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32 x December 15, 2016 - January 4, 2017 x www.SouthwestOrlandoBulletin.com Pressure Washing & Paver Sealing ALL EXTERIOR HOME CLEANING RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL PATIOS & SIDEWALKS POOL DECKS DRIVEWAYS IMPERIAL OUTDOOR SERVICES CALL TODAY! 321-947-2541 Free Estimates ImperialOutdoorServices.com FREE FREE Dr. Phillips 8081 Turkey Lake Rd Suite 100 Orlando, FL 32819 (behind Whole Foods) (407) 354-4689 M-F 8a-10p | S 8a-6p | Su 10a-8p MM#21942 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31 Honorable Mention An Elf & Two Kids by Alex Wells Wesmere One day, the Smith family received a gift. The gift was The Elf on the Shelf, and his name was Charlie. Every night while the Smith family was asleep, Charlie traveled to the North Pole to tell Santa how the family’s children, Katy and John, were behaving. Katy and John Smith were siblings. Katy was John’s little sister. Katy was high on the Christmas spirit, but John thought Christmas was silly and Santa was a big phony. One early morning, as the sun’s rays were just starting to peek over the horizon, Charlie returned from the North Pole. Unknown to him, Katy was in the kitchen getting a cool glass of water. With a sudden shriek, Katy spotted Charlie. “Shh. Shh!” Charlie begged in a hushed tone. “Please, I’ll be caught!” “Who are you, and what are you doing in my house?” Katy asked alarmingly. “I’m Charlie, you’re elf.” “But why are you talking and moving around? Are you magical?” Katy whispered excitedly. “Yes, and I need you and your brother’s help,” Charlie said. “You see, every night I travel to the North Pole to report on how you and John are behaving. But this time when I arrived, I saw something horrible. The worker elves, who are responsible for making all the gifts, are refusing to work, because they claim that hardly any kids still believe like you do.” “So what do you need from me?” Katy asked. “I need you and your brother to come with me to the North Pole and convince the elves in the workshop to continue making gifts for all the children around the world,” Charlie said. “OK, but John doesn’t believe in Christmas,” Katy said in a depressed voice. “He thinks it’s stupid.” “Don’t worry about it,” Charlie said. “Once he sees me, he’ll know Christmas is real.” Katy and Charlie tiptoed to John’s room to wake him up. “John, John, wake up,” Katy whispered. “No, it’s too early,” John mumbled. “Come on, John,” Charlie said. “We need your help to save Christmas.” Suddenly, John shot straight up like a rocket. “Who are you!” he screamed. “Keep it down,” Charlie said. “You’ll wake your parents. I’m Charlie, your Elf on the Shelf. I need you to come with us to save Christmas.” “I must be hallucinating,” John said. “You’re not,” Katy said. Charlie explained the crisis they faced at the North Pole, and soon enough, John agreed to go. “Grab your coats, kids,” Charlie said. “It’s cold in the North Pole.” “How are we going to get to the North Pole anyway?” John asked. “Through magic,” Charlie said. “Awesome!” Katy said. “I don’t know about this,” John said. “Don’t worry,” Charlie said reassuredly. “Santa’s sled is safe.” And suddenly, using his magic, Charlie made Santa’s beautiful red sled appear. “Wow, that’s amazing,” Katy exclaimed, as she instantly started petting the reindeer. “Come on, kids,” Charlie said. “Get in. We don’t have much time.” Katy jumped right in while John, looking a bit sickly, got in slowly. “Here we go,” Charlie said, as they blasted off from the Smith’s front yard in the cool, early-morning air. A few hours later, they arrived at the North Pole. “Alright, we’re here,” Charlie said, as they landed in a snowy courtyard. “Now, remember what I told you. Once we get to the workshop, you two need to convince the elves to continue working.” The group met Santa in the workshop and gathered the elves. Katy and John gave an emotional and moving speech, and convinced the worker elves to continue making gifts for all the children who still believed in the magic of Christmas. Afterward, they returned home, and Katy and John had the best Christmas ever! Honorable Mention The Magic of Christmas by Katharine Nguyen Windsor Landing There was a girl named Emily who was very rich. She was spoiled, selfish and rude, and her mind was full of hatred. She never thought of other people. One day, her grandma demanded that Emily go outside. After five minutes, she found herself deep in the woods. She
