The true meaning of Christmas

Her name was Natalie. She was selfish and cold hearted. She only cared about herself. Every Christmas, she would get many, many presents, but never gave any. She thought Christmas was all about her.

It was Christmas Eve, and Natalie was counting the presents under the tree. "Thirty-two? That's eight less than last year!" She yelled as her mum came running to her side.
"Natalie, you know that St Nicholas still has to come, you will get more still," her mother said.
"Oh yeah," she said, lighting up. "Anyway, I still have more than Fawn. Hey, where is she? I want to rub it in."
"She is dropping some of her old stuff of at the Bushfire appeal. after that terrible fire, those poor people need all the help they can get." Her mother explained.
"Right," Natalie said, loosing interest, "sounds boring. I'm going to count my presents again."

That night, when Natalie was lying in bed, she heard the sounds of whispering. "Fawn, quit it," she yelled, hitting the wall separating her bedroom from her sisters. She layed back in bed, but the whispers continued. She sat up and looked out the window to see a dark shadow hovering about. She got up from her bed and walked over to the window. She opened the window, to tell whatever it was to leave, but before she could even blink, it floated through the window. It stopped in the middle of the room, beckoning Natalie towards it. "Wh-wh-what are you?" Natalie said, shaking. "What are you doing here, y-y-you have to go, right now!"
"Don't be afraid," the dark figure said, "I am the Christmas Angel, I am not here to hurt you. I am here to help you."
"Help me?" Natalie said, still shaking. "I-I-I don't need any help! You just have to go, or-or-or I'll...I'll scream!" She took a deep breath, but couldn't seem to find her voice. She gasped, trying to speak, but nothing came out.
"Don't waste your breath," said the Angel, "I have taken your voice so you will listen. I shall give it back, if you co-operate with me." Natalie nodded, and her cold, whiny voice was once again back.
"I have come to help you, to show you the real meaning of Christmas," said the Angel again. "You have completely forgotten the true meaning of Christmas. Take my hand, and I will show you." The Angel raised her dark hand, and Natalie unwillingly took hold of it.

They felt themselves spinning, shaking through a whirlwind of whispers. But all of a sudden, they stopped, and Natalie was surprised to see herself in the future, as an elderly lady. She watched herself, desperate to know why she was here. She looked around to see a very empty looking room. She looked back to the elderly version of herself and watch her dial her phone. "Fawn? It's me, Natalie...What do you mean...No, I...But, no, please don't go, I..." She looked at the phone in her hand, her sister had hung up. She placed it on the table in front of her, looking upset. "She, but, I have no one," she said, tears rolling down her face. She cried softly to herself, but no one cared enough anymore to comfort her. She was all alone.

Natalie opened her eyes to see herself lying in her bed, back home. She looked at the clock, it was Christmas day. She ran out of bed and out into the living room to see heaps of present under the tree. She saw her parents and Fawn sitting nearby, so she began tearing the wrapping paper off her gifts. She looked at the present in her hands. This is what Fawn had been hoping she would receive. She remembered what had happened last night, and walked over to Fawn, the present in her hands. She handed it to Fawn, smiling. "What?" said Fawn, looking slightly thankful.
"I want you to have this," said Natalie, "I know you have been wanting this for a long time, and even though I do too, I want you to have it instead." Her parents exchanged surprised looks. Fawn took the present from her hands.
"Thank you Natalie," she said. "but why?"
"Because last night, I realised that some day I might need you, but you won't be there for me, and because I am so lucky to have a sister like you." She said.
Fawn smiled, "I think you just learnt the true meaning of Christmas," she said.
Natalie nodded, with a simple "Merry Christmas!"

EduBlogs Challenge #10 - Blog Audit

Well, this is it, the end of the EduBlogs Student Challenge for 2010.
This week, I have to create an Audit for my blog, answering some given questions.

1. How many posts did you write: I wrote a total of 18 posts in the 2 and a half months that the Challenge went on for, including the posts for the Challenge.
2. How many were school based, your own interests or set by the challenge: My blog is a home blog, so I had no school based posts. My own interest - 10, Set by the Challenge - 8 (One of the Challenges was to create a poll and last week was to prepare yourself for this weeks challenge, so I only actually had to write 8 posts.)
3. How many comments did you receive from classmates, teachers or overseas students: Too many to count, and thank you to all those who did visit my blog and comment on it, I am very grateful.
4. Which post received the most comments? Why do you think that happened: My most popular post at the ending of the Student Challenge was actually Peace, Love and a Few Simple Words. I think this was very popular, because it is a message I wrote to the readers. I was expressing my feelings, in terms of my writing to my readers. It is something different that I haven't really done before, but I was lucky, because it paid off.
5. Which post did you enjoy writing the most and why: I have two. From my own personal interest, I chose The Toy Doll. When I wrote this, I could see it happening in mt mind, which I believe is one of the qualities to being a great and successful writer. For the Challenge, I chose The area in which I live in, because I learnt a lot about my home in the period of time in which I was writing it. I learnt how lucky I was to live in such a unique and wonderful place.
6. Did you change blog themes at all and why: No, I didn't, because I wanted my blog to be recognisable when you log on to it. I like the theme I have chosen because it is not too distracting, because it is very simple.
7. How many widgets do you have? Do you think this is too many or not enough: I have 13 widgets, which sometimes I think is too many. Some of them (like the search engine) I think are pretty important, and that should stay on my blog, but others I think maybe don't have to be there.

The second part of this challenge was to get the readers to answer some questions:

1. What were your first impressions of this blog?
2. What captured your attention?
3. What distracted you on the blog?
4. What suggestions can you give me to improve my blog?

Please answer in a comment below.

Thank you again for letting me be a part of such a fun challenge. I have definitely developed some blogging skills that I will use when writing.