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He was leaving for the Race meeting where Mayor Piney would be announcing the theme of this year’s race for all the Loopies wanting to enter. Every year the theme would change, last year the theme of the race was Birds. Toffee chuckled as he remembered his big chicken car driving over the finish line, covering the crowd in a great flurry of feathers. Mayor Piney had been coughing up feathers for a week after that!

Toffee rounded the corner and joined the other Loopies already there eagerly awaiting Mayor Piney’s announcement.

Mayor Piney finally arrived in his big limousine and walked into the centre of the crowd of Loopies, eating a big salami sandwich.

“This year,” he spluttered between chews,

“I’ve decided that the theme,” he continued at he took another bite of his lunch.

“of the race should be food.”

The Loopies smiled as the Mayor waddled off enjoying his sandwich as he went.

“Food,” thought Toffee.

Toffee thought and thought, what type of food car could he possibly build that would beat every other car that entered into the race? Toffee thought a little more and then chuckled to himself as he strolled home. He had an idea, a very wobbly idea in fact, but it would maybe just work!

A few weeks later, the Loopies gathered for the big Car Race.

All the Loopies who had entered drove their food car creations to the starting line. Mango and Sherbet, the twins of Acersville arrived with a sandwich bicycle car. Granny had helped them to paint the wheels of their car with her prize winning Banana-lade jam.

“It will help you stick to the road.” She explained as she slopped it on in huge dollops.

Next to the twins was Pilot’s hot dog car. He was very proud of his car and drove it slowly to the starting line, being very careful not to splash tomato sauce and mustard all over the road as he idled it along gently.

Behind Pilot was Toffee. The twins snickered and giggled from their sandwich perch as they saw his car, it was made entirely of jelly! Toffee waved at the twins and wobbled his car a little to make them laugh out loud. After Toffee was Crumpet’s Banana-spilt car, complete with whipped cream and lashings of chocolate sauce. Behind Crumpet were the Pirates and Wusky in their run barrel car, singing merrily and jo-ho-hoing!

“Ladies and gentlemen!” boomed Mayor Piney’s voice over the microphone.

“It seems we have a late entry.”

As he announced this Cabbage and Brussel-Sprout, the two naughtiest Loopies in Acersville rolled their cabbage motor-cycle to the starting line.

They nodded at Toffee and the other race entrants with naughty gleams in their eyes.

“Start your engines!” boomed the Mayor’s voice.

The robotic lights at the starting line flashed red then yellow and then green.

“And they’re off!” yelled Piney at the top of his voice as the Loopies and their food cars sped off.

Mango and Sherbet raced off, getting into the lead, but as they entered the woods the leaves and twigs littering the pathway stuck to their jam spread wheels! The banana-lade lathered wheels were so sticky, that they became caked in dry leaves in no time, causing the twins to go slower and slower until they stopped! The other racers cheered as they sped past the twins’ sandwich car.

“It will take forever to scrape this amount of junk off our wheels!” exclaimed Mango peering down to have a look.

“So I guess this means we’re out of the race?” asked Sherbet looking disappointed. Mango nodded and then took a bite out of his sandwich car. The twins giggled as they began munching their food car in the middle of the woods.

The race continued for the other Loopie racers as the race track went round a bend towards the mountain. Cabbage chuckled as she looked over her shoulder, the judges couldn’t see her anymore so she signaled her brother to carry out their naughty plan. Brussel-Sprout lifted a cabbage leaf on the back of their car and two hungry hyenas lept out of the Cabbage car and onto the race track.

The hungry hyenas raced towards Pilot’s hotdog car and began munching it up!! Pilot couldn’t believe his eyes as the two hungry dogs ate his car while he was riding in the race! They spotted Crumpet’s Banana-split car next and quick as a flash ate up her car too. Crumpet was cross. She shook her fist at Cabbage and Brussel-Sprout who were laughing and left her and Pilot in a puff of their smelly cabbage car fumes!

Soon Cabbage and Brusel-Sprout caught up to Wusky and the Pirates and past them too, now it was only Toffee that they had to get in front of to win the race. But Toffee was too far ahead and whizzed over the finish line, followed by an angry Cabbage and a not-so-happy-Brussel-Sprout. Last to finish were the Pirates, who were so jolly by now after drinking so much rum that they didn’t mind who won the race!

The Mayor smiled as he handed a shiny gold trophy to Toffee. Cabbage and Brussel-Sprout edged closer hoping to get some sort of second prize. The Mayor only looked them up and down and said,

“No one likes cheaters, or cabbages for that matter.”

The Loopies laughed. Toffee smiled and hugged his trophy, his silly plan had worked. His wobbly car had won the race!

© 2008 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.

Download “The Wobbly Car” PDF Document

“Are you sure it’s the Christmas star Mango?” asked Sherbet.

“I’m not sure but I think so! It’s too bright not to be” he shrugged.

Just then they heard a crash! They looked up and to their amazement they saw Santa Clause! His sleigh had just come crashing down onto a nearby roof.

“Oh, ho-no!” cried Santa.

“Rudolph, it must be that nose of yours sonny!”

