like salmon and herring. There were special songs to sing and they would open the presents from the family in Sweden.
The next day they would have Australian Christmas. The Australian Christmas was a traditional English Christmas modified for the hot summer. They ate hot meat and vegetables but cold salads. It was how they did it and it seemed to work. Emmaâs mumâs mum and dad would normally host the lunch and everyone would bring something. Someone would bring the ham and salad and someone else the turkey and potatoes. And Emmaâs grandma had to be the one to make the brandy butter for the pudding and to boil up the coins that were then hidden inside it. None of the grandchildren really liked the Christmas pudding (Emmaâs mum told her she didnât really either) but EVERYONE loved the brandy butter and ice-cream and no one wanted to miss out on their share of the coins. Once the pudding was ready, the lights would be turned off and the blinds pulled down to block out the midday sun so everyone could see the flames leap off the pudding as Grandma lit the brandy on the serving plate. Everyone would sing âWe Wish You A Merry Christmasâ as the pudding was brought in flaming.
Just like a child, Emmaâs mum would complain to her mum that Emma got more coins than she did, and Grandma would tell Mum off for stealing some of the brandy butter out of the bowl, just like she would a child.
âYes, she is very naughty, Grandma,â Emma would agree. âI donât how you put up with her.â Everyone would laugh.
It was the same every year. Emma loved it and wouldnât change a thing. She smiled to herself, remembering it all, as she cuddled her little soft snowman. Sheâd had it since she was four and it always found its way back to her bed each Christmas. One of her bests friends in Kinder, Nema, had given it to her and Emma had immediately fallen in love with its cute little carrot nose and squishy body. Even though she still loved the snowman, Nema and Emma were not really friends anymore, despite still going to the same school. Around Year Two, Nema had changed and become mean and bossy. Every now and then Emma saw glimpses of the old Nema but the new, mean Nema was there too often. But Emma didnât worry about it too much and she had her best friends Hannah, Elle and Isi to help when Nema got mean. And she could get really mean â¦
But itâs Christmas, thought Emma. I shouldnât think about that now. Who knows? Maybe Nema will come back from holidays and be nice. What I really need to think about is the message on that green with red stars present!
Christmas messages were another Jacks family traditionâfrom the Swedish sideâwhere instead of the cards on the Christmas presents just saying, for example, âHappy Christmas, Em! Love Mum and Dadâ, there would be a clue as to what the present was. It added to the excitement as people tried to guess. Needless to say, Emma had looked at the messages and one in particular was driving her crazy: the message on the green with red stars present.
What did it mean? It was really irritating Emma that she couldnât work it out. After all, she was the leading code-cracker in the under-twelve division of international spy agency, SHINE .
Emma had been so successful in her missions against evil agency SHADOW that she was the leader in the SHINE Shining Stars Spy of the Year competition. But it was very closeâEJ had earned an amazing 1660 points since her polar mission, but one of her best spy-buddies, CC12, had 1600âwho was going to win Spy of the Year?
Not me at this rate! thought Emma. I canât even crack my own Christmas present message!
She didnât know it yet but she would soon be concentrating on a much more important message. Evil agency SHADOW was working on a plan that would ruin a lot of peopleâs Christmas.
It was two days before Christmas and one day before
The next day they would have Australian Christmas. The Australian Christmas was a traditional English Christmas modified for the hot summer. They ate hot meat and vegetables but cold salads. It was how they did it and it seemed to work. Emmaâs mumâs mum and dad would normally host the lunch and everyone would bring something. Someone would bring the ham and salad and someone else the turkey and potatoes. And Emmaâs grandma had to be the one to make the brandy butter for the pudding and to boil up the coins that were then hidden inside it. None of the grandchildren really liked the Christmas pudding (Emmaâs mum told her she didnât really either) but EVERYONE loved the brandy butter and ice-cream and no one wanted to miss out on their share of the coins. Once the pudding was ready, the lights would be turned off and the blinds pulled down to block out the midday sun so everyone could see the flames leap off the pudding as Grandma lit the brandy on the serving plate. Everyone would sing âWe Wish You A Merry Christmasâ as the pudding was brought in flaming.
Just like a child, Emmaâs mum would complain to her mum that Emma got more coins than she did, and Grandma would tell Mum off for stealing some of the brandy butter out of the bowl, just like she would a child.
âYes, she is very naughty, Grandma,â Emma would agree. âI donât how you put up with her.â Everyone would laugh.
It was the same every year. Emma loved it and wouldnât change a thing. She smiled to herself, remembering it all, as she cuddled her little soft snowman. Sheâd had it since she was four and it always found its way back to her bed each Christmas. One of her bests friends in Kinder, Nema, had given it to her and Emma had immediately fallen in love with its cute little carrot nose and squishy body. Even though she still loved the snowman, Nema and Emma were not really friends anymore, despite still going to the same school. Around Year Two, Nema had changed and become mean and bossy. Every now and then Emma saw glimpses of the old Nema but the new, mean Nema was there too often. But Emma didnât worry about it too much and she had her best friends Hannah, Elle and Isi to help when Nema got mean. And she could get really mean â¦
But itâs Christmas, thought Emma. I shouldnât think about that now. Who knows? Maybe Nema will come back from holidays and be nice. What I really need to think about is the message on that green with red stars present!
Christmas messages were another Jacks family traditionâfrom the Swedish sideâwhere instead of the cards on the Christmas presents just saying, for example, âHappy Christmas, Em! Love Mum and Dadâ, there would be a clue as to what the present was. It added to the excitement as people tried to guess. Needless to say, Emma had looked at the messages and one in particular was driving her crazy: the message on the green with red stars present.
What did it mean? It was really irritating Emma that she couldnât work it out. After all, she was the leading code-cracker in the under-twelve division of international spy agency, SHINE .
Emma had been so successful in her missions against evil agency SHADOW that she was the leader in the SHINE Shining Stars Spy of the Year competition. But it was very closeâEJ had earned an amazing 1660 points since her polar mission, but one of her best spy-buddies, CC12, had 1600âwho was going to win Spy of the Year?
Not me at this rate! thought Emma. I canât even crack my own Christmas present message!
She didnât know it yet but she would soon be concentrating on a much more important message. Evil agency SHADOW was working on a plan that would ruin a lot of peopleâs Christmas.
It was two days before Christmas and one day before
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