It was a dark and dreary night in Neopia, not like a night before Christmas
Eve at all. The rain was pounding outside and everyone was inside their NeoHomes,
all nice and cozy by their fireplaces and lighted trees. Everyone, that is,
except for one cold and muddy Gelert. This Gelert, named TakaraJ, had been out
all night trying to find some sort of shelter from the stinging cold. She wandered
around, peeking inside windows and whimpering, hoping for someone to hear and
just maybe let her stay for the night. But, all she got was 'shoos!' and 'get
out of here you mangy mutt!' Getting very weary, she found herself in an alleyway
with nothing but trash cans and boxes. She sighed and headed for one of the
boxes. She collapsed inside and panted, "I guess... this will... have to do..."
Painfully she closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
When she awoke the next morning she felt much better. She stretched then rubbed
the sleepies from her eyes as she looked about her. To her surprise, she wasn't
in the box anymore! "Where am I?" she wondered aloud. She was laying on a squishy
(and very comfortable!) bed with a silk robe around her. The room was filled
with toys, from plushies to boom boxes. "Goodness!" she whispered to herself
this time, "What's going on?" She was still in amazement when an Avabot opened
the door and slid into the room, pushing it's way through the toys. It stopped
at the end of the bed.
"YOU ARE REQUESTED IN THE DINING ROOM MISS TAKARA," the avabot said, clicking
after every word.
Takara looked down in even more amazement and seemed to have a loss for words.
"PLEASE FOLLOW ME MISS TAKARA." The avabot started down it's cleared path and
out the door. Takara, not thinking, jumped after the robot shouting, "Wait for
me!"
As they walked down the hallway, Takara noticed that there were quite a few
pictures along the walls. Some were of snowflakes, others of reindeer, and some
of children making snowmen. They passed many doors before they reached their
final destination at the end of the hall. The avabot squeaked to a stop and
turned to Takara.
"THE DINING ROOM MISS TAKARA. MY MASTER AWAITS." With outstretched arms, it
pushed the large double doors open, revealing a table that stretched forever
with all sorts of breakfast delicacies upon it. There were biscuits, fruits,
stacks and stacks of pancakes, and all kinds of things! Takara's mouth watered
at the sight and was thinking pretty hard about whether she should gulp it all
down or not when the avabot started to roll towards the other end of the table.
She sighed and followed the robot to the end, gazing all around her. She didn't
even notice the person staring at her. She came to her senses again when she
heard the annoying voice of the avabot again.
"MASTER, MISS TAKARA HAS ARRIVED."
"Thank you snowflake, you may be on your way."
Takara watched the avabot slide away then turned her attention to the person
sitting before her. He was a Bruce that had a big grin and was dressed all in
red and white. He was very large and Takara was afraid he'd squish her if he
wanted to. She took a step back and was ready to run when he said calmly...
"Are you frightened Miss Takara?" He laughed a hearty laugh that disturbed
Takara,"Oh there's no need to be Miss! Are you wondering why your here?" He
smiled as Takara nodded. "I thought so!" He rolled out of his chair and onto
his feet and wobbled over to a window. "Miss Takara, do you have any idea who
I am?" He turned and raised an eyebrow at her. She stuttered...
"N..n....no I....don't!"
"Really?" He turned back to the window,"Well I'll assure you, around these
parts I'm called Santa Claus."
"SANTA CLAUS!" Takara shouted, hardly believing what she was hearing.
"Or Saint Nick if you like that better." He smiled to himself as he watched
her mouth drop. "I thought you would of guessed by now. Anywho..." He turned
and wobbled back over. "Back to how you got here..." still sort of stunned,
Takara said shakily...
"Yes?"
"Well I was doing a test run with my reindeer last night and I happened to
see you all curled up inside that dreadful box. I decided to stop and see if
I could help but seeing that you were fast asleep I just took you home with
me." He paused, glancing at me then continued,"I had my robots brush you then
put you to bed. Funny, you never flinched the whole time."
"I was awfully tired, sir." She lowered her head.
"Santa if you must deary... I recognised you also, and I know your story."
She lifted her head at this, "You do?"
"Oh yes, yours and many others. I know you were abandoned as a pup and that
you have been blindly wandering around for any place of comfort. I think your
different though, from all the others. Everyone else seems to turn to stealing
but you.... you're different. You stayed strong..." He stopped to look at her,"And
you had hope." He started towards his chair and plopped down on it,"Now I know
you've got to be hungry, please help yourself and afterwards, I'll show you
a more exciting treat." She hoped onto the seat beside him and dug in happily,
devouring everything that came her way. She stopped when she heard the avabot
rolling past her and to Santa.
