Karen's Christmas Tree

  The author gratefully acknowledges

  Stephanie Calmenson

  for her help

  with this book.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1 The Holiday Spirit

  2 Not One But Two

  3 The Wish Tree

  4 A Three-Star Day

  5 Nancy’s News

  6 Wish Tree Chores

  7 A Very Good Plan

  8 Two Against One

  9 Not Invited

  10 Waiting

  11 Karen’s Worries

  12 Ring, Ring

  13 Three Wishes

  14 Talking Again

  15 Apologies

  16 Being Grown-up

  17 Giving Gifts

  18 The Most Special Tree

  19 Welcome Home!

  20 Trimming the Tree

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  The Holiday Spirit

  “Who would like more tea?” I asked my friends.

  “Just a drop for me,” said Hannie.

  I picked up the teapot to pour some pretend tea.

  “Um, excuse me, but your necklace is in your teacup,” I said, giggling.

  Hannie and Nancy looked at the long string of pink beads hanging in Hannie’s cup. They started giggling, too.

  “I think my necklace is thirsty,” said Hannie.

  We were having a Lovely Ladies tea party in my room at the little house. We were dressed up in our best Lovely Ladies clothes.

  I am Karen Brewer. I am seven years old. I have blonde hair, blue eyes, and a bunch of freckles. I am a glasses-wearer, too. I wear my blue pair for reading. I wear my pink pair the rest of the time.

  Nancy Dawes and Hannie Papadakis are my two best friends. We call ourselves the Three Musketeers. That is because we like to do everything together. Our motto is “One for all and all for one!”

  “Christmas is coming soon,” I said. “I hope I will get some new clothes for my dolls.”

  “Hanukkah will be here before Christmas,” said Nancy. “The thing I want most is to go to a play — a big, professional play.”

  “I heard an ad on the radio for Annie. It is at a theater in Stamford,” said Hannie.

  We live in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. Stamford is not too far away.

  “Tickets to those plays cost a lot of money. Wouldn’t you rather have doll clothes?” I asked.

  “No way. You know I would like to be an actress someday,” said Nancy. “I need to see a lot of plays.”

  Knock, knock.

  “Who is it?” I asked.

  “Me,” said a voice. It was Andrew’s voice. Andrew is my little brother. He is four going on five.

  “Come in,” I replied.

  Andrew came in holding a piece of paper.

  “I want to draw a picture to bring to school tomorrow,” said Andrew. “I want to draw Santa and his sled. I forgot how many reindeer Santa has.”

  My friends and I tried our best not to laugh at Andrew’s picture. We could not see Santa or his sled anywhere. All we saw were scribbles.

  “Santa has eight reindeer,” I said.

  “Dasher, Dancer, and Prancer,” said Hannie.

  “Vixen, Comet, and Cupid,” said Nancy.

  “And do not forget Donner and Blitzen,” I added.

  “I do not have room for eight reindeer,” said Andrew. He looked worried.

  “Then draw two reindeer and say the rest ran off the paper,” I said.

  Andrew’s face lit up. “Thank you!” he said. He ran back to his room to finish his drawing.

  Ding-dong!

  I wondered who was at the door. A minute later I found out.

  “The pizza is here!” called Mommy.

  “We will be right down,” I replied.

  My friends and I were having a middle-of-the-week pizza party! It was only the beginning of December. But my family was already getting into the holiday spirit.

  I wondered if my other family at the big house were getting into the holiday spirit, too. Wait. I have not told you yet about my two houses and two families. I better do that right now.

  Not One But Two

  This is the story of why I have not one but two of so many things. It starts when I was little.

  Way back then, I lived in one big house with Mommy, Daddy, and Andrew. But then Mommy and Daddy started to fight. They could not work things out, even though they tried. Mommy and Daddy explained to Andrew and me that they loved us very much. But they could not get along with each other, so they got a divorce.

