Christmas Is Made Of Bricks!

"HO HO HO! Merry Christmas Whetu! In case you are wondering what I am holding, I am holding a present,"

Lego Santa is even more excited than me about the special holiday coming up!

Twas The Night Before Christmas, Only Rudolf was stirring

“Ho, ho, ho!” Santa Claus cheerfully practised for the big night.

He walks into his walk-in wardrobe. What was he going to wear? His diamond studded boots, or plain? It is a special occasion tonight so I might as well, He thought. Santa adjusted his belt and pulled on his coat. He strolled out of his house and into his village of elves. Everywhere he looked, the elves were finishing up. One was putting the final layer of paint onto a set of toy cars. Another was wrapping up a ball. Frosty was busy taking out the boxes and packing everything into the boss’s sack. Mrs Claus was bustling about, wrangling up the reindeer. Tonight, was the night. It was Christmas eve. He sat on his sleigh. He was very stressed. So many things could go wrong. He could get lost, or he could miss out someone or he wouldn’t deliver everything in time! But the worst thing possible, would be if his brother, the Grinch, tried to steal Christmas again! He took a deep breath, quickly stole a cookie from Mrs Claus, and took off! They went higher and higher and higher until he was above the clouds.

He opened up his computer. The first house was a few miles away. He was heading to Canada. In no time he was there. His information collector showed up on his computer screen. It told him that a little boy lived in this house and he was 90% good and 10% bad. For Christmas he wanted a car set. Santa parked the sleigh and jumped down the chimney. He gasped! The parents were still awake! They were watching TV. Santa quickly used his invisibility dust and ran out of the room in search of the Christmas tree. It was in the hallway so visitors could see it. He lowered the presents under the tree in stealth mode. He quickly made his way back up the chimney. He quickly finished the rest of his deliveries with no problems. He returned to the north pole as the sun began to rise. He always had a giant feast on Christmas so he knew there was a turkey waiting for him when he got back. But, the reindeer’ ears pricked up. The ducked there heads down. Something was coming there way. Something dangerous. Something, that smelled really, really, bad.

Santa cautiously rode along towards his workshop. When something rised above the clouds. It was another sleigh. Santa recognised it at once. It was the Grinch! The Grinch blocked Santa’s way back to the north pole. He loaded his cannons with coal. It shot out towards Santa, making him crash to the ground. He quickly un saddled his reindeer and lead them to his emergency way back to his house. Why was his brother the way he was? Santa never did anything wrong. He told Mrs Claus all about it at dinner. Santa went to sleep, relieved nothing went wrong this Christmas. Nothing at all.

When Santa woke up he wasn’t in his bedroom anymore. He was at his childhood house. His father came back from delivering presents to the boys and girls of the world. He looked just as he had when he was a kid. He went into his old bedroom. His childhood self was playing with his brother. They were playing so nicely together. So why was the Grinch so mean? He continued watching. His father came into the room.

“Hello boys!” He said.

“Merry Christmas, Father!” Santa and the Grinch replied, cheerfully.

“I have something very important to tell you!” Said their Father, his eyes twinkling. “Santa, I have decided to retire. You are the new Christmas master!” He said, placing his santa hat on his head.

“Why him?” Asked the Grinch.

“Because he is older,” Replied his Father.

“So because of that he is better than me?”

“No. That is not what I said,”

The Grinch glared at seven-year-old Santa.

“I AM NEVER SPEAKING TO YOU AGAIN!” He yelled as he stomped out of the room.

Later that night, older Santa wandered around the house, looking and remembering childhood memories. At the thought of memories, Santa gasped. This was the night The Grinch ran away! He had to stop him. He ran towards his bedroom. He started to tell him not to leave but he just passed right through him. Santa suddenly realised why he was angry. It was because he was chosen to be the Christmas master and not him! He regretted every moment of his childhood.

“No!” Santa said. “It doesn’t have to be this way! I won’t let it!”

