by Nancy Krulik
The magic wind grew stronger and stronger, blowing wildly around Katie. It whirled and swirled like an Arctic tornado. Katie shut her reindeer eyes tight, and tried not to cry.
And then it stopped. Just like that. The magic wind was gone.
Katie Carew was back. And so was Randy. He looked at Katie and let out a little grunt.
“Don’t be afraid,” Katie said, reaching up to pet Randy’s furry head. “You’re okay. And so am I.” She frowned slightly. “Other than this terrible taste in my mouth. I ate too many of those mushrooms. I think I need a candy cane.”
A few minutes later, Katie got exactly what she needed—a yummy, red and white peppermint candy cane. Nick was enjoying one as well. He seemed very happy—especially now that Katie was back where she belonged.
“You had me worried there, Katie,” Nick told her as he added a few more marshmallows to his hot chocolate. “I had no idea where you’d gone. You should have told me you weren’t going to try the maze.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry,” Katie apologized. There didn’t seem to be anything else to say.
“The maze was so much fun, Katie,” Jeremy piped in. “How come you didn’t try it with us? Were you afraid you’d get lost or something?”
Katie sighed. She had been lost in a maze tonight. A maze of paths out near the woods. And that maze was blocked by snow banks, not metal candy canes. But of course she couldn’t tell Nick or Jeremy about that. They wouldn’t believe her even if she did. Katie wouldn’t have believed it either if it hadn’t happened to her.
Still, she had to say something. “I was walking around for a while, and then I was out at the barn petting a reindeer,” Katie told Jeremy and Nick.
There. That was kind of like the truth, anyway.
“Leave it to you to want to spend your whole night with the reindeer,” Emma W. said kindly. “You’re the biggest animal lover I know.”
“Okay, you guys,” Nick said. “I think we should get going. Mr. Frost has a lot of evening customers coming now. They’re going to want some hot chocolate, too.”
“Is Mr. Frost going to be working all night?” Katie asked Nick.
“At least until midnight,” Nick told her. “That’s closing time.”
Katie frowned. Midnight. That was really late. No wonder Mr. Frost hadn’t found time to decorate his house.
She looked around. There was still a line of customers waiting to go on sleigh rides. “Look at all those people,” she said. “I’m glad I didn’t scare them away.”
“You?” Nick asked. “Why would you scare them away?”
Oops. “I mean, I’m glad they’re not scared to go on a sleigh ride in the dark,” she said quickly.
“You didn’t get to see Santa,” Matthew said, interrupting Katie’s conversation with Nick. “But I saw him. His workshop is right at the end of the candy cane maze. When I got there, Santa was making toys with his elves! I got to sit on his lap and everything.”
Katie smiled. She was glad Matthew had changed the subject.
“Do you want to see him?” Matthew asked her. “I could show you where he is.”
“That’s okay,” Katie said. “Maybe another time.”
“Santa’s probably sleeping by now, anyway,” Nick told Matthew. “He needs his rest. He’s got a lot of work ahead of him.”
“The reindeer have a lot of work ahead of them, too,” Katie reminded Nick. “It’s hard work pulling that sleigh.” She rubbed her shoulder. “You have no idea how hard it is.”
The kids all looked at her funny.
“I mean, we humans have no idea,” Katie said quickly.
“Hey, do you guys know what reindeer have that no one else has?” George asked the kids.
“What?” Jeremy replied.
“Baby reindeer!” George exclaimed. He started to laugh.
Everyone else laughed, too. Except Katie, that is. She was too busy watching Mr. Frost sell tickets to his guests. He looked so tired. As tired as Santa and his reindeer must feel on Christmas morning.
Chapter 20
“Deck the halls with boughs of holly,” George and Emma W. began to sing.
“Shhh . . . we don’t want to wake him,” Katie whispered. It was early on Thursday morning. Katie and her friends had gone with her grandmother and Nick to deliver a special gift for someone they really liked.
“Mr. Frost was up really late last night.” Katie hung some silver tinsel over a bush in his front yard.
“Won’t Mr. Frost be surprised,” Katie’s grandmother told her.
“I can’t wait until he wakes up and sees what we’ve done,” Katie said. “He didn’t have time to decorate his house himself.”
“We barely have time to get it done,” Emma W. said. “Christmas Eve is tonight.”
“We’ll get it done,” Katie was sure of that. She looked around the front yard. George was hanging Christmas balls from the branches of a maple tree.
Emma W. and Jeremy were helping Nick string tiny, white lights on all the pine trees. Suzanne was hanging a paper wreath of cut-out handprints on the front door.
“This looks beautiful!” Katie exclaimed.
“It’s a winter wonderland all right,” Suzanne agreed. “And my wreath is the crowning touch.”
Katie laughed. Suzanne never changed. And that was okay. Katie liked her the way she was. Usually.
“The wreath does look nice,” she told her best friend. “I’m sorry you couldn’t go with us yesterday.”
“It’s okay,” Suzanne said. “I was busy at the Community Center selling candy again. I think I must have broken a world record for selling peanut brittle.”
“I’ll bet you did,” Katie told her.
“Okay, are we ready to get Mr. Frost out here?” Nick asked the kids.
“Oh yeah!” Katie and her friends shouted back.
“Then let’s do it!” Katie’s grandmother said.
The kids all ran up to Mr. Frost’s front porch. They began to sing.
“We wish you a merry Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy New Year!”
