Young writers in the Gulf Islands continue to make a Driftwood tradition meaningful with plenty of submissions to the annual holiday story writing contest received this year.
Community members taking on the judging task — Victoria Olchowecki (coordinator), Joan Gage, Sheila McEachern, Fran McIninch and Donna McWhirter — determined the following winners, with stories of first- and second-place winners published in the Dec. 18 issue of the Driftwood newspaper and below this introductory story.
Ages 5-7: First place, Sofia Névé Langer, Storm and the Magic Mouse; Second place, Henry Russell-Jones, Sharkie’s Christmas; honourable mention, Yuawi Flores Dolotallas.
Age 8: First place, Ambrosia Chan, Amelia’s Blustery Christmas; second place, Woodson Howard, Journey for the Sno Scroll; honourable mention, Emmi Johnson, Lulu’s Christmas Adventure.
Age 9: First place, Nova Brown, The Christmas Adventure; second place, Willow Kilpatrick, Santa Won’t Take a Bath; honourable mention, Fern Cardinal, Rudolph’s Origin Story; Evanna Bantel, A Christmas Mystery.
Age 10: First place, Piper Proudfoot, The Elf’s Best Christmas; second place, Nathan Silva, Crab Catastrophe; honourable mention, Annie Deas, Santarella; Zavy Van Ommen, Santa and the Storks.
Ages 11-12: First place, Inara Demich, Aida’s Winter Wish; second place, Luka Skotecky, Santa’s Lost Sleigh; honourable mention, Cyrus Butler-Cole, The Winter’s Gift; Lizzy Phillips, Christmas Wish for Peace; Clara Palmer Bazdresch, Claire’s Totally Normal Night in Paris.
Winner of the student cover art contest is Semiah Charlson. Artwork from members of Melissa Hingston’s grades 4-5 class at Fernwood Elementary School is also included in the story pages and on our website.
Charleson, and first- and second-place story winners can pick up vouchers for gift certificates to Salt Spring Books at the Driftwood office at 241 Fulford-Ganges Rd. as of Wednesday, Dec. 18.
Vouchers must be taken to the bookstore by Jan. 31, 2025 to be exchanged for gift certificates.
Thank you to Salt Spring Books for once again participating as a much-valued contest sponsor, and to our contest judges as well.
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STORM AND THE MAGIC MOUSE
BY Sofia Névé Langer
First Place, Age 5 to 7 category
Once there was a kitten named Storm. He lived with his uncle Sam, who was big and cuddly. He also lived with his mother Suki, who was a bit skittish and a good hunter.
Storm was also skittish and he had a silkey gray coat. Storm was looking forward to Christmas because he really wanted cuddles with his owner Sofia, who seemed to always be at school.
One day, Storm saw Suki chasing a mouse and then he noticed that something was peculiar about it. It was different. This mouse was a special mouse called the Christmas mouse. It helped the elves to make all the presents and to wrap them. Also, the mouse helped the reindeer to fly just with a touch of magic.
Finally Suki caught the Christmas mouse. She was so proud of herself that she showed it to Storm and Sam and tried to show it to her owners Sofia and Sonia, who were nowhere to be found. Suki guessed that they were at school and at work, but she was wrong! They were actually on a hike.
Suki was about to kill the mouse, when Storm meowed, “Wait!”
Suki pawsed. (A little kitty joke!) Storm realized that this was the MAGIC MOUSE! If Suki killed the mouse, Christmas would never come. Luckily, Suki realized that this was a girl mouse.
Dear reader, I know you may not understand, but in this story, cats don’t like the taste of girl mice.
Then Suki let go of the mouse! Quickly the mouse scurried away from Suki and Storm.
Unfortunately, Suki did not let go of the mouse in time. The mouse scurried as fast as its little chubby legs could carry it. Unfortunately, the mouse would not make it on time. The elves, Santa and the reindeer were worried about her! The Christmas mouse was stuck on Salt Spring Island! Christmas would be delayed!
Then Storm had an idea, but there was one problem. Storm didn’t know how to get to the ferry. Storm asked his mom and uncle how to get to the ferry, so they told him.