He woke up. He looked around. He was in the present. He was in his bedroom. He got up. He pulled on his belt and scoffed down his breakfast. Mrs Claus had made his favourite. Fudge cake from all the children’s cookies. Then he ran to his computer to see if the children had sent him their Christmas lists. Two had. He went to the elves village. He told them to get back to work. Santa now had a plan. He was going to visit Christmas nook, where his brother was collecting coal. He went down a slide that was covered in caution tape. He got stuck. He wiggled, and jiggled and wobbled until he was zooming down the slide.

He looked at the piles of coal coming up ahead. He went into The Grinch’s bedroom. He was sleeping still. Santa tapped him. The Grinch angrily sat up and glared at his brother. Santa apologised and invited him to help with the delivering of the toys. The Grinch scoffed.

“Yeah, right,” He said, still glaring.

“I mean it,” Santa told him.

“Prove it!”

“I’ll introduce you to the new elves since you left. I’ll give you Dancer and Prancer and Vixen and Comet I’ll get Mrs Claus to make you some fudge,”

“Fine! And thanks but just one more thing,” The Grinch said.

“Name it!”

“Tell the children that I am not trying to steal Christmas anymore!”

“Of course!”

Learning Powers!

This is my Year In Review!



Being Me

Curiosity

Connecting

Resilience

Creativity

WHETU RULES!
I glad I will be here next year

Shelby’s Mini Mystery

“MUM! It’s the Art Festival!” I said after school one sunny, Friday afternoon.

“Ok, help yourself to the fundraising jar when we get home,” Mum replied as she
steered the car left.

About fifteen minutes later we were at the house. I emptied my lunchbox and set it
up on the counter to be washed. I tiptoed into Mum’s room. What a shock that
I saw…

We had been robbed while I was at school! There was blood on the floor and I
could smell… peanut butter? I was about to walk out of the room to tell Mum
when I stepped in a pool of the rich, thick peanut butter. That’s why I could smell
it. I thought. I charged down the hallway. Mum mustn't have known because today
was her first day of her new job. And she hadn’t said anything.  

“MUM!” I yelled.

“What is it, Shelby?”

“WE HAVE BEEN ROBBED!”

I lead Mum down the hallway to her room. She stared at the peanut butter on the
floor in front of her.

“Kaitlin must have been eating a peanut butter sandwich in my room again,” Mum
muttered.

She looked at the empty jar with blood on it.

“She must have cut her finger when trying to open the jar,” Mum said, under her
breath.

“Sorry Shelby that the jar is empty. Here take this,” Said Mum, louder this time as
she gave me a gold coin.

“I must have forgotten to refill the jar. But last time I checked it was full to
the brim... ”

I needed to find out what had happened. I didn’t have any witnesses. I didn’t have
any evidence. This was going to be a hard case to crack. But then again, I didn’t
have any witnesses that I knew of! I quickly made a poster. When I was finished it
looked like this:

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

We have found a crime has been committed at Shelby’s house! If you saw
anything suspicious on Puhanga Island Road please contact Shelby
at shelby.park@ngatea.school.nz. We can’t crack the case alone.

I stuck the note on the Whare Pukapuka door and ran into the Hui. Now
every time someone went to put their device away or take it out for work,
my note will stare back at them. I couldn’t wait for my first witness! School
went by very slowly. I could barely sit still! When it was finally over I raced
out into the car park to meet Mum and Kaitlin.

“I cleaned up the peanut butter today, Shelby. But those dogs haven’t stopped
barking since yesterday at around 1:30ish. I wonder what’s gotten into them,”
Mum told  me.

