Family Genre Stories

If your name begins with "J"

Visit With Grandma and Grandpa - Story 1
by Jillian Danko

"Yippee! We get to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house all by ourselves!"
"Jake? Jenny? Are you all packed?"
"Yes, Mom, let's go!"
Jake, Jenny and their Mom and Dad were going to the airport. Jake and Jenny were going to Toronto, while their parents went to Buffalo for a conference.
Jake and Jenny got on the plane and were so excited as it was their first time going on a plane by themselves. They had a whole bag of new treats and games that their parents gave them before they got on the plane. They played with their new games and had lots of fun. Jake and Jenny then got to go up to the cockpit and see the pilot fly the plane. And before they knew it, the plane was landing in Toronto.
"Grandma! Grandpa!" they yelled.

On a frosty cold Christmas Eve night, Holly was sleeping happily and cozy warm in her bed. She was dreaming of all the presents she would get on Christmas morning. Suddenly she woke  and heard a mysterious noise. It was coming from the Christmas tree. Holly thought that the loud noise would go away, but it kept getting louder and louder. 

Holly could not stand it any longer and so she quickly and quietly put on her robe and slippers and opened the door. She saw a sleigh and jumped on it to see what it would be like to be Santa Claus. Then suddenly the loud noise stopped. Holly was about to jump out of the sleight when Santa jumped in and said, "Home Reindeer!"

When they got to Santa's workshop, Holly felt silly for a second. Then she noticed she had become an elf. All of the other elves wanted to hear about her adventures inside Santa's sleight. 

Holly met an elf named Carol. Carol said that she was once a child too, but now she lived in the North Pole like Holly. Holly and Carol had fun making toys together. One of the toys Holly made was a teddy bear for her brother. On Christmas Eve, Santa let Holly put her brother's present under their tree.

The next Christmas Eve, Santa, Holly and Carol got to go sledding.

The Night Before Christmas
by Josh Amyotte

It was the night before Christmas and I, Jonathan, was very cozy in my bed. Suddenly, I heard a thud in my front yard. I stumbled out of bed. I put on my robe and slippers.

I rushed downstairs to investigate outside. I opened the front door and there in front of my own eyes, was a man in a red suit.

His elves and sled were tipped over. I figured it must be Santa. I asked him what happened.

Santa said, "My reindeer took a really sharp turn and we all fell out. The sled hitches broke off and on of the elves broke his arm by landing on it the wrong way. I don't know what to do."

I invited Santa and the elves to come in and have some hot chocolate and they agreed. It was getting close to dawn. I asked Santa if he needed help to deliver the presents. 

He said, "No, I've already finished giving out the presents to the good girls and boys."

Then I asked him if he wanted help to get back to the North Pole. Santa replied, "Okay, since I need to get all the elves back."

"We must hurry or my mom and dad will get worried. How will we get there? We can't fly, can we?" I asked.

"No, I don't think so," answered Santa.

"But can't you whistle for your reindeer?" I asked Santa. 

The elves knew the answer so they yelled it out, "Santa doesn't know how to whistle!"

"It's too far to walk, isn't it?" I asked.
"Yes, it is," Santa said.
"We can't drive, I don't have my driving license yet," I added.

Santa said in a sad voice, "I only have a sled license."

"Well, I guess we could take my snowmobile," I suggested.
"Yes, we could do that," Santa said.
"But what if we run out of gas?" I asked.
"We could bring an extra gas tank," Santa said.
"O.K.," I replied.
"The elves never get tired." Santa said.

We quickly set off to the North Pole before my parents woke up. When we got there, I shouted, "Good-bye!"

I sped back home as fast as lightening. I parked the snowmobile and bolted inside. I crept quietly upstairs and into my bed. Shortly after, I heard my mom and dad calling, "Jonathan."

I dressed quickly and flew downstairs. I tore open my presents. In one of them was a picture of Santa and the elf with the broken arm. The elf had a cast on his arm.