The mouse would take over on the journey to the North Pole. With the mouse on his back to guide him Storm could get there in time! Storm luckily had brought a piece of paper and a pencil and a bottle so he wrote a note to Santa, saying, “Don’t worry Santa, I’ve got your mouse. I’ll bring her to the North Pole.” Storm rolled it up and put it in the bottle and corked the bottle. And he threw it in the ocean.
With the same magic as he did to the reindeer, the mouse tapped Storm on the tips of his ears so her could fly.
Storm said, “What was that for?”
The Christmas mouse said, “So you could fly!”
So Storm flew wobbly at first but then he got better and better. Before they knew it, they were at the North Pole! Storm saved CHRISTMAS!
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SHARKIE’S CHRISTMAS
By Henry Russell-Jones
Second Place, Age 5 to 7 Category
Once upon a time, Sharkie went outside and he played in the snow.
Then he went deep deep into the forest where his mother forbade him to go. There he met wolves! And he ran away, but then the wolves caught up and he was feeling brave.
And then he used sharky cybertronic and summoned a magical butterfly that told him what to use (like superpowers) and then the magic butterfly summoned a snake. And the snake summoned a parrot and the parrot used bright beak, which scared the wolves away.
And then the snake, the parrot and the butterfly went home with Sharkie. And they all played outside and had a Merry Christmas with Sharkie’s mother, but they didn’t go too far because they didn’t want to encounter the wolves again.
And then they opened all their presents and drank hot cocoa.
They were happy Santa Claus came and gave them lots of advent treats and gifts. All the presents were cute, cool and pretty.
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AMELIA’S BLUSTERY CHRISTMAS
By Ambrosia Chan
First Place, Age 8 Category
Once upon a time there was a fox named Amelia (that’s me), who lived with her family in a forest beside New York City. They were very poor and knew that there would not be anything under the tree this year.
I stepped out of our den and saw that it was a very blustery day. The wind was blowing snow everywhere! I saw a white coat of snow on the ground. I looked to the side and saw the twinkling lights of New York City. I went back into our den. I woke up our mom and sisters Ellie, Ava and Cecelia (but we call her Cece).
I asked mom if we could all go down to the river. She said yes. When we got to the river, I noticed that Ellie was missing! I watched my sisters playing on the ice. I told my sisters that it was time to go.
When we got home, I told our mom that Ellie was missing. Mom went out to look and came home two hours later . . . without Ellie. She said that we could not leave the house because she didn’t want us to go missing too.
That night, I woke up and really missed my sister, so I went out to look for her (even though my mom told me not to). It was very dark. I was very worried because it was also very cold. I had to get home before mom could find out I was missing.
The next day mom went out again to look for Ellie. She told us to stay (she didn’t know I snuck out the night before).
While I waited, I saw a little mouse. It looked as cold as an ice cube! I asked if it wanted to come in and warm up in our den. It came in and sat by the crackling fire with me. It asked where my mom was, and I said she was out looking for my sister.
Then the mouse said, “Oh, I saw her in the forest behind a tree!”
I asked if the mouse could take me to my sister. The mouse said yes and showed me the way.
I was so happy when I saw Ellie that I gave her a big hug. When we got home, we sat by the cozy fire. We were all so happy to be back together!
We noticed that, in the end, all we needed was a family — not toys or gifts! When mom found out that I snuck away to look for Ellie, she wasn’t mad at all — she was relieved.
To celebrate, mom offered us all hot chocolate — even the mouse. We had our best Christmas ever!
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JOURNEY FOR THE SNO SCROLL
By Woodson Howard
Second Place, Age 8 Category
Once upon a time, snowflakes were falling in the town of Ganges. Everything was peaceful until . . . Will was driving home when he heard his dad say, “Something important.”
“What, Dad?” Will asked.
“Um, just something about work, Will,” his Dad answered. Then Will heard his dad say, “Snow Scroll.” Will did a search on the internet and found out . . .
