be nice to put it in the vase!”Mary says.

“Yes, in the vase it will look much better…” I say.

“Look, there is a vase standing on the shelf in the left corner of the classroom.” Mikky whispers.

“I’ll get it!” I say and run to the left corner of the classroom to take a vase from the shelf.

We put the vase on the teacher’s table; we put the decorated branch in the vase. It looks very nice.

“Hush! I hear somebody is coming. Let’s leave the classroom.” I say.

We quickly run out of the classroom. And we see our friends and classmates, Bob and Bill, in the hallway.

“Hello friends!” We say.

“Hello! You are early today.” Bob and Bill say.

“Yes, we came a little bit earlier today.” I answer.

We see Mrs. Forest in the beginning of a hallway.

“Oh, we forgot something very important!” Mary whispers to me.

“What is it, Mary?” I whisper to her.

“We forgot to put a paper heart on our branch! But it is too late now. Mrs. Forest is already coming!”

“It is not too late.” I say. “Give me a heart and I will put it on the branch and you try to distract Mrs. Forest from coming to the classroom.”

“But how will I do that?”

“Ask her something!”

“I’ll try. Here is the heart. Run as quickly as you can!”

I take a paper heart and run very quickly to the classroom. I put a paper heart on the branch. Then I run back to the hallway. I see puppies standing around our teacher, Mrs. Forest. They have a conversation. I quietly come to Mary and whisper:

“I did it. The heart is on the branch now”.

“Good job, Rex!” Mary whispers. “Thank you very much! I am very proud of you! Now we have a very great surprise for our teacher.

“Thank you, Mary.” I whisper.

“Well, puppies, it is time to go to our classroom and start the lesson.” Mrs. Forest says.

“We will do it with pleasure!” We say and go to the classroom.

Mrs. Forest comes to the classroom and sees a beautiful branch on her table.

“Oh, what a nice decoration!” She says with excitement. “A beautiful fir tree branch with snow and balloons. And there is a paper heart here as well.” She takes a paper heart and reads:

“To our favorite teacher Mrs. Forest.” Mrs. Forest smiles. “Thank you very much my dear pupils! That’s the best beginning of a Christmas season I’ve ever had!”

New words

corner – угол

distract – отвлечь

quickly – быстро

conversation – беседа

Exercises

Answer the questions

1. Where are the puppies?

2. Where do the puppies put the branch?

3. Where do they find the vase?

4. What are the names of the friends that the puppies meet in the hallway?

5. Who distracts Mrs. Forest from coming to the classroom?

6. What is written on the paper heart?

True or false

1. The shelf with the vase is on the right corner of the classroom.

2. Mikky puts paper heart on the branch.

3. Mrs. Forest likes the surprise a lot.

Guess the riddles.

1. This is a room where pupils study at school.

2. When two or more people talk it means they have a ____________.

Chapter 7

Timmy Learns to Sacrifice

Today we are going to make gingerbread. After school all members of the Christmas Team come to our house.

Mikky is our gingerbread specialist. He knows how to make gingerbread.

We go to the kitchen. Mikky pulls out a recipe from his pocket.

“First of all we need to mix eggs with brown sugar.”

“Ok, how do we do this?” Asks Betsy.

“Well, we can use a fork, but it is better to use a mixer if we have one.” Mikky answers.

“Yes, we have a mixer. It is on the white shelf.” Betsy smiles. She goes to the white shelf and gets the mixer.

“Here it is!”

“Great! It is much easier to mix eggs with a mixer.” Mikky smiles. “We would need something to put the eggs in.”

“Like what?” I ask.

“Something like a deep plate or a bowl.”

“Here it is!” Betsy takes the bowl from the white shelf.

“Thank you, Betsy!”

Mikky takes the bowl and breaks eggs in it, and then he puts sugar in the bowl too. Mikky turns on the mixer and starts to mix eggs with sugar. The noise from the mixer is very loud.

Timmy runs to the kitchen.

“What are you doing over here? The noise is so loud that I cannot watch my cartoons!”

“Timmy, be polite!” I say. “Before asking any questions you need to say ‘Hello’ to our guests Mary, Mikky and Archie. They are members of our Christmas team.”

“Hello Mary, Mikky and Archie!”

“Hello Timmy!”

“We are making gingerbread for Christmas.” I explain. “And now we are mixing eggs with brown sugar.”

“Oh I like gingerbread!” Timmy says.

Mikky stops mixing eggs. Timmy looks inside the bowl.

“Wow it looks nice! Can I try it?”

“Of course you can!” Mikky is very kind.

Timmy take the biggest spoon and tries the eggs mixed with sugar.

“Wow, it so tasty!” He says. “I want more!”

“No, no, no Timmy, it is not for you, it is for the gingerbread!” I say strictly.

“But it is so tasty! I want more!” Timmy starts to cry. “I want more! I want some more!”

Betsy comes to Timmy she hugs him and kisses him on his cheek.

“I know Timmy, it is very hard not to eat all of it, because it is very sweet and tasty. But we want to make gingerbread and give it to other dogs. It is our Christmas service.”

Timmy stops to cry and