Rudolph looked at Santa and then shook his head and peered down to have a look at where they had landed. It was then that he spotted the Loopies looking up at him and Santa and the crash landed sleigh. Santa peered down to, to see what had caught Rudolph’s attention and he saw the Loopies too, looking up at him with gaping jaws.

Santa blushed, “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

The Loopies just continued to stare.

“In all my years of delivering presents,” he said as he began climbing off the roof.

“I’ve never been spotted once! Until now that is!” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

“So you really are Santa?” asked Tubblie in surprise.

“Who’d you think I was, Billy the Kid?” he said with a jolly laugh.

“Not so! Yur beard is too white for ye ta be going by a name like kid.” said Patch.

Santa starred at Patch, “Is he for real? Or have I just entered into a time warp and gone back to Halloween?”

Santa looked very confused.

“Why did you crash Santa?” asked Sherbet in dismay.

“I dunno, I really think I may have hit a time warp as we were following The Star.” He replied, still trying to understand why Patch was dressed up in a Pirate suit.

“He really is a Pirate Mr. Clause!” said Wusky helping to clear Santa’s confusion.

“One of my closest friends too, along with his piratey crew Wallace and Woody here.” He pointed to the other pirates hidden among the other Loopies of Acersville. They had all been on their way home from Granny’s house after their annual Christmas Eve Dinner trying to spot the Christmas Star.

“And you certainly didn’t hit a time warp, our very own Professor Astro would have been aware of that I can assure you!” explained Rufus, as he slapped the Professor on the back.

“You said you were following the Star?” asked Mango, very interested to learn more about Santa’s Christmas travels.

“Yes! You see that very bright, very pointy one, high up there?” he asked.

“Mango! It is the one you spotted, bravo!” cried Sherbet who was very proud of her brother!

“Well done! Maybe I should down load your GPS system and give it to Rudolph; it might make it easier tracking the Star next year.”

Santa edged toward Mango and tugged his nose. Mango giggled.

“What are you doing that for?” he asked.

“Where do you keep your GPS? Rudolph has his in his nose.” He replied.

The Loopies grinned a little. They thought Santa was very funny.

“We don’t have GPS systems but we could always repair Rudolph’s one for you?” offered Rufus.

“Would you be able to do that?” asked Santa a little surprised.

Professor Astro grinned at Rufus.

“Of course, don’t worry a second longer!” replied the Professor, excited at the fact that his scientific knowledge could help at such an important time.

“Well we’ll have to hurry we only have 6 hours till everyone wakes up to open their presents on Christmas morning and my reindeer are fresh out of Brandy.” said Santa.

“Brandy?” said Tubblie, his eyes getting their naughty Tubblie gleam.

“Yes, it keeps them warm in the cold winter air and helps them to run faster so we can deliver all the presents on time. I’m already way off schedule!” he said grimly, looking at his watch.

“We’ll soon have you on your way! Mango and Sherbet, take Santa for Mince pies at Granny’s and we’ll sort out the rest!” said Rufus, eager to get started on repairing Rudolph’s GPS.

So the twins excitedly showed Santa the way to Granny’s house while the other Loopies set to work on fixing Santa’s sleigh and repairing Rudolph’s nose!

The Loopies worked so fast, in no time at all Santa’s sleigh was ready to leave Acersville.

“Here you go Santa.” said Leechie handing the jolly man a remote control.

“That’s for turning Rudolph’s GPS on and off.” explained Rufus.

“I have fitted the GPS with an extra magnet so it’s pull toward the Star will be stronger.” smiled Astro as he patted Rudolph on the nose.

“You’ve all been so kind.” Smiled Santa as a small tear formed in his eye, he then bent down to give them each a gift.

“Now those are for Christmas morning, and sorry I couldn’t place them under your trees and in your stockings, but you do understand, the sun’s nearly up and I still have so many deliveries to make.” He said brushing the tear away with his red glove.

The Loopies nodded and thanked Santa for their gifts.

“Now!” he said taking a deep breath to settle his emotions.

“Who was it that spotted the Christmas Star?” he said smiling a jolly smile.

Mango raised his hand slowly.

“Well then hop aboard son, don’t you want to see it up close?”

Mango could hardly believe it! Santa had chosen him to ride in his sleigh on Christmas Eve!

Mango climbed up and sat on the velvety seat and breathed in the Christmas smells of Santa’s sleigh. It was like being in a Chocolate factory that made gingerbread cookies too! Mango’s experience was interrupted when Santa said, “Don’t you have a sister son?”

“Huh, oh, yes! Yes I do, her name is Sherbet.” blushed Mango.

“Well then Sherbet, up you come too.”

So Sherbet jumped up and ran to the sleigh to join her brother. The twins were so excited!

Santa then took his place at the reigns and cracked his whip.

“On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer, on Vixen!” Santa began calling out all of his reindeer by name. The reindeer began to run, faster and faster, until they were moving at the speed of light.

“Oh my!” smiled Santa, “My reindeer don’t usually run this fast!”

Mango and Sherbet looked at one another and grinned. That Tubblie he must have fed the reindeer his Lighter Fluid from the Brandy Bottle he had handed Granny at dinner! That naughty rascal! But still they couldn’t blame him, it was the best way to get the reindeer to run extra fast to help Santa get back on schedule with his present delivering! So on they rode over the frosty sky all the while getting nearer and nearer to the Christmas Star.