I yelled out, "This is the best Christmas ever." My mom and dad asked, "What's this all about?" 

I whispered, "It's a secret between Santa and me."

Santa Was Seen
by Jessica Schneider

One cold Christmas night, I was so excited. I was rushing all around and my mom said, "Slow down a little."

"But, Mom," I said, "Christmas will never, ever come unless I keep rushing."

"I know you think that most of the time, but to tell you the truth, Santa will not come for Christmas morning," Mom said.

"Oh," I said sadly. I wondered that if Santa was real, why have I never heard Santa on Christmas Eve.

Two long hours after midnight, I heard a loud thump. I thought it was Santa. I quickly put on my robe and ran downstairs. I put on my coat and boots and grabbed a ladder. I went outside and placed the ladder on the side of the house so that it would reach the roof. I hurried to climb the ladder, and there to my surprise, was Santa! Santa saw me, and he said, "HO HO HO, Merry Christmas!"

I said, "Merry Christmas to you, Santa!" We became friends let me come with him to take gifts to all the people in the world. When we were finished, Santa showed me all his magic tricks and taught me how to do them. We had hot chocolate. I told him I would be here every Christmas Eve, and he said, "O.K."

It was 5:00 in the morning, and I said, "It is almost morning, and I must go home." Just like that, I went home in a puff of a cloud. At home, there were thirty gifts for me. They were all the things I had ever wanted. Mom asked me, "How did you get all those gifts?"

"The magic way," I said. 

My mom said, "What?"

I said, "Never mind."

Snow
by Joshua Opyr

I'd been wishing for snow for a couple of weeks now. I couldn't wait to play outside with my friends. When I woke up on Monday, October 22, and my mom said, "Joshua, it snowed," I couldn't believe it. 

It didn't take me long that morning to get ready to get to school. The drive took forever - I thought I would be dead before I got to school. The roads were so bad that everyone was crawling along and we just had to sit in traffic. What usually would take us 10 minutes to get to school took us over a half hour. And would you believe I didn't bring my snow surfer. I had to wait for my dad to get it down that night out of the shelves in the garage. So we built snow forts at recess.

The next day, it continued to snow, but it wasn't so bad getting to school. We were building a jump for the hill, so I could go off with my snow surfer. But the next day, on of our teachers broke our jump because he was afraid we were going to get hurt. I decided to help some kids with a snow fort. We made plans to make it even bigger.

The next day at school, the toboggan hill jump had been rebuilt. A few of the daredevil kids tried snowboarding down the hill on their sleds. I just went off the jump riding my sled. At recess two of the forts that I was helping build declared war and I was in the middle trying to decide which side to be on. But I don't like war. 

I'll just sleep on it.

A Jackie Chan Christmas!
by James Powers

One day Jackie Chan was training so he wouldn’t be fat and so he'd be fit. Uncle was supervising his training.

"Jackie, where is Jade?" Uncle asked. 

"I don’t know, I thought she was with you," Jackie said. 

"Well, she isn’t. One more thing, make me some tea, it’s the only thing that makes Uncle's ancient heart beat". 

"OK, " Jackie said. 

"One more thing, find Jade". 

"OK, Uncle. Wait, it's Jade’s birthday on December 25 - that’s tomorrow.  I got Captain Black to go with Jade and do something, so that we can go shopping for her," Jackie said. They interrupted the training schedule, "Uncle, we need to go shopping. Let's get some money and go." 

"Wait, Jackie, let me finish my tea. One more thing, what does Jade want?" 

"I don’t know, lets just go get a new game boy with some games. Come on let’s go".

Meanwhile, Captain Black took Jade out.

"What’s next?" Jade asked. 

"Now we will go to the water park," Captain Black said. "I can’t wait until this is over" Captain Black mumbled to himself.

 "Whee", Jade yelled while Captain Black was watching.

"Captain Black, I’m ready to go." 

"Why Jade?" 

"Because I went down all the slides and some weird kid tried to follow me, and where’s Jackie?" 