1. The Sno Scroll was a famous artifact.
2. Will had spelled it wrong – Snow should be Sno!
So the next day, Will got to work. He snatched his dad’s toolbox and hid it in his backpack. Then, he hid up by the old broken fence. He grabbed some wood and started sawing, nailing and putting on some old wheels he’d found by the fence. Soon, he had made an invention. It was a sleigh that he called the “Board Bus.” He wasn’t exactly sure where the Sno Scroll was, but he was still determined to find it.
Will ZOOMED down the road, crossed straight over Lower Ganges, raced over a cliff and then landed on the salty ice. On his way, he came across a snowmobile wreck. Then he met his friend Charlotte from 5th grade. She was looking for the Sno Scroll too, so they joined forces together.
Will and Charlotte continued together on their journey. Little did they know that right behind them was . . . a gigantic black bear! And he was MAD!
They zoomed away, but hit a bump that sent Charlotte flying off the back of the sled. She landed in a snowbank. Luckily she was okay! Then she got up and ran back to the sled and noticed a small jagged hole in the boards of the sleigh. Suddenly, the hole opened up to reveal a piece of snow-white paper. It suddenly occurred to them that it was THE SNO SCROLL! Will jumped up and down. Charlotte just stood there with her mouth gaping open like a goldfish.
They raced excitedly to Will’s house. Then Will knocked on the door and when his mom opened it, she shouted, “Frank! Will’s come home!”
But Will was not ready for the hugs . . . yet. First, he wanted to know why his parents were talking about the Sno Scroll. Second, he wanted to know who his parents really were. They exchanged nervous looks.
Then Will’s mom answered, “Will, your dad is a famous archeologist, and I am an undercover police agent. Your dad has been trying to find something called the Sno Scroll, and when he finds it, I will protect it.”
Then Will showed his parents the Sno Scroll and said, “I think you’ve been looking for this.”
The next day, Will and Charlotte’s faces were on the front page of the Driftwood. They got the reward for finding the missing artifact. Plus, Will got lots of new toys to play with on Christmas morning.
THE CHRISTMAS ADVENTURE
By Nova Brown
First Place, Age 9 Category
Christmas was Kevin’s favourite day of the year. Every Christmas morning he would run downstairs at 5:01 so that he would get the first cinnamon bun before his brothers and sisters woke up.
But this Christmas was different. Kevin woke up at nine! He never woke up that late on Christmas.
When he got downstairs there were no cinnamon buns and no presents. This was not possible, he thought, maybe it was Christmas Eve. But no, it was Christmas.
Just then, his brothers Samuel and Dustin and his sisters Cyndi and Eve came downstairs. They had the exact same reaction as Kevin.
“Is Christmas cancelled?” asked Cyndi.
Mom and Dad came down, and they didn’t act like anything was wrong. It was silent until Cyndi interrupted, “Is Christmas ruined?”
“No,” said Mom. She took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry, kids, but this Christmas is just not for us.”
She looked very sad and said, “I don’t know what happened. I kept trying to make the cinnamon buns but they weren’t working.”
Then Dad said, “I know this Christmas was not how you hoped, but we can always try to make it better, right?”
Kevin got an idea and he shouted, “LET’S BAKE CINNAMON BUNS TOGETHER!” The whole family ran into the kitchen screaming, “HOORAY!”
After they put the buns in the oven, Kevin told his siblings to come to his room for a meeting. They had to figure out how to save Christmas! They hurried to get their boots and jackets on and ran out the door, even though they did not know where they were going. As they were walking, Eve found a map named “How to Bring Christmas Back.” She had found what they needed, a way to save Christmas!
They didn’t have much time before the day was over so they quickly followed the map, over hills, through six-feet-deep snow, and then Cyndi shouted, “Look at that house!”
She pointed at the little cabin up on the hill and they all sprinted for the cabin. They knocked, and a fat old man with a white beard and a little elf at his side opened the door.
Cyndi exclaimed, “SANTA!”
The old man said, “How did you find me?”
“There was a map in our back yard and we followed it,” said Eve.
