Free Holly's Jolly Christmas by Nancy Krulik

Chapter I
    Sally, Cathy, Luis, and Chuck each have their own Christmas tree. Each tree has a different number of candy canes, and a different number of decorations. Use the clues to figure out . . .
    Katie Carew tried really hard to focus on her math worksheet. But it was so difficult. Not the math—actually, Katie was pretty good at doing these kinds of puzzles. It was just really, really hard to think about schoolwork when Christmas was so near!
    Growl. Grumble.
    Just then, Katie heard a really strange noise coming from the beanbag next to her.
    “Sorry,” George Brennan apologized. “That was my stomach. Reading about candy canes is making me hungry.”
    Katie giggled. It didn’t take much to make George hungry.
    “I know what you mean,” George’s best friend, Kevin Camilleri, agreed. “I can’t stop thinking about the tomato and mozzarella salad my grandmother makes every Christmas Eve.”
    “It seems like you dudes are already on your holiday break,” Mr. Guthrie told the class. But he didn’t seem angry. Mr. G. never got angry.
    “It’s just that Christmas is only a week away,” Katie explained to her teacher.
    “I’m so excited, I can’t sit still,” George added.
    “You never sit still,” Kadeem Carter told George.
    George laughed. “That’s true.”
    “Well, George,” Mr. G. said. “If you can’t sit still, stand up.”
    “What?” George asked.
    The kids watched as Mr. G. went to the closet in the back of the room. He pulled out a huge bag of blown-up balloons. He was also holding a pair of red long underwear.
    “Here, George,” Mr. G. said, handing him the long underwear. “Put this on over your clothes.”
    George looked at their teacher strangely. Katie knew why. Putting on long underwear was a really strange request—even from Mr. G. And Mr. G. made a lot of strange requests.
    But George did what he was told.
    “Now, while George is putting on the long underwear, I’m going to divide the rest of you into teams,” Mr. G. said. “Katie, Emma W., and Andy, you’ll be Team One.”
    Katie grinned. Emma Weber was her closest friend in class 4A. And Andy Epstein was the best athlete. So she was on a great team—no matter what weird game they were going to play. And considering the game included balloons and underwear, it was sure to be weird.
    Once Mr. G. had put the kids into groups, he explained the game. “For this game, George is Santa.”

    “George doesn’t look anything like Santa,” Mandy Banks said. “He doesn’t have whiskers or a big belly.”
    Mr. G. smiled. “Not yet!” Then he pulled a white, cotton beard out of his desk drawer. “Here, George.”
    George put on the beard. Katie giggled. George looked really silly.
    “I gave Santa his whiskers,” Mr. G. told the kids. “Now you are going to give him his belly.”
    Huh? The kids all stared at Mr. G. Now they were very confused.
    “Each team will have twenty seconds to fill Santa’s long underwear with balloons,” Mr. G. explained. “The team who puts the most balloons into Santa’s underwear will win. Team One, you’re up first.”
    Katie, Andy, and Emma W. were given a bunch of green balloons.
    “Okay, Team One,” Mr. G. said. “On your marks. Get set. Go!”
    Katie worked as fast as she could, picking up balloons and shoving them into George’s long red underwear. It was hard. Especially because George kept squirming around.
    “Hey! That tickles, Katie Kazoo!” George shouted as Katie shoved in a green balloon.
    Katie grinned. She loved when George called her by the way-cool nickname he had given her back in third grade.
    Bam! Hisssss!
    Suddenly, a funny sound started coming from George’s behind.
    “What was that?” Kevin asked.
    “One of the balloons popped,” George said.
    In the end, Team Three won. They managed to stuff five balloons into George’s long underwear, although three popped.
    “That game was hilarious,” Santa George said, laughing.
    Katie giggled, too. The game was