© 2007 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.

Download “The Christmas Star” PDF Document

Pancake didn’t see her brother that often so she wanted everything to be just right.

Knock, knock, knock.

“He’s here!” squealed Pancake. She quickly tipped the last of her Pancake batter into the pan and hurried to the door.

“Pancake!” said Pascal, delighted to see his sister. The two Loopies hugged each other and then sat on Pancake’s comfy couches to catch up. They talked about this and that. They talked and talked. In fact they talked so much that Pancake forgot about her pancake, which is very unlike Pancake.

“What’s that burning smell?” asked Pascal after a while.

Pancake’s eyes widened.

“My pancakes!” she exclaimed, and ran to the kitchen. Her last pancake had burnt to a crisp and was as hard as a rock.

“We can’t eat this one,” she despaired to her brother, who was busy eating a pancake from one of her earlier batches, “it’s as hard as a board.”

Pascal’s ears pricked up, “A board?”

Pascal was the best surfer in all the seven seas and all the towns surrounding Acersville. Saying the word ‘board’ to Pascal was like saying the word ‘cheese’ to a mouse.

Pascal took the burnt pancake and hurried out of the house so fast that Pancake could hardly keep up. Pancake followed Pascal all the way to the beach and was just in time to see him floating over the waves on her burnt pancake! He disappeared under a wave and then re-appeared, riding the wave! He was using the pancake as a surfboard! Pancake cheered with glee as Pascal rolled out of the sea, carrying his new surfboard with him.

“Thanks Pancake.” He grinned, “This is the best surfboard I have ever had! And it will be perfect for tomorrow’s competition.”

The following day the beach was full of umbrellas and excited Loopies. They had all come to watch the Surf Competition. Wusky was serving juice in his Beach Cabana Café as fast as his hands could pour! The judges sat under a big shaded area with lots of cool water to drink and lots of scorecards to do their scoring.

The surfers lined up on the shore. One by one they each had a chance to ride the waves. When a surfer finished, the judges would hold up their scorecards, revealing what they thought of that surfer’s efforts in the sea.

Eventually it was Pascal’s turn to surf. He picked up his burnt pancake and headed toward the ocean. All the Loopies were astounded by Pascal’s funny looking surfboard. But they soon forgot about his funny looking board as he surfed, flipped and splashed in the waves. The crowd cheered and the judges gave perfect ten scores! Pascal was overjoyed and so was Pancake!

Later Pascal received a trophy and a medal for the best surfing that day. He smiled when the news crew interviewed him and said, “I couldn’t have done it without Pancake’s pancake!”

© 2007 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.

Download “Pancake’s Pancake” PDF Document

The Professor let the twins look inside his space craft.

“So when are you going to fly this thing Professor?” asked Mango excitedly.

“Oh yes!” exclaimed Sherbet, “Can we come too?”

“Uh…” Professor Astro looked frightened, “I never actually thought of flying the space ship. I just built it!”

The twins were very disappointed.

“What’s the point in building a space ship if you’re never going to use it?” asked Mango.

Sherbet looked as if she was going to cry. Astro looked nervous.

“If you can find someone to fly the ship, I will let you take it into outer space.” He offered.

Mango and Sherbet jumped and laughed. They were so excited. “Thank you Professor Astro!” They shouted as they ran out of the university. Professor Astro rubbed his head, what had he gotten himself into? He’d never flown anything before, especially not in space!

Later that day Mango and Sherbet returned to the university with Pilot behind them.

“Professor!” they shouted as they ran inside to meet him. “Professor we have found someone to fly your ship!” they panted. “No one can fly better than Pilot can!”

“I suppose you are right.” said Professor Astro, “Well Pilot have you ever flown a space ship before?”

“No I haven’t, but I can try.” he replied.

Professor Astro broke out in a cold sweat.

‘What!” he gasped, “And you want to take my precious invention up into the sky, into space!” Astro began hyperventilating.

“Calm down Mr. Professor sir.” said Sherbet rubbing his arm with her paw.

“Yeah Professor, give Pilot a chance. You don’t get anywhere without a chance!”

Professor Asro sat down and had some tea. He looked up at Pilot, “I’ll give you a chance if you promise to bring the twins safely back to Acersville.” Pilot and the twins cheered.

“Thank you Professor!” chorused the twins.

“I won’t let you down sir.” said Pilot.

Astro smiled, “If you are going up in space,” he said, “there are a few things you are going to need.”

“Like what Professor?” asked Sherbet with wide eyes.

“First you are going to need space suits.”

“That’s easy!” said Sherbet, “Granny can knit them for us!”

Mango and Pilot smiled this was going to be fun!

“Then you will need space helmets!” continued the Professor.

“No problem!” said Mango, “I’m sure Wusky has a few big Brandy glasses he can lend us from his Beach Café for helmets!”

“Or even better, fish bowls!” said Pilot, grinning.

Mango and Sherbet giggled at the thought of wearing fish bowls on their heads!

“Then the last and most important thing of all.” said Astro, very seriously. The Loopies looked intently at the Professor. “You will need four friends to go with you!”

