Casey Woods woke with a start. Someone was jumping on her bed. Again. But this time, they didn’t stop when she woke up. Her older sister, Mabel, was jumping and shouting. “It’s Christmas!!! Wake up, sleepyheads!” Casey jumped up, accidentally knocking Mabel off. She saw her older brothers, Mason, Sam, and Freddy, got the same wake up call. The only one still sleeping was tiny Piper, who could sleep through a hurricane. Mom was shouting up the stairs, “Kids, come on down! You’ve got so many gifts to open, and not a lot of time.” Casey bolted downstairs, not bothering to get her siblings. She heard their footsteps pounding behind her, racing to be the first to open their gifts. She couldn’t help but laugh when Freddy tried to slide down the banister and landed on Sam. Nobody was going to beat her this year! She finally made it downstairs to the brightly colored and decorated tree, and stared in astonishment at the wild colors of the wrapped presents under the tree. Then Mabel bolted past her and tripped on a bow that was on top of one of the gifts and fell onto the gifts. And the tree. The tree started shaking and leaning. Casey held her breath. Silence fell on the entire house. Even Mabel was quiet, for once in her life. The tree stopped leaning. And it toppled over. The crash rang her ears and seemed to make the Earth shake. She couldn’t even hear herself shout. Then, it was silence again. She could clearly see Freddy and Piper, and she realized Mason was squeezing her hand. Mabel and Sam were a little away, staring shocked at the fallen tree. Mom’s voice broke the silence spell. “Everyone ok?” Casey thought one of her siblings might respond, but instead they were all too stunned to speak. “We’re all good!” She shouted. Suddenly there was a ripping sound, and Casey looked over to see Mabel opening a present. “Awesome, a new sweater!” She said, smiling. Casey laughed. The others joined in. It turns out, even when Christmas is ruined by a falling tree, you can always count on your family to help you out. She looked around and smiled. No matter how strange or loud or weird her family was, they were the only people in the whole world she could count on to fix any situation. “Merry Christmas everybody!” She said.
This is my entry for a writing contest! Based off a true story!
