Finally, the long-awaited winter break has arrived. And in two days comes the main event of winter — New Year's. How long we've all been waiting for it.
The town has transformed beautifully for the holiday, with decorated trees in almost every yard. Countless garlands shine with colourful lights. There's no denying it — New Year's is the most exciting holiday for all of us. After all, even adults believe that on this magical New Year's night, all our most cherished dreams can come true.
In our yard there's a small hill where lots of children always play: some on toboggans, some on sleds. And some build snowmen, have snowball fights — in short, it's winter break!
On weekends or in my free time after finishing my homework, I really love playing computer games. The virtual world draws me in so much that everything around becomes completely uninteresting. My parents are upset, they make me read books, but what books could there be — it's the 21st century!
New Year's Eve was approaching, Mum had decorated the tree and was preparing treats for the holiday table. And I, as always, was absorbed in another computer game. There was a knock at the door.
Dad called his son to open the door, but the boy was so engrossed in the game that he didn't even react right away.
Andrew reluctantly tore himself away from the computer and went to the hallway. The boy was very surprised, because standing in the doorway was a real Father Frost with a full sack of gifts. Usually Dad dressed up as Father Frost himself and gave the gifts.
Father Frost was tall and his beard looked quite real. What a beautiful coat he had, all patterned with real snowflakes that didn't even melt, and a little squirrel sat on his shoulder.
After greeting Father Frost, Andrew looked with interest at his large sack.
Father Frost proclaimed in a loud voice that on the eve of the New Year, he wanted to give him an unusual gift — three magical acorns that would grant any wish. One acorn needed to be thrown on the floor and the wish spoken aloud, then clap hands three times!
While Andrew felt the gifted acorns and examined them, Father Frost quietly disappeared.
After inspecting the gift, the boy convinced himself that these were just ordinary forest acorns with nothing mysterious or unusual about them. Except maybe you could feed them to squirrels.
Losing interest in the gift, Andrew hurried back to his favourite activity. But a little later he took out one acorn from his pocket and placed it on the table beside him. At that moment Mum strictly asked him to stop playing — guests would be arriving soon and she needed help setting the table.
But how the boy didn't want to tear himself away from the game, nothing interested him except reaching the final level and defeating the boss.
Taking the acorn, Andrew threw it on the floor and wished for the most important thing in his life at that moment — the wish to play the game endlessly and for no one to bother him!
All that was left was to clap his hands three times.
One! Two! Three!
Suddenly all the lights around disappeared, he found himself inside the monitor, and became one of the characters in the game.
The boy's happiness knew no bounds, he had become part of the game, now no one would stop him from reaching the end. The game completely captured him. He passed the first level, the second, the third. Even if something went wrong, the game would start over.
However, gradually Andrew grew tired, as there was no time to rest at all. Everything turned into real torture.
In the virtual world he was alone, with no one to talk to, time seemed to have stopped, and the game continued on. What could he do? How could he escape? The boy was trapped in the game. Despair completely overwhelmed him.
And then he remembered that the remaining magical acorns were in his pocket, which meant he could make two more wishes.
Andrew now had only one wish — to get home as quickly as possible and forget it all like a bad dream. He took out the second acorn and threw it with all his might on the virtual surface and cried out that he wanted to be home, to talk with his friends and parents.
And he clapped his hands hard three times.
One! Two! Three!
Instantly he found himself sitting in a chair in front of the monitor, and from the next room came the voices of his parents.
How happy Andrew was! The boy quickly turned off the computer and decided for himself that he had said goodbye to the virtual world forever.
He called out loudly for Mum and volunteered to help her, as she was tired from preparing for the holiday.
Mum was very pleased about this.
Andrew fully realized that playing games was very harmful.
He asked if, after helping, he could go play with his friends outside. To which Mum, of course, agreed.
Guests arrived, everyone gathered around the holiday table. They joked, talked, and reminisced about interesting events from past years. And Andrew decided for himself that he wouldn't go near the computer for the entire break. Better to go for walks with friends and read books.
The last acorn the boy placed on a shelf. Next time he would definitely make a well-thought-out wish that would surely come true…