I ran inside, threw my bag on the floor and hurried onto the couch. I checked
my emails. The most recent one was a Pinterest advertisement. But no witness
emails. No-one had seen anything. I felt like crying. No witnesses. I went outside.
My heart finally stopped thumping louder than a firework. It had been like that
since yesterday after school. As I put my lunchbox on the bench I knew exactly
what Mum meant by the dogs haven’t stopped barking. They were so noisy.  
The dogs!! I yelled inside my head. I ran outside. They must have seen everything.
The only problem was I couldn’t understand them. How would I find out what
they mean?

I remembered Kaitlin thought she could speak to animals. There was no proof that
she could, but I figured it was worth a try.

“Kaitlin!” I yelled.

“What?!” She yelled back.

“Could you come here please!”

“Fine.”

I heard footsteps. Then there was a pause. Then I heard more steps. The back door
opened and I was face to face with… THE INCREDIBLE HULK!!!!

“ROAR!” Yelled Hulk.

I screamed!

“Haha,” Laughed Kaitlin.

She pushed her Hulk plush out of the way.

“Got you!” She said. “But why do you need me out here?”

“Do you know what the dogs are saying?” I ask.

“Of course!”

“What are they saying?”

“They are saying you are so ugly,” Said Kaitlin with a smirk.

“Thanks, that was so helpful,” I reply sarcastically.

“No problem,” She said happily as she skipped back inside.

Great. She was now crazy at a time that was not convenient. Now I needed
another plan.

Plan, idea, needed, witness, dogs, poster, school. Those were all words that
were whirling around in my head like a whirlpool. I really wanted to solve
the case. I needed a police team to help. But I didn’t think people would
believe me.  The art festival was going to be the next day. I hoped it was
cancelled because of the weather or something. I wasn’t in the mood for it.
Luckily for me, it was. The next day the water separating Ngatea and Puhanga
Island was too high. It was so high we couldn’t get over the bridge. So we
all had to stay home. Kaitlin went down to the farm thank goodness. So I
stayed and sat on my bed. There must have been something I was missing.
What could it be? Suddenly, it hit me! FINGERPRINTS! I rushed into
Mum’s room. I carefully did the steps of fingerprinting. With gloves
on so my fingerprints didn’t destroy and of the evidence.

The fingerprints looked like they were all whorls. That made it a bit easier.
Most people have loops. The second biggest percentage of people’s
fingerprints was whorls. Then came arches. I needed to fingerprint my
whole class the next day. Then a thought struck me! What if the robber
wasn’t in my class or had anything to do with my school?! What if they
don’t even have anything to do with Ngatea? I decided to get help. I picked
up Mum’s phone when she went for a nap and selected emergency.

“Hello there! What can I help you with?” said a voice.

“Hi I’m Shelby and my house has been robbed! Can I get the police involved?”

“Ok what’s your address?”

“55 Puhanga Island Road, Ngatea, Hauraki plains,” I said.

“Ok the police are on their way.”

Mum was still sleeping when the officers arrived. They were quite surprised
I was so little.

“Ok what time did the crime happen?” They asked.

“About 1:30,” I said.

“Where is the crime scene?” They said.

“In my mum’s room, but she has already cleaned up the peanut butter and
she is sleeping right now,” I replied.

“Was there any other evidence in there?”

“Yes, there is a jar with fingerprints and blood,”

“We’ll go in when your mum wakes up,” they reply.

In about half an hour, the officers went in there. They packed up the glass jar and
examined the room. Afterwards, they told me that they found pieces of hair on the
floor. They would take everything back to their lab.

A few days later the police called Mum and told her they found out a heap of stuff
and they had emailed me the information. She told them I wasn’t allowed my
device for six weeks because I called the police without telling her. I was upset,
but I planned to check my emails while I was at school.  For once I wanted to go.
I packed my bag and headed out to the car.

“SHELBY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! IT’S FIVE O’CLOCK IN THE
MORNING!” Yelled Mum, from her bed.

I was too excited to look at the time. I was jumping up and down in my seat. I sat
there until 5:30. Then I decided to go inside and sleep. I needed rest for school.
At 8:00 I had a second breakfast. There was no way the cereal I had eaten almost
three hours ago would keep me going, so I filled the bowl again with weet-bix.
I went to school in a good mood.