"I don’t know."

Captain Black called Jackie on the cell phone, and asked him where he was. "I’m in the toy store," Jackie replied.

"Well hurry, Jade wants to see you."

"Fine, we're almost done. OK we're ready. You can go now. Thanks for helping us out!"

Captain Black returned and said, "OK, Jade, we can go now. I see Jackie over there."

"Jackie!" Jade yelled.

The next morning, Jackie and Uncle said, "Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jade!"

Jade and her family had a great Christmas.

Visit with Grandma and Grandpa - Story 2
by Jillian Danko

"Yippee! We get to go the Grandma and Grandpa’s house all by ourselves!"

"Jake, Jenny are you all packed?"

"Yes mom, lets go".

Jake, Jenny and their mom and dad were going to the airport. Jake and Jenny were going to Toronto while their parents went to Buffalo for a conference.

Jake and Jenny got on the plane and were so excited as it was their first time going on a plane by themselves. They had a whole bag of new treats and games that their parents gave them before they got on the plane. They played with their new games and had lots of fun. Jake and Jenny then got to go up to the cockpit and see the pilot fly the plane. And before they knew it, the plane was landing in Toronto.

"Grandma! Grandpa!" they yelled.

Jake and Jenny hadn’t seen their grandparents for nearly two years. They were so excited to see them. They got to their house and told them all about their trip on the plane.

The next morning Jake and Jenny’s grandparents took them to the zoo. They toured around a bit then, all of a sudden, they heard a roar, and every body began to run and scream.

"Why’s everybody running and screaming?" Grandpa asked a man running by.

"A lion escaped from its cage down over there!"

"Stop everyone," Grandpa yelled, "You’re just scaring the animal even more. Come on kids, lets go put the animal in its cage," ordered Grandpa.

"How will you do that?" asked Jake.

"Well, in my younger years, I tamed lions."

"Roar!"

Grandpa picked up the nearest chair and guided the lion into the cage.

"Wow! Grandpa, I didn’t know you could work with lions," said Jake.

The zookeeper came up to Grandpa and thanked him for his help. Then he gave him free passes to the CN Tower.

"That was a great day," said Jenny as they left the zoo.

The next day they went to the CN Tower. Once they got to the top, big black clouds were rolling in. Grandpa thought maybe they should go down, but they didn’t want to go down yet, so they stayed up there a little longer. So they went and walked across the glass floor. Grandma didn’t like the glass floor because she got dizzy when she looked down. They then took the elevator back down to the ground and Grandma felt better.

After that, they went back to their grandparent’s home. Jake and Jenny went to pack their suitcases. They got to the airport and flew home.

"Mom! Dad!" they yelled. Jake and Jenny told their parents that they had the greatest trip ever.

The Perfectos
by Jaclyn Healy

Once there was a family who was perfect in every way. Their home was meticulous and tidy. There was a mom named Jan and a dad named Michael. Jan and Michael had two kids, Bryan and Sarah. Sarah was a year older than Bryan. Their last name was Perfecto.

All the other families were very, very jealous of the Perfectos. The moms would always say to Mrs. Perfecto, "How do you do it? How do you keep your house so clean and how do you make your cookies so delicious?"

"Oh, I'm not perfect," she's always say, even though she knew she was. Mr. Perfecto was a lawyer, a perfect lawyer. The children got the very best marks in their school.

One sunny morning, when the Perfectos were getting ready, Bryan had to ask his parents a question. "Mom, Dad, can we get a dog? I'll take care of it by myself! Please, please," Bryan whined.

"Well, a dog is a big responsibility," said Mom.

"Well, this family does need a pet," said Dad.

"Well, we will think about it," Said Mom.

"Yes, yes, yes!" said Bryan in a very excited voice. "Guess what?" said Bryan.

"What?" said Sarah.

"We might get a dog," said Bryan.

"Really?" Sarah said with a gasp.

"Yep, Mom said so herself."

