One windy December morning Ezra and Kyiah were playing with two toy reindeer under the Norfolk pine tree in the lower school field. They were getting really excited about Christmas and were talking about all the fun they would have during the holiday. Many years earlier their great grandparents had planted a seed that grew into this very tree. They had found it in a Virginia park when they were visiting friends. Before it was noticed, the seed had been lying in the snow for more than one hundred years. After all that time it had gained the magical powers of Christmas. Each year the seed lay dormant in the middle of a ring of Christmas trees. Whenever people left the park at dusk the seed would magically drain the energy from the Christmas lights and convert it into sorcerous radiance. Since then it had grown into a tall, majestic tree on West End’s field that had weathered many hurricanes. As the wind blew stronger, one of the branches fell to the ground with a thud. Kyiah jumped in fright. They looked up and to their amazement they saw a mysterious green and red glow at the very top. They thought they saw living gifts flying around it gnashing their teeth. They both rubbed their eyes as they knew this could not be possible. All of a sudden to further confuse them an empty red sleigh appeared under the tree. “What could this mean? Why is no one else looking?” they thought to themselves.They shouted to their friends to come and see but no one else was able to see the magic besides themselves. They had lost all interest in the toy reindeer and quickly threw them onto the grass. The tree unexpectedly beamed a ray of light onto the toys and they were instantly transformed into real talking reindeer that were harnessed onto the sleigh. The children were flabbergasted!The end of recess bell rang so they went inside. They could hardly concentrate on their work as they had the tree and the strange gifts on their minds. They were also wondering whether or not the reindeer would still be on the field or whether they had gone running randomly around Somerset. Finally the lunch bell rang. Everyone was lining up to enter the hall for Christmas lunch. There would be farine and cassava pie but they were too excited to feel hungry. They sneaked outside and rushed toward the tree. Surprisingly, the reindeer were still there! One of them came close and whispered to the children. Hearing a reindeer talk was even more of a shock than seeing one at school. Their amazement caused them not to listen carefully so they hardly heard his words. However, they understood that he needed to retrieve a special gift to stop evil presents causing mayhem around the island. The children were quite perplexed so the reindeer had to tell the story from the beginning. The magic tree contained all gifts that were naturally good but during a storm, a lightning bolt struck the tree. This sudden jolt of electricity confused the gifts and turned them evil. The tree also had the power to use inanimate objects to restore goodness. There was not a moment to lose.The children got into the sleigh to fly to the top of the tree where there was a portal to all places on and under the earth. They said they would try to get the magic gift to restore peace and goodness. This gift is special because it contains all the good powers. It got lost when Hurricane Bill struck and whisked it out to sea. When it is placed inside the tree, its goodness will turn all the evil gifts into good ones. The children got into the sleigh and flew further up the tree. As they did so, all sorts of odd contrivances started to come out.A snake made from ribbon was hissing menacingly and chasing them. It wrapped itself around Kyiah. She had almost fallen off the sleigh but luckily Ezra was able to tie it into knots. All of a sudden from nowhere a gift with cruelly sharp teeth had zoomed by and almost bitten his head off! Then the reindeer reminded them they were entering the zone of the evil gifts so they had to be vigilant. A Gombey doll with a beautiful cape, tried to wrap its whip around the reindeers’ legs. Amid the confusion the tree sucked them inside its middle with a powerful wind.The children and reindeer fell into the tree. Inside it they saw a floating key that was made of ice. The reindeer said, “You have to get that to the top of the tree to unlock the portal without it melting or falling apart.” They wondered how they could do it as it starts to melt as soon as it is taken out of its position. That meant they needed to move really fast. If they flew along the inside branches they could get to the top in time. As they were flying, the key handle started to fall apart so the reindeer went faster but then as they flew, the wind made it crumble slightly. By the time they had gone three quarters up the tree, the handle was half gone so the reindeer blew on it and it froze. “How did you do that?” Kyiah asked. The reindeer said, “It’s a power I gained from the tree.” They flew on and reached the portal at the top. By now all they had was the key with no more handle, but that was all they needed to unlock it. When they did they found that they had landed on a spacious, moist, grassy field. The reindeer said, “We are above the caves ... Crystal Caves, I can feel it.” Then all of a sudden they fell into to exactly what he had said, caves with deep pools of water and towering crystals. They all swam in the water in search of the gift and found an underwater tunnel. “Can we swim through?” queried Kyiah. The reindeer said that it was the only way to find out what was in there. So they swam through a murky and confined tunnel while the reindeer flew upwards as reindeer do not like to swim. When they came out they were in the ocean with the reindeer hovering overhead. They told the reindeer that they saw nothing but water with ancient columns formed from stalactites and stalagmites. Ezra dove deeper and caught a glimpse of something shimmering. Upon moving closer he noticed it was a golden ball of light. It was so bright that he could hardly see. He picked up the ball and swam to the surface. “This must be the magic gift. It will find the tree and lead us back to it.” said the reindeer. So Ezra released it and it floated away.Ezra said “Let’s get back to school, our teachers will be wondering where we are and we have already missed our Christmas lunch. All that swimming has made me hungry.” So Ezra and Kyiah got on the reindeers’ backs and returned to school. Ezra was thinking of a good excuse for their lengthy absence but as they went inside he noticed that the other children were still in line. It was exactly the same time as when they had run toward the tree. They both thought that was extremely bizarre but were very relieved.They decided to go back outside to check on the tree. As they looked up at it they saw good gifts floating more slowly around the tree and the tree’s middle glowed with the power of goodness. For the first time the tree talked to them in a beautiful voice and said “Thank you for restoring me to my glory of goodness. Now Bermuda will remain peaceful. I will give you each a present to keep forever.” Then they each were given a seed. As they looked down they saw that the reindeer had been returned to toys but this time they were smiling. The tree said, “These seeds will grow to become trees just like me, take good care of them.” The children planted them together and kept their trees happy and healthy. As they grew up, they never forgot their amazing and extraordinary journey to save one tree that never forgot them.