A Pee Wee Christmas

by Judy Delton

  YOUNG YEARLING BOOKS YOU WILL ENJOY:

  The Pee Wee Scout books by Judy Delton

  COOKIES AND CRUTCHES

  CAMP GHOST-AWAY

  LUCKY DOG DAYS

  BLUE SKIES, FRENCH FRIES

  GRUMPY PUMPKINS

  PEANUT-BUTTER PILGRIMS

  A PEE WEE CHRISTMAS

  THAT MUSHY STUFF

  SPRING SPROUTS

  YEARLING BOOKS/YOUNG YEARLINGS/YEARLING CLASSICS are designed especially to entertain and enlighten young people. Patricia Reilly Giff, consultant to this series, received her bachelor’s degree from Marymount College and a master’s degree in history from St. John’s University. She holds a Professional Diploma in Reading and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra University. She was a teacher and reading consultant for many years, and is the author of numerous books for young readers.

  For a complete listing of all Yearling titles,

  write to Dell Readers Service,

  P.O. Box 1045, South Holland, IL 60473.

  Published by

  Dell Publishing

  a division of

  Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

  666 Fifth Avenue

  New York, New York 10103

  Text copyright © 1988 by Judy Delton

  Illustrations copyright © 1988 by Alan Tiegreen

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.

  The trademark Yearling® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  The trademark Dell® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-79991-3

  v3.1

  For Margi Mark, who is

  Mrs. Peters’s Baby’s Grandma

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  1 Kindness Coupons

  2 At the Mall

  3 Sonny in Santa Land

  4 A Gift for Mrs. Peters

  5 Snowballs and Angels

  6 Scouts to the Rescue

  7 The Snow Pee Wees

  8 The Littlest Scout

  CHAPTER 1

  Kindness Coupons

  “Today is our last Scout meeting,” said Mrs. Peters, “before Christmas. We have a lot to do today.”

  Mrs. Peters looks fat, thought Molly Duff. Fatter than last time the Pee Wees met. The Scouts knew their troop leader was going to have a baby soon. They couldn’t wait! They might get to hold the baby and rock it. Take it for a walk. Even feed it, thought Molly.

  The Scouts were in Mrs. Peters’s basement. There were holiday decorations on the wall. Decorations the Pee Wees had made. Christmas trees. Stars. Menorahs.

  “First,” said Mrs. Peters, “let’s talk about good deeds you have done this week. Have you got anything to report?”

  Tracy Barnes waved her hand. “I took care of my baby sister,” she said, “when my mom had to go to exercise class.”

  Tracy sniffled and wiped her nose on the back of her hand. Tracy had allergies. Her eyes watered and her nose ran.

  Tracy had lots of brothers and sisters. “My little sister almost rolled off the bed,” said Tracy. “And I caught her just in time.”

  Molly wondered if that was a real good deed. Not letting a baby roll off a bed.

  “I bet I saved her life!” Tracy added.

  “Wonderful!” said Mrs. Peters. “That was certainly a good deed! Saving a baby’s life. Any others?” she asked.

  Roger White was waving his hand. “I saved somebody’s life. This little boy was playing near the street. A car was coming. I grabbed him and took him home.”

  “Well, that was wonderful, Roger,” said Mrs. Peters. “It is good to look out for children who are in danger.”

  “You just said that because I did,” whispered Tracy to Roger. “You didn’t really save somebody’s life.”

  “I did too!” shouted Roger. “I did too. Ask my mother.”

  “I don’t believe you,” said Tracy.

  “Anyone else?” said Mrs. Peters.

  Mary Beth Kelly raised her hand.

  “Molly and I took some clothes to Goodwill for my mom,” she said. “Two big bags. We walked there.”

  Molly nodded. She had forgotten about that good deed.

  “Why, that is fine,” said Mrs. Peters. “It is always good to be a help at home.”

  Sonny Betz was waving his hand.

  “I made my bed this morning,” he said.

  “That’s not a good deed, dummy. I make my bed every morning,” said Kevin Moe.