"Oh, my gosh. We're getting a dog. Wow!" she said.

"Come on kids, you're going to be late for school!"

"OK, Mom."

"OK, class, let's open our text books to page 75," said Mrs. Appleton. Ring! Ring! Ring! "Wow, recess already! OK, we'll start on this next class. OK, class, settle down," Mrs. Appleton said, "Clear off your desk. Pop quiz!"

"Aahhh!" the kids said in unison.

1 hour later...

"OK, class, I have marked your quizzes and I think you will all be pleased with your results," Mrs. Appleton said, as she handed Bryan his quiz. "Excellent job, Bryan. 100% again," she said with a grin.

"Did you have a good time at school?"

"Yah," said Sarah.

"Yep," said Bryan.

"Mom, did you decide yet?" Bryan asked eagerly. 

"Actually, we did decide. We decided that we are going to get you a puppy," they said.

"Yes!" he said.

So the next day, they went looking for a dog. After a couple of days of looking, they found the right dog for them. They brought him home and picked a name for him. Coco. Coco chewed everything he could see. He tracked dirt all over the home of the Perfect Perfectos.

All the moms didn't say that stuff to Mrs. Perfecto anymore.

"We need to have a family meeting," said Dad. 

"Ever since we got the dog, your grades have gone down, our house has become messy, and wrecked, and I don't think it's working out," Mom said in an upset voice.

"Why don't we train Coco?" asked Sarah.

"Well, that's not such a bad idea. I mean, I stay home, so I can take him to puppy school while the kids are at school," said Mom.

"You guys, I think we can make this work," said Dad.

So every Wednesday and Friday, Mom takes Coco to puppy school and Coco does not chew everything in sight anymore. Now the moms ask Jan how she keeps her house so clean and her cookies so delicious and her dog so well behaved. So everything worked out for the better and the Perfectos stayed Perfect and they all lived happily ever after.

A Pound of Butter

by J. F. S.

It is a cold day in December of 1930.  My family and I live in Ottawa, Ontario.  Today my grandfather Jack Farley is going to participate in the annual 13-mile skating race across the Rideau Canal.  My family and I can stay for only the beginning part of the race because I have a curfew of 7:30pm and the race might go on until 10:00pm.  My grandfather has trained for a few months now so we hope he will win. For his birthday in November, our whole family chipped in to buy him a new pair of skates.  They cost a lot because it is still the depression.

“Bang”.  The race has started.  Go, Grandfather, go!  Right now Grandfather is second, but not by far.  I have to go now.  It only seemed like a few minutes.

I have to go to bed now, but I know Grandpa will win.  I hope to have dreams about it.

“Jack Farley is in the lead,” the announcer screams, with only 1.4 miles left.  Jack Farley has won this year’s Rideau Canal skating race, winning one pound of… butter.

Finally it’s morning and we get to see Grandfather.  I know he won a pound of butter because Mother told me.  He’s not all that happy because he knows that’s all they could give out, but it’s not exactly what he wanted.

Ten years later Grandfather still won’t eat butter!

 Around the Mountain Top

By J. F. S.

Andrew and Erin Mciligan were three-year-old twins.  The Mciligans lived on the top of Mt. Pyramid in Jasper.  They loved to ride on their tricycles around their mountain home.

Andrew and Erin decided to go on their daily ride around the mountain top.  They peddled and peddled and peddled some more, when they saw a house that looked just like theirs.  There was the same door.  There was the same tree.  There was the same everything.

Andrew and Erin sat and puzzled until they came to the conclusion that their house had a twin just like them. Then Andrew and Erin peddled again until they came to another house that looked just like theirs, with not only the same door and tree, but also the same parents drinking the same tea.  They ran up to the parents and said, “Are you our parent because we’ve got some like you?”  The parents laughed and laughed some more, and replied, “Andrew and Erin Mciligan, you peddled yourself around our mountain top!”

