A Christmas Story ... Family Game

I'm putting this story on my blog, because a couple of years ago I tried to find another one to play and could not come up with any so I thought that someone might be looking for a family game.

Here is a story that we have used for several years at our family Christmas. It is a pass game so you need several people (kids love it), a gift (of any price; we always said it had to be under $10...more fun to find something that is unique...and one year all the gifts had to be something homemade), someone to read the story, and chairs in a circle. Everytime the reader says left the packages go left and everytime he/she says right the packages go right. I have highlighted the word change also..if you have a lot of people then you can have them change with the person directly across from them. If you don't have that many people you might want to just skip the change word (we did use it sometimes and not others).

Story of the Shoemaker and the Shoes.

Once upon a time, right in the village, there was a kind shoemaker. Though he worked very hard, right into the night, he grew so poor that at last he had only enough leather left for one pair of shoes.

One winter night he cut out the leather he had left, but he was too tired to finish them. He left the leather on his workbench and decided to make the shoes the next morning, right after breakfast.

The shoemaker didn't know what he and his wife would do now that no leather was left, for he had no money to buy more. But despite their troubles, the shoemaker and his wife slept right through the night.

Early the next morning, the shoemaker woke up and changed clothes. He went right into the shop to finish the pair of shoes that he had left. He picked up his hammer and sat right down at his workbench.

The shoemaker thought he must be dreaming. He blinked his eyes. He blinked them again. But it was no dream-on the very spot, right where he had left the leather the night before, there was a finished pair of beautiful, perfectly made shoes.

He called his wife right into the shop and showed her the shoes. "They're splendid!" she exclaimed. "But when did you make them?" "I didn't make them," the shoemaker replied. "I just found them right here."

The shoemake went right to the window and put the shoes there, hoping that someone would buy them. Right away, the door swung open and a fine gentleman walked right into the shop.

"I must have those wonderful shoes," he said. "I've never seen any like them. The stitches are so small and delicate, are these the only pair you have left?"

The shoemake sold the shoes to the gentleman, who paid a very high price for them, and then the gentleman left.

With the money, the shoemaker was able to buy enough leather for two more pairs of shoes. He had enough left over to buy a soup bone for dinner.

That night he cut out the leather. But he was very hungry, and he could smell the soup his wife was cooking. "I'll make the shoes tomorrow," he said, and went to change clothes right away before he ate dinner.

The next morning he found two pairs of elegant shoes left on his workbench. He showed them to his wife right away. "Who can be making these marvelous shoes?" she said.

The shoemaker wondered, too. Once again he placed the shoes right in the window and left them; and again he didn't have long to wait before the door swung open. This time there were two customers, and they both paid the shoemaker handsomely for the shoes, and left right away.

Now the shoemaker had enough money left to buy leather for four pairs of shoes.

Things wen on this way for sometime. Every night the shoemaker cut the leather and went right to sleep, and every morning he found more beautiful shoes left on his workbench. The shoemaker was growing rich, but this did not change him.

One evening, right after supper, the shoemaker said to his wife, "It's nearly Christmas and we still don't know who is making the shoes. We cannot go another day without finding out who is helping us." So right away the shoemaker and his wife thought of a plan. Instead of going right to sleep that night, they changed clothes and hid behind a curtain in the shop.

Right at midnight, two tiny elves came right into the room. The shoemaker and his wife watched in amazement as the elves stitched and sewed and hammered, and changed the leather into shoes. Right away, the bench was filled with shiny new shoes. Right away their work was finished, and they left.

"It's astonishing!" gasped the shoemaker's wife. "You're right, it's miraculous!" the shoemaker agreed. "We must do something right away for those tiny creatures who have been so kind to us and left us the completed shoes." "Well" said his wife, "the poor little things had no coats or hats or shoes on, and they must get very cold right at this time of the year." So the shoemaker and his wife sat right down and made two tiny changes of clothing for the elves.

The next night they left the things they had made right on the table and once again hid right behind the curtain. Right at midnight, the elves came into the room. When they saw the clothes, they were overjoyed. They tried them on right away, and found that they fit just right. The elves danced right around the room, and sang a merry song.

At last the elves left by dancing out the door, never to return.

But the shoemake and his wife, who had paid back kindness with kindness, never wanted for anything, and they lived happily for a good long time.

Merry Christmas, and the package you have in you hand is the one for you! Enjoy!

The author of the story is unknown to me.

Aleene Embry
http://www.besthomesinlubbock.com/
aembry@remaxlubbock.com
806-790-7001