  Mommy moved with Andrew and me to a little house not too far away in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. Then she met a man named Seth and married him. That is how Seth became my stepfather. So the people at the little house are Mommy, Seth, Andrew, and me. The pets are Midgie, Seth’s dog; Rocky, Seth’s cat; Emily Junior, my pet rat; and Bob, Andrew’s hermit crab.

  Daddy stayed at the big house after the divorce. (It is the house he grew up in.) Then he met Elizabeth. Daddy married Elizabeth. That is how Elizabeth became my stepmother and I got a second family. A big one. Elizabeth was married once before and has four children. They are my stepbrothers and stepsister. They are David Michael, who is seven like me; Kristy, who is thirteen and the best stepsister ever; and Sam and Charlie, who are so old they are in high school.

  I have another sister, Emily Michelle. Emily is two and a half. She was adopted from a faraway country called Vietnam. I love her a lot. That is why I named my special rat after her.

  Another important person lives at the big house. That person is Nannie. She is Elizabeth’s mother, which means she is my stepgrandmother. She helps take care of everyone.

  There are also pets at the big house. They are Shannon, David Michael’s big Bernese mountain dog puppy; Boo-Boo, Daddy’s cranky old cat; Crystal Light the Second, my goldfish; and Goldfishie, Andrew’s reindeer. (Just kidding!)

  Andrew and I switch houses every month — one month we live at the little house, the next month at the big house. Sometimes we stay at one house for two months in a row. For example, we are going to be at the little house in December and January this year.

  I gave Andrew and me special names. I call us Andrew Two-Two and Karen Two-Two. (I thought up those names after my teacher read a book to our class. It was called Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang.) I call us those names because we have two of so many things. Having two sets of things makes switching houses a lot easier.

  We each have two sets of toys and clothes and books — one set at each house. I have two bicycles. Andrew has two tricycles. I have two stuffed cats. Goosie lives at the little house. Moosie lives at the big house. I have two pieces of Tickly, my special blanket. And you know I have two best friends. But I did not tell you that Nancy lives right next door to the little house. And Hannie lives across the street and one house down from the big house.

  So that is how I got to have not one but two houses, two families, two best friends, and two of so many things!

  The Wish Tree

  On Saturday morning Seth made blueberry pancakes for breakfast. While we were eating, we decided to start thinking about Christmas decorations.

  “How about having a special project this year?” said Seth. “We could each make an ornament for the tree.”

  “Cool!” said Andrew and I at the exact same time.

  I think we were excited about making Christmas ornaments because last year we had an ornament disaster. We were going to buy an angel for the tree at the big house. Then we dropped it in the store and broke it. At the last minute we had to fix up a raggedy pipe-cleaner angel I had made at school and put it on top of the tree.

  “Making ornamen
ts is a wonderful idea,” said Mommy. “We have to run some errands downtown this morning anyway. We can stop at the crafts store while we are there and pick up the things we need.”

  “Yippee!” I said.

  After breakfast we cleaned up, then piled into the car and headed downtown.

  “This year I am going to make a really beautiful angel for our tree,” I said.

  “I am going to make reindeer,” said Andrew. “I will make eight of them. I will hang them all around the tree.”

  When we got downtown, we were lucky to find a parking spot right away. And it was just a few doors from the Unicorn Toy Store.

  “May we look at the toys in the window?” I asked.

  “Yes, but quickly. We have a lot to do this morning,” replied Mommy.

  Andrew and I raced to the toy store. In one window a toy train was running on its tracks. In the other were dolls, cars, trucks, and stuffed animals.

  “Look, they have a tree inside,” said Andrew.

  He pointed to a Christmas tree just inside the store. It was decorated in an unusual way. Instead of tinsel and ordinary Christmas ornaments, paper stars were hanging from it. I could see words written on the stars, but I was too far away to read them.

  “We are going inside just for a minute,” I called to Mommy and Seth. They were looking at some antiques in the window next door. We hurried into the toy store before they could say no.

