A Short Christmas Story; Magic Bells

Christmas seems to be a magical time of the year. Short stories of family traditions and holiday fantasy seem to be a favorite topic to read or write about. There are favorite Christmas stories, books which endure from one generation to another because of the way we, as a people, enjoy preserving memories and family traditions. Some of my favorites now are a result of my youth and yet when my children were younger, I wanted to begin new traditions for our family also. Building family traditions is a wonderful keepsake for your children. Ours always revolve around a special book, a make believe story or a movie. For many years, I would include the following short story in our Christmas greeting cards, Magic Bells.

My oldest son, David, was in middle school and he wrote a special short story for an assignment. It was right before the holidays. They were to make up a story about the holiday season. It is a wonderful story about a young boy two days before Christmas. Sit back and enjoy.

It was two days before Christmas and there was a boy lying in his bed staring blankly at the ceiling, not able to sleep. His name was Brian and the anticipation of Christmas kept him up, following the fan blades with his eyes, hoping to fall asleep. His eyes shut and he fell asleep, knowing that the next day was his favorite day of the year, Christmas Eve. It was his favorite day because the next day was Christmas; everyone would be happy, a big dinner with great food and not to forget, the presents.

Christmas Eve day Brian walked up to his mom and asked her to tell him the story of the ‘ Magic Bells’. The mom said, as she sat down, “On Santas sleigh, there are four hundred silver bells. Each one of those bells serves a purpose. If and only if all four hundred of those bells are on Santas sleigh will it be able to fly. If just one bell is gone or misplaced then there would be no Christmas…”

“Wow!” said Brian, quite amused with his mothers story. “So there really are magic bells!”

That night after the family was all in bed and sound asleep, Brian looked out his window, still thinking of his mothers story. He laid on his back to stare at the fan blades again when he heard a soft clang on the back patio. He was very quiet in doing so, or else he would wake his parents.

He opened the sliding glass door and stepped outside. He wrapped his arms around himself because it was very cold and he looked around. At first he did not see anything, but then a shiny glimmer caught the corner of his eye. He bent down and pulled a shiny silver bell from the snow. He held it in his hand and looked at it. Strangely, while he was holding the bell, he was warm, he was not cold anymore. He was very happy that he found a silver bell when a thought emerged in his mind.

“Oh no!” Brian said to himself with a worried look in his eyes, “no Christmas…”. Brian decided to ring the bell and see what would happen. After he rang the bell, with some magic sparks, the bell disappeared and Brian was once again cold. He went into the house and went to sleep.

The next morning everyone opened all of their presents and everyone was happy. Brian looked at the tree and spotted one more present with a card attached to it. He opened the present in excitement and read the card. It said:

“I always keep a spare, thanks!”
St. Nick

Brian was very happy. He looked in the box and pulled out a magic bell!

I hope you enjoy this holiday season, however you celebrate, with your family, loved ones, alone or with friends. Children have a wondrous imagination and fill us with joy with their dreams and creativity, their yearning to believe in something magical. My son allowed me to share his writings with you and hopes that it will spread happiness to those who read. May your holiday season be filled with love. rebekahELLE

copyright@rebekahELLE 2010 (DVF)