Pilot, Mango and Sherbet cheered again, this was going to be more fun than they imagined.

They said hurries goodbyes to the Professor and rushed off to Granny’s house to ask her to knit seven space suits as fast as she could. Their next stop was Crumpet’s Bakery. They asked if she could pack them a picnic basket to take with them into outer space. Then they stopped at Wusky’s Beach Cabana Café to fit Brandy glasses onto their heads to use as space helmets. Mango’s ‘helmet’ got stuck on his head and Sherbet and Pilot had to get it off. What a commotion!

Eventually they had collected all the goodies they needed for their outer space trip. Now all they had to do was decide on who to take with them. They decided to take Granny because she had knitted their space suits and she had never been on a big adventure before. They also chose Crumpet because she had packed them such a lovely ‘Outer Space Picnic Lunch’. They decided to invite Wusky along too, because he had lent them Brandy glasses and fish bowls to use as ‘Outer Space Helmets’.

“Professor Astro has to come too!” said Sherbet as they walked back to the university to board the space ship with all their friends.
“Most definitely!” agreed the other Loopies.

They all boarded the space ship and waited for Professor Astro to begin the count down. The roof of the university opened slowly as the space ship turned and tilted toward the sky.

“Helmets on?” asked the professor, looking around the space ship at all the excited Loopies.

“Buckled in?” The Professor looked around again. Everyone was safely buckled into their seats and they were all grinning with excitement.

“Then away we go!” he said and began the count down.

The Loopies were so excited they began counting with him, “Five, four, three, two, one, BLAST OFF!” they shouted as their space ship shot through the sky and then hurtled through space. The Loopies gazed out of their windows in amazement at all the stars and planets they saw as they flew passed.

“I thought we could have our picnic on the moon.” smiled the Professor.

Granny giggled. Crumpet squealed. They were so happy that the twins had chosen them to come along into outer space.

With a gentle bump they landed on the moon. The Loopies hopped out of the space ship in their new space suits onto the surface of the moon. They soon discovered that on the moon, gravity is not very strong! So they used moon rocks to weigh down their picnic blanket and laughed as their picnic basket floated in mid-air. The Loopies had fun for the rest of the day and spent their time picnicking and pretending to fly!

Soon it was time to leave the moon and go back to Earth. So the Loopies tidied the moon while Professor Astro took some pictures and gathered some moon rocks to take back to Acersville.

The Loopies had a great time, I’m glad we could go too, aren’t you?

© 2007 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.

Download “The Space Adventure” PDF Document

Crumpet owned the local bakery in Acersville and was looking for some new recipes to use in her shop. But not just any recipes, these had to be winning recipes!
So Crumpet had come up with a plan to have a baking contest. Her posters invited every Loopie to bake their best creation and bring them to Teak-tree Park the following day. The winning recipe would be used in her bakery and the winning Loopie would receive a gold medal!

The next day the Loopies were buzzing with excitement. They were all curious to see who the winner of Crumpet’s competition would be.
“I never thought so many would enter.” whispered Crumpet to a nearby judge, as Loopie upon Loopie walked by, each carrying a delicious looking cake.

“I think the gold medal did the trick!” he laughed.

“Well, whatever it was, I sure am happy about it.”

The Park had been beautifully decorated by Leechie and some Kinder Loopies, who had hung some festive balloons and streamers in some of the nearby trees. They had also set out huge tables for the cakes, decked with colourful tablecloths and festooned with pretty tea napkins and tiny forks.

All the Loopies that had entered Crumpet’s Contest had gone out of their way with their creations. Everything looked so yummy. The Loopies had made round cakes, square cakes, double-decker cakes and three tiered cakes. Chocolate cream cakes, chocolate fruitcakes, caramel-chocolate cakes and honey-treacle-cocoa cakes. There were big cakes and small cakes and even tiny cupcakes. It was an irresistible sight!

“Ladies and gentlemen and Loopies of all ages. Welcome to the first ever baking contest.” announced the spokesman to the Loopies who had settled down to watch the judging.

“Your wonderful entries will be sampled in just a moment. Then the prize will be given for the best tasting item.”

The Loopies cheered.

“Let the tasting begin!” cried Crumpet as she snipped the bright blue ribbon that held back the judges. The judges rushed forward, grabbed their forks and began tucking into the food.

The Loopies watched, wanting desperately to know who would win the gold medal, along with the title of ‘Best Baker in all Acersville’. Who would it be? Would it be Granny with her ever-popular Carrot-nut-chocolate Delight, or would it be Chelsea’s Chocolate- fudge Cake? The tension and excitement mounted as the judges began tasting, they tasted for hours! There was just so much cake. Layers of cake, piles of cake, towers of cake, mountains of cake!

The Loopie’s mouths watered, watching the judges eat was hard work!

Suddenly one of the judges gave a loud long burp. He looked at Crumpet; he really had had enough to eat. He looked as if he was going to explode!

Soon all the judges began to look like they’d had enough cake and candy to last until Christmas! Crumpet had to think quickly, there was still so much food!

“The tasting will now be open to all Loopies!” she announced quickly in a loud voice.

