This is Macy Mayhew.

Macy Mayhew is almost ready for Christmas.

She has decorated her tree, with stars from the sky.

She has iced her cake, with fresh fallen snow.

She has written her cards, with secret wishes.

She has ticked off the days, written her list and has been ever so good.

But Macy Mayhew cannot wrap her presents.

Her Christmas paper is as wild as the wind.

It folds the wrong way, it blows upside down, it won’t lie still at all.

Macy’s paper needs to learn a lesson. Christmas isn’t far away.

Macy Mayhew will teach her paper how to behave. Macy will show it how to be still.

Macy Mayhew waves the paper like a giant Christmas flag. Look at it ripple. Listen to it crackle.

Macy Mayhew lies the paper flat on the floor like a giant Christmas rug. Look at it lie. Listen to it hush.

But Macy’s Christmas paper doesn’t want to lie still. Macy’s paper doesn’t want to hush.

Macy’s paper is as wild as the wind. Macy Mayhew is in for a shock!

The paper stretches and rises like a cat waking up and jumps up on the Christmas tree.

Chasing the paper Macy jumps too and the tree falls to the floor.

Down goes Macy. Down goes the tree, but quick as a lick the paper folds and tucks, and Macy is wrapped up tight.

Curling and twirling the paper spins round, and Macy is caught in a storm. They crash with a smash right out of the house and into the world outside.

Macy’s Christmas paper is as wild as the wind and now it wants to fly free.

With a twist and twirl and fold and a flip, the paper makes an aeroplane.

Over fields,
over trees,
over oceans and over seas, Macy’s Christmas paper flies.

“Stop,” shouts Macy. “Stop this at once.” Macy must wrap her presents.

The Christmas paper flies down to the ground and dances about in the snow.

With a tuck and a bend and a smooth and a crease, the Christmas paper becomes…

A penguin

A polar bear

An husky dog

A reindeer…

Cheeky paper. Funny paper. This will not do at all. Macy’s paper is wild and free, but Macy wants it to be still. So she takes it…

And shakes it…

And tears it in two.

Oh no, now what will Macy do?

Sat in the snow with two strips of paper, Macy doesn’t know what to do.

But someone does.

Someone with reindeer and someone with elves, and someone who is gentle and kind.

“Come along, Macy. Let’s get you home.”

Jingle, jangle the sleigh flies away.

Over snowy fields,

over snowy trees,

over cold oceans and frozen seas, Macy Mayhew flies home…

…to the cake she has iced and the tree she has decorated, and to the cards with their secrets inside.

And there, on the floor, where she started her day, are two little presents all wrapped.

That Christmas paper which once was so wild is now so pretty and neat.

Macy Mayhew is ready for Christmas.

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Macy Mayhew is illustrated by Suzanne Henderson. Follow her on Twitter. Visit her website HERE.