The Holly Joliday (3 page)

“Last day of school before Christmas!” Judy shouted when she got home from school. Judy and Stink dumped their backpacks on the couch.

“So, what did you do for your last day?” asked Mom.

“Ate candy canes,” said Stink.

“We had an
Aloha
Christmas party,” said Judy. “Like in Hawaii.”

“Sophie of the Elves was my Secret Santa,” said Stink.

“We drank pink flamingo punch and played Pin the Monkey on the Palm Tree.”

“And I got a snow globe all the way from Vermont!” said Stink.

“Mr. Todd wore sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt and gave everybody a
lei
to wear tonight,” said Judy, pointing to her flower necklace. “Don’t forget that tonight is the Tenth Annual Holly Jolly Holiday Happening at school.”

“We made a field guide to snowflakes,” said Stink, digging into his backpack and pulling out a chart with shapes. “Even though no two are the same, a lot of snowflakes have the same shapes. Stellar dendrites are like trees, but lots of other snowflakes have shapes like pencils, prisms, plates, and puffballs.”

“We learned that
Mele Kalikimaka
means Merry Christmas in Hawaii.”

“We heard this story about a famous guy who figured out how to take pictures of thousands of snowflakes.”

“Was his name Jack Frost?” asked Judy.

“Snowflake Bentley,” said Stink. “He’s in the encyclopedia. Two times. Under
S
and under
B,
too.”

“In Hawaii, my name would be I-U-K-I.”

“I Yucky!” said Stink. “That’s the perfect name for you.”

“Ho, ho, ho, Stink. You say it
Ee-oo-kee.
Your name’s K-I-M-O, pronounced
Kee-mo.
I asked Mr. Todd.”

“Sounds like Kimo and Iuki both had an exciting day,” said Mom. “Are you both ready for the holiday program tonight?”

“YES!” said Judy. “My class is singing ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas in Hawaii’! Rare!”

“How about you, Stink? Did your class practice the skit for ‘The Night Before Christmas’?”

“Don’t remind me,” said Stink. “I have to be a mouse again. Sophie of the Elves gets to be a sugarplum. Webster gets to be Prancer or Vixen — I forget which. But no, I have to be a shorty-pants mouse. Every year!”

“You could wear
long
pants,” Judy suggested.

“At least you have a mouse costume already,” said Mom.

“Yeah, put it on and give us a sneak peek. I mean a
squeak
peek.” Judy cracked herself up.

“Hardee-har-har. I wish just once I could be something like . . . a stellar dendrite,” Stink said wistfully.

“Stellar dandruff! Stink, there’s no stellar dandruff in ‘The Night Before Christmas,’” Judy teased.

Stink went upstairs to try on his mouse costume.

“And a par-rot in a palm tree.”
Judy practiced singing while she fed Jaws.
“And a par-rot in a palm tree.”
Judy practiced singing while she put a jingle-bell collar on Mouse.
“And a par-rot in a palm tree.”
Judy practiced singing while she set the table.

Where was Stink? Why was it taking him about a hundred million years just to put on mouse ears?

Finally, Stink came downstairs, covering his not-mouse ears. “I thought there were
twelve
days of Christmas. What happened to the other eleven?”

“Ho, ho, ho,” said Judy. She looked at what Stink was wearing. “Hey, where’s your mouse costume? How come you’re wearing all white? I thought mice were brown.”

“A mouse can be white,” said Stink.

“Yeah, maybe a science mouse. Like the kind that gets tests done on him. Or runs through mazes. Or gets eaten by snakes. Not a Night-Before-Christmas mouse.”

“A white mouse goes with a white Christmas,” said Stink.

“Not a creature was stirring, not even a science mouse!” Judy roared.

When the Moodys got to the multipurpose room at Virginia Dare School that night, it was decorated with evergreen branches, pinecone wreaths, and candy canes. Blinking white lights twinkled around the doorway.

“The school looks so pretty tonight,” said Mom.

“They did a great job,” Dad agreed.

“It would look better with snow,” said Stink.

“Wait till you see the decorations for our skit,” Judy told her parents. “The whole stage is going to be decked out like Hawaii. And Frank’s bringing in Cookie, his real-live parrot. Cookie talks and everything!”

“Better go find your classes, you two,” said Mom.

“Break a leg,” said Dad.

“Look for me!” said Stink. “At the beginning of ‘The Night Before Christmas.’”

“Stink, I mean Kimo, it’s going to be pretty hard to miss a science mouse in the middle of a holiday celebration,” said Judy.

The lights went down, and the Tenth Annual Holly Jolly Holiday Happening began. Ms. Tuxedo, the principal, welcomed everyone, and the music teacher played “Let It Snow” softly in the background.

Mr. Todd was the announcer, and first up was the kindergarten class, which sang the Kwanzaa Spelling Song. The fifth grade played a jazzy version of “Feliz Navidad.” The first grade recited a Hanukkah poem about eight little candles. The fourth grade acted out a skit about
Sinter Klaas
from Holland. Finally, it was time for Judy’s class. Judy, Rocky, and Frank stood stage left, beside Class 3T’s blow-up plastic palm tree. A rainbow of pink, green, and blue spotlights shone down on them. They were all wearing shorts, flip-flops, and Hawaiian shirts.

Judy squinted in the bright light. She felt her hands sweat. She felt her neck itch under the plastic flower
lei.

“Can you hold Cookie?” Frank asked Judy, holding out his real-live parrot. “I’m too nervous.”

“I’m too nervous, too,” said Judy.

“The parrot has to sit up in the palm tree,” said Rocky. “Like in the song. Hurry up! Mr. Todd’s about to start!”

Frank held out his arm. Cookie flapped her wings, hopping from Frank’s arm onto the palm-tree prop.

“Tonight,” Mr. Todd announced, “we celebrate holiday traditions from all around the world. Class 3T chose to honor Christmas in Hawaii with its very own version of a well-known song.”

Judy took a deep breath. Everyone sang: