<br />
thought over her plan. She would carry her gifts<br />
all the way to the Hunters’ house, and then she<br />
would sneak the surprises into Avery, Finley,<br />
and Layne’s stockings!
But once she stepped out into the cold, snowy storm, it became clear that this journey<br />
would be harder than she first suspected. Old Man Winter was delivering his<br />
<strong>Christmas</strong> present, a snowy winter storm.<br />
The tiny <strong>Christmas</strong> mouse<br />
tried to push her way right through the storm...<br />
...with stubborn determination, but she was getting nowhere. Then she realized that<br />
instead of fighting against the wind and snow, she needed to join winter in its<br />
<strong>Christmas</strong> dance. She danced with the swirling wind and snow across the meadow and<br />
found that Old Man Winter is a very good dancer!
As she waltzed through the snow and wind, the <strong>Christmas</strong> mouse<br />
thought of Avery Hunter. Avery turned 8 in 2015. This year she had a great year playing<br />
soccer and became a real pro on the longboard skateboard. She also won the school<br />
spelling bee and was on safety patrol.<br />
The mouse remembered how much Avery loves <strong>Christmas</strong> and that one thing that<br />
makes this holiday special for her is reading the <strong>Christmas</strong> story on her parents’ bed on<br />
<strong>Christmas</strong> morning with the whole family before going downstairs to open presents.
The mouse danced with the<br />
winter storm all the way across the meadow...<br />
...only to find an enormous mountain in her path. The climbing became<br />
easier, though, when she remembered that soon she would be delivering gifts.
AT<br />
T H E<br />
TOP OF THE<br />
MOUNTAIN...<br />
...the <strong>Christmas</strong><br />
mouse looked down,<br />
down, down into the<br />
valley below, the lights of the<br />
houses twinkling so far away. It<br />
looked as though she could walk until<br />
morning and still not be halfway! But she<br />
would not give up!<br />
She just needed to find a way to move faster.<br />
Noticing that the wind and snow had created<br />
a smooth sheet of ice on one side of her bag, the<br />
clever mouse had an idea. That icy surface<br />
would make a great sled...and sledding was another<br />
thing she loved about the <strong>Christmas</strong> season!
Sliding down the mountain on her makeshift toboggan,<br />
the mouse thought about Finley Hunter and wondered if Fin would also enjoy this sled<br />
ride. Sledding was a <strong>Christmas</strong> tradition in the Mouse family.<br />
This was Fin’s 7th <strong>Christmas</strong> and she was excited about the Hunter <strong>Christmas</strong> family<br />
traditions. One of her favorite family traditions at <strong>Christmas</strong> is putting jams on, getting in<br />
the car, and driving around the nearby neighborhoods looking at the different lights. She<br />
also loves jamming out to <strong>Christmas</strong> music!
The mountain was so tall<br />
and the sled ride down it so long...<br />
…that she also had time to think about the<br />
third eldest child in the Hunter family,<br />
Layne, who turned 6 this year!<br />
In 2015, now that it was winter, Layne would soon be<br />
enjoying running out and playing in the snow, drinking<br />
hot cocoa to warm up, and watching movies by the fire.<br />
Those are some of the things she loves about winter.<br />
The <strong>Christmas</strong> mouse was having so much<br />
fun with her wintry sled ride at that very<br />
moment that she didn’t see the GIANT snow<br />
bank until<br />
it was too LATE!
C R A S H !<br />
!<br />
!<br />
Both the mouse and bag<br />
sailed headlong into the pile of fresh<br />
snow, sinking into a deep hole.<br />
A mouse-sized avalanche crashed<br />
down after her, filling in the hole and<br />
trapping the poor mouse in the<br />
snow.
SURROUNDED<br />
BY SNOW ON ALL SIDES...<br />
...and buried beneath the pile of icy whiteness, the <strong>Christmas</strong> mouse felt her<br />
<strong>Christmas</strong> spirit begin to waiver. She had crashed deep into the snowbank<br />
and snow had closed the hole behind her. Even if she could dig her way out, it would take<br />
so long that she would miss <strong>Christmas</strong> altogether.
Then, just as the mouse was about to begin<br />
the impossible task of digging her<br />
way out, she heard s omething scraping at<br />
the snow above her and a fuzzy antler<br />
poked through into her hole.
It was a raindeer!!!
The raindeer had seen the crash<br />
and had come to help.<br />
“Where is a small<br />
mouse with such a big red<br />
sack going on this <strong>Christmas</strong> Eve<br />
night?” the reindeer wondered in<br />
a friendly tone.<br />
The <strong>Christmas</strong> mouse explained her mission<br />
as her heart sank with great disappointment, knowing<br />
that she could not reach her destination in time for<br />
<strong>Christmas</strong>. The reindeer, moved by the mouse’s<br />
giving spirit, decided he wanted a <strong>Christmas</strong> mission of<br />
his own.<br />
He offered to journey the rest of the<br />
way with the mouse sitting upon his antlers.
It was all the mouse could do to hold on as<br />
the reindeer leapt so high and so quickly<br />
across the snow that it just may have been flying.<br />
It was a reindeer, after all. Her hope renewed, she<br />
found herself thinking of Madeline and John Hunter and<br />
some things they had said about <strong>Christmas</strong>...<br />
“<strong>Christmas</strong> is a reminder for us about the birth of Christ. It is a time of<br />
giving and finding ways to give and serve others in our neighborhood and community.”<br />
“Every year we get to see <strong>Christmas</strong> through our children’s eyes. How excited<br />
they get over the simplest things like seeing lights and singing <strong>Christmas</strong> carols! Their innocence<br />
brings a newness to it all, year after year. And of course, the presents!!!”
THE<br />
REINDEER<br />
DROPPED<br />
THE<br />
MOUSE...<br />
...right in front of the secret mouse-sized door that<br />
leads into the Hunters’ house. She scurried inside, nearly bursting<br />
with <strong>Christmas</strong> excitement. Creeping past their bedroom<br />
doors, she found the <strong>Christmas</strong> stockings and happily<br />
began to empty her big red sack.
Placing the gifts carefully into Layne’s stocking, then Finley’s, and<br />
then Avery’s, she worked without stopping!<br />
It was true, thought the mouse, that giving was better<br />
than receiving. She closed up her empty sack and scurried back<br />
towards her mouse hole, but not before whispering Merry<br />
<strong>Christmas</strong> into each door.
A n d that brings us back to<br />
where we started...<br />
...with one very happy <strong>Christmas</strong><br />
mouse who has completed her mission of<br />
sharing her <strong>Christmas</strong> joy. Outside, her<br />
swift-footed friend was waiting for her.<br />
And once again, with the mouse sitting upon his antlers, the reindeer<br />
“flew” across the snow-covered night, bringing the mouse back to her<br />
home in no time at all. Before the clock struck twelve, the mouse was back in<br />
her cozy bed, dreaming of <strong>Christmas</strong> and one very special family.
‘Twas the night before <strong>Christmas</strong>, and one <strong>Christmas</strong> mouse<br />
Was peacefully sleeping in her <strong>Christmas</strong> mouse house.<br />
She was warm and content, her spirits were lifted<br />
Not by what she would get, but by what she had gifted.
Merry <strong>Christmas</strong>,<br />
Layne, Finley, and Avery!<br />
Merry <strong>Christmas</strong>,<br />
Hunter family!
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Mom and Dad have been parents for 8 years. They spend<br />
their days driving minivans and changing the world with their<br />
amazing daughters. This is their second children’s book.