Some time ago I wrote an Aussie Christmas Tale for children – and the child still inside each of us.
As this will be our last Christmas at Heartland I wish to share my special Tale with you (and your young ones).
I shall send it in 2 parts 4 days apart as it’s quite long……
Feel free to print it out. Share it with all your family and friends. It’s best if spoken out loud, with feeling!
From our family to yours…..happy Christmas!
Les and Trudi
The Aussie Christmas Tale (Part 1)
There was pandemonium at the North Pole!
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, had just given Santa the bad news…..
”As the Head of the Reindeer’s Union I’m telling you that my members won’t be working this year on Christmas Eve in Australia!”
“Why on earth not?!” asked Santa.
“Because it’s too hot, too dry, too big – and too far!” replied Rudolph.
“But we’re on a promise!” wailed Santa. “Aren’t you being just a little unfair? There’s tens of thousands of Aussie children who look forward to our Christmas visit each year. You can’t just stop deliveries!
It’s plain rude!”.
“Not as rude as making the reindeer swelter in forty degree heat!
Besides, several of my members suffered eye glare last year, not to mention desert dust!”. Rudolph shook his neck bell. “Australia if OFF the itinerary – and that’s final!”.
Santa shook his head in disbelief. He was distraught.
Mrs Santa was incensed. Miss Kringle, Santa’s secretary, was aghast.
Santa’s helpers were dismayed. The reindeer were silent.
“Whatever are we going to do?” asked Miss Kringle one day when she was giving Santa his morning cup of Iced Chocolate.
“We can’t just let the entire country down! All those children!
And all those presents already made and awaiting delivery!”.
“I just don’t know what to do, Miss Kringle” replied Santa,
“The reindeer are adamant!”.
“Then we’ll just have to find alternate transport!” cried Miss Kringle.
“Nothing must stop Santa at Christmas!”.
“Alternate transport?” questioned Santa. “Australia Post or something?”.
“Certainly not!” scoffed Miss Kringle. “Why, you give hope to a world that thinks hope is out of its reach…..you stand for unselfish giving and caring!
That is what has made you such a success. And that’s why it’s so important that you go – it’s your act of personal giving that captivates the world”.
“Not possible without reindeer, I’m afraid” commented Santa, sadly shaking his head.
“I have an idea!” exclaimed Miss Kringle. “Call in Jack Frost!
“The world gets crazier every day!” Santa told Jack as he stood before him in his overalls. “First they stop building chimneys, taking away the magic of my sliding down the soot into their dining room! Then they insist I visit everyone at the same time, on the same day, all over the world!
And they insist I wear the full outfit – thick red woollen suit and black gummies – regardless of the weather……”.
Jack nodded in agreement. He’d heard it all before.
“How can I help, Santa?” he asked.
“Rudolph has pulled the reindeer out of Oz this year!” grumbled Santa.
Jack whistled softly to himself. He’d been expecting it. For years he’d heard the traumatic tales of the mossies which were bigger than butterflies, the air traffic controllers’ go-slows, and the beer strikes….
it was obviously no place to visit at Christmas!
“What do we do for the sake of the children?” he asked Santa.
“Improvise, Jack! Improvise!” whispered the old man as his beard quivered. “I want you to go to Australia and find an alternate means of transport for the night”.
“I could do with a suntan” answered Jack. “But what sort of alternate transport am I supposed to find?”.
“Six white boomers!” interrupted Miss Kringle who had been listening excitedly.
“White boomers?!” repeated Jack Frost. “What on earth are ‘white boomers’ when they’re at home?”.
“Big kangaroos, I think…..” said Santa, looking across at Miss Kringle for support. “We thought that maybe you could, err….convince them to pull the sleigh for us this year”.
“Do you expect them to get dressed up as reindeer?” asked Jack.
“Oh, certainly not!” replied Santa. “We want them to be themselves”.
“But they have to agree to pull the sleigh!!” added Miss Kringle.
“I suppose I can take my surfboard with me?” inquired Jack casually.
“Afraid not!” returned Santa. “There’s only ten days before Christmas – so it’s strictly business!”.
“You have no time to lose!” added Miss Kringle. “We’re not even sure where you’ll find six white boomers……”.