  “It is too,” said Sonny. “Then my mom doesn’t have to do it before she goes to work. Isn’t it a good deed, Mrs. Peters?”

  “We all should make our beds in the morning,” said Mrs. Peters. She did not say whether it was a good deed or not.

  “And I poured my own milk too,” said Sonny.

  “Today,” said Mrs. Peters, going on to something new, “we are going to make gifts for our parents for the holidays.”

  The Pee Wees cheered. “Yeah!” Making presents was fun.

  “Maybe we’ll make cookies,” whispered Lisa Ronning to Molly. “Or paperweights.”

  Mrs. Peters had colored paper in her hand.

  Red and green and blue.

  Yellow and orange and pink.

  Bright colors.

  Every color of the rainbow.

  Colored paper is not for paperweights, thought Molly.

  “I thought of a wonderful present,” said Mrs. Peters. “I thought of Pee Wee Scout Kindness Coupons. A Kindness Coupon is a coupon for a favor. You give them to your parents, and they give them back to you when they need a favor.”

  Mrs. Peters held up the bright paper.

  “We will cut out different color squares. On each square you will write what the coupon is good for. Like ‘one dishwashing.’ Then you sign your name. When your mother or father wants you to wash the dishes, they give you the coupon and you do the favor.”

  “My mom has a dishwasher,” said Rachel Meyers. “We don’t wash dishes by hand at my house.”

  Molly looked at Rachel and sighed.

  But Mrs. Peters just said, “Well then, you can say you will load and unload the dishwasher, Rachel.”

  “Okay,” said Rachel.

  “On another you can write ‘to Dad for one car wash.’ ”

  Rachel’s hand was waving again.

  Mrs. Peters said, “If your dad has his car washed at the car wash, you can say you will sweep out the garage instead.”

  Rachel’s hand went down.

  “Do you get the idea?” said Mrs. Peters. “You can make as many coupons as you like, and you can choose any favor you wish,” she said. “Just be sure you don’t write more than you can do.”

  Everyone was thinking of ideas for coupons.

  “My mom loves it when I polish the silver,” said Patty Baker. “I can make a coupon for that.”

  “Great!” said Mrs. Peters. “That’s the idea. Think about what would be a nice holiday favor at your house. Then I will write it on this blackboard so you will spell it right.”

  “I can spell dishwasher myself,” said Rachel.

  “I can spell anything,” said Kevin. “I get an A in spelling every time.”

  “Well, just in case,” said Mrs. Peters.

  Mrs. Peters passed out the colored paper. Then she passed out envelopes to put the coupons in. And a Christmas seal of Santa’s face to paste on the front
of each envelope.

  She showed them how to cut out the coupons.

  Soon the Pee Wees were busy.

  Thinking.

  Writing.

  Then cutting and thinking and writing some more.

  Roger decorated his coupons around the edge with a border.

  “How about a coupon for bringing your mother and father breakfast in bed?” said Molly to Mrs. Peters.

  “That is a very nice gift,” said Mrs. Peters. “I would love to have a coupon for breakfast in bed on Christmas morning.”

  “I wish I had thought of that,” said Lisa.

  “Well, you didn’t,” said Molly.

  “Can we make a breakfast-in-bed coupon?” asked Kenny Baker. Kenny was Patty’s twin brother.

  “Of course,” said Mrs. Peters.

  Almost everyone made a coupon for breakfast in bed.

  “Copycats!” said Molly. “That was my idea!”

  “Mrs. Peters said it was okay,” said Tim Noon. “We can all make them.”

  Soon the Pee Wees had lots and lots of colored coupons.

  “I’ve got twenty-two!” shouted Roger.

  “Make sure you can do all of your favors, Roger,” warned Mrs. Peters.

  “Yeah, Roger,” said Tracy. “Show-off.”

  Molly put her coupons in the envelope. She had ten. They were good favors. Hard favors. She pasted Santa’s face on the envelope. It was a wonderful present!