“Ho ho ho, you found the right man. Let’s not waste a second, it’s almost dawn,” said Santa.
Quickly, they all got to work making toys and thingamabobs. When they were done, Santa said, “Now I need to deliver the presents.”
Cyndi said, “But yesterday was Christmas.”
Santa said, ”Oh, I almost forgot, we need to go back in time.No problem, I have a solution.” He had a potion that would reset the clock to Christmas morning!
As soon as he drank the potion, Kevin woke up in his bed. His clock said 5:01. He ran downstairs and to his surprise there were cinnamon buns and presents. It had worked! It was the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER.
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SANTA WON’T TAKE A BATH
By Willow Kilpatrick
Second Place, Age 9 Category
Santa had never had a bath, and, oh . . . he needed one BADLY!
The reindeer had gone on strike because of his ferocious smell and even the skunk ran from his putrid odour.
It was Christmas Eve and with the reindeer on strike the elves were in distress. How will they get millions of presents to all four corners of the globe? There was no choice. IT WAS TIME FOR SANTA TO TAKE A BATH.
How to get Santa in a bath was a different story altogether. After a lot of brainstorming, this is what the elves came up with:
1. Persuasion
2. Bribing
3. Trickery
4. Head-butting (by the reindeer)
Persuasion
“Oh, Santa, you are so dirty,” said Gordon the Decorator Elf as Santa walked through the front door. “Why not take a warm cozy bath tonight before you leave to go o the four corners of the globe? Wouldn’t that be nice and relaxin?”
To that, Santa just put on more layers of clothes, just like every year ever since he was two years old!
Bribing
“Dear Santa, if you go into the tub I’ll give you 300 Christmas cookies and 20 glasses of milk,” said Mrs. Claus.
“300 chocolate chip sugar cookies and 20 glasses of cold milk. Yum!” thought Santa.
It was his favourite! But he was no galoot. He knew this was bribery.
Plus, Santa was scare of water and things in it.
Trickery
The elves were getting desperate. They decided it was time for the trap.
As Santa walked through the toy factory’s big doors, he slipped on a banana peel, triggering an alarm.
“Huh, that’s odd,” he thought, as he was getting up. He walked over to turn off the alarm and set of a trip wire that made a net fall, wrap him up and roll him across the floor where he hit a bottle of peppermint tea that flew through the air and hit the lever of a toy grabber, making it grab Santa and swinging him over to the tub. If Santa hadn’t grabbed the coat rack in time it would be Santa’s bath time! But it wasn’t.
Head Butts (By the Reindeer)
The elves by now were so frantic they were ripping out their hair. They knew it was time for the reindeer . . . .
Now the reindeer, as everyone knows, are a clumsy lot, and as they inspected the bathroom for good head-butting areas, Prancer dropped his candy cane in the tub. They all watched as it sizzled away like a bath bomb and it left behind a wonderful smell of candy cane.
Once all the reindeer were hidden, the elves left to get Santa so the reindeer could head-butt him in. Except, when they opened the door and Santa smelled the candy cane in the bath he jumped in before the reindeer could even have time to think about head-butting him. Finally, after hours, Santa declared he was never getting out!
P.S. They never did get him out of the tub. So if you see a bath tub instead of a sleigh in the sky, you know it was that Christmas! There were cinnamon buns and presents. It had worked! It was the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER.
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THE ELF’S BEST CHRISTMAS
By Piper Proudfoot
First Place, Age 10 category
In a tree in the woods there lived an elf named Wilber. Wilber loved Christmas, but he always thought it was too cold. This year Wilber was prepared. He had been knitting a snow suit all year. He also had lots of hot cocoa, hot apple cider, and lots of firewood.
“Yawn,” said Wilber as he woke up and walked down the stairs to start making breakfast. He looked out the window and it was snowing.
“Yay!” said Wilber, and he ran to put on his snowsuit before racing out the door.
That day, he built a snowman and an igloo. He even made caramel snow to eat! By the end of the day, he was so tired he went straight to bed without even eating any cookies.
The next morning, Wilber woke up feeling unusually cold. It was not like yesterday; it was much colder.