Santa patted snowflake on the head, "Come Miss Takara, I have something I want
to show you." He hopped off his chair and wobbled to the hallway, snowflake
and Takara close behind. They passed three doors and then turned right into
a blue room made of ice. Takara was the only one that shivered as they walked
to the middle of the room. In the middle of all the ice was a snowglobe sitting
atop a glass table. Santa picked it up and held it over Takara.
"Do you know what this is?" he asked, smiling.
"It looks like a snowglobe, sir... I mean, Santa."
He scratched his head, "Well that it is but... this is a special snowglobe.
Anyone who makes a wish and then shakes this globe will have their wish granted
the next morning. Now I know who has been naughty and nice and you, Takara,
are one of the very nice." He stood silent for a moment and then pushed the
globe at Takara, "I believe you deserve to make a wish Takara!"
Takara stood amazed. A wish? Any wish at all? Oh how wonderful! Her mind filled
with ideas and her eyes twinkled.
"Ho ho ho! I knew you'd like the sound of that! Here..." He handed her the
snowglobe, "Make a wish Takara, you deserve it!"
Takara pondered her mind for the greatest wish of all. 'Hmm... how about toys?
Nah, they would last long.... Neopoints? No, money won't buy me happiness....
Oh I know! No wait...'
"Why don't you go to your room and think it over? All right Takara?"
She nodded and followed snowflake back to the room she had woken up in. She
sat on the bed with the snowglobe in between her paws and continued to think.
"WHAT DO YOU WISH FOR MISS TAKARA?" Questioned snowflake.
"Oh I'm not sure yet. I just can't decide."
"YOU CAN NOT DECIDE? 'TIS SIMPLE MISS TAKARA. WHAT DO YOU DESIRE MOST?"
Takara thought about this. And thought and thought and thought. Finally, she
jumped up, "Oh! I KNOW!" She leaped off the bed and over snowflake, dashing
down the hall to Santa. "Santa! I know what I want!"
He looked at her with a grin, "Well? What do you wish for Takara?"
"I wish.... I wish that every Neopian had a somewhere to live, somewhere to
call home. And a caring family also! I know how much I'd love to have that,
a home...family..." she sighed at the thought, "But I think it would be better
to help everyone else instead. I don't much deserve to have a home. I'm fine
alone..."
Santa let out another one of his laughs, "No one deserves to be alone deary!"
He paused for a moment, "Well? What are you waiting for? Make your wish!"
Excitedly Takara shook the snowglobe, "I wish everyone in Neopia had a nice
warm home and a good family for Christmas!" She shook it harder then watched
as the snow fell upon the town. She waited then looked around, "Did it work?"
"It will tomorrow!" Santa started off out of the room again and motioned for
her to follow, "You better be off to bed Miss Takara! You want to be rested
up for tomorrow!"
When Takara got to her room, she thought about the wish she had made. She knew
it would make a lot of Neopians happy, and she sorta wished she could of been
included in it too, but she knew it was for the best. As she fell asleep she
kept mumbling things like home... family... love...
She woke up the next morning the same as last, except with a different feeling.
She jumped out of bed, expecting to land on loads of toys but fell onto a hard
floor! "What in the world?" She scratched her head and shook herself off. "Where
am I now?" She looked around and it was an ordinary room. Nothing very special
about it. In the next room she heard someone singing, "Who is that?" She started
for the door but caught a glimpse of something that was sitting on a nearby
desk. As she looked closer, she discovered it was the snowglobe atop a letter.
She moved the globe over with her paw then picked up the letter. It read as
follows:
Dear Miss Takara,
Ho ho! It seems your wish has come true! Everyone in Neopia has a home
and family now, thanks to you! Oh, you must find something strange about where
you are. Well, I had a chat with snowflake here and I decided to grant your
wish my dear. I have found the perfect home for you! It's wonderful you see!
You now have a brother, a mother and a father to care for you and a place to
finally call home. I do hope you enjoy your many blessed years to come. Best
of luck to you my dear and Merry Christmas!
Sincerely,
Santa and Snowflake
As she closed the letter a tear rolled down her cheek, this time though, a
happy tear. She folded the letter and placed it next to the globe. Smiling,
she gazed into the globe again, "Merry Christmas Santa...thank you..." Hearing
the singing again she turned from the desk and left to meet her new family.
The End | 