wandered farther and heard something. It sounded like a drum. She followed the sound and saw a boy hitting a log. She thought the boy was poor and ugly-looking. She went up behind him and said, “Ugly face, get out of my forest!” She kicked the log away from him and stomped on it. The child cried and ran away. She seemed to enjoy that very much and laughed so hard her face turned red. Suddenly, a young boy about her age appeared and said, “Don’t treat people like that. They might help you someday.” Then he vanished. Emily was so upset that she ran and ran. She did not see a big hole and fell into it. She broke her leg and yelped in pain. It was starting to get dark, and she was scared. “Help! Help!” she screamed. Luckily, someone nearby heard her and rescued her. It turned out to be the little boy she had yelled at. He was surprisingly strong and carried her out of the forest. The young boy returned and said, “I bet you are glad that boy helped you. You should be nice to people.” She looked down and thought about what had happened. She wanted to apologize to both the child and the young boy, but they were nowhere to be found. When her family came back, they noticed that Emily’s behavior had changed. She was nicer to people. One Sunday, they convinced her to go to church. She didn’t know anyone and wandered around until she saw a girl about her own age. Emily was nervous, because she had never made a friend before. She approached the girl and said, “Hey, my name is Emily. What is your name?” “Are you talking to me?” the girl asked. “Yes,” Emily said. “Oh, my name is Avery,” the girl said. “That is a beautiful name,” Emily said. They played board games, tag and puzzles all afternoon. When the day was over, Emily had found a best friend! The next year, one week before Christmas, Avery’s mom grew very ill. Avery was crying, and she said that her mom might die. Her family was too poor to afford a doctor to cure her mom’s disease. Emily couldn’t forget what her friend had said. It bothered her so much that she decided to break her piggy bank and get the money to pay for a doctor to cure Avery’s mom. Luckily, the doctor was able to cure the fever. Avery was so happy. She gave Emily a beautiful guitar to return her kindness. www.SouthwestOrlandoBulletin.com x December 15, 2016 - January 4, 2017 x 33 On Sunday, Emily went to church as usual. The priest told a legend of two brothers who often appear around Christmastime. They sounded exactly like the two boys Emily had met last year. When the story was over, Emily asked the priest if the boys in the story could be Christmas ghosts. “Yes, they could be,” the priest replied. “Why do you ask?” “I met two boys similar to the ones in your story,” Emily said. “Maybe they are,” the priest said. Emily wandered around the church. Something on a stained-glass window caught her attention. She saw the two boys that she had met in the forest last Christmas. They were smiling and waving at her. She blinked her eyes and looked closer. This time, she did not see them, only a picture of two young boys. But in her mind, she knew they were the spirit boys who had helped her to be a nicer, better person. Honorable Mention Santa’s Daughter Reaches a Milestone by Madeline Heald Windermere Chase Carol sighed as she hauled a bucket of blue paint to the elves’ workshop. It wasn’t easy being Santa the 31st’s daughter. (Yes, there is more than one Santa. If there was only one, he would be hundreds of years old.) Why couldn’t she have a better job? She was responsible, smart, quick-witted and caring. Couldn’t she manage something like taking the reindeer and sleigh out for a practice run? But, alas, here she was being the bossy elves’ paint-fetching servant. How fun. As soon as she arrived, the elves said as one, “Santa wants to see you. Set down the paint and go now.” Carol set the paint down and trudged through the snow in her black boots, her red dress dragging along. She squealed as she slipped on the snow and slid down a slope, her brown braids whipping behind her. “Well,” she said aloud. “That’s certainly a way to get down here quickly.” She dusted off her dress and stepped inside the house. Immediately, Evelyn Claus, her mother, rushed over and made sure she was OK. Then she started talking. “Yourfathersaysyou’rereadybutIdon’tt hinkso.You’reonly12yearsofagesoyoung and ...“ CONTINUED ON PAGE 34 LOCK IN YOUR 2016 EARLY BIRD PRE-OPENING RATES! R E S O R T - S T Y L E S E N I O R L I V I N G Take advantage of our pre-opening pricing and secure your new home at Sonata West to lock in early bird 2016 rates. 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Page 3 and 4: www.SouthwestOrlandoBulletin.com x
Page 5 and 6: From lucky lentils to tempting tama
Page 9 and 10: December 15th, 17th, 31st & January
Page 13 and 14: Central Florida’s Largest Selecti
Page 19 and 20: 14 x October 20 - November 2, 2016
Page 23 and 24: the entire town was lit by more tha
Page 27 and 28: the scarecrow who celebrates Christ
Page 29 and 30: Honorable Mention Hanukkahistmas by
Page 31: in all this chaos, and you don’t
Page 35 and 36: moving truck in front of the desert
Page 37 and 38: and Scrabble. My family loves to go
Page 39 and 40: “I will get ready as fast as I ca
Page 41 and 42: to them by Jesus, because they were
Page 45 and 46: BUSINESS BRIEFS West Orange Chamber
Page 47 and 48: n Charities/Fundraisers Through Dec
Page 49 and 50: $10, adult; $3, children K-12; and
Page 51 and 52: unwrap the Gift of Relaxation * unw

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