Pine & Presents
Milo the snail was preparing for Christmas, his favorite holiday! He had decorated his small snail home with all the decorations he could. He had even wrapped up all his Christmas presents already. He had gotten a new pair of glasses for his friend Nicholas the owl, a knitted sweater for his friend Bernie the elf, and a new corncob pipe for his friend Peter, the snowman. It was time to add the final and most important piece: the Christmas tree!
Milo raced as quickly as his little snail tail could slide into town. He waved hello to his friend Nicholas as he passed his Christmas ornament shop. He’d certainly return there after he got his tree! He waved hi to Peter, who himself was out running some last minute Christmas errands. Finally, he said hi to Bernie, who just so happened to own the best Christmas tree lot in town.
“Hey, Milo, what can I help you with?” asked Bernie.
“I need a tree, Bernie!” Milo responded.
“Right this way,” said Bernie as he led Milo through a row of Christmas trees.
There were hundreds of trees of all kinds: skinny ones, fat ones, tall ones, green ones, white ones, they even had pink ones! What they didn’t seem to have, unfortunately, were small ones.
“Oh Bernie, I was hoping for a tree that was a little shorter,” Milo said. “I need to be able to fit one into my home.”
“Hmm,” thought Bernie as he looked down at Milo. Bernie himself wasn’t so tall, but to a snail, even an elf looked big. “Well, I’m not sure we have anything your size, but let’s see.”
Bernie led Milo through the tree lot. To his credit, the trees did get shorter and shorter, but still, none seemed small enough to make it inside Milo’s house.
Bernie stopped next to a tree that was just an inch or two shorter than himself.
“I’m afraid this is the smallest tree I have, Milo.”
Milo sighed. “It’s okay, Bernie. I’ll just have to do Christmas without one then.”
Feeling dejected, Milo slowly slid his way out of the tree lot and made his way back home. He gave sad waves to Peter and to Nicholas as he left the village.
Feeling concerned for their friend, Peter and Nicholas went to the tree lot.
“Hey Bernie,” said Nicholas. “What happened to Milo?”
“Oh, it’s so sad,” Bernie answered. “I just didn’t have a tree small enough to sell him. The poor guy was so looking forward to having a Christmas tree.”
“That’s too bad,” said Peter. “If only there was something we could do.”
Nicholas, always the wise one of the group, put his wing to his chin and thought on it. After a moment, an idea finally came to him!
“Maybe there is something we can do!” he exclaimed. “You two, go find the most perfect Christmas tree you have in your lot and wait for me. I’ll be right back!”
“But the best tree is going to be too big for Milo,” argued Bernie.
“Don’t worry about that, you just go find a tree!” said Nicholas. “I have to grab something from my shop.”
With that, Nicholas took off and flew out of the tree lot. Peter and Bernie were confused, but they trusted Nicholas, so they did what he said. After a few minutes of searching, Peter and Bernie found the most beautiful tree in the whole lot. It was at least seven feet tall!
“I don’t know how Nicholas thinks this is going to help Milo,” Peter said. “This tree is gigantic!”
“Here I come!” shouted Nicholas as he flew back into the tree lot.
In his talons, Nicholas was carrying a large pair of garden clippers.
“What are you going to do with that?” asked Bernie.
“Watch this!” chirped Nicholas as he flew up to the very top of the Christmas tree. It took him a moment to get the clippers angled just right, but finally, he was able to clip the very top of the tree. The clipping fell from the tree, and– thinking fast, Peter reached out and caught it!
The trio looked at the clipping in awe. It truly looked like just the perfect Milo-sized Christmas tree.
“This is perfect! What a great idea!” said Bernie.
“Hurry, if we rush, we can make it home before Milo!” said Peter. “He is a snail after all.”
So, just as quickly as they could, Nicholas, Peter and Bernie rushed through the village. They took a shortcut through the woods, making it to Milo’s home before he did.
Later, when Milo finally made it to his driveway, the poor snail was quite tired, and even more disappointed. He looked at his home with a sad look on his face.
“Oh well, maybe next year,” he said aloud to himself.
As Milo got closer, he noticed the lights were on in his home…
“Wait a minute…” he said.
When Milo opened the door, he saw the most beautiful Christmas tree in his living room.
“Surprise!”
Nicholas, Peter and Bernie all shouted as they rushed out of their hiding spaces in the woods. They peered down into Milo’s home and saw their handiwork. The tree did look phenomenal, and Nicholas was especially pleased that they’d found the time to string it with lights as well.
“You guys did this for me!” Milo exclaimed. “But how?? Why??”
“Because you’re our friend, Milo,” said Nicholas. “And friends give each other gifts at Christmas.”
“Gifts!” shouted Milo. “That reminds me.”
Milo rushed into his room and came back with his three wrapped presents. He put each one under the Christmas tree for his three friends.
“There,” Milo said. “Now once I get some ornaments on this tree, everything will be perfect!”
Milo turned to his three friends and smiled. “Thank you so much. This is simply the greatest Christmas present any snail could ask for!”
And so for the rest of the night, Milo, Nicholas, Peter and Bernie all spent time swapping Christmas stories, drinking cocoa, and eating cookies. It was truly a wonderful night and at the end of it, Milo of course was still thankful for the tree, but above everything else, he was thankful for his friends. Maybe after all that, it was friendship that was truly the greatest Christmas gift of them all…