Vol.9,
No.52, 2006 Billy’s
Very Special Christmas By
Elizabeth Symon
Billy
wasn’t looking forward
to Christmas. His Dad was
far away on a Navy warship
and his Mum was always busy
taking care of the baby,
his new little sister. Bad
enough having a big sister!
Enid spent all her time nowadays
trying out new make-up. Billy
told her that when he wanted
to paint he used paper, not
his face. Girls! He’d
never understand them.
All this had brought back
Billy’s stammer. It
always happened when he was
upset. He just couldn’t
sound some of his words.
And to make it worse, when
the children in his class
heard him stammer, they laughed
and called him “Silly
Billy.” And how was
he going to be able to take
part in the school Christmas
concert if he couldn’t
speak properly?
Billy stared out of the
window. Enid was helping
his Mum put the baby into
her car seat. He remembered
now. They were going shopping,
Christmas shopping. That
would mean lots of time looking
at clothes and shoes and
other dull stuff and then
probably only a quick visit
to the toy department for
a photo with Santa. Billy
would have liked to look
at all the new games and
action figures.
His chance came. Mum and
baby were waiting in line
for the photographer and
Enid was studying a jewellery
catalogue and begging their
Mum to let her have her ears
pierced for Christmas, instead
of a present. Girls! They
sure had funny ideas.
Billy was right beside the
Harry Potter display when
the loudspeaker announced
Santa was taking a break. “He’ll
be back from the North Pole
soon,” said the voice
overhead. “Please stay
in line.”
Santa passed by Billy coming
back from his break.
“How are you, young
man?” he whispered. “And
what do you want for Christmas?”
“My Dad ho-ho-home
for the ho-ho-holidays,” stammered
Billy.
“You’re perfect!” Santa
gasped. “Can you help
me out? I’ve lost my
voice talking to so many children,
and I can’t say ‘ho,
ho, ho out loud any more. Can
you be my elf this afternoon
and ‘ho, ho, ho’ for
me?”
Billy grinned from ear to
ear. “Sure thing! But
I’ll have to ask my
Mum. That’s her over
there.”
He ran to ask her and she
said that she and Enid and
the baby would go and see
about the ear-piercing and
come back for Billy in an
hour.
Santa found the bright red
elf costume for Billy, who
spent the next hour happily ‘ho,
ho, hoing.’ And the
photographer took a photo
of Billy with Santa for him
to send to his Dad for Christmas.
When some of Billy’s
schoolmates came to have
their photos taken, they
were very surprised to see
Billy the elf helping Santa.
They never called him “Silly
Billy” again, and Billy
never even stammered once
at the school concert. Do
you know why? Yes! You guessed!
Because he was ha-ha-happy
now!