The Christmas Santa Ran Out of Mince Pies

When Santa arrived back on Christmas morning, he was usually starving as well as yawning. Delivering presents can be quite exhausting work. So he quickly put the kettle on to boil and looked inside the fridge for something to crunch. He was expecting to find a plate of mince pies, ready for lunch. But there was only .... Can you guess ? What is it that Santa found in the mess ?

a stale slice of b __ __ __ __

some sour m __ __ __

four corn __ __ __ __ __ __

a broken __ __ g

an empty j __ __ of j __ __

some out of date s __ __ __ ines

a n __ t nibbled by the kitchen m __ __ __ __

half a tin of baked b __ __ __ __

some left over c __ __ __ bs from a packet of c __ __ __ __ __ __ __

a rotten tom __ __ __

a soggy bis __ __ __ __

a half eaten sl __ __ __ of h __ __

Neither of which was very tasty at all. He wondered if he had wandered into the right house - but lately there was only a few left over bits of food nibbled by the mouse. There was normally stacks of goodies to eat in the cupboard. But today, it looked like it belonged to old Mother Hubbard ! Not a morsel, nor a crumb. Not even a plum left accidentally by Tom Thumb. Not much use for a Christmas party tea. Now what would he give his guests ? (who were due to arrrive at three). Santa polished his spectacles so he could clearly see ... but the fridge was still empty and the cupboard bare ... there wasn't any food anywhere ! Finding nothing tasty on the kitchen shelves, Santa asked Mrs Christmas to call in all the elves. He questioned them one by one, to see where the mince pies had possibly gone. Each of the elves replied, they hadn't taken them and had none to hide ! Santa then lined up the reindeers, too. Rudolph answered on their behalf. Though they'd shared a bottle of beer, they'd not eaten any mince pies while they were having a 'larf ! And they weren't hiding any beneath their scarf ! Dasher agreed - it was a calamity - that there was nothing much left to eat to give the gnomes a Christmas treat. The fairy on the Christmas tree suggested that the mouse in Mrs Christmas's kitchen was the culprit ... and perhaps he'd sneaked in when the fairy lights weren't lit, to steal the mince pies and eat them a bit. His guests were due to arrive soon and he feared that now dinner would be late. Santa was irate - he found a few crumbs behind the fireplace grate. The fairy waved her magic wand and three mince pies appeared in her hand. She sparkled some more Christmas magic (and some of the glitter did the trick !). On the table, in a minute or two, there appeared magically a plate of mince pies next to the stew ! The fairy asked Santa "Would that do ?", then magicked so many turkey sandwiches that she could hardly count them all - in fact, the bubbles in the champagne fizzy pop bounced and popped on the kitchen wall ! In the grotto, they all had a real feast ... just before Santa switched on the television to watch the Christmas matinee film, Beauty and the Beast. The elves came in from outside, to see what tasty goodies Santa had got - they liked the taste so much, they quickly ate the whole lot ! The Christmas fairy waved her magic wand again ... soon a trifle, a cake, cheese and crackers appeared underneath the windowpane in a puff of smoke ... as well as a glass of sherry for Santa and for Rudolph, a glass of coke ! Nowt At All No cakes, no trifle, no mince pies. Circle the word "no" inside these bigger words. nought nothing knot nod note notch notebook gnome knob nothing no - one nominal non - descript noisy nomad noisy node non - essential normality nonsense normal noon noteworthy notice non - plus novel snow notion notification novelty notoriety nourishment now noxious novelist Santa's Kitchen Tiles How many words can you think of that incldue one of Santa's kitchen tiles ? Example - reptile. © Jacqueline Richards 2007 Answers : a stale slice of bread some sour milk four cornflakes a broken egg an empty jar of jam some out of date sardines a nut nibbled by the kitchen mouse half a tin of baked beans some left over crumbs from a packet of crackers a rotten tomato a soggy biscuit a half eaten slice of ham