A little girl and her big brother lived in a country called England. The little girl was four years old. Her brother was seven. Winter was coming, the weather was getting colder and the days were getting shorter. It was very strange to see a dark sky by 4 o’clock in the afternoon. It was very chilly outside and sometimes it rained. Only occasionally was there a sunny day but on those days, the weather seemed colder than ever.
The month of November had come and gone. The next month, December, was a very exciting month because even if it was cold, everyone had started getting ready for Christmas. The little boy whose name was Jack said to his sister Kenzie, “Can you remember last year when we went to the Christmas Fair and you were little?” Kenzie shook her head; she could not recall a Christmas Fair and jumping up and down. She turned to her mum and asked, “Mummy, are we going to a Christmas Fair this year? Please, Mummy, please say yes!”
Mummy smiled and said what mums always say, “Well, if you are good!” “I’ll be good! I’ll be good!” shouted Kenzie.
The family planned to go to a lovely old city called Winchester in the South of England. This city had a big open-air street market on a Sunday and on the day the family planned to go there was also a Christmas Fair in the grounds of the Cathedral. (A cathedral is a large church where a Bishop, the head of many churches, has a seat).
Kenzie could not wait; she wanted the day to hurry up, not because she wanted to go to the Christmas Fair, whatever that was, but because she would be able to ride her brand new scooter her parents had bought her for an early birthday present.
Finally, the day arrived. As usual, the family had to get ready to go outside in this cold and chilly country. First everyone put on a vest, long stretch pants and socks. Then everyone put on a long-sleeved T-shirt or blouse and a second pair of long pants. Then everyone made sure they had their “puff,” a padded, short-sleeve jacket that zips all the way up. They also made sure they had their jacket, warm woolly hat, and gloves and put on their furry boots. Mum and Dad also checked to see that their scarves were packed in. Then it was time to go to the car.
Kenzie secretly felt as if she was a walking roly-poly toy and was going to start taking off some layers; but as soon as she got out to the car, she felt the cold going all the way to her skin. Brrrr, she could not wait to jump into the car, but not before she checked to see her Dad put her scooter and her helmet in the boot (trunk).
The drive took a long time; it was nearly an hour before they saw signs to the city of Winchester but no one was bored because they all played “I Spy with my little eye.” Jack teased Kenzie because she could not always play with the first letter of the word. Kenzie liked to play with colours instead. Jack said she was a baby; Kenzie started to get mad. Mum said, “If you two don’t start being nice to each other, neither of you will get hot chocolate to drink!” Both children decided it was better to be nice to each other as they loved their hot chocolate.
Finally they arrived in the city, but there were so many cars all going in the same direction; everyone wanted to find parking. After going around two parking lots where they did not have to pay and finding no spaces, Dad said, “Oh, well, we will have to go to a paying car park.” He drove them to the shopping centre car park which twirled down and down underground and eventually they found a free space for their car.
“Finally!” said Kenzie with a huge sigh. She was pleased to be able to get on her scooter and scoot along in front of Mum and Dad. Jack walked as well, he said he was too big to be on a baby scooter, he wanted to ride his bike, but there hadn’t been any room in the car to take his bike too.
Kenzie did not look at all the people walking along the flat pathways to the Cathedral; she did not really look at all the stalls that had so many people standing in front of them buying Christmas gifts. Kenzie got very excited to see a huge ice rink set in the garden of the Cathedral; you could buy tickets to ice skate but she was happy riding her scooter. Jack went ice skating – Dad said he could, because he was such a good boy who did not complain about not having his bike. Kenzie and Dad watched him skate while Mum shopped for knick-knacks. Kenzie did not know what that meant but she did not care as she was laughing so hard at Jack who was slipping and falling all over the wet ice.
Finally, his skating time was up and they made their way to the stand that sold delicious hot chocolate in cardboard cups and warm churros covered in cinnamon and hot chocolate sauce. Mum and Dad sat on a cold stone wall; Jack balanced along the top of the wall pretending he was the knight about to save the castle; and Kenzie scooted her scooter up and down the path where her parents could see her.
All too soon, they were back in the car and on the long drive home. This time, they sang Christmas carols. Kenzie had listened to the music as she scooted around the fair. Mummy asked her what she liked best of the whole day. Kenzie said, “I love the Christmas lights, and all the Christmas music and I loved my scooter rides.” Jack said he did not like being cold and wet after the skating, but next year he would be bigger and would try it again. He also loved the hot chocolate and asked if they could have some more when they got home. He laughed at his sister’s red nose. Dad said she looked like Rudolf the Red nosed reindeer.
Then they all laughed and laughed.