He gasped! “The Snow Witch was back.”
In a flash he had all the elves gathered in the great oak tree.
“What is the meaning of this?” said Bartholamew the Third.
“The Snow Witch is back!” someone in the crowd cried.
“What?” yelled Bartholamew. “We must flee the forest immediately. Everyone pack your bags! We’re going to the North Pole to get Santa.”
The journey to the North Pole was long and cold. By the time they arrived, all the elves were freezing and some even suffering from frostbite. Luckily, Ms. Claus greeted them with hot chocolate. Once they were all warmed up, they walked down the hall to Santa’s room.
“Hello,” Wilber called. “Is anyone there?”
“Hoho little elf!” a voice boomed. Wilber turned, and standing right in front of him was Santa Claus.
“Santa, I need your help!” Wilber exclaimed. “The Snow Witch is taking over the woods!”
“Ho no,” said Santa, “We must act quickly before it’s too late!”
They all hopped into Santa’s sleigh and flew to the oak forest. Once they arrived, standing there was the Snow Witch. Santa hopped out of the sleigh and marched right up to the Snow Witch, who said, “What is the meaning of this? I want to cancel Christmas for everyone in the world, starting with this forest!”
“No,” yelled Santa, “you cannot do that. I won’t let you! I will banish you to the land of the evil.” And with a wave of his hat the Snow Witch disappeared into thin air.
“Well, now I must be off, but before I go, I have a present for you.” He dropped a little box into Wilber’s hand and then he disappeared into the night. When Wilber opened the box, he found something truly magical — a Christmas miracle. An iPhone 17!
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CRAB CATASTROPHE
By Nathan Silva
Second Place, Age 10 Category ‘
Whoosh — the wind blew while Santa flew through the air, up in the clear midnight blue sky.
Suddenly the engine stopped, the sleigh plummeting in a nosedive into the snow with a poof. Everything went black.
The next thing Santa knew, he was underground, in a jail. He heard a familiar voice and then he saw it: the red shell of a crab.
“Jerald, what are you doing?” Santa asked.
“Trapping you in jail so I can steal your sleigh to get back to the Hawaiian ocean,” said Jerald the crab.
“You were once my loyal apprentice,” said Santa with a sigh. “Besides, my reindeer will never cooperate with you.”
“Well, I bribed them with shortbread carrot cake. And Christmas will never happen, hahahaha!” cackled Jerald. “Crabs, prepare the sleigh! We will be leaving shortly.”
The forty red-shells skittered to the sleigh, packing it with food. Then without a sound, a penguin appeared in the shadows.
“Psst, Santa, I heard your apprentice’s plan, so I snuck away on your sleigh last minute,” said Penguin. “I came here to save you.”
He opened the jail door. Santa and Penguin crept along the cave wall. The crabs didn’t see them because they were too busy packing the sleigh. Then without a sound, Santa used his magic to lift the crabs out of the sleigh and hopped in with Penguin and took off through the small gap in the underground ceiling, into the midnight sky.
Penguin was delighted because he had never flown before. The stars twinkled as they flew through the sky to deliver presents to the houses. The only light was from the full moon.
As if no time had gone by at all, the sleigh was empty of presents. They had all been delivered.
Just as they were turning west towards Hawaii for their after-Christmas beach day, Santa turned back toward the crabs.
As they arrived at the cave, the crabs were surprised to see the sleigh.
Santa stood up.
“We’re on our way to Hawaii, why don’t you come with us?” said Santa.
Within minutes, Santa and Penguin were lounging in hammocks, drinking from fresh coconuts under the palm trees, while the crabs were making sandcastles in the morning sun.
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AIDA’S WINTER WISH
By Inara Demich
First place, Age 11-12 category
Kelemi, his little sister Abeba and their grandma Aida had just arrived in Paris where the twinkling of Christmas lights welcomed them into the festively decorated city.
They had flown there from their home town in Ethiopia, a place where no one except them celebrated Christmas, a holiday their family would spend travelling to different countries and learning about how they celebrated Christmas there.
