★ Little Sunshine's Wonderland ★

: Well, Christmas is almost here. So, what do you want from Santa this year?

Micky: A toy car and walkie-talkies.

Man: Really? Well, and what about you, Emily? What do you want for Christmas?

Emily: If I can't have a Barbie radio, um, I would have some fragile dolls. And if I can't have some fragile dolls, it doesn't really matter what I get.

Man: Wow. Well, I'm excited, and Santa is coming. And how is Santa going to get inside the house, Micky?

Micky: Um, go down the chimney . . .

Man: Okay, so he's going to go down the chimney, and should we prepare anything for Santa?

Micky: Yeah!

Man: What are we going to prepare for him, Emily?

Emily: Um. We could prepare some cookies for him and some hot chocolate, and, um, we could give Rudolph some, um, hot chocolate in a bowl and a cookie. And we could give some of the reindeer some cookies and some hot chocolate in a bowl.

Man: Well, what do you think? They, Um, reindeer probably don't eat cookies, but what else could we give them, Micky?

Micky: Um, apples.

Man: Ah, that's good. And, uh . . .

Emily: Oranges and bananas.

Man: Okay and what time do you think we should go to bed?

Emily: Um, seven.

Man: About seven o'clock. Well, that's exciting. I'm really happy that Christmas is coming.

• walkie-talkies (verb): small portable radio receiver-transmitters used for communicating with others
  - We always take walkie-talkies when we go hiking in case of emergencies.

• barbie (noun): the name of a brand doll
  - My daughter wants a barbie doll house for Christmas.

• fragile (verb): easily broken or damaged, delicate
  - Handle this vase with care. It's very fragile.

• chimney (noun): the place in a house where smoke from a fire goes up and out of the roof
  - You should clean out the chimney before we use it this winter.

• Rudolph (pronoun): the name of Santa's reindeer with the shiny red nose
  - According to the story, Santa needed Rudolph to guide his sleigh on one stormy, Christmas Eve.

• "nose around" = look for something private or hidden

•  - "The kids sometimes nose around the house for Christmas gifts."

• "umpteen (also, umpteenth)" = a great number of

•   - "I have umpteen presents to buy before Christmas Eve."