To the judge’s amazement the Loopies rushed forward. Every single one! They began to munch. They ate so fast that bits of cake, icing and chocolate flew in every direction!

The Loopies dodged the flying bits as they worked their way through the food. It looked like a food fight! Loopies had cream in their eyes and chocolate up their noses, but everyone was having such a good time, no one noticed the mess!

Eventually, there was no cake left, just happy Loopies with full tummies smiling contentedly. Every single scrap of food had been eaten.
Devoured. Every last crumb gone!

“Oh no!” cried the judges.

“What shall we do now? There is no cake left and we still don’t know who the winner is. Every cake we tasted was delicious.”

Crumpet smiled and looked at the Loopies.

“You’re all winners! You all win gold medals!”

So each Loopie got a chance to stand on the first place step of the podium that day to receive their gold medals. What an eventful, exciting, not to mention delicious, day!

And as for Crumpet’s bakery, well let’s just say she won’t be needing any new recipes in a hurry.

© 2007 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.

Download “The Baking Contest” PDF Document

“Me neither!” replied her brother wrapping another present.
It was Loopie Christmas tradition to go to Granny’s house on Christmas Eve, have a huge dinner, open presents and spend time visiting with all the Loopies of Acersville.

“Blast!” said Patch.
“I canno’ get this present wrapped Mateys!”
Mango and Sherbet giggled. They had agreed to teach the Pirates about Christmas traditions in Acersville and this included sessions in “How to wrap presents” and “Baking Christmas cookies”.
“Here, let’s try again.” said Mango handing Patch a fresh piece of Gift Wrap and a new ribbon.
“Aaaah!” screamed Patch about to pull his hair out with frustration!
“No more lad, enough is enough, Pirates were made to plunder things, not to be giving gifts at Christmas time!”
Wallace sniffed his fresh batch of cookies as he lifted them carefully out of the oven.
“Come on Captain, it’s not so bad, look I made Santa cookies just for you!”
“Aye Captain, and they taste mighty fine too!” said Woody munching a leg off of his Santa cookie.
Patch scowled. He was clearly not impressed.
“Come on, let’s get a bit of fresh air and try something new shall we?” offered Mango, he had an idea. So Patch and Mango left the cottage, leaving Wallace, Woody and Sherbet to bake and gift wrap to their hearts content!

Rounding the bend they got to Tubblie’s house. Tubblie was home, you could tell by the naughty giggles that were coming from his garden! Mango smiled at Patch, motioning him to open Tubblie’s gate. Patch was a little confused but welcomed the change in plans, he was adamant never to gift wrap another present ever again in his life and Santa cookies … well lets just say he would eat them, but not bake them!

Tubblie’s gate creaked, sending a bucket full of water tumbling down and emptying itself over Patch!
“Arg!” mumbled Patch who was soaked right through.
“Oops!” winced Mango, who wasn’t deliberately trying to frustrate the all ready on-edge Pirate Captain.
“I forgot about Tubblie’s doorbell!”
“Aaaah! Visitors!” exclaimed Tubblie as he came forward to greet them. He was the practical joker of Acersville so it made sense that his house would be rigged with all sorts of unexpected surprises!
“What brings you here on this fine, fine Christmas Eve!” Tubblie just sounded naughty. He was definitely up to something, just as Mango had suspected.
“Sherbet and I have offered to teach the Pirates about our Christmas traditions here in Acersville.” replied Mango.
“I was wondering if you would be able to offer any help?”
Tubblie grinned.
“Can you keep a secret?” he asked, his eyes dancing with anticipation to share something he’d obviously been keeping to himself all afternoon.
“Aye lad, you can trust old Patch, I keep my word.”
Mango nodded in agreement.
“Well alright then, follow me!” Tubblie led them around the corner towards the back of the garden. He pointed towards his Brandy Bottle treasure with great delight and grinned with glee.

“Aren’t ye a little on the young side to be taking up drinking laddie?” asked Patch looking a little worried.
Mango only grinned, waiting for Tubblie’s explanation.
“My dear Patch, Brandy isn’t just for drinking at Christmas time here in Acersville.” said Tubblie walking over and placing his arm around Patch’s shoulder.
“We use it to make trifle and Christmas pudding too!”

Mango’s eye lit up. Everyone in Acersville knew that Granny would begin making her special trifle and plum pudding early in the morning for their annual Christmas Dinner that night. It was a Loopie tradition for Granny to light the Plum pudding after dinner and bring it into the dinning room in all its flaming glory!
“And because this is your first Christmas in Acersville, I’ve taken it upon myself to enhance the Christmas Festivities this year. And that my friends; is how this specific Brandy bottle fits in!” Tubblie’s eyes danced once more.

“But how?” asked Mango in amazement.
“I stole it from Granny!” Tubblie confessed and then broke out into fits of laughter.
“But now how is Granny supposed to light the Plum pudding without any Brandy?” asked Mango crossly. The Loopies would be very disappointed if Tubblie had gone and ruined the very high light of Christmas Eve in Acersville! No flaming pudding? What a disaster that would be!
“You’ll see! You’ll soon see!” Tubblie just giggled all the more and ushered them out of the gate.