  A clerk was by the tree, hanging up a few more stars.

  “What do the stars say?” I asked.

  “This is our Wish Tree,” replied the clerk. “On each star is written the wish of a local child who is not likely to receive any holiday gifts this year. Anyone who is interested may take one of the stars and grant a wish. Any toy sold to grant a wish is sold at a special discount. Our goal is to undecorate this tree before the holidays are over.”

  Wow. It was an unusual tree. I wondered what some of the wishes were. I was about to read some when Seth poked his head in the door.

  “Karen and Andrew, it is time to go,” he said.

  “Okay,” I replied.

  “Anyone can grant a wish,” the clerk called after us. “Think about it.”

  I could hardly think of anything else the rest of the morning. I thought about the Wish Tree while we were at the crafts store. I thought about it while we were at the hardware store. I thought about it while we were eating lunch.

  I was still thinking about it on the ride home. I decided that thinking was not enough. I had to do something.

  A Three-Star Day

  The first thing I did was call my friends. I told each of them about the special tree.

  “We need to have a Three Musketeers meeting,” I told Hannie, then Nancy.

  Hannie’s father drove Hannie to my house. Nancy ran over from next door. We went straight to my room.

  “Let’s take a vote,” I said. “Who would like to grant a wish?”

  “I would like to, but it will not be easy,” said Hannie. “I have started saving my allowance already, and I still think I might have trouble buying gifts for my family and my friends.”

  “Me too,” said Nancy. “But I want to grant a wish also. Maybe we could make some of the gifts instead of buying them. And we could do chores to earn some money.”

  “Then we can put all our money together. I am sure the three of us will have enough money to grant one wish,” I said. “All in favor say aye!”

  “Aye!” said the Three Musketeers.

  We wanted to go to the toy store right away to pick our star. Mommy and Seth did not have time to drive us. Luckily Nancy’s father was not too busy and was happy to take us.

  As soon as the clerk saw me walk back into the toy store, a big smile spread across his face.

  “I was hoping I would see you again,” he said.

  We told the clerk what we wanted to do.

  “So the three of you want to grant one wish,” said the clerk. “That is an excellent idea.”

  “It cannot be too expensive,” I added.

  “One not-too-expensive wish coming right up,” said the clerk.

  He read a few of the wishes, then took one down from the tree. He held the Wish Tree star up for us to read.

  It said:

  It was perfect.

  The clerk took our names and phone numbers.

  “We need the toy here the week before Christmas,” he said.

  “No problem!” said Nancy.

  “See you soon,” said Hannie.

  “Don’t go yet,” said the clerk. “I will be right back.”

  He ran to the back of the store. When he returned, he was holding two more stars. He had written the same wish on each one.

  “Everyone granting a wish needs a star to keep her going,” he said.

  “Thank you!” we replied.

  We headed out of the store with stars in hand. I felt gigundoly proud. I could hardly wait to grant my Wish Tree wish.

  Nancy’s News

  On Tuesday morning I was at the back of my classroom talking with Hannie and Nancy. Our teacher, Ms. Colman, had not arrived yet. Nancy had exciting news. She had already told me on the bus. Now she was telling Hannie.

  “Remember the advertisement you heard for Annie?” asked Nancy. “Well, guess who has tickets? Me!”

  “Cool!” said Hannie. “Where did the tickets come from?”

  “Grandma B sent them to me for a Hanukkah present,” replied Nancy.

  Grandma B is Nancy’s adopted Grandma. She lives at Stoneybrook Manor. That is a place where old people live when they cannot take care of themselves very easily anymore.

  “The show is at a special children’s theater. Kids can go by themselves without a grown-up. I have two tickets so I can take a friend,” said Nancy.

  “When is the show?” I asked.

  “It is a week from Friday,” replied Nancy.

  “Oh, bullfrogs. I think that is the night Andrew’s school puts on its holiday festival,” I said.

