One winter’s morning, a cat was sleeping when it heard a sound in the living room. The cat lazily goes to see what made the sound when it was shocked to see an elf looking up at the Christmas tree.

“What are you doing here? Elves belong at the North Pole!” the cat said.

“The elves at the North Pole said I was naughty, so they kicked me out and I ended up here,” Naughty replied. That was the only name he could remember being called.

Naughty started zooming around the house, looking at different items in the house as he was telling the story.

The commotion woke the two sleeping children in their room.

Emily woke up first and whispered to Jack, “Let’s get up and check it out!” They got out of their beds and sneaked to the door to peer down the hall. Right when they were about to look, Jack stepped on a toy that made a squeaking noise.

Naughty froze in place, and Emily and Jack’s mom woke up.

“What are you two doing?” Mom got up and asked.

“We heard a noise,” Emily explained. “Yeah, we did,” Jack agreed.

“No, no, no, not on Christmas Eve. Go back to bed,” Mom told them.

They got back in their beds.

It wasn’t too long before they heard the cat meowing (the cat was talking but humans only hear meows).

“Let’s get up and check it out. This time, though, don’t step on any toys!” Emily says.

“No, no! Mom said go to bed. Tomorrow is Christmas!” Jack pleaded.

So, Emily gets up by herself. She peers around the corner and sees Naughty the Elf doing something very naughty indeed.

“I’ll show those Elves what it means to be naughty,” he muttered to himself as he zoomed around reading a list. In fact, it was Santa’s list of who was naughty and nice that year. Naughty had stolen it and was zooming around taking all of the gifts from the kids who were nice and giving them to the kids who were naughty.

Emily thought about stopping him but had mysteriously started feeling very sleepy. She slowly went back to her bed in a daze.

When Emily and Jack woke up, Emily yawned and said, “I had the strangest dream….” Then she suddenly paused as they both realised…it was Christmas morning!

They threw back their sheets and ran out of their room into the living room to find one small present. “That’s weird,” Jack thought. He opened it and, inside, was a note that read: “Haha! You don’t get a present!” and it was signed “Naughty.”

Both of them started to cry. Their mom and dad rushed in to see Emily and Jack crying and started to hug them. “What’s wrong?” they asked.

As the kids explained, Naughty was sitting perfectly still on the kitchen counter, watching Jack and Emily cry. Emily could be seen trying to explain what she saw the night before, pointing to the elf sitting perfectly still. “Oh no! What have I done?” Naughty thought to himself. “I’ve made a horrible mistake, and I’ve got to fix it!”

When Emily and Jack woke up, Emily yawned and said, “I had the strangest dream...” Then she suddenly paused as they both realized...it was Christmas morning! They threw back their sheets and ran out of their room into the living room to find one small present. “That’s weird,” Jack thought. He opened it and, inside, was a note that read: “Haha! You don’t get a present!” and was signed “Naughty”

So, after a very sad Christmas, after everyone had gone to sleep, Naughty started zooming around to fix what he had done. He switched back the presents, giving back the Nice children their rightful gifts. The next morning, to Emily and Jack’s surprise, there were lots of gifts under the tree! “You fixed it!” Emily smiled at Naughty, overjoyed. As she said it, Naughty started to get his powers back. After he was kicked out of the North Pole, he could only run fast. Now, he could feel himself able to fly again. Emily and Jack saw Naughty start to fly, and WHOOSH! He was gone before their mom or dad could see. When Naughty arrived back at the North Pole, the Elves had gathered. They had a new red outfit for him. “We now change. Your name from Naughty the Elf to Nice the Elf, who saved – not Christmas – but the day after Christmas. THE END