When we get our Christmas tree we go in my dad's big van because we always get a very big tree and it won't fit in our car.  We look at all the trees and choose the tree we like best.  When we get home dad puts it in a bucket.  We decorate the tree with baubles, tinsel and coloured lights.  Then we put the chocolate sweets on the tree.  We keep our fingers crossed and hope the lights work when dad turns them on.  Mum says we can have a chocolate sweet for making such a good job of decorating the tree.

Louise Morrow (Y1)

Me and my grandma and my mum and my brother went to Lapland.  It was very snowy there and it was very cool.  We went on skidoo bikes.  Mummy got stuck.  Lewis and me went on a toboggan and also we went in an igloo.  We met Tricky Dicky and Speedy Sam, who are Santa's helpers.  We all went on a reindeer ride.  Me and my mum went on a husky ride.  It was really fast and bumpy, but the best thing was Father Christmas.  He was in his log cabin.  I gave him my Christmas list.  He gave me and Lewis a present each.  Lewis got a helicopter and I got an Action Man with a tent.  We came home on an aeroplane.  It was the best Christmas present ever.

Thomas Richardson (Age 6)

As a young girl I remember Christmas Eve very clearly. The night in bed seemed endless, my mind racing, my eyes still wide open, I knew Santa wouldn't come until I was asleep.
By 3am I was convinced I could hear the sound of hooves on the roof and the sound of sleigh bells jingling, yes at last he was her, I must pretend to be asleep.
I must have dozed off, because the next thing I remember was a shaft of light coming through the crack in the curtains which woke me, at last the day had come!.
My eldest sister would round me and my youngest sister together, and would would creep downstairs, out teeth chattering with excitement and cold.
Then we would open the door to the lounge and the smell of the Christmas tree would greet our nostrils.
In the half light we could see what looked like Toyland, at last Christmas day had arrived.

Mrs H Simpson

Every Christmas children all around the world await a visit from Santa Claus. In some countries they hang up stockings for him to fill, in others they leave out shoes, but how did this tradition begin?
Santa's name comes from the Dutch for St Nicholas, which is Sinterklaas. The real St Nicholas was a very rich man who lived hundreds of years ago in a country called Turkey. He was well known for helping the poor and giving presents to children. Many years later he was a saint, his feast day is 6^th December and in some countries like Holland, this is when presents are given, on St Nicholas` eve. Over many hundreds of years his name has become linked with Christmas, and we now associate St Nicholas with Christmas day.

Mrs Jeanette Hemsworth