By Bill Conley
America’s Favorite Children’s Storyteller
Moral
of the Story
Even the smallest helper can save
the biggest day when she refuses to give up.
When something important breaks, panic never fixes it, but patient thinking
often does. Every mistake is a chance to learn, to grow, and to try again with
a braver heart. Working together with kindness turns problems into puzzles that
can be solved. Christmas is not just about treats and toys but about love,
sharing, and cheerful hearts. When you use your special gifts to help others,
you make the world sparkle a little brighter. Courage is not the absence of
fear. It is doing the right thing even when you feel scared. The true magic of
Christmas is a heart that whispers that it will help no matter what.
In a bright corner of Santa’s
Village stood the happiest place in all the North Pole. It was called the
Peppermint Workshop. Inside the workshop, candy cane machines hummed and
whirred. Silver pipes puffed out sweet minty steam, and long red and white
stripes rolled along shining belts as far as the eye could see.
Right in the middle of it all
skipped a little mouse named Peppermint Poppy.
Poppy had soft pink fur and a
peppermint swirl tail that curled like a candy cane. She wore a tiny red apron
with candy cane pockets and a peppermint bow on her head. Her job was very
important. She was the Official Candy Cane Twirl Tester of Christmas.
Every single candy cane that left
the workshop had to pass Poppy’s twist test. She checked the color. She checked
the shine. Most of all, she checked the swirl.
If the red and white stripes were
too wiggly, she gently pushed the candy cane back and said with a smile, “Give
it a swirl and try again.”
If the stripes were too straight and
not swirly enough, she patted the candy cane and said, “Almost there. One more
twirl.”
On the morning of Christmas Eve, the
workshop was busier than ever. Snowflakes danced outside the frosty windows.
Elves hurried in and out, carrying boxes and baskets full of sweets. From the
reindeer barn, bells jingled and jangled in the distance.
Santa himself peeked into the
doorway with a warm smile.
“Ho ho ho. How is our candy cane
hero today?” he boomed.
Poppy stood as tall as a tiny mouse
could stand and saluted with her peppermint tail.
“All peppermint perfect and swirl
approved, Santa,” she chirped.
“Wonderful,” Santa laughed. “I will
need every single candy cane tonight. Children all over the world are counting
on us.”
Poppy’s little heart glowed with
pride. She was part of something big. She was helping with Christmas.
As the day progressed, the machines accelerated. The belts moved quickly. The peppermint steam puffed thicker in
the air.
Poppy zipped up and down the line.
Her little paws moved as fast as she could make them.
Check the swirl.
Check the shine.
Back to the polishing.
Forward to the packing.
Everything was going just fine.
Until suddenly there was a loud
clunk. Then a long whir. Then a very scary splutter.
The main candy cane machine shook
once, twice, and then fell completely silent. The belts stopped. The stripes
froze. The lights above the controls blinked bright red.
The whole workshop went quiet.
An elf gasped.
Another elf dropped a box of candy canes.
Santa poked his head back in with a puzzled look.
“What happened?” he asked.
Poppy’s whiskers trembled. She
scampered to the machine and pressed her tiny paw against the metal side.
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
No more candy canes were coming out.
An older elf shook his head.
“The main twirl tank is jammed.
There is no way we can repair it before Santa leaves. Without candy canes,
the Christmas treat bags will not be complete.”
All the elves began to talk at once.
“What will we do?”
“We are out of time.”
“Christmas is ruined.”
Poppy felt fear flutter in her chest
like a trapped snowbird. For a moment, she wanted to hide under the peppermint
slide. But then she remembered something she had always told the candy canes.
“Give it a swirl and try again.”
She took a deep breath and stepped
forward.
“Santa,” she said in her small but
steady voice, “may I look inside the machine?”
Santa nodded kindly.
“Of course, Poppy. You are our twirl
expert after all.”
The elves carefully opened the side
door of the big machine. Inside, they saw a tangle of sticky red and white
stripes all knotted together like a candy rope.
