A Visit to the North Pole

This story is called A Visit to the North Pole. This is a LibraryCall adaptation and recording. You probably know all about Santa’s toy workshop up in the North Pole. But did you know that a very special garden grows nearby? Neither did Zara and her little brother Theo. But they were about to find out. One night, just before Christmas, Zara and Theo’s mom tucked them into bed, kissed them goodnight, and closed the door to their room. Did they sleep? No they did not! Theo wiggled. Zara tossed and turned. Finally, they both sat up. "Theo," Zara whispered, "are you asleep?" "No," he said, "I can't sleep. I keep thinking about Santa. I wish we could visit him in the North Pole.” All of a sudden, they heard a quiet tap, tap, tap on the window. They looked out, and there on the window sill, sat a man with pointed ears and friendly eyes. He was thin and very short, about half the height of a child. He was wearing a green wool suit and gardening gloves. "Did I hear you say you’d like to see Santa Claus? I am on my way back to the North Pole. I'll take you with me if you’d like." Zara and Theo scrambled from their beds in excitement. "But… who are you?" asked Zara. “I am an elf, of course. My name is Jack.” “Do you build toys in Santa’s workshop?” asked Theo. “No, I work in the garden. And when I have time, I give children tours. Would you like to visit the North Pole? I can have you back home in a couple hours.” “Yes!” they cried. "Now, the location of Santa’s home is a secret, so you must promise to close your eyes on our journey." Zara and Theo obediently squeezed their eyes shut so they couldn’t see a thing. Jack took the children’s hands, gave a wink, and off they went. It seemed as if they were flying through the window. They traveled swiftly for a while, then the elf whirled them round and around until the children couldn’t tell which way was up and which way was down. Only a few minutes later, they stopped. "Here we are," said the elf. “You may open your eyes.” The children blinked as their eyes adjusted to the brilliant light of the stars in the clear night sky. They looked up and saw a huge red gate in front of them. The elf knocked and the gate swung open, revealing the most amazing garden the children had ever seen. There were rows and rows of Christmas trees, all glittering with ornaments and tinsel, and instead of flower or vegetable beds, there were beds of sweet treats. Zara ran over to a bed of candy canes. "Let's see if any of them are ripe," said Jack. "Ripe?" said Zara in surprise. "Yes, of course," said the elf. "You’ll know this one is ripe if its stripes have turned a deep red color." The elf picked the candy cane and handed it to Zara. She inspected its stripes and saw that they were a bright shade of pink. "No, it's not ripe yet. Try this one," said Jack, handing her another candy cane. "Zara! Come over here!" Theo called. Zara ran towards Theo and saw rows and rows of gingerbread—gingerbread people, gingerbread animals, gingerbread houses, and gingerbread toys, all growing right up out of the snow. "Can we gather some of these?" Theo asked the elf. "Certainly. Let's see if this one is ripe." Jack picked a gingerbread giraffe and broke it in two. “Did you hear that snap? That's how you know it’s ripe.” The children laughed and each picked a gingerbread cookie for themselves. The next garden bed they visited was filled with pies. There were apple pies, pumpkin pies, mince pies, coconut pies, and chocolate pies. “You’ll know these are ripe when they start to steam,” said Jack. He handed them forks, and the children lingered in that part of the garden for a long time. The hot pie warmed their bellies as they sampled all the sweet, tart, and rich flavors in the garden bed. At last, they could eat no more. "Jack, we were hoping to see Santa Claus. Is he here?" "If you’ve had enough to eat from the garden, follow me," said the elf, and he led them over winding chocolate cobblestones to the edge of the garden. Then he pointed into the distance. "Do you see that large cabin on the hill? That’s where Santa lives." The children stared ahead, mesmerized. The wooden cabin was large and friendly-looking. It had bright red shutters and warm light from the windows made the house appear to glow. The cabin’s snowy roof looked like it was covered with sugar sprinkles. "Walk across this bridge," said the elf, "then up the hill to the cabin." The children looked down and saw a deep canyon separating the garden and the cabin on the hill. A narrow plank of hard toffee was laid across the canyon like a bridge. "Are you sure this is safe?" asked Zara. "Walk carefully," said the elf. "And please, don't look down. If you do, I'm afraid you won't be able to see Santa Claus tonight." Zara took Theo’s hand and the two children began to walk slowly across the bridge. They had gotten about half way across when Theo couldn’t help himself. He looked down. "Oh no!" he said, as he began to fall, pulling Zara down with him. Down, down, down they went until they landed with a thump on something soft. They were right back in their own beds! “I’m sorry we didn’t get to see Santa,” said Theo. “It’s okay,” said Zara. “At least we got to see his garden. Do you think mom will let us plant candy cane seeds?” We hope you enjoyed A Visit to the North Pole. This story was adapted and recorded by LibraryCall.