As soon as the teachers told us to get out our devices I ran into the Whare Pukapuka
faster than a cheetah and a falcon combined. I grabbed the pink case with SHELBY
on it. I ran next door and logged in. I pulled up my emails and immediately saw
one from the Ngatea Police Station. It said:

---

To: shelby.park@ngatea.school.nz From: ngateapolicestation

You may not know this but the Ngatea Police DO NOT accept prank calls!
You mother said it didn’t happen so there!

---

I was so upset. No-one at all believed me. Not even the police. Now what was
I going to do? I was going to have to solve the crime on my own.

---

“Mum! I’m going to walk down to the farm!” I yelled as I pulled on my boots
on Friday night.

“Ok, Shelby,” Yelled the familiar, busy voice of my mother.

I now had a plan. I was going to sneak some of my pocket money on the street
as bait to see who it was. I pulled out my wallet and set a $100 note on the
ground near my lawn. I ran into the long grass on the edge of the lawn. I
watched for a little while, starting to get bored, then I saw it. A dark shadow
was zooming along as if they were riding an invisible rocket ship at top speed!
As they drew closer, I got nervous. They got closer, and closer and closer.
Suddenly, they dropped down and stopped running. They picked up my money.

“HEY!” Boomed the fireworks in my vocal chord. “THAT’S NOT YOURS! IT’S
MINE!!”

I ran as fast as possible. My tiny legs carried me into our driveway. But he still
caught up to me. He smirked and threw me into the flood of money in his sack.

“Hahaha,” He laughed and laughed and laughed. Just when I thought he would
never stop laughing, he started running away with me in the sack. This was it.

“Goodbye life,” I whispered to myself. “Goodbye Kaitlin, goodbye Mum,
goodbye Jeremy and goodbye Ngatea!”

There was no getting out of this now. But what I didn’t know, was that Mum was
looking out the window the whole time! She was watching me leave, but when
I had turned the wrong way, she stared out the living room window. She saw
everything! Mum picked up the phone and called the cops.

“Hello?” said the voice that I had called previously.

“Yeah hi, my daughter has been kidnapped can you get the police over here
immediately!”

“Of course, what is your address?”

“55 Puhanga Island Road, Ngatea, Hauraki plains,”

Mum had summoned the Pacific Ocean and it was now coming from her eye
sockets. Her tears filled the house up. When the officers finally arrived, they
scoffed at her. The officers didn’t like her very much anymore thanks to me
(When they thought I pranked called them). Mum explained everything.
They set to work to find me.

I was still in the sack. I was swimming in a pool of money. Wow this dude
has robbed a heap of people. I thought. There were like, fifty $100 notes and
eighty $50 notes. I guessed he had about a million dollars or more. Eventually,
he threw the sack down, violently. I lay still as a rock. I didn’t dare breathe.
I had no idea what he was going to do to me. For some strange reason, I felt as if he
was going to kill me if I moved. I decided, to pass the time, I would count the
money to see exactly how much money he had. I tried my best to remain calm.
But no matter how hard I tried, I was still scared to death.

The cops looked at the footprints on the road. Mum was still crying. The
officers tried to comfort her. She did stop, but her eyes were still wet.
They all followed the footprints. They had handcuffs and guns with them.
They went down the road. Past the college. Past the Four Square. Past
Ngatea Primary School. They kept on walking. It seemed as though they
would never get there. One of them went back to get their police car. Mum started
crying again. She just knew they would never find me.

I had finally finished counting the money. There was $800,490,251.20. It had
taken a long time to count the cash. I wondered what the time was. I was so tired
I decided to take a quick nap. I took my school bag and pressed against the side
of the sack. It was now a pillow. MY SCHOOL BAG!! My brain boomed. I had
my laptop in there! I could email Mum! I pulled it open and logged in. I quickly
pulled up my inbox and clicked compose.

