✅ The Nice List

Christmas Past

Merri was cheerfully trying to get into another present when Tarja returned; but she was too busy to look up. She managed to tuck her fingers under a flap of paper at the corner of a huge box, and tugged at it until pieces of paper were flying in all directions. She could see the Barbie logo through the paper, and she was sure that with such a big box it must be something really amazing, like a house or a beach or a helicopter or something. She wasn't actually sure what different things there were for Barbie to play with now, but she was sure she wanted to have some of them. She grabbed another piece of red and gold paper, but this one didn't come away so easily. There was a piece of tape holding the wrapping paper closed, and she found that she couldn't tear the paper across it.

She looked around for help, and quickly saw a barbie in a thin box that she'd put down earlier. Maybe Barbie knew how to get into her helicopter. So Merri grabbed the Barbie and pulled at all different parts of the plastic container, trying to get inside. Eventually she managed to get the container to burst open by standing on the box until it cracked, and then she tried to use her pretty Barbie to open the other box. She pulled as hard as she could, but the tape just stretched around the corner that she had managed to get off. It didn't break.

Merri frowned for a second, and threw the still-wrapped helicopter or whatever it was back onto the pile of presents. And then as if it didn't matter to her at all, she grabbed another box and started to tug at the paper. This time, the wrapping was white with little snowflakes on it, and Merri hoped that white was easier than green. But she didn't really know; she just wanted to get into something so that she could play more.

This time, there were no long pieces of tape to get in the way. She grabbed at whatever corners she could reach and pulled them apart, sending scraps of white paper snow drifting down all over the heaps of presents. Under the white paper she found a black cardboard box that gleamed in the light, with teal and magenta waves across the top. Merri paused for a second there, because she knew that those colours looked familiar. Then she turned the box around so she could see the front, and her eyes widened in joy. There was a picture of a teddy on the front of the box, giving a big thumbs up and holding what looked like a painting of a rabbit. Jagged yellow lines radiated out from him, giving the impression of movement, and a speech bubble came from his mouth with the words "I Really Talk!!!" in bold, jagged letters. Merri couldn't read the letters at the top of the box, which were really complicated with all different colours inside them. But she didn't need to read the name to know what she was looking at.

"Teddy Lupin!" she said, beaming with joy, and leapt forward to hug the box. It was all boxy and hard, but she didn't care. She could remember putting this on her Christmas list for years when the cartoon first appeared on the TV, and every episode had a little segment at the end saying how much better it was if you had the teddy. She'd never had one before, but finally Santa had listened.

"Yeah, Teddy Lupin!" she squealed again, and then turned around and hugged Tarja as well. "Thank you Mummy I always wanted one!"

"I don't think..." Tarja started to answer, but Merri wasn't listening. She was stumbling back over towards the the big exciting box, eager to get inside. She fell to her knees before she got there, but that didn't matter. There were only a few bits of wrapping paper still on at the corners, so the next thing to do was get in the box. She grabbed at the edges, forcing her fingers inside every flap she could find and pulling. It didn't open easily, but she was sure that if she kept on trying different bits she could get in. Somewhere behind her Tarja might have been offering to help, but Merri was in her own little world now and not listening to anybody. Eventually she found a bit that tore when she opened it, splitting the box down one side.

The teddy inside was in a black plastic tray, that had more teal and magenta borders. There were little bits of card with numbers and words on, telling her how to make it work. But Merri was too excited to read. She pulled at the ribbons holding the teddy in, and threw the little bags of other bits all over the floor. She could play with Teddy Lupin all she wanted now, and nothing else mattered. But soon she realised that when she hugged the teddy, something didn't feel right. She turned him over, and she could see that his little overalls were open at the back; and there was a big hole in Teddy. That was weird, and she didn't know what to think.