The Battle for Christmas

by Jeremy Strong

  ‘We have to go,’ said Ellie hastily. ‘It’s our moment.’ She held Max’s hand tightly and PHWOOOOSH!!!!!

  They were whirling and swirling, spinning round and round until FWUMMPPP!

  They landed with a bang on the landing between their bedrooms. They hardly had time to recover before Dad poked a tousled, grumpy head out of his bedroom.

  ‘Do you have to make so much noise? I know it’s Christmas morning but it’s only five o’ clock! If you wake your mother up she’ll turn you into mince pies! Now, get back to bed, you scamps.’ Dad pulled his head back in and shut the door.

  Ellie and Max looked at each other for a moment and then burst out laughing. They disappeared into their rooms and discovered that Father Christmas had left two rather fat stockings. They were both exhausted, but not so tired that they couldn’t open half the stocking contents before they fell asleep.

  Mum and Dad had to wake them up for breakfast, and then it was Christmas proper, with the handing out of presents. Among Ellie’s gifts was a Lara Croft doll.

  ‘Where’s her handbag?’ Max asked.

  Mum shook her head and laughed. ‘Lara Croft doesn’t have a handbag!’

  Ellie didn’t say anything, but she was already planning to dye the doll’s hair blonde.

  Max was cuddling a large grey dinosaur. ‘This is Dippy,’ he announced.

  ‘Right,’ smiled Dad. ‘Have you found the button under his tummy yet?’

  ‘What button – whoa! Hey, that is so cool!’ Max had pressed the button and the diplodocus had given his tail an enormous flick. ‘Wow! You could knock plugs into sockets with a tail like that!’

  Mum and Dad exchanged looks. First it was handbags for Lara Croft and now Max wanted to knock plugs into sockets with a dinosaur’s tail. What planet was Max on?

  Later, after Christmas lunch, Max and Ellie had a long talk with each other about whether or not they should tell their parents what had happened to them.

  ‘They won’t believe us whatever we say,’ Ellie pointed out.

  ‘I expect they’ll tell us it was a dream,’ Max grumbled. ‘But it wasn’t because my legs still hurt a bit from those stings.’

  ‘Me too,’ nodded Ellie. ‘We’ll just keep quiet then.’

  As evening approached, Mum brought out her special Christmas cake. She plonked it down on the table and the children eyed it suspiciously. There was a faint smell hanging over the cake, a smell that was familiar to them both.

  Marzipan.

  Max and Ellie said they didn’t want any Christmas cake. Christmas was much better without marzipan, they said, so Mum gave them a mince pie each. Max took the top off his and examined the inside by pushing the thin end of his spoon into the contents and rummaging around.

  ‘Do you have to play with your food like that?’ demanded Dad. ‘What on earth are you doing?’

  ‘Just checking,’ muttered Max. He felt Ellie’s foot pressing against his leg under the table and he smiled. Ellie understood.

  After tea the children went and looked at the Christmas tree. The angels hanging on the branch ends looked quite – well, angelic really. And the fairy on top of the Christmas tree had two eyes and seemed quite happy to be there. Ellie gave a relieved sigh and told Max that Lara Blondie was smiling.

  ‘Yeah, maybe,’ he grunted.

  ‘What’s the matter with you?’ Ellie asked.

  ‘I was just thinking, that’s all. I was thinking, dinosaurs are OK – I mean I do like Dippy, he’s great – but I was thinking a helicopter, one that I could fly – that would really be something!’

  Several months later Mum found the Cosmic Pyjamas lying at the very bottom of one of Ellie’s drawers. Mum folded them neatly and took them to the charity shop.

  ‘You only ever wore them once,’ she told Ellie later that day.

  ‘I know,’ Ellie agreed. ‘I never knew what they were going to do.’

  Mum gave a chuckle and tousled Ellie’s hair. ‘You’re such a strange creature sometimes. You say the oddest things. Pyjamas aren’t supposed to do anything, they’re just – well, pyjamas.’

  ‘Whatever,’ shrugged Ellie. ‘Anyhow, they’ve gone now.’ She felt quite relieved.

  However, although the pyjamas had disappeared from Max and Ellie’s life it was definitely not the last that would be heard of the Cosmic Pyjamas.

  If you see them, no matter where – BEWARE! These pyjamas could damage your Life!