---

To:debrapark@hotmail.co.nz    From:shelbypark@ngatea.school.nz

Mum help! I am somewhere that I can’t name as I don’t know where it is, but
I have been kidnapped. I am very safe, though. I’ll stay in this sack full of
money while I wait for you.

---

Later on, I heard a police car pulling up in the area I was in.

“Open up now or else!!” Yelled a voice.

No-one replied. I heard a crunch, then a frenzy of movement.

“HELP!” I yelled.

I was convinced the police were here.

“No way!” Yelled a voice.

I searched my bag frantically for something to rip open the sack and
set me free. There was a pencil in there, but not much else. I figured it
was worth a shot. I poked the material used for the sack walls. It made a
tiny hole. Only about the size of an ant. I pushed and poked harder. It was
now the size of a golf ball. I peeked through. It was not a police officer that
had arrived. It was another criminal. I guessed that he had stolen a police
car which was why I could hear it. There was no question about it. I was
going to die.

Mum was still in tears. The criminal had stolen the car so they had to
follow the prints on foot. They walked away from Ngatea. Mum felt as
though they didn't belong to a culprit. She definitely wasn’t thrilled about it.
Mum heard a buzz. She looked at her phone. It said it was an email from me.
Mum was a little happier that she knew I had contact with her. She immediately
opened it. It was the same message that I sent her. She was relieved that I was safe.
They finally came to a house. The cops and Mum could see the door had already
been broken down. They went through. Now there was a big commotion happening.
The two culprits had been arguing about who got how much money.

Mum searched for me.

“SHELBY!” She screamed, with tears in her eyes.

“Mum?” I replied, hoping it was really her.

“Where are you?”

“I’m in a sack with a big hole in it.”

“There you are!”

Mum opened the sack a gave me a giant hug. The officers
asked the criminals what had happened.

“Uhhhhh…,” Said the first one

“I was trying to save the child from this evil man,” said the second one while pointing
to the first.

“No!”

“YES!”

“NO!”

“Stop it now both of you!” Yelled the cops. “You are both under arrest!”

“WHY!?” They both said, together.

“One of you stole our car and the other stole that filthy child,” Scoffed the officers.

“YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS!” They yelled.

Mum and I went home feeling relieved. The cops had given me my money back
and the rest to charity. I couldn’t believe it was all real. I couldn’t believe I was
safe. I couldn’t believe anything! I went to bed, hoping I wasn’t dreaming. Even
Kaitlin gave me a squeeze. But the person I was most surprised about was actually… Hulk!
He stood on my head and danced there, but still! Then he started singing.
It was a song about how he didn’t miss me even a little bit but Kaitlin did.

“No I didn’t!” Proclaimed Kaitlin.

“Yes you did!” Laughed Hulk.

Kaitlin began to strangle him. They had a big argument over nothing.
It was nice to finally laugh after the past week of stress.
I saw a shadow in the corner of my eye and it
was…A GIANT BLACK HAIRY SPIDER!!! I screamed and fell over.
Everyone laughs. But a shiver still ran down my spine.
The spider looked very peculiar to me. I had no idea why.

                                                 ---

A few weeks later it was finally the Christmas holidays.
I was going to Australia to spend the joyful holiday with my dad.
We never saw him. Only on Skype but never in person. It was very exciting.
As I was packing for the plane I heard the news was on. For the past month I
was really interested in the news. I went down to watch. There was a car crash and
a murder, but other than that, most things were happy. Then I heard the words
“Breakout!” “Criminal!”. I intriguingly stared and listened to the TV. I re-winded it.

“There has been a Breakout at the Ngatea Police Station!” Yelled the reporter.
“The criminal was arrested for robbing and kidnapping a child and now he has
knocked out the guard and ran for his life away and the police haven’t captured
him yet.”