Poppy peered in with her bright
little eyes.
“I think I know what happened,” she
said. “Someone set the swirl speed much too high. The stripes twisted together
and got stuck.”
“Can you fix it?” asked Santa.
“Maybe,” Poppy whispered, “but I
will need help.”
Right away, the elves leaned closer.
“Tell us what to do, Poppy.”
Poppy’s fear started to melt like
snow on a warm mitten. She was small, but they were listening to her. She really
could help.
“First,” she said, “we need to
untangle this giant candy knot.”
The elves laughed softly.
“Untangle that? It will take
forever.”
Poppy shook her head.
“Not if we work together.”
She hopped onto a little step stool,
reached into the machine, and began to gently pull one sticky stripe at a time.
An elf held the loose ends. Another elf wiped away extra sugar. Santa himself
rolled up his red sleeves and helped pull the longer strands free.
Piece by piece, the candy knot began
to loosen.
Every time a stripe came free, Poppy
cheered, “Give it a swirl and try again.”
Her hopeful words filled the whole
workshop.
At last, the final candy stripe
slipped out of the machine with a sweet little pop. The twirl tank was clear.
“Now we need to reset the swirl
speed,” Poppy explained. She pointed with her tiny paw to three glowing
buttons.
“This one decides how fast the
stripes spin. This one controls how tight they twist. This one tells them when
to stop. Before, they always stayed in the green light,” she said, “but now
they are blinking in the red.”
With careful paws and gentle
touches, Poppy and the elves pressed the buttons together. They turned the big
silver dial until the green lights glowed softly once again.
Poppy looked up at Santa.
“Ready to test.”
“Ho ho ho. Let us see what our
peppermint hero has done,” Santa boomed.
He pressed the start button. At
first, there was only a soft hum, then a steady whir. Slowly, the belts began
to move again.
A new strip of candy dough rolled
in. White first, then red. They wrapped around each other like two friends
holding hands. Twist. Twirl. Turn.
Out from the other side slid the
first new candy cane.
Poppy grabbed it carefully and held
it up to the light. The red stripe curled around the white in a perfect, gentle
swirl. The shine was just right. The shape was just right. The twist was
perfect.
She smiled so wide her cheeks almost
met her ears.
“Swirl approved,” she cried.
The elves cheered. More candy canes
followed. One, two, twelve, a hundred. A river of sweet peppermint joy.
Santa knelt beside Poppy and lifted
her up in his warm, gloved hands.
“Peppermint Poppy,” he said, “you
have saved Christmas.”
Poppy’s eyes sparkled.
“I just did what every good helper
does,” she replied. “I stayed calm. I thought carefully. And I asked for help.”
Santa smiled.
“That, my small but mighty friend,
is exactly what makes you a Christmas hero.”
Outside the workshop, the sky turned
deep blue and filled with stars. The sleigh was loaded. The reindeer were ready.
At the very top of each treat bag,
shining proudly, rested a perfect candy cane, swirl approved by Peppermint
Poppy.
As Santa flew off into the night,
the whole world below sparkled with tiny lights. And in the Peppermint
Workshop, a little mouse with a peppermint tail twirled in a happy circle and
whispered to herself, “Give it a swirl and try again.”
Peppermint
Poppy’s Christmas Poem
In the peppermint shop where the
sweet steam flows,
Little Poppy works while the cold wind blows,
She checks every swirl with a careful eye,
As candy canes twist and the bells ring high.
When the big machine broke and the
elves felt fear,
She whispered, Stay calm, for the answer is near,
With patient, small paws and a brave, kind heart,
She saved Christmas Eve with a brand new start.
Discussion
Questions for Children and Parents
1.
When the candy cane machine broke, everyone felt afraid and upset. What did
Peppermint Poppy do that helped instead of making things worse?
2.
Have you ever had something important go wrong? How could you use Poppy’s
words, “Give it a swirl and try again,” in your own life?
3.
In what ways can you be a little Christmas helper at home? What are some small
but special things you can do to make your family feel loved and joyful?
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