  While the Pee Wees cleaned up the room, Mrs. Peters went upstairs to make hot chocolate for everyone.

  “When is Mrs. Peters’s baby coming?” whispered Mary Beth to Molly.

  “In December,” said Molly.

  “It is December!” said Mary Beth. “Maybe it will come today.”

  Molly began to laugh. “Babies don’t come to Scout meetings,” she said. “They come to hospitals.”

  “The stork brings babies,” said Sonny.

  “The stork!” repeated Tracy. “I’ve got lots of babies in my family and no stork ever brought any of them!”

  “How can a bird bring a baby?” Molly laughed.

  Molly wasn’t exactly sure how babies came, but she knew a bird didn’t bring them.

  While the Pee Wees drank hot chocolate and ate Christmas cookies, Mrs. Peters talked about caroling in the shopping mall. “I’ll bring songbooks,” she said. “Mrs. Betz will come too. We’ll be able to cheer up the shoppers with our Christmas songs.”

  “I love the mall!” said Lisa.

  “Wear a tassel hat if you have one, and I’ll bring some bells to shake. We’ll all meet here next Friday afternoon,” Mrs. Peters said. “It will be Christmas vacation, so we can get an early start. Now,” she went on, “we will practice some songs, and then I’ll teach you a new Pee Wee Scout Christmas song.”

  Mrs. Peters passed out booklets, and she gave each Scout a paper with the new song on it.

  The Pee Wees sang some holiday songs they had learned in first grade.

  “Frosty the Snowman.”

  “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

  “Deck the Halls.”

  Then Mrs. Peters said, “We’ll sing this new song to the tune of ‘Jingle Bells.’ Look at your papers.”

  Mrs. Peters sang the song through once. “Now you join me,” she said.

  The Scouts sang quietly at first. They sang the song over and over. When they knew the words they sang louder. Finally they could sing it without Mrs. Peters.

  Dashing through the snow,

  Helping others out,

  Laughing, playing too,

  That’s a Pee Wee Scout.

  Bells on mittens ring,

  Doing a good deed,

  What fun it is to lend a hand

  To someone else in need.

  Pee Wee Scouts! Pee Wee Scouts!

  We all come to say,

  Oh, what fun it is to wish you

  A happy holiday!

  After that the Pee Wees joined hands and sang their regular Pee Wee Scout song. Then they said the Pee Wee Scout pledge.

  Soon it was time to go home.

  The Scout meeting was over.

  But next week, Molly thought, we’ll go caroling in the mall.

  CHAPTER 2

  At the Mall

  Every morning Molly put a big X on her calendar. Each X was one day closer to caroling day. Soon every day in the week had an X on it. It was Friday at last.

  The Pee Wee Scouts gathered at Mrs. Peters’s house at two o’clock.

  “It’s a perfect day to go caroling,” said their leader. “Snowy and cold.”

  The Scouts took off their coats and hats and mittens and boots.

  Mrs. Peters passed out the songbooks. She put her red tassel cap on and gave the Scouts some sleigh bells to shake. They jingled and jangled.

  The Pee Wees practiced their carols and the new Pee Wee Scout Christmas song.

  In a little while it was time to go to the mall. Mrs. Betz was already there.

  The Pee Wee Scouts looked bright and cheery in their winter outfits. Sonny had a long red and green scarf around his neck. It was so long it almost reached his knees. His hat was red and green too. It had a pom-pom on top. “My mom knit it,” he said proudly.

  Sonny’s mom could do everything, Molly thought. She skated better than the dads. She could paint and build things out of wood. And she could knit too.

  At the mall, a man showed them where to stand. There was a little stage set up for the Pee Wees. Right in the middle of the mall!

  A big Christmas tree stood behind them.

  On one side of the Scouts were tables where tired shoppers were drinking coffee and eating hot dogs.

  On the other side was Santa Land and a big castle. Santa Claus was sitting inside!

  Children waited in a long long line.

  They waited to talk to Santa.

  “Look!” shouted Sonny. “There’s Santa Claus! We can tell him what we want for Christmas.”