  Just then Ms. Colman walked into the classroom.

  “Good morning, class,” she said. “Everyone, please take your seats.”

  “See you later,” I said to my friends.

  My seat is at the front of the room. I used to sit at the back with Hannie and Nancy. But when I got my glasses, Ms. Colman moved me up front so I could see better.

  I am not the only glasses-wearer in the room. Natalie Springer wears glasses. Ricky Torres wears glasses, too. (Ricky is my pretend husband. We got married on the playground at recess one day.) We sit in the front row together. Oh, one more person is a glasses-wearer. Ms. Colman!

  “Karen, would you like to take attendance this morning?” asked Ms. Colman.

  “Sure!” I replied. I love when I get to take attendance. I do it quickly and I never make a mistake.

  I decided to do it faster than I ever did it before. I looked at the clock on the wall. It said five minutes after nine. When the big hand reached the twelve, I began.

  I quickly put five checks in the book, for me, Hannie, Nancy, Natalie, and Ricky. I looked around the room. I saw Addie Sidney. She was doodling on her wheelchair tray. (She uses a wipe-off marker.) Check for Addie. I saw Pamela Harding. (She is my best enemy.) Check. Pamela was whispering to her buddies, Jannie Gilbert and Leslie Morris. Check, check. I saw Terri and Tammy Barkan, who are twins. Two more checks. Audrey Green was there. Check. Sara Ford was there. Check. Hank Reubens, Omar Harris, Bobby Gianelli, and Chris Lamar were there. Check, check, check, check. I put a few more checks in the book. Then I handed it back to Ms. Colman and looked at the clock. It was only eight minutes after nine. That had to be an attendance-taking record.

  “Thank you, Karen,” said Ms. Colman. “That was very fast.”

  “You are welcome!” I replied.

  Did I tell you yet that Ms. Colman is a gigundoly wonderful teacher? Well, she is. Some teachers would notice how fast I took the attendance, but would not say anything. Ms. Colman always says nice things. And she
never, ever yells at us. (Sometimes she has to remind me to use my indoor voice when I get excited and shout in class. But she always does it nicely.)

  “We are going to start with spelling,” said Ms. Colman. “Please take out your workbooks.”

  All right! Spelling happens to be one of my favorite subjects. This was a very good way to start the day.

  Wish Tree Chores

  Nancy and I walked home from the bus together after school.

  “Hi, Mr. Drucker! Hi, Mrs. Drucker!” we called.

  Our neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Drucker, were coming home with some groceries. They are a very nice older couple. Mr. Drucker is in a garden club called the Green Thumbs. Once on St. Patrick’s Day I got to ride in the Green Thumbs’ parade float.

  The Druckers waved to us. But they looked kind of sad. Nancy and I wondered if anything were wrong. Maybe one of them was not feeling well. Then Mommy would make some soup and I could take it to them.

  Nancy and I looked both ways, then crossed the street.

  “Hello, girls. How are you today?” asked Mr. Drucker.

  “We are fine. How are you? You do not look so happy,” I replied. (I did not know if I was supposed to say that. But it was the truth.)

  Mrs. Drucker smiled a sad smile.

  “You are right,” she said. “We are sad that we lost our beautiful blue-spruce tree this summer. It was so hot and dry, our tree could not survive.”

  I looked at the place where the tree used to stand.

  “It is sad,” I replied. “That was the tree you always decorated for Christmas. It made the whole street look pretty.”

  “We will have to do without it this year. We will put lights on our house and have candles in our windows instead,” said Mr. Drucker.

  “Would the two of you like to come inside for some cider?” asked Mrs. Drucker.

  “Thank you, but I have chores to do today,” said Nancy.

  “Me too,” I replied. “Thank you anyway.”

  Nancy and I looked both ways, then carefully crossed back to our side of the street. I really would miss the Druckers’ tree. It was fun to look out my living-room window and see it all dressed up for the holidays.