Suddenly, the door opened. Mr. Frost stood there in his robe and slippers. He blinked a few times and looked out at the group of kids on his front porch.
“Isn’t it a little early for carolers?” he asked them.
“We wanted to catch you at home,” Katie told him. “You’re always working in the afternoons and at night.”
“That’s true,” Mr. Frost said with a smile. “This is a pleasant wake-up surprise.”
“Oh, that’s not the only surprise,” Nick told him. “Take a look.”
The kids moved out of the way to give Mr. Frost a better view of his front yard.
“Oh my!” Mr. Frost exclaimed. “This is so beautiful.”
“Do you really like it?” Katie asked.
“I do,” Mr. Frost told her. “In fact, this is the best Christmas surprise I’ve ever had. You know, in all the years I’ve owned the North Pole Winter Fun Park, I’ve never once been able to decorate my house.”
“You don’t have time to enjoy the holiday yourself,” Katie said.
Mr. Frost nodded. “Taking care of a park is hard work. Those reindeer need a lot of care.”
“But it’s worth it,” Katie told him. “They’re really happy.”
Everyone looked at her strangely.
“I mean, they seem so happy,” she said to her friends. “And the people who come to the North Pole Winter Fun Park are happy, too.”
“Well, today, I’m the one who is happy,” Mr. Frost told the kids. “Now why don’t you all come inside? I’ll make some hot chocolate. And I’ll put a candy cane in every mug.”
“All right!” George cheered.
As Katie’s grandmother, Nick, Suzanne, Jeremy, George, and Emma W. headed into the house, Katie suddenly felt a cold breeze on the back of her neck.
Oh no, she thought nervously. Not the magic wind. Not now.
Katie
stood there for a minute, her eyes shut. She was waiting for that tornado to start whirling and twirling around her. But it didn’t. Instead, it just sort of stopped.
The breeze hadn’t been the magic wind at all. It had been just an ordinary winter wind. Phew.
Katie was so happy not to be switcherooed again. She really didn’t want to be anyone else today. She just wanted to be Katie Kazoo at Christmas.
Have a Very Crafty Christmas!
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Candy Cane
Katie loves giving homemade Christmas presents to her friends and family. This year, she’s come up with a candy cane craft that looks like it flew straight from the North Pole!
You will need: a brown pipe cleaner; a candy cane; glue (or a hot glue gun and an adult to help you with it); a small, metal bell; a small, red pom-pom; a thin, green ribbon; small, wiggly eyes (these can be purchased at any craft store)
Here’s what you do: 1. Hold the candy cane straight up and down, with the curved part facing down. The curved end of the candy cane will be the reindeer’s face, and the straight part will be its body.
2. Place a brown pipe cleaner under the curved neck of the candy cane, and twist it into a V-shape. Bend each end of the shape into a zigzag shape to form Rudolph’s antlers.
3. Glue the wiggly eyes to either side of Rudolph’s face.
4. Glue the red pom-pom between the eyes. This is Rudolph’s nose.
5. Place the bell onto a piece of ribbon. This is Rudolph’s collar.
6. Tie the ribbon around the curve of the candy cane. Glue the collar to Rudolph’s neck.
Once all the glue has dried, your Rudolph is ready to fly into a friend’s hands. (Just be sure to explain that this candy cane reindeer cannot be eaten.)
George’s Joke Book
This year, George gave each of his friends a handmade joke book for Christmas. He printed out jokes, and illustrated each one. Then he stapled the joke pages together into a book.
If you want to make a joke book for your friends, George is giving you a head start. Here are some of the jokes he used in his book. You can use them in your book, too!
What do elves learn in school?
The elf-abet
What did the Gingerbread Man put on his bed?
A cookie sheet
Which of Santa’s reindeer has the cleanest antlers?
Comet
What has six legs, four ears, one tail, two rear ends, four eyes, two noses, and two mouths?
Santa on a reindeer
What do snowmen eat for breakfast?
Frosted Flakes
What did the sad ghost say to Santa?
I’ll have a boo Christmas without you.
Which burns longer, a red candle or a green candle?
Neither. Candles burn shorter, not longer.
What do you get if you cross St. Nicholas with a detective?
Santa Clues
What do snowmen wear on their heads?
Ice caps
What do the elves sing on Santa’s birthday?
Freeze a jolly good fellow . . . freeze a jolly good fellow . . . freeze a jolly good fellow, which nobody can deny.
Why are Christmas trees so bad at sewing?
Because they always drop their needles.
What’s the difference between the Christmas alphabet and the regular alphabet?
The Christmas alphabet has no L (Noel).
What’s the best thing to put in a Christmas pie?
Your teeth
Why do reindeer scratch themselves?
Because they’re the only ones who know where they itch.
Where do snowmen and snow women like to dance?
At snowballs.
About the Author
Nancy Krulik is the author of more than 150 books for children and young adults, including three New York Times best sellers. She lives in New York City with her husband, composer Daniel Burwasser, their children, Amanda and Ian, and Pepper, a chocolate and white spaniel mix. When she’s not busy writing the Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo series, Nancy loves swimming, reading, and going to the movies.
About the Illustrators
John & Wendy have illustrated all of the Katie Kazoo books, but when they’re not busy drawing Katie and her friends, they like to paint, take photographs, travel, and play music in their rock ’n’ roll band. They live and work in Brooklyn, New York.