Dreaming of Christmas

 The mother and the father were in the kitchen, getting supper ready. The boy and the girl were in the living room, reading.

Suddenly, the girl looked up. “What’s that sound?” she asked.

The boy stopped reading and listened. “It sounds like tiny feet on the front porch,” he said.

“Do you think it’s Santa Claus?” The girl asked.

Then there was another sound. “That sounds like someone is scratching on the front door,” the boy said. “Santa comes down the chimney, not through the front door.” 

“Let’s go see,” said the girl. “Help me, so we can hurry!”

The boy pushed the girl’s wheelchair to the front door. They opened the door slowly, and what do you think they saw?

“They’re singing, I think,” the girl said. 

“They’re caroling,” the boy agreed, “but how can they sing without moving their lips?”

“I think it’s a doll thing,” the girl replied.

The children watched and listened to two more carols, and finally “Silent Night.” Then, suddenly, the dolls were gone.

“Let’s not tell the parents,” the boy suggested.

“No,” agreed the girl. “They wouldn’t understand.”

They quietly closed the door and went back into the living room. This time, the girl insisted on moving her chair on her own, which she did by placing her hands on the big rings that went around the wheels and pushing them forward.

They were quietly reading in the living room when the father called them to come and eat.

Back at home, the dolls took off their coats, hats, scarves and boots, and settled down in our living room for some pretend hot chocolate and a pretend snack. They had those little donuts that look like Cheerios, some raisins and some popcorn.

“That was fun,” said Charlotte. “We should do it again.”

“I like it when real children come to the door,” Jolena said, placing her cup carefully on its saucer.

“It was fun seeing a real boy,” Billy added, as he stuck his fingers through the holes in the little donuts, just to see how far they would go.

“Is that the first time you have seen a real boy, Billy?” Charlotte asked, taking another little donut from the plate Mandy offered her.

“Yes,” said Billy. “It’s the first time I’ve seen any real children. I really liked the thing the girl was sitting on, too,” he added, looking at the little donuts on his little fingers. “It had wheels, like a bicycle or a car, so you can ride it.”

“It’s a wheelchair,” said Mandy. “It’s for people who can't or shouldn't walk,” she explained. “I read a story once about a human person who had to use a wheelchair all the time.”

“I wondered about the wheelchair, so I looked it up. I learned that sometimes people just use a wheelchair for a short time,” Mandy explained, “if they have been injured or sick, or they need to go somewhere where they would have to do too much walking. Some people, even some children, need a wheelchair all their lives.”

“I think it would be fun,” said Billy.

“I think it would be fun for a while,” suggested Jolena, “but I like to get up and run or dance.”

The dolls all thought about that and agreed.

“I think using a wheelchair is better than lying in bed or sitting in one place all the time,” said Veronika, who knows about sitting in one place for a long time, because she’s a doll.

“I have an idea!” exclaimed Mariah, who had been sitting quietly, listening to the conversation. “Let’s go visit them at night, when they're asleep. It would be fun to tell them happy stories while they’re sleeping, so they have happy dreams.”

The dolls all thought that was a good idea.

“I want to tell stories to the boy,” said Billy. “I know what kinds of adventures boys like to have.”

“I want to take the girl with me when I do flips on my skis,” Jolena said. “I think she would like to know what it's like to fly.”

“And it would be safe,” agreed Mariah, “because you can’t be hurt in your dreams!”

The dolls all thought that would be fun. They picked up their little dishes and food and put everything away. Then they all brushed their teeth, which is hard to do, because they can’t really open their mouths. (They have to use their imaginations.) Finally, they put on their pajamas and went to bed. They dreamt about going caroling and visiting real children who were asleep.

Did you ever think that maybe when you have happy dreams at night, it’s because Mariah, Billy or Jolena, or one of the other dolls is sitting by your bed, telling you stories?

Or maybe you have a doll who lives with you who does that for you.

Cast--

Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen

Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni

Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015

Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris

Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, “Chosen” from My Doll Best Friend

Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily of London

Caroling music to print was found here: https://www.heartwoodguitar.com/extras/christmas-carol-songbook/

You can follow The Doll's Storybook here.

Do you have questions or comments for us? Would you like to order an autographed copy of one of our books? You can email us at thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment. We are not affiliated with St. Jude in any way other than these donations.

"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook and More Classic Tales Untold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are available from BookBaby and other booksellers worldwide, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. 

Author's page on Amazon. 

Royalties (net proceeds) go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. If you don't get free shipping elsewhere, buy from Book Baby. Half of the price goes to charity (specific information available upon request). Autographed copies of all three books are available from the author. (Multiple books to the same address have a discount on shipping.) To inquire, email thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/19832501/?claim=j3fj3mbb8kt">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Copyright © 2018, 2024 by Peggy Stuart

Storytime in Bend

Once upon a time there were seven dolls. Their names were Charlotte, Mandy, Veronika, Billy, Mariah, Emil and Jolena. 

They all lived together in a big house with a little old man and a little old woman. The little old woman wrote stories about what she imagined the dolls were doing. The dolls enjoyed being written about.