Christmas had always been their favourite time of year, until Kelemi and Abeba’s parents died one year ago. This loss brought the deepest grief Kelemi and Abeba had ever felt. How would they ever love Christmas again if they wouldn’t have their parents to share it with?
But Aida had hope that this trip to Paris would heal an emptiness that had grown in all their hearts, or at least help to fill it. Paris was bustling and all the taxi cabs were full.
“Well, our first stop is only three blocks away, why don’t we just walk?” said Aida. “Fine,” said the siblings.
Warmth grew in Kelemi’s heart as he took in the festive excitement surrounding him in the glittering streets of Paris.
“Look, it’s Le Musee d’Orsay!” Kelemi said excitedly. He loved art and had always dreamed of seeing this museum.
“Let’s go inside, Grandma!” Kelemi said.
“Tickets first, Kelemi!” Aida reminded him.
“Yeah, chill Kelemi, it’s just a boring museum,” said Abeba unenthused.
“Maybe to you!” said Kelemi, annoyed.
When they arrived at the museum they looked in awe at the impressionistic art displayed everywhere. Even Abeba was astounded. Kelemi stopped to look at a huge statue of four women of different ethnicities holding up the world. As Kelemi gazed up at the statue he thought of how much his mum would have loved to see it. He sighed and wiped the streaming tears off his cheek.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” said a girl standing next to him.
“Yes it is. What’s your name,” asked Kelemi.
“Je m’appelle Ember, what’s your’s?”
“Kelemi,” he said, wondering if this girl and him would become friends.
“Where are you from?” asked Ember.
“Me, my sister and my grandma are from Ethiopia,” Kelemi replied.
“What are you doing for Christmas,” asked Ember.
“Not much,” said Kelemi.
“You could come to my house for Christmas dinner, my mum’s a great cook!” said Ember excitedly.
“That sounds wonderful! My grandma loves cooking!” Kelemi said.
So Kelemi, Aida and Abeba stayed with Ember, her mom and sister, and shared delicious food and laughter around the fire.
After the wonderful meal they all stepped out into the moonlit garden to look at the night sky. The stars were like jewels embroidered on a black silk.
“I wish Mum and Dad were here to see this,” said Kelemi and as he spoke a star shot across the midnight sky, just for him at that moment.
Aida knew that her Christmas wish had been granted, and like that great statue the two families held each other up.
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SANTA’S LOST SLEIGH
By Luka Skotecky
Second Place, Age 11-12 Category
It was a snowy Christmas Eve. Santa was delivering presents to the last neighbourhood.
He was getting tired and a little forgetful. He parked his sleigh on one roof then unhitched one reindeer and rode it to the other houses roofs and delivered the presents that way. Then he flew to the North pole on Comet the reindeer’s back.
The next day he realized he forgot his sleigh on that rooftop with his other reindeer. Meanwhile people found it and pulled it down and put it in the history museum.
Santa went to get Comet to ride to the sleigh, but Comet was too tired from last night’s trip. Instead, he takes his old truck and drives to Inuvik where he takes a plane to Victoria. Then he drove to Vancouver and he found his sleigh in the history museum.
He dresses up as an old man. He gets a cane and walks into the history museum. There are two security guards but he doesn’t have a museum pass, so the security guards say, “No, you’re not allowed in.”
Then he climbs up the side of the museum and he goes to the roof. He opens the attic door and he climbs through the attic and down the stairs past the Employees Only sign and he finds the sleigh but no reindeer. He realizes they went to animal control.
So, then he puts his sleigh into his truck and drives to the animal control centre. He sees Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph.
He talks to the guy and says, “Those are my reindeer. They really like sleighs, so that’s why they were on the roof.”
The animal control officer said he was not allowed to have them.
At night, Santa sneaks them out and connects them to the sleigh. He flies back to the North Pole. When he comes back, the reindeer are so excited to be home.
He disconnects them and puts them in their stables. He gets the elves to shine his sleigh, and he sits back in front of his fire and eats cookies and milk.
“What a relief!” he says.