A kid's view of holiday time

Winter is coming soon; I can see the carolers now. I remember hanging the stockings while listening to the song, "Deck the Halls." Well, let's start from Christmas Eve ...

"Mom, I got the lights. I didn't know if you wanted green, red or white, so I got them all, but they are a little tangled," I said as I tried to pry the lights apart.

"OK, we finished early; now we can make the cookies for Santa," my mom tried to say as she went outside.

The outdoors is our nightmare in the winter. I grabbed my coat, hat, scarf and my mittens. I got out into the outside nightmare. The white snow got all over me. I felt like I was frozen.

We got to the store for some late cookie-making supplies. The store was busy more than usual, but it is Christmas, so whatever.

"Cookie-making time," Mom yawned, for it was late. She made the cookies; now we're ready for the cookie games.

"Now you know the rules, whoever decorates (fully) all of the cookies on your plate first will win. OK, on your mark, get set, go," my dad yelled.

I grabbed the frosting and the sprinkles more ready than ready. All that was going through my head was "decorate the cookies," over and over again. The cookies dashed off the plate. Gone, gone also went through my head as each cookie got decorated.

Nooooooooooooo! I dropped the sprinkles. I picked it up, the frosting already on the cookie, and I sprinkled all of the tiny Christmas trees on the cookie. "I'm done!" I screamed just before Alex did.

"And the winner is Caroline!" my dad screamed for he was happy for me. Everyone was, even Joe and Alex. Sure they wanted to win, but they were still happy for me. My prize; I get to pick the first cookie to eat in the morning. We all went to bed that night feeling happy, me more than anyone. I was ready for Santa to come and looking forward to my cookie in the morning!

Editor's Note: Caroline Kalmar is the 10-year-old granddaughter of Bill Kalmar, a Fort Scott native and regular columnist for the Tribune. Caroline lives in Grosse Pointe Park, Mich.