It was Christmas time again and at Warwick Academy there were two 12-year-old girls getting ready for their Christmas break. One was called Brittney and the other Michelle. Both were very spoiled and got whatever they wanted. Brittney had blond hair, blue eyes, was short and liked to wear skirts.

Michelle had brown hair, green eyes, was very tall and liked to wear comfortable clothes. They were the best of friends and always "hung out" together. They lived next door to each other in Warwick and visited each other houses every day.

It was the girls' last day of school before leaving for Christmas and their teacher, Mr. Heckberge, told them that they had an assignment. They had to choose a community service for the holiday. Michelle and Brittney were not very happy about having to do this, but Michelle said, "why don't we give some of our old crummy toys to the homeless shelter?" "That sounds great," said Brittney.

That night they each picked out there very old and dusty dolls and after dinner headed out to the homeless shelter.

They entered the shelter and looked around trying to decide who they could give their dolls to. They selected three girls who were sitting in the corner and walked up to them. "As it is Christmas we would like to give these dolls to you." One of the girls spoke, "Thank you for the dolls but why are you giving us these dolls?" Brittney answered saying, "Well, it is Christmas and people are suppose to be nice to others. The girl from the shelter then said, "Do you know what Christmas really is about."

"Of course," said Michelle, "Christmas is when you get millions of presents from your family and friends." "That's not what Christmas is about," said one of the other homeless girls, "We'll tell you."

"Christmas is a time when families get together and take a little time out of their busy schedules to stay with one another and enjoy one another's company.

"The real reason for Christmas is not receiving presents it is about Jesus.

"Mary and Joseph had a baby boy named Jesus. Jesus was God's greatest gift to us. Jesus was given to us as our Saviour so that we could get close to God again. The word Christmas comes from the mass of Christ."

"But why do we get presents said Michelle."

"A long time ago there was a man called Nicholas who loved to help children. He loved giving them presents. He would give them presents on Jesus' birthday. Many hundreds of years later he became Saint Nicholas. In Germany he was called Clause (sounds like Klows) and now is known as Santa Clause."

"Why should we believe you," said Michelle.

"Well, we really think you can find out that all this information is true by reading Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the Bible, and by finding information on Nicholas in history books."

"Wow said Brittney, "I didn't know any of that. You know what, we are going home to find a Bible and read about this." When they got home, they found an old Bible that had never been read, and they read all about the real reason for Christmas.

This really touched their hearts and they wanted to do something a lot more special, so they went through their toys and found toys that were in great condition, to give as presents for everyone at the shelter.

Brittney and Michelle couldn't wait to go back to the shelter. When they arrived they hugged the girls and thanked them for explaining what the true meaning of Christmas was, and how they wanted to be more giving all year long.

The toys were received with much happiness and everyone was saying, Merry Christmas and thank you. That night when Michelle and Brittney were going off to sleep, they were so happy from helping the children they had dreams of Jesus saying "Thank you Brittney, thank you Michelle." In fact, even when Christmas was over Brittney and Michelle stayed in touch with their new friends at the shelter and would always help in any way they could.