I looked at some of the camera footage that was on the colourful box. It was the
same man who kidnapped me. I was relieved that I was going to Australia that day
so he couldn’t find me. I went back into my room to pack. As I put some summer
dresses in my suitcase, I was fuming that the kidnapper had now escaped prison and
is most likely going to kidnap more kids and get more money. I was sick just
thinking about it.

As we drove into Auckland, I was still devastated that he had escaped. I decided that
when I got back, I would try to help the police capture him once again. I was
relieved that the other criminal was still trapped. I went onto the plane, slightly
happier. I made a decision. I was going to try to enjoy the holiday and the news
wasn’t going to stop me. I put my suitcase above the seat and sat down,
enthusiastically. We were just in the air for less the twenty minutes when I had a
strange feeling. I tried my best to ignore it. But I still had it in the pit of feelings.
As if this strange feeling was having a party in a blender. It went round and round
in my brain screaming “SOMETHING IS DEFINITELY NOT RIGHT!”. Then I
noticed that everyone’s window blinds were open. Even the one that belonged to a
lady that closed it so her baby would go to sleep. The only ones open belonged to
me and everyone in front. Then mine opened!!

I screamed. Jeremy and the other baby cried, loudly. Mum gave me her famous
“You are in HUGE trouble. Missy,” look. The other lady gave me the same look.
I looked out the window. There was nothing. I stopped screaming and tried
comforting Jeremy. I still thought something was up. Then the window that
belonged to the man in front of me (Who was very annoyed he chose to sit in
front of little miss scream) opened suddenly. I peeped out. It was the criminal that
had kidnapped me so long ago. I was so scared. What was he going to do? He quickly
made his way to the front of the plane, cautiously. I hoped he would lose his grip and
fall into the ocean below. I held my breath. I had thought I was going to die so many
times before (Not all of them were in this story) but now, I knew it.

The kidnapper went in through the exit. He went into the cockpit. I heard a buzz of
action! The pilots were screaming. Then it was silent. I told Mum I was going to the
toilet. Mum wasn’t listening (Or looking), so I just went. I crept nervously to the
front of the plane. I peeked into the tiny window. The kidnapper was piloting the
plane! Where was he flying it? Was he going to steer us into the ocean when we
were close to land, but not too close? I just had no idea. I went into the front. He
didn’t notice me at first. I looked around for a weapon. There was just a broken
bottle, but it was better than nothing. I hit him in the head with it. I knocked him
out, but there was one problem. Both the pilot and the co-pilot were also knocked
out. No-one was flying the plane! I tried myself. I pulled a leaver. We went down
getting closer and closer to the ocean. I screamed yet again. I pulled it again.
We went up. Higher than we were meant to, though. I pushed to where it was first.
We stopped going up. We were going straight. I pushed a button. It made the giant,
metal bird go faster. In a few minutes I saw the airport. I pushed the button again.
We were no longer going fast. I pressed a button with a plane landing. We were
landing in the airport. I ran out of the cockpit and went to use the phone at the back
of the plane. I called the police.

“Hello?” Asked the now familiar voice.

“Hi, I need the Australian Police please,” I replied.

“Ok, where are you now?”

“I’m at the airport.”

“The cops are on their way.”

When they arrived I explained that the kidnapper escaped jail and was piloting the
plane. The police put handcuffs on him and took him to the Australian prison. I told
them they would probably need a high-tech security system including lasers,
passwords, and impossible codes. They couldn’t take any chances.

                                                   ---

As I stepped out onto the sand, I soon realised that I couldn’t guarantee that the
kidnapper would never escape, but it wasn’t very likely. The peaceful ocean made
mountains of water. I needed to enjoy my holiday. Then I could go back to police
work. The waves slowly collapsed over me. I jumped into the wild, vast sea. One
thing was for sure. There was going to be way more crime in the future. But before
then, the holidays were going to be epic!

THE END!