Guess what? It’s December! Do you know how I know?
It’s time for Susanna Leonard Hill’s Annual Holiday Writing Contest! YAY!
And this is the fifth year I have participated! Sorry for all the exclamation marks…but it’s one of my favorite writing challenges.
Here are some of the basic rules from Susanna website: the contest is open to everyone and there is still time to enter—deadline is Friday, December 11. Write a children’s story (children here defined as approximately age 12 and under) beginning with any version of “Rocking around the Christmas tree at the Christmas party hop.” You may use that actual opening, or you may change it to any similar version “[Verb of your choice]ing [any preposition you choose] the [any item you choose] [any preposition you choose] the [venue of your choice].” For example, “Surfing along the wind-whipped waves at the Yuletide barbeque,” or “Wandering through the pine-sweet woods at the cut-your-own tree farm,” or “Quarreling in the checkout line at the local Toys R Us,” or “Waltzing among the candy canes at the Holiday Bazaar”…. You get the idea, I’m sure 🙂 And the maximum word count is 350. There are PRIZES galore! For more information: http://susannahill.blogspot.com/2015/11/monday-munchdayan-exciting-announcement.html
Those of you who know me know I love to write in rhyme. Here’s my entry—I hope you like it!
The Christmas Seed (341 words)
Circling round the planet Mars on their space craft RV-3,
the children begged and pleaded for a real live Christmas tree.
“There is no way,” cried Maw and Paw, “for that to come about.”
So Sue and Lou and Baby Boo would have to do without.
No Christmas tree? That cannot be…they vowed to find a way.
Sue climbed up high and searched the sky, but only saw a sleigh.
And Lou got tangled in the lights while looking in a drawer.
And Baby Boo picked up a seed as he crawled on the floor.
“Take that away,” cried Maw and Paw, “that’s not for Boo to eat”
But Boo skedaddled like a flash to the ejection seat.
Maw screamed! Lou tripped! Sue scrambled down! Paw reached to
save his kid.
They heard a BOOM! It shook the room! The spaceship blew its lid!
They watched as Boo flew through the air; it was a fearful sight.
This wasn’t quite the way they’d planned to spend this Christmas
night.
And Maw, she moaned, and Paw, he groaned, and Sue and Lou,
they cried.
But then they heard a HO! HO! HO! and Santa slid inside.
He opened up his big red sack – plucked out a doll for Sue,
a watch for Paw, a book for Maw, a bat and ball for Lou.
But Maw and Paw, their faces drooped, and Sue and Lou, they
frowned,
until they heard, deep in the sack, a most familiar sound.
Then Santa reached way down inside and pulled out Baby Boo.
“I saved the best for last,” he said. “This one’s for all of you!”
And scrambling up onto his sleigh, he pointed straight at Mars
The seed Boo found had grown into a Christmas tree with stars.
And Santa’s booming voice rang out as he rode out of sight,
“May peace and love and joy be yours on this and every night.”
So if you get a telescope, please aim the lens towards Mars,
and you might see Boo’s Christmas tree, adorned with twinkling
stars.
I hope you get a chance to visit the other contest submissions…they are sure to be fantastic!
And before I forget, a couple of weeks ago, I was part of a book blog tour for Margret Peot’s new picture book, Crow Made a Friend. I promised there would be a GIVEAWAY of a copy of this precious story. And the winner is….
LESLIE GOODMAN
Congrats, Leslie!
I will get in touch with you for your address so they can ship the book to you.
Have a wonderful week—pass along a smile, give someone a hug, and be kind to yourself.
This is fun Vivian. Glad Baby Boo returned. Santa … he’s always on top of everything.
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You know it, Stacy! It turned out to be a good Christmas, after all, for Maw and Paw. 😉
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Vivian, Your story is out of this world! 😀
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Thanks so much, Tracey! I can’t wait to read all of the other entries…what fun. 🙂
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You did a stellar job, Vivian! I love it!
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You are very kind, Iza. 😉 Aren’t we lucky to have Susanna in our midst? Her contests are the BEST!
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FUN story! Good luck in the contest!
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I appreciate the good wishes, Marcia….it just so much fun to participate in Susanna’s contests. 🙂
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Bravo V!
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Hey, Jeanine! Thanks,sweet friend…glad you liked it.:)
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This is so much fun. Vivian, and I am impressed by the rhyming.
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I’ve always loved rhyming, Kathy…in fact, when I started writing picture books, that’s all I did. Happy you enjoyed it. 🙂
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What a fun and engaging story. Enjoyed the setting on Mars.
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Don’t know what made me pick an outer space setting, Pat…it just came to me. Glad it was fun for you.;) I need to get my butt over to read some of the other entries.
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Vivian, I loved your opening line. Your rhyme twinkles like stars and your story is universe-al! Santa saves the day!
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And Baby Boo had a hand in solving the problem, right? It was his seed that gave them their real live Christmas tree. 😉 And you are so sweet…glad the rhyme is twinkling. 🙂
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Oh yes, Vivian, and baby boo, too! I LOVE how his seed gave the family a REAL tree. Boo’s seed made Mars red AND green 🙂
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Oh, this is just so cute! I’m trying to enter the contest too, but I’ve only got about one line so far. I’m finding this one tougher than the Halloween contest. Good luck!
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You’ve got a couple more days, Shelley…I think the contest closes on Friday! Hope I see your entry in there. 🙂
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Vivian, what a spectacular story!
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Aw shucks, Kristi! Thank you so much! Did you post one? I need to head over and read all of them…or at least as many as I can.
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How fun – a space odyssey! Nicely done.
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Thank you so much, Nancy…for stopping by…and for your kind words. 😉
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By the way, Nancy….I absolutely positively LOVE your blog banner…the photo and tag line are PERFECT! Good for you!
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What a fun read! You can’t go wrong with an interstellar xmas story.
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Glad the story was fun to read, Maria.;) Best of luck in the contest…there are going to be a ton of stories. 😉
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Such a creative entry, Vivian. I was very curious to see what the seed would turn into, and you sure didn’t disappoint! Good job 🙂
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Hi Christie…I’m happy you weren’t disappointed. 😉 Thank you so much!
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What a fun and twinkling story, Vivian. Merry Christmas. 🙂
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Hope the stars are twinkling for you this Christmas, Tracy…and all is well with you and yours.;)
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So kid-friendly and fun, Vivian! I love it!
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Thanks for stopping by, Carrie…I know you are so busy. 😉 And I’m glad you enjoyed it!
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How very cute, Vivian! And I like the ending–to look at Mars and find a Christmas tree!
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Who knows, right? Maybe they’ll dig down on Mars one day and find stuff growing. 😉 Glad you came by, Tina…thanks so much!
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Awesome story! I love the rhyme, not a lazy rhyme in there. 😉 And congrats Leslie!
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I’m a total rhyme fan, Jen…glad you thought it was good. 😉
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What’s in the sky and red and green? Mars with a Christmas tree! Super cute story, Vivian! Good luck!
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Hey Hannah…nice to see you here…glad you liked the story…it was fun to write. 🙂 Not like my usual nonfiction, right?
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When I look at the stars at night I will think of Boo’s Christmas tree from now on. This is such a beautiful rhyming story. I read it out to hubby, he loved it too. Brilliant work. All the best in the competition.
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You are such an awesome cheerleader, dear Diane! I’m so happy you and hubby enjoyed the story. 😉
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Excellent job, Vivian. Great job on the rhyme. 🙂
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I appreciate that, Cindy. Susanna creates such fun contests…I just can’t resist. 😉
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