Soon it was time to go to Granny’s house for the Christmas dinner. The Loopies got themselves washed and dressed and headed off armed with colourful presents and enough ice-cream to sink a small ship!
“Come in, come in!” smiled Granny in her most welcoming voice. She seated the Loopies at the table and proceeded to serve the Christmas food. After the Loopies had finished eating they looked at Granny expectantly for the grand finale of the evening!
“Should we eat the pudding before we open the presents?” asked Granny as she usually did each year, just to built a little more onto the already mounting anticipation.
“Yes!” grinned the Loopies, hardly able to contain their excitement.
It was then that Mango darted a glaring scowl in Tubblie’s direction!
“Well then I’ll go and get it.”
“Let me help you Granny.” said the naughty Tubblie grinning back at Mango.
“Why thank you Tubblie, that is very kind of you.” She said and the two of them headed into the kitchen.
“Granny, I was thinking, wouldn’t it be more spectacular this year, especially for the Pirates, if you would pour the Brandy over the pudding at the table and then light it?”
“Well, I’ve never thought of doing it that way before.” said Granny a little surprised.
“But alright Tubblie, if you think it would make it more spectacular this year, okay then.”

So Granny and Tubblie walked back out of the kitchen armed with a not so flaming pudding and a very suspicious looking Brandy bottle, well at least it looked that way to Patch, who recognized it as the same one he’d seen in Tubblie’s garden that afternoon. Mango almost had a heart attack, but Tubblie motioned him to keep quiet and did something very un-Tubblie like.
“This year I have taken it upon myself to make sure that the Christmas Festivities are extra special!” he explained. “Please would you all put on these special shades before Granny lights the pudding to see what I have planned.”
Tubblie began handing out sunglasses to each of the Loopies present and then handed Granny his Brandy Bottle, which didn’t contain Brandy at all, but Lighter Fluid! He then turned down the lights.

Granny poured the contents of the bottle all over the pudding until it was soaked through. She then took a match and lit the pudding. The pudding glowed with all it’s might as strong as a flame from a blow torch, the Loopies sat back in awe and watched with shielded eyes as the pudding continued to burn and burn. First in brilliant white, then fading to orange and then flickering to yellow, until the lighter fluid had been burnt up and the flames stopped. Of course the pudding was burnt to a crisp and most of the Loopies had singed their eyebrows from the incredible heat, but they all agreed that sacrificing the pudding was a small price to pay for such an incredible fire show.

Later that evening once all the presents had been opened and all the ice-cream had been eaten, the Loopies sat back and thought about what Tubblie’s flaming pudding had taught them. They realized that Christmas was not about their traditions or about basking in the light of a flaming Christmas pudding on Christmas Eve, but about celebrating and remembering the light of a star that once shone on top of a stable one cold night in Bethlehem, marking the birth place of a Mighty King.

The Loopies then folded their Christmas paper, collected their presents and kissed Granny goodnight. As they left Granny’s house they starred up at the sky, determined to find the star that had lit the path to where Jesus lay so many years ago. Rumour has it that Mango was the first to spot it! But that’s another story. One we’ll have to save for next year!

© 2007 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.

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And everyday, he would look out over the ocean and imagine what it would be like to live on a ship.

“I don’t know what a swash buckler is,” he continued, “but I bet he could buckle his shoes faster than anyone I’ve ever met!” Wusky closed his diary and sighed. The sea looked so blue and inviting and it was the hottest it had ever been in Acersville. The kind of hot that makes your ice-cream melt before you even get your first lick! Wusky sighed again.

“That’s it!” he decided out loud, “ It’s way too hot to work today!” So he put a sign on the Beach Café door that read: GONE SWIMMING.

The sea was so cool and refreshing that Wusky swam deeper and deeper until he could hardly see the beach. With nowhere else to go but down, he decided to see if he could touch the bottom of the seabed.

“Mmmm, a seabed,” thought Wusky, “I wonder if it’s comfortable?” He chuckled to himself as he dived deeper. As he dived, he bumped into something.
“Hey! Watch where you’re going mister!” It was a yellow fish.
“I’m sorry about that. I was on my way down to the seabed and didn’t see you!”
“Don’t you mean the Sea Rogue?” asked the yellow fish.
“What’s a Sea Rogue?” asked Wusky excitedly, forgetting about the seabed.
“Come on, I’ll show you.”

The little yellow fish swam deeper, with Wusky following close behind. Eventually they reached a sunken ship. “There it is!” announced the fish proudly, “the Sea Rogue.”
Wusky tingled with excitement.
“Can we have a closer look?” Wusky asked.
“If you’re brave enough.” replied the fish, “The Sea Rogue is a pirate ship!”
“Oh wow! Today is my lucky day!” said Wusky, trying not to swallow too much water in all his excitement.

