Santa's Surprise Lottery Win !

One day, when Santa was walking down the path to his sleigh, he thought he saw an advertisement to the new Chinese Take - Away. Everyone was talking about the restaurant that had just opened on the High Street in town ... the piece of paper that he trod on going down the garden path, from there must have flown. What was it ? (Santa wasn't sure), taking great care not to put his big Wellington boot stamp on it upon the floor. It was something white, but Santa wasn't wearing his spectacles and the light wasn't that bright ! Perhaps the "something" could have been junk mail, or a page from Mrs. Christmas's advent calendar, blown away in the gale. Maybe it was an invitation to the local supermarket sale. Santa bent down to pick up the scrap paper from off the street - thinking it was possibly a voucher for something free to eat. The piece of paper could have beena book token, or a receipt for something being mended, that in the grotto had been broken. A newspaper or a letter that had been lost ... a Christmas card dropped by the mailman, before it was post. A bookmark ... or a map of the park ... Santa wasn't sure what the scrap piece of paper was and the evening was fast becoming dark. Santa was perplexed, it may have been a price tag for some expensive pottery ... but when finally he looked a bit closer, he realised ... it was a ticket for the lottery ! Santa rushed home and called Gerome the gnome. They switched on the telelvision and Santa's favourite programme was being shown : bingo ! He jumped up and down until he was redder than a flamingo ! Santa concentrated on each number ... cheering loudly when he'd been lucky awoke Mrs. Christmas from her slumber. As one by one, each number in flashing lights was shown, Santa began to jump up and down. First 9 - then 3 (Santa waited eagerly, to see how many more matched perfectly !). Next 37 after which was 44 - Santa was so excited, he stomped a hole in the floor ! By the time the last two numbers were being called out, Santa had already started to scream and shout ... "Hoorah ! Hoorah ! Now everyone can have twice as many presents on Christmas Day". He held his breath and made a special Christmas wish. It must have worked because the next number was one hundred and one - that's when the party really began ... Santa had never had so much fun as the one Christmas when he won ! The Christmas when Santa won the lottery really took the ticket ... even though he hadn't been the one to pick it ! A little wish was all it took, for something to use as a bookmark and a trip to the library for a book ! © Jacqueline Richards 2008