They liked having their clothes changed and their hair brushed and arranged for photos that would go with the stories.

They liked pretending to go on adventures and to have fun together doing things. The dolls were happy that they had fun toys to play with. They were happy that they had books to read and pets to care for.

They liked pretending to sleep or eat. They liked pretending to be real human children.

The dolls listened to the little old man and little old woman talking to each other. The dolls heard them talking about how they were going to go on a trip and would be gone for a week. They talked about having the post office hold their mail until they got back. They talked about what clothes and other things they might need while they were gone.

One day the little old man and the little old woman put some things into the back of the car.

 
"The car is pulling out of the garage," Jolena said from the windowsill as the other dolls looked up at her. They listened as the garage door closed.

"The little old lady is getting in on the passenger side," Jolena said.

"That's it! They've gone," Jolena said. "The car just drove away."

"What should we do while they're gone?" Billy asked. "We have the house to ourselves."

"Let's clean the house again!" Veronika exclaimed. "That was so much fun the last time!"

"Let us, I mean Emil and me, do the vacuuming," Billy said. "We've done it before, and we're good at it."
"You can do the vacuuming, Billy," Mandy said, "but don't forget, you will need to do the dusting first. Otherwise, the dust will fall on the clean floor. You want the vacuum to pick it up."

The dolls all agreed that cleaning the house again would be fun.
The boys got to work getting the dusting done, so they could get on to the fun part.

Mariah and Jolena changed the sheets on the beds. They had to work together, because it's hard to do when you're so small. They carried the dirty sheets down the hall to the laundry room. Then they got out some clean sheets from the linen closet. They worked together to get the clean sheets on the bed and the pillows into the pillow cases.

Veronika did the laundry. She washed all the white things together and then put them into the dryer. Then she washed the colored things. She would put them into the dryer when it was done. She knew the colors sometimes like to leave one thing and move into something that's supposed to be white.

Mandy and Charlotte cleaned the bathrooms.

When they were done, they got dressed and went looking for the others. They found the other girls in the workroom. The boys were not there. 

"Where are the boys?" Charlotte asked when she and Mandy were dressed.

"I think I hear the vacuum downstairs," Mariah told them. "They must still be working."

The girls went downstairs to look for the boys. They found them in the dining room, still vacuuming the floor. They were using the new robot vacuum cleaner. They were having too much fun to stop. All they had to do was push a button, and the vacuum would move around on the floor, sucking up all the dirt and dust. The boys had been letting Billy's teddy bear ride it and pretend to be driving. Billy and Emil knew they were not supposed to climb onto the vacuum, but Teddy is very small and light.

The dolls spent the next few days reading, playing games and pretending to eat and sleep.
Every day, the boys would run the robot vacuum for a while. They knew it wasn't a toy, but they still thought it was fun. They named it "Beatrice (BEE-ah-triss) the Cleaning Lady." They took turns using the remote control to change the way Beatrice cleaned. They laughed when Beatrice bumped into something and just turned away to vacuum in another direction. They knew it didn't hurt Beatrice to bump into things. When Beatrice was tired, she would go back to her charging station.

On the last day, Jolena got some frozen tomatoes out of the freezer and started them cooking on the stove to make jam.

While the jam was cooking, Jolena started a loaf of bread in the bread machine.

When the jam had cooked long enough, Jolena washed some jars. Then she spooned the jam into the clean jars.

She left the jars of jam on the big cutting board on the stove.

When the bread was baked, she took it out of the oven. 

While it was cooling, she went and found a clean cloth napkin. She wrapped it in a cloth napkin and left it on the counter.

The little old woman and the little old man returned in the evening.

"I'm tired," the little old woman said, as she put down her suitcase. "I'm not looking forward to cleaning the house," 
"I'll do the dusting," said the little old man. "Then we can run the vacuum. Just let me get a good night's sleep first."

Then the two real human people stopped and looked around. Something was different, and they had the feeling they were being watched.

"The house looks clean," said the little old woman.
"It smells clean, too," said the little old man, "and I think I smell fresh bread! We must have elves!" he added with a laugh. He looked around. (Elves! What a silly thought!)

The "elves" stifled their giggles.

The old couple walked into the kitchen, following the smells.

There they found the jars of homemade tomato jam, still warm.

On the counter was the bread, wrapped in a cloth napkin, also still warm.

The little old lady and the little old man thought they knew who had been busy in their house. "We should do something to thank them," the little old man suggested.
"I know what!" the little old lady exclaimed. "I'll write them a story about how dolls cleaned the house!"
"No one will believe it," the little old man pointed out.
"I'll just start it the way you start fairy tales," she replied, "'Once upon a time...'"
"Does that mean we get to live happily ever after?" he asked with a smile.
The old lady nodded. "It has worked so far," she pointed out.


Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia
Marmalade: Purrrfect Cats from KTL
Beatrice: Eufy 35C RoboVac
The little old lady and the little old man: themselves

You can follow The Doll's Storybook here.

Do you have questions or comments for us? Would you like to order an autographed copy of one of our books? You can email us at thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment. We are not affiliated with St. Jude in any way other than these donations.