Wusky swam closer to get a better look.
”Arg, what have we here Matey’s?” came the gruff sound of a pirate’s voice. Wusky gulped. The pirate that had notice him looked very fierce and his eye patch made him look even more dangerous.
“Looks like a land lubber to me!” replied another pirate. This one had a wooden leg.
“Arg, what’s yur name lad?” asked the pirate with the patch.
“The name’s Wusky.” replied Wusky bravely. “You’ve got yourselves quite a home here!”
“A home! Not exactly laddie. A hideout’s more like it!” The other pirates chortled to themselves.
“A hideout?” asked Wusky curiously.
“A hideout from those scurvy critters we stole all this booty from.” said Patch, pointing to a pile of dog biscuits. Wusky’s mouth watered.
“Scurvy critters?” he asked, very interested to learn more about these ‘critters’.
“What mean ye, repeating everything I say? Get yur own lines ya beach barnacle!”
“Sorry,” replied Wusky, “It’s not everyday you find undersea pirates.”
“That’s cuz we weren’t meant to be found, ya pesky seagull! I oughta take yur belt buckle for what you’ve done!” said Patch, furiously.
“Excuse Patch,” said the third pirate Loopie, “He be angry because of his eye.”
“Quite a good eye too, might I add!” huffed Patch.

“The name’s Wallace” said the third pirate. “Don’t get too much land visitor’s down here.”
“Tell us now,” interrupted the pirate with the wooden leg, “What be ye looking for down here anyhow?” he had a mysterious gleam in his eye.
“Don’t worry Peggy, I’m sure he’s not after your treasure!” replied Wallace.
“Blast ye scurvy dog!” he shouted, “Call me by that name again and I’ll gut ya, with me boot buckle!” and he stormed off with Patch to the other side of the ship.

“Forgive Woody and Patch,” Wallace apologized, “Now tell me, what is it that brings you down here?”
Wusky explained how he had wanted to be a swashbuckler for as long as he could remember; and how he had always wanted to live on a ship.
“A swashbuckler you say?” grinned Wallace, “Why I’ve had my fair share of swashbuckling in my day! What do you say we have a go?” Wallace threw Wusky a sword.
“Come on old chap let’s see what you’ve got!”
The two of them began sword fighting and surprisingly Wusky was quite the professional with a sword in his hand. So much so that Woody and Patch forgot to be angry and began cheering them.
Wusky managed to get Wallace’s sword out of his hand with a mighty CLANG.
“Jolly good!” exclaimed Wallace panting, “A worthy opponent I must say!” The two friends shook hands.

“Aye laddie, yur pretty good with a sword in ya hand! What tis it ya do for a livin’?” asked Patch, cracking a smile. Wusky explained that he owned the Beach Cabana Café on Brenton Beach.
“Aye a barman, would ya believe it! Got any Rum?” asked Woody, his eyes widening.
“All the Rum you can drink and more!”
“All the Rum we can drink? What are we waitin’ for lads?” exclaimed Patch.
So the pirates decided to return to the surface of the sea with Wusky and live in Acersville. Wusky taught the pirates how to be good mannered waiters in his Beach Café and in return the pirates taught Wusky some pirate songs and how to swab the deck.

“Well diary…” wrote Wusky as he stared across the ocean at the setting sun. “Today I found out what a swashbuckler does. But I found something else too, three new friends!” Wusky closed his diary and smiled. A mighty fine day it had been and a mighty fine discovery it had been too!

© 2006 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.

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The Loopies living next door to Pilot were all very excited. They couldn’t wait to find out what it was that Pilot was getting up to each night. Every night they would hear loud banging and hammering, knocking, nailing and tapping sounds coming from his workshop.

The Loopies were so inquisitive that Jingle, Pilot’s next door neighbour, had placed a ladder against the wall to peer over into Pilot’s yard and stare right into his workshop with his binoculars! Pilot got so angry he shot marbles at Jingle with his slingshot and broke his binoculars lenses!

Later that day Crumpet went over to Pilot’s house. She had brought him a big Apple–pie, Pilot really liked Apple-pie, so Crumpet thought she would be able to bribe him with it to see what he was up to. But Pilot was too clever for Crumpet.
“Thanks for the trouble!” he said grabbing the pie and slamming the door.
“But I thought that I could come in and see what you’re busy with?” protested Crumpet. But all she could hear were the muffled noises of Pilot tucking into the juicy Apple-pie.
“That’s it! No more freebies for him!” said Crumpet, fuming.

Pilot went back to his workshop. He was expecting Rufus and Ruff to drop by later with some paint and needed to finish up before they came. It wasn’t long before Pilot heard the two brothers walking up the lane to his house.
“Hold her steady Ruff, we’re nearly there.” said Rufus, as he and Ruff slopped some paint out of the bucket they were carrying. Pilot locked up his workshop and went out to meet his two friends.

“So what’s the paint for Pilot?” asked Ruff inquisitively.
“Well I suppose everyone will find out soon enough. Can you keep a secret?” asked Pilot.
Rufus smiled at his brother Ruff. “Ruff and I are the kings of secret keeping in Acersville!”
Pilot took them into his workshop and switched on the light.
“A plane!” gasped Rufus.
“How will you power it?” asked Ruff.
“With extra sweetened ginger-beer!” he grinned.
“Can you do that?” asked Rufus quite puzzled.
“I assure you that I know of no law against the use of ginger-beer while driving – especially while flying!” replied Pilot.

Rufus and Ruff agreed to paint a big poster of Pilot’s plane and hang it in Acer Square early the next morning, along with clearly marked signs stating the time and place of Pilot’s take-off. Pilot was pleased and said goodbye to his friends. He then set to work on painting his plane.

