It was December 23. Only one day left until Christmas! In the house everything was clean and tidy and there was the wonderful smell of freshly baked cookies. Outside it was very cold. The snow was now very high and the sun was shining. After a hearty breakfast Gini and Karl decided to make a last trip to the shopping mall to see all the Christmas decorations and to buy the food for their special Christmas meal.
In the middle of the mall was a giant Christmas tree. It was very beautifully decorated and there were nice presents laying all around. Each shop had decorated its products in its own special Christmas way. Gini and Karl went from shop to shop admiring the decorations. Quietly they sang along with the Christmas Carols that were played over the loudspeakers. What a wonderful holiday! Finally they went into the supermarket to buy all those things that they still needed for their Christmas dinner. In addition they bought a big pack of nuts for the squirrels who were running and climbing so nicely even when it was so terribly cold outside. They deserved to get something for Christmas too of course. They packed everything into their backpacks and slowly started to walk home.
When they had almost walked half the way back home and went on through the white and soft snow an old poor looking woman came along their way. When they were about to cross her way the woman suddenly started to murmur something. Karl wanted to go on but Gini stopped because she thought the woman would need some help. "Wait wait", said the woman again and searched in her bag. Then she took out a small white and soft teddy bear and a small excavator and put them in Gini and Karl's hands. The two penguins were so surprised that they couldn't open their mouth. Finally Gini managed to say "Thank you" but the old woman had already turned around and hurriedly walked away. Gini and Karl looked at their presents. The teddy bear was so cute! And the excavator was great too! But what was that? When they looked once more in the direction where the old woman was walking she seemed to turn around and wave to them. And now she seemed to be wearing a long red coat and a long white beard! Gini and Karl were standing for a long time watching the old woman disappear. What a wonderful Christmas surprise. But they also felt a bit bad. The woman had looked rather poor and they had given presents to them who already had a wonderful life while they hadn't given anything back to her. They had been too surprised. The teddy and the excavator really were wonderful! They would play with them for a long time.
After they had recovered from the surprise they quickly walked home. After they had unpacked their shopping bags they opened their piggy bank and took some money out. Then they quickly ran back to the shopping mall and walked to the man who was sitting there collecting money for poor children. To him they gave their money that they had taken out of their piggy bank.
Then they went back home and joyfully played with their new toys for the whole afternoon.
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