The First Noel

Where is your strawberry tongue?  

The carol in the air with the aroma of fresh cookies woke pictures of her family singing slow songs around the Christmas tree. As her eyelids fluttered, Mother's eyes glistened. At last Parmis awoke from a deep sleep. 

Mother felt her forehead, then smiled at her, "Oh, it's the best Christmas present! Your fever has gone, sweetie, now say "Ah"," she said.

Half asleep, Parmis stuck her tongue out. Mommy asked, grinning, "So, where is your strawberry tongue?" 

Parmis had a puzzled look on her face; the room still smelt of delicate baking, but why it was completely quiet. "Mommy, where are the children? I heard them singing The First Noel", she asked quietly.

"Oh dear! You have scarlet fever, so they can't come here."

She murmured, "I thought I heard the carol…maybe it was a dream…oh, I'm starving." The child swiftly sat in bed, started to rub her hands and said, "Hooray, we're having Arugula sauce with pasta for dinner tonight! Mommy, is it time for dinner? I could eat a horse."

 Mother rolled her eyes, "Dinner! Sorry, sweetie, you missed Christmas Eve dinner!"

Parmis looked shocked, "Huh! It's not before Christmas! How I got it all wrong?"

Mother chuckled, "Merry Christmas, Parmis! Believe it or not, you slept right through Christmas Eve!"

She pulled a long face, as if she had remembered something terrible, "It's Christmas? Oh no, I didn't leave any treats for Santa."

_, "I left him some."

_,"A large bowl of canned cherry?"

 _,"Well, I filled a glass bowl to the brim with cherry juice."

_,"Oh, I promised him a bowl of canned cherry. But thanks, Mom, you're a life saver."

Mother chuckled, "So, what do you say to a large bowl of chicken broth?"

Parmis was so fed up with soupy foods that she wanted to scream, hence she answered disgustedly, "Mom, don't get on my nerves! I don't want it," then sniffed the air and felt happy, "Smells yummy! Christmas cake? I want it."

Mom giggled, "Cake? No, sweetie, I've baked chocolate chip cookie. I hope they come out very well. Now let me go and get you some cookies with a hot chocolate, and you'd better call your friends. Okay?"

Martin Makes a video

"I miss them a lot," Parmis murmured, then checked her smartphone and saw plenty of Xmas videos had arrived. Parmis decided to watch the videos one after the other. She started with the oldest, a video of Greece. Martin enjoyed spending his vacations in Athens.

He with his family walked around Athens for days. They visited many interesting places like Temple of Olympian. Martin was really impressed by Acropolis of Athens; the enormous ancient castle reminded him of Persepolis of Iran. There, he got a magnificent view of Athens. They also went shopping, Martin bought a Karavakia, a small boat, as a souvenir.

On Christmas Eve, they went to the syntagma square to see the highest Christmas tree in all Europe. The main square was really dreamy on Christmas Eve. All square's trees were decorated with blue and white bright lights. In the middle of square, a huge illuminated ship was remarkable for its beauty. That night, Athenians crowded into the syntagma square singing carols to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Martin shouted excitedly, "Kala Christougenna! I'm wondering where you are now? Did you take a trip? I'm in lovely Athens. Have you ever been to Athens? It's actually beautiful in holiday season. You should visit here. They even have a Santa village. 

By the way, what are you doing right now? Have you seen your presents? I've not seen mine yet. It is the tradition here to open Christmas gifts on January 1, St. Basil's Day…. O my, I can't wait to see my cool laptop!" The video was ended as he gave an exclamation of disappointment, "It isn't fair!" 

Her Sunny Noel

Mother came back from the kitchen carrying a tray. There were a plate of delicious cookies with a glass full of hot chocolate on the tray. Parmis placed the tray on her lap, grabbed a chocolate chip cookie and tapped the next video. Then let out a small sigh, "O my God, Tina's latest Xmas movie! I hope it won't send me to sleep."

 Tina woke up and felt something was wrong. The sunlight was streaming through the windows. It was not snowing! Tina squeezed her eyes shut and screamed, "Help! Help! Noel is missing!"

Mommy came in, asked, "What's happened, honey?"

"Noel is missing, Mommy!" Tina said as she ran down the stairs to see if Christmas tree is there. Mommy followed her. Tina breathed a sigh of relief when she found the Christmas tree there with all gifts under.

 She turned to Mommy, "If it's Christmas day, then why it's hot?" Mommy explained, grinning "It's always hot during summer. We're in Australia. It's surprising you've forgotten that. You weren't such an absent-minded movie maker, Tina!"

"I'm as busy as a bee, I'm shooting a 365-part children's serial," Tina said as she sat down. Soon she was busy with the present opening. Tina liked all her gifts, especially the newest iPhone. At midday, they had a summer barbecue on the beach. "Merry Christmas! I'm in Adelaide. It's not snowing, because it's summer," said Tina, waving her plush Metapod. "Please, share this video!" her pearly white teeth flashed as she smiled.

Online, Online, Online

Mino's video was witty. She and her sister, Mahta, were sitting in front of TV enjoy eating Seshe jam. Mahta said with a big smile, "Santa, you're amazing! I love Google TV, Seshe jam and my beautiful Pixel. Merry Christmas!"

"Hey, you, Offline! We're online, because of our Google Wi-Fi! Don't be fed up, buy a Google Wi-Fi," said Mino, pointing at their Google Wi-Fi.

 Santa, You are Amazing!

Armis's video sounded sweet. She looked chic in a pink satin dress. She was standing next to the Christmas tree Google chromecast with Pixel in one hand, and her music notebook in the other hand. Armis said, grinning, "Santa, You're wonderful! Does Chromecast go with my pretty dress? Happy Holidays. Have fun!"

Start-up

Parmis's head was spinning while she was watching Kiarash's video. Kiarash was skating on the lake. He was whirling around and around, waving a check in the air. He exclaimed gladly, "Hurray, Hurray! I'm rich! Believe it or not, Santa wrote me a check for $60,000, yes $60,000! Santa, you're Awesome!" He laughed and added, "Though, I'm rich I wanna be a millionaire soon. So I plan to spend my money on developing my start-up. Merry Christmas, kids!"

Parmis watched the next video, sipping at her hot chocolate. She thought, "They unwrapped their presents. It's the first Christmas morning I slept late." She handed Mom the tray, said appreciatory, "Thanks, Mom. I wanna see my presents." At that very moment "The First Noel" was streamed again.

 Parmis yelled, "You heard it? It wasn't a dream! it's coming from downstairs." She got out of bed, ran out of the room.

Best Wishes

M.T😀