The next day the Square was buzzing with excitement. All the Loopies had seen the posters and began making their way up to Buttercup Clearing on top of Sentinel Hill to watch Pilot make his triumphant first flight.

They cheered when they saw Pilot’s plane but Pilot motioned for them to settle down.
“Start me up boys!” he said to Rufus and Ruff, who were standing ready. They began to clip corked bottles of extra sweetened carbonated ginger-beer in place under the wings of Pilot’s plane. Ruff showed Pilot a thumbs up when all the bottles were in place. Pilot smiled, slung his scarf triumphantly over his shoulder and peddled his plane down the hill.

As Pilot raced his plane down the hill all the bumping and rattling caused the ginger-beer bottles to shake violently. And we all know what happens when you shake carbonated drinks! Pop, pop, pop. One by one the corks began to pop off of the bottles, giving Pilot’s plane more and more power. Eventually Pilot was half way down the hill and the last cork popped off. It gave Pilot enough power to swoop into the air like a red eagle. Up, up, up he soared and then leveled and … he was flying!!

The Loopies below could hardly believe their eyes. They clapped and cheered. Pilot marveled as he flew! It was so beautiful to see Acersville from so high up! Mayor Piney from down below began smiling as he imagined himself flying in to his next election.

Eventually Pilot landed. The Loopies stormed towards Pilot.
“Can we have a chance too?” they asked.
Pilot smiled, “Of course!” he said, “Just one at a time though!”
The Loopies cheered. The rest of that day the Loopies took turns flying in Pilot’s plane, what an exciting day!

© 2006 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.

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Pancake yawned and sat up in bed, turned on her lamp and squinted at her clock, it was midnight.

Grummmm, grummm, grrrrummmble.

Pancake rolled down the stairs and went to her fridge, she opened it but it was empty! Then Pancake remembered that she had already eaten everything in the fridge for supper. Grrrrrrrrummmmmble, grrrrummmble. Oh dear what was Pancake to do? Without a cookie or sandwich in sight, Pancake had no other choice but to get her coat and shoes and leave the house.

She walked all the way down the street to Acer Square. It was very quiet, every Loopie in Acersville was asleep. She scanned the Square; The Hardware shop, no nothing there would taste good. The hairdresser? She winced remembering the time she had eaten soap, and it wasn’t a good memory! Then, with delight she spotted Crumpet’s Bakery!

Pancake was Crumpet’s cousin and Pancake was certain that Crumpet wouldn’t mind if she ate something from the Bakery – just a teeny-weeny snack, just to end the grumbles in her tummy!

Pancake crept up to the door, she felt guilty for not asking, but it was so late, she couldn’t possibly ask permission now? She turned the door knob, it was open! Pancake tiptoed inside.

The Bakery contained the most amazing and delicious pastries, doughnuts and cakes! Her mouth watered and as quick as a flash she began putting her grumbles to bed! She ate and ate and couldn’t stop, she ate so much she became quite paralyzed. In fact she ate so much that she didn’t even notice the police-men outside! They were shinning their torches into the Bakery windows to investigate the break-in!

Just then she heard sirens and a loud voice saying, “Come out with your hands up!”
Pancake froze. She was so frightened. Were they talking to her? She got up slowly and shook the sprinkles from her skirt and wiped the icing from around her mouth. As she got outside, Police-men surrounded her from every angle, hand-cuffed her, bundled her into their car and sped off to the police station with sirens blaring.

The following day, the Loopies held a trial for Pancake. Every Loopie in Acersville was there, including Crumpet who stood in the court room looking very upset.Pancake was wearing a big orange overall and was led out by two policemen. She was cuffed with heavy chains, and looked like a dangerous criminal. Crumpet gasped when she saw that her cousin was the perpetrator of this crime against her Bakery! Pancake stared at the floor, she felt quite horrible!

The judge looked at Crumpet, “What are the charges against this criminal?” he barked.
“I don’t wish to press charges anymore your Honour.” said Crumpet softly.
Pancake was relieved. The judge glared at her and said, “Then you are free to go.”
“Thank you Crumpet.” She breathed, as the Police removed her chains.
“But!” barked the judge. Pancake jumped at his gruff voice. “There is one thing I am sentencing you to, and that is a few weeks of Community Service!” He banged his hammer and the court was adjourned.

Pancake looked at her cousin. “I’m sorry Crumpet, I was just … hungry.” She admitted, her tummy beginning to grumble yet again.
Crumpet smiled, the judge had given her a good idea!
“How do you feel about waffles and lemonade, Pancake?” asked Crumpet.

Pancake’s mouth watered! “You don’t even have to ask!” she squealed delightedly, thinking of the beautiful breakfast her cousin would be making her!
“Perfect!” said Crumpet. “Then you can get started right away!”
Pancake looked confused, Crumpet only giggled.

So the next two weeks Pancake spent her days squeezing lemonade and making waffles out-side of The Acorn Academy School and selling them to hungry Loopies. Poor Pancake! I hope she’s learnt her lesson!

© 2006 Ingrid Holtshausen. All Rights Reserved.

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