"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook are available from BookBaby and other booksellers worldwide, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. 

Author's page on Amazon. 

Royalties (net proceeds) go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. If you don't get free shipping elsewhere, buy from Book Baby. Half of the price goes to charity (specific information available upon request). Autographed copies of all three books are available from the author. (Multiple books to the same address have a discount on shipping.) To inquire, email thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/19832501/?claim=j3fj3mbb8kt">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Copyright © 2020, 2024 by Peggy Stuart 

Flying or Lying?

 Veronika found Jolena looking sad.

"What's the matter," she asked.
"We were training in the gym for doing flips," Jolena told her. "We need to train for freestyle skiing all the time, you know, even when there is no snow."
"And?" asked Veronika.
"Shawn is a new kid. He has been bothering me. Today he said I was lying when I said I was flying." Jolena looked down at her hands. "I know he meant I did a bad thing, but I don't know what."

Veronika thought for a minute. "Tell me what you did and said," she suggested.
"Well," Jolena began, "when it was my turn to do a flip, I said I was flying. Then Shawn started making fun of me. He said I wasn't flying, I was lying. I don't understand, but it made me feel bad."

Veronika smiled. "I think I know what's going on," she said. "First of all, you weren't lying."
"I wasn't?" Jolena asked. 
"You were just saying how you felt," Veronika explained. "You didn't mean you were actually flying.”

"What is lying anyway?" Jolena asked.
"Well, let's say you took the last cookie on the plate and ate it," Veronika began.

"Then Mandy came along and said, 'Hey, who took the last cookie?’ You were afraid Mandy was going to be mad at you, so you said you didn't take it."

"Let's say that you said you saw Charlotte take it," Veronika said. "That's lying."

Jolena nodded. "That would be bad."
"Yes," Veronika agreed. "It would be a lie, because you said something that wasn't true, and you did it to protect yourself. It's a bad lie, because you hurt someone else at the same time."
"I wouldn't want to hurt Charlotte!" Jolena exclaimed.
"No, of course you wouldn't!" Veronika agreed. "But lying is saying something that isn't true. We should always tell the truth. Truth is very important. You would feel bad, because you knew you had done something that was wrong. And you hurt Charlotte with your lie, so that's even worse," Veronika went on. "And you would feel bad."
"Yes, I would," said Jolena. "That would be worse than having Mandy mad at me."
"And maybe Mandy would notice the crumbs on your face," Veronika suggested.

"And maybe I would have crumbs on my pants, too," Jolena agreed. "So Mandy would know. That would be worse than having Mandy mad at me for taking the cookie.”

"But pretending or using our imagination to explain how we feel isn't lying. And there are other things we can say that are not really true but are not really lies," Veronika said. "Let's say I ask you if my new dress looks good on me."

"Maybe you think pink isn't a good color for me, but you don't want to hurt my feelings, so you say I look beautiful in the dress," Veronika said. "That isn't exactly a lie, because I look beautiful to you, because you love me. It would be better, though, if you suggested another color might be better, and say it in a kind way, because it would help me, but it wasn't a bad lie.”

Jolena nodded. "I think I understand," she said. "When I said I was flying, I didn't really mean I was flying. I was just saying it felt like flying. But why did Shawn say I was lying, then?”
"I'm not sure," Veronika replied. "Tell me about Shawn."
Jolena explained that Shawn is new in class and isn't very good at the exercises yet.
"Jolena, you're very good at what you do," Veronika suggested, "so maybe he's jealous of you. Maybe he wants to be as good as you are, and it makes him feel bad that you are better than he is, so he's trying to make you feel bad, too."
"So what should I do?" asked Jolena.
"I think maybe if you encourage Shawn and point out his improvement as it happens, you'll find that he will start to feel better about himself," Veronika suggested. "However, you have no reason to feel bad about what you said, and he can't make you feel bad if you don't let him."

"That's what I'll do," Jolena said. "I'm lucky to have such a wise sister, only your example about the cookie doesn't really make any sense."
"Why not?" Veronika asked.
"Because dolls don't really like to eat cookies," Jolena replied. "We like to pretend to eat cookies. If I said I ate the cookie and said it to help myself and hurt someone else, then I would be lying!"

The dolls looked at each other and laughed. "Besides, you do look good in pink," Jolena added. "And that's the truth!"


Cast--

Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Veronika: Götz Happy Kidz Vroni

You can follow The Doll's Storybook here.

Do you have questions or comments for us? Would you like to order an autographed copy of one of our books? You can email us at thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment. We are not affiliated with St. Jude in any way other than these donations.

"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.

Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook, Emil: Stories from the Doll's Storybook and soon Classic Tales Retold: Stories from the Doll's Storybook are available from BookBaby and other booksellers worldwide, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Royalties (net proceeds) go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. If you don't get free shipping elsewhere, buy from Book Baby. Half of the price goes to St. Jude. Autographed copies of all three books are available from the author for $20 including shipping. (Multiple books to the same address have a discount on shipping.) To inquire, email thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/19832501/?claim=j3fj3mbb8kt">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Copyright © 2018, 2023 by Peggy Stuart