Good and Bad Decisions
by Jay Vetsch

One day, my dad and I were sitting waiting in our jeep, outside the dentist’s office. We were waiting because my little brother had a massive toothache and my mom had to take him in to be checked. My dad and I had a contest to guess how long it would take until they got out of the dentist building. I guessed 30minutes. My dad guessed 45 minutes. Twenty-nine minutes had gone by. If they were more than one more minute, I would probably lose. But suddenly Mom came out. She was screaming, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh.” We jumped out of the jeep and ran into the dentist building.

When we got to the room that they had my brother in, we heard my brother screaming his head off. My mom said, “Dr. Zenchoni, what on earth did you do to my son?”                              

Dr. Zenchoni replied, “You said to take his tooth out, right?”

My mom said, “No. No. No. I said get the popcorn kernel out of his teeth.”

Dr. Zenchoni said, “Oh I am so sorry. I thought you said to take the tooth out!”

Dr. Zenchoni needed help. He needed it fast. So he got his helper Ms. Horacaloni. They needed a lot of medical tools to perform this operation. It took a long time, but they finally finished fixing up the damage they had done to my brother’s mouth. The dentist felt so bad about what he had done that he told my brother he could have whatever toy he wanted as a prize. He got a Game Boy. He loved it. But he kept on asking me for help in the game Bugs Bunny Evil Castle #3. It got so annoying that I wanted to break his Game Boy. But I had a plan. I would get him to eat popcorn again so he would have to go to the dentist. While he was gone, I would have some time to do something with the game. So I did. But not a kernel got stuck. So I tried and tried and tried again. But it wasn’t working. Finally, I just took his game and hid it. But when my brother noticed that he didn’t have his game, he called our Mom and told on me. My mom was very mad at me. She was so mad at me that she grounded me.

She went with my brother to go and buy another game, but they were sold out everywhere. When my mom got home, she said, “Tell me where the game is, or else!”

I said, “Why? What’s the point? Are you going to like hit me with the wooden spoon?”

My mom suddenly replied, “Good idea. I was just going to scream at you for a long time! But that’s a good idea.”

So she went looking for the wooden spoon. It took her a while to find it, so while she was looking, I stuffed my pants with pillows. When my mom got back, she hit me until her hands were sore. Then she sent me to my room.

After a while, I was feeling pretty bad about what I had done. I figured I could help my mom out if I gave my brother his game back. So I did. My mom was really happy. She said I could have the two things I wanted most. I said, “Sure.”  I wanted my mom to give me allowance money so I could buy my brother a guide for his game and I also wanted some new sports equipment. The next day we went shopping for the new things. We brought them home and everything was going along just fine. That is, right up until my brother lost his Game Guide! The nightmare had started all over again!

The Trip
by Jessica Kinal

Hello my name is Jessica and I am going to tell you how interesting my grandparents are. My grandparents have six children with seventeen grandchildren. My grandparents are so cool. They are world travelers. They leave every year in January and come back in six months, this year they are leaving for Africa.

Landing in Africa they see many interesting things. They feel the fiery sun flashing in their eyes. Many people are walking everywhere speaking African. They are extremely excited to experience what Africa is like.

Quickly they found their hotel and unpacked their bags and they went on a beautiful safari in the desert. They saw many different animals like huge grey elephants, zebras eating grass, and roaring lions resting under trees. While visiting they lost their passports and all their traveling money. But worst of all they were lost in the desert. They walked and walked and finally found a group of Africans. These people could not understand my grandparents.

They had to live with this group of people that spoke different languages and that lived in huts. They were very scared until they got to know this one special person who tried to make them feel welcome. He took them to a dance so some of their fears would go. As they began to feel comfortable among the tribe my grandparents wondered if the grandchildren were worried. After a while they asked help from the Africans to get their passports and money to get back home. They all said yes.

With lots of hugs and kissed, my grandparents said good-bye to all the Africans from the tribe. They now know how to speak their language and live like them. They flew back to Edmonton and ran to their grandchildren and told them the whole story.