  Roger snickered. Molly and Tracy laughed too.

  Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Betz were showing the Pee Wees where to stand. The stage was made of three steps.

  “Now, the shortest ones stand here in the front,” said Mrs. Betz.

  Patty and Sonny and Rachel stood on the first step.

  “You aren’t little,” whispered Molly to Rachel.

  “Yes I am,” said Rachel. “My mom says I am tiny. And dainty.”

  But Rachel was much taller than Patty and Sonny. The other Scouts took their places along the steps. Roger went to the back. He was the biggest Pee Wee.

  “Now, be careful and don’t fall off the end,” warned Mrs. Peters.

  Roger gave Kenny a little shove. He didn’t fall. But Mrs. Peters gave Roger a warning look.

  Crowds began to gather in front of the Pee Wee Scouts. One little girl stared at Molly. She was eating popcorn and spilling most of it. Another little toddler with sticky hands was trying to grab Sonny’s bright scarf.

  Molly felt very grown-up. She remembered when her mother used to bring her to the mall to see the Christmas tree and hear the music. Now she was here singing. Just like a grown-up.

  Mrs. Peters blew on her little pitch pipe. The Scouts began to hum. Mrs. Peters wanted them to all start on the same note. When she nodded, they all began to sing “Frosty the Snowman.”

  More shoppers stopped to watch and listen.

  “This is fun,” whispered Mary Beth. “I feel like we are movie stars.”

  When the Pee Wees finished “Frosty,” the crowd clapped for them. Then they drifted away and a new group of shoppers circled around. One man began to sing with the Pee Wees when they sang “Silent Night.”

  A little boy came by with a beanshooter and shot beans at Tim.

  “Hey, cut that out!” yelled Tim, in the middle of singing “The First Noel.” “Mrs. Peters, he’s shooting me!”

  The little boy ran off.

  All of a sudden, Molly’s teacher, Mrs. Harris, came by.

  “Look!” shouted Mol
ly to the other Pee Wees who were in her class.

  The Pee Wees waved.

  Mrs. Harris waved back.

  “You are very good!” Mrs. Harris called out.

  The Scouts sang their Pee Wee “Jingle Bells” song. It was Molly’s favorite.

  “I want to sing ‘We Three Kings,’ ” said Roger. “When can we sing that?”

  “Next,” said Mrs. Peters.

  By three-thirty the Scouts were getting tired.

  “I think we need a break,” said Mrs. Peters. “Let’s sit down and have some hot chocolate.”

  “That was hard work,” said Mrs. Betz.

  The Scouts scrambled off the steps and over to the tables nearby.

  “Now,” said Mrs. Peters. “Mrs. Betz and I are going into Ginger’s store right here. We’ll only be gone a little while. You all sit here and rest and don’t leave this area. Do you understand?”

  The Pee Wees nodded.

  They were Scouts.

  A Scout could be trusted.

  But Sonny had his eye on the line leading to Santa’s castle. His mother and Mrs. Peters were not even inside Ginger’s when Sonny made a dash for Santa.

  CHAPTER 3

  Sonny in Santa Land

  “Sonny!” yelled Roger. “Hey, Sonny! Come back here.”

  But it was too late. Sonny was already standing at the end of the line. Molly could see him.

  Sonny was the tallest one in Santa’s line. His red and green hat popped up above the others. A little girl waited in front of him, eating a lollipop. She turned and pulled at Sonny’s long scarf.

  “I knew it!” said Molly. “Sonny still believes in Santa Claus!”

  “I haven’t believed in Santa Claus since I was a little kid,” said Lisa. “When I was four.”

  “I haven’t believed in him since I was two,” said Kenny.

  “I never believed in him,” Roger said.

  “You did too,” said Tracy.

  “That’s dumb,” said Roger. “How could he get down a skinny chimney? And he’d get full of dirt.”

  “He could,” said Tim. “He’s like Superman. He can do anything.”

  “You believe in Santa Claus too!” cried Molly.