A Christmas Story

This story is inspired by a little book I received in Sunday school some sixty years ago, on the very first Christmas after our family immigrated to Canada. The book was called Better Than Anything Else, written by Dutch, children's author, W.G. van de Hulst. I have always loved fairy tales and fantasy adventure stories, and the simple illustrations always spoke to my imagination.

Each year I try to come up with some new stories for Christmas, and I've always wondered if I could create my version of this one, but much of it needed to be shot in the snow, and snow is never a given in December, and I didn't want to shoot it after Christmas only to wait ten or eleven months to post the story the following Christmas. 

Plus, the main character was a little Princess, and I didn't have any of the Royal characters I'd need. But with the addition of the Iplehouse FIDs to my collection this past year, I had an entire court of Medieval Royalty, a castle interior, and lots of horses, so I thought now that I actually had all the characters, I might be able to give it a try.  Then, as luck would have it, we had three gorgeous snowfalls the second week of December, that were perfect for all the snowy forest scenes.

​The dolls in this story are playing parts, like characters in a play.  
The cast includes.....

Nami, as Princess Elora

Monica, as her Mother, the Queen

Lawrence, as her Father, the King

Coco, as Hans, a boy from the Village

Leona, as his Mother

Owen, as Hans' Father

Santa, as Nick, the woodcutter

Narae, as Nora, his granddaughter

Shadow, as Max, their dog

​A Christmas Story

Once upon a time, there was a little Princess named Elora, who lived in a beautiful castle. It was Christmas Eve, and Elora was helping her Mother put the final decorations on their tree....

They were talking about why they celebrate Christmas.  "Why does the baby Jesus get born in a manger?"

"Well, His parents were travelling, and they got into town so late that all the rooms in the Inn were full.  But the innkeeper took pity on them and let them stay in the stable."

"And that night when the baby Jesus was born..."

"... his Mom didn't have any place to lay Him, other than in the manger..."

That got Elora to thinking....

There was an Inn in the village, with a stable.  She had passed it many times, and she wondered if she would be able to see the baby in the manger there for herself.

So Elora grabbed her jacket, hat and mitts....  

"I think I want to go outside for some fresh air, and maybe take a little walk..."

"Okay, but don't stay out there too long. It looks like it's going to snow..."

So Elora put on her hat and headed out...

The castle courtyard was deserted as she headed out the front gate....

the Bunnies

Elora made her way down the road towards the village....

...when she spotted some bunnies at the edge of the woods...

She followed them as they hopped into the forest....

Then it started to snow...but Elora didn't really notice. She was too focussed on the bunnies....

It started to snow a lot harder....

.....and the bunnies hopped under a log to take shelter...

It was time to get back to the road, but it was snowing so heavily that her footprints had disappeared...

How was she going to find her way back to the road?

Lost

It was snowing harder than ever...and everything was starting to look the same.

She was completely lost....

Elora wasn't looking where she was going....

..when she tripped on a hidden branch, and took a tumble in the snow...

She had hurt herself, and couldn't get up....

..and she started to cry...

"How am I ever going to get home now?"

Hans

A boy from the village, passing on the road nearby, thought he heard crying in the woods, so went to check it out....

"Are you okay??"

"I was lost, and I tripped and did something to my foot...."

"....and it hurts too much to stand on.  So I can't walk."

Then suddenly, they had a feeling they were being watched....and turned to see....  "A wolf!!"

The wolf sat staring at the children....

Hans tried to be brave, but he had nothing to defend himself with.   "Go way!!  Get out of here!!"  he yelled....

And as quickly as he had appeared, the wolf was gone....

"By the way, my name is Hans..."      "And I'm Elora..."

"I should go and get some help."

"No, please don't leave me!  What if that wolf comes back?"

​So Hans stayed with Elora.
​

the Wolf Returns

A little while later, they heard a noise behind them, and turned to look...

... the wolf was back...

...and he had someone with him....

"Are you two okay??"

"Don't be afraid. This is my dog Max. He came running home, and was barking so loud trying to get my attention, so I'd follow him....
​and it looks like a good thing that I did"

     "I hurt my foot, and can't get up."
"We saw Max a little while ago, and we thought he was a wolf...
 .....I was afraid he was going to eat us."

"Yes he does look like wolf.  His father was a wolf, but he's the best dog I've ever had.  
Now let's take a little look at your foot..."

"It does look swollen.  I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Nick, and I live not far from here.... "

"I think we need to get you out of the snow, and take a better look at your foot.  My cabin isn't too far. "

So he gave his lantern to Hans, and picked up Elora...

And they headed together through the snow...

"We'll get you all dry and warmed up, then I'll go find your parents..."

*Continued in part 2

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