“But they’re somewhere in Australia!” chimed in Santa.
“Somewhere!” repeated Jack Frost, dismayed and distressed.
“Definitely somewhere!” chorused Miss Kringle.
Santa turned to wrap up another present. Miss Kringle smiled coyly.
Jack saw himself out……..
It had been a bad start to the day for Jack. Air traffic controllers had kept him in the air in a holding pattern for over an hour and he was feeling decidedly giddy. Then, they’d impounded his sleigh the moment he landed.
Worse still, he’d been unable to convince any taxi driver to take him anywhere, all morning. They took one look at his little shiny black boots, light-blue tucked-in trousers, red jacket with the snow-white edging and tall peaked cap, complete with bell – and they’d toss him aside in favour of the next in line.
Another cab drew up alongside the kerb. Jack flung open the back-door and threw himself in.
“The city!” he muttered and clenched his teeth. To his amazement, the cab drew away from the taxi rank.
“What part?” asked Arthur, the driver, from the front seat.
He peered into his rear-vision mirror to get a better look at the strange creature sitting in the back. Arthur had seen stranger. He’d been a cab driver a long time.
“I’m not sure” replied Jack Frost cautiously. “I’m actually searching for something……”.
“Searching, eh?” replied Arthur, showing interest. “Aren’t we all?”.
“I need to find six white boomers……”Jack blurted out.
Arthur peered more seriously into his rear-vision mirror.
“You did say six white boomers?” questioned Arthur.
“Six snow-white boomers” answered Jack.
Arthur shook his head in disbelief.
“S’pose they’re for Santa?” he winked into the mirror.
“Pardon?!” replied Jack, with surprise.
“You know…..to pull his sleigh” responded the taxi driver as he winked into the mirror a second time.
“Exactly!” beamed Jack. He could hardly believe his good luck!
Arthur could hardly believe his ears, either!
“Are you fair dinkum?” Arthur asked.
“Afraid so!” answered Jack.
Arthur discerned a sincerity in young Jack that no amount of logic could defy.
It didn’t make any sense; but Arthur knew just the same that it was very real.
He swung a left to clear the traffic, then another left to head into the country.
Soon they were flashing past tall gum trees…….
“We’re coming toward boomer-country now!”, Arthur announced after three or four hours’ driving. Jack peered out of the back window in anticipation. Shortly, a large grey kangaroo came into view. Arthur “hit the anchors” just in time to miss hitting him. Jack quickly jumped from the car and handed the stunned roo his business card.
The roo slowly read it:
J. Frost,
Executive Assistant,
Management Division,
Dept of Good Tidings,
NORTH POLE.
“Are there six of you?” asked Jack excitedly.
The roo looked to the left and then, carefully, to the right.
“I don’t see six of me!” he slowly replied.
“I mean, are there more kangaroos?” corrected Jack.
“Our numbers are down” sighed the Big Grey “due, in part, to the economic recession, international trade disparity, the floating of the Australian dollar and……” he paused and turned toward Arthur “inconsiderate driving habits”.
Jack looked downcast.
“However” continued the animal (after ruminating for a moment)
“there’s still a few of us left. A few million, that is!”.
Jack perked up.
“Of course, it’s hard to say for how long” the Roo continued, languidly. “Stress caused by hoons on the road, obesity caused by improved rural production, heart disease, kidney failure and coronary complications all caused by an inadequate and unbalanced diet… all take their toll”. He paused, for review.
Jack nodded sympathetically.
“But there are six of you, healthy at least?” he asked.
“M-a-y-b-e” replied the Roo. “it depends on what and why”.
Eagerly Jack explained his mission.
The Roo shook his head vehemently in rejection.
“Out of the question!” he muttered. “Christmas eve is the Big Party!
The boys would never forgive me if I missed it to pull a sleigh across the country!”.
Jack implored him, without success.
“They’ve put on a keg” boomed the roo. “It’d be a sacrilege to miss it!”.
Try as he might, Jack was unable to change the kangaroo’s mind.
In dismay, he returned to the cab and resumed his search. Yet, everywhere
Arthur took him he met with failure……..
Part 2 to follow in 4 days…….
Hope you (and your family) enjoy it!
Les