In a small but very beautiful town, there lived a girl named Natasha. The girl always read a great deal, loved listening to fairy tales that her mum told her at night before bed. And Natasha always dreamt of seeing Father Christmas, who every year brought her the most cherished presents.
One New Year's Eve, Father Christmas even brought a little puppy, which the girl had dreamt of for ages. And ever since then, Natasha knows that the old wizard truly exists, because she doesn't tell anyone about her dreams, yet they come true. This means Father Christmas really can read children's thoughts and bring them gifts they've longed for.
The hot summer passed, followed by autumn. And then the long-awaited winter arrived, December. The trees dressed themselves in white coats, and soft snow crunched underfoot. All day long, beautiful snowflakes danced in the air, and in the windows of houses, bright multicoloured lights gradually lit up — fairy lights. Everyone was waiting for the merriest and most magical holiday — New Year!
Meanwhile, in a faraway land whose name no one knows, because it's very far away indeed, the old wizard — Father Christmas — was preparing for work. His snow-white beard curls beautifully down to his waist, and on his nose sit spectacles with thick lenses.
Right then, what do the children wish to receive for the holiday this year?
Lost in thought, the old man settled into his rocking chair by the fireplace and tipped out a pile of letters from the children.
Now, little Nicholas wants to receive a construction set. Let's see how he's been behaving.
Father Christmas pulled closer a beautiful glass sphere, where he could observe all the children in the world, their behaviour, their marks at school.
Well now, the lad hasn't been naughty, and in his school diary he has only good marks. That means I'll bring him a lovely construction set on New Year's Eve!
The old man commented.
Oh, and who is this girl?
In the reflection of the sphere he saw Natasha. She was sitting quietly in her room reading a book.
Then the girl stood up, went to the window and whispered:
Father Christmas, dear one, if you can hear me, please give me a beautiful dolls' house. Once I showed it to Mum in a shop, but we couldn't buy it, it costs ever so much. I promise I'll never be naughty, and when I go to school, I'll bring home only good marks.
The girl squeezed her eyes tightly shut and clenched her fists, it seemed to her that this way her wish would come true even faster.
What a good little girl, I've been watching her for ages!
Said Father Christmas.
Well then, I think I shall grant her wish.
At that moment, someone knocked on Father Christmas's door.
Unhurriedly he rose from his chair, walked with small steps to the door and called out:
Who's there?
Open up, Father Christmas, disaster!!!!
Loud sounds came through.
The old man opened the door and on the threshold saw a snowman. His scarf was dishevelled, his nose was pointing the wrong way, and his eyes had become twice as large with fright.
New Year has disappeared! Now the holiday is cancelled, no one will receive presents, and all the Christmas trees will wither! Catastrophe!
Now then, let's have everything in order. What's happened?
New Year has disappeared! There are only two days left until the holiday, everyone is preparing, buying Christmas trees, decorating homes, giving presents. But they don't know that New Year won't come!
Father Christmas listened to the snowman, thanked him for the information, and began to think.
And at that time in the town where Natasha lived, it was as if chaos had descended. The wind howled, snow fell so heavily that you couldn't see the road, the ground was covered with ice, and trees were blown down. The electricity went out in the town, the fairy lights went dark.
Natasha woke from the noise of the wind and was frightened.
She called for her mum and asked:
Mummy, how will Father Christmas get to us? He won't be able to see the road and will pass us by. And I'm waiting for him so much, I asked so nicely for a dolls' house.
Don't worry, darling. Father Christmas always comes, he'll definitely find a way to reach us and give you your long-awaited present.
But Father Christmas wasn't wasting time. He guessed that New Year had been stolen by the Blizzard, because she'd been waiting ages for her chance to stop the holiday happening.
Well then, it's time to deal with this Blizzard!
Father Christmas shouted.
He took out an enormous, glowing staff and struck it on the floor so hard that all the animals around came running.
My helpers, rabbits, foxes, wolves and reindeer! Help me find New Year, because without it there'll be no holiday! People are waiting, preparing, buying presents, decorating Christmas trees! We can't let the Blizzard spoil all this! And then, all of Father Christmas's helpers rushed off to search for New Year.
Two days passed, it was the 31st of December. Only a few hours remained until the holiday, and the lights in the houses still hadn't come back on. Natasha was completely upset and decided that there would be no holiday and she wouldn't get her present.
She cried for a long time, and after a while finally fell asleep. And suddenly, the lights in the houses came on, the Christmas trees finally sparkled with bright fairy lights, the blizzard quietened.
Into the room came Father Christmas — in a bright red suit, with a long white beard, with an enormous sack on his shoulders.
Natasha opened her eyes, the house was warm and cosy, as if there had been no blizzard, and no snowstorm, and the electricity hadn't gone off, but Father Christmas wasn't in the room.
Mum, come here quickly!
The girl shouted.
Mum ran into the room:
What's happened?
Mummy, did New Year come?
Mum shifted her gaze to under the Christmas tree, where stood a wrapped present — enormous, in a bright box.
Natasha jumped up and ran to the tree, rushed to open the present.
Mummy, Mum, it's a dolls' house, exactly the one I've been dreaming of for ages.
The girl cried out with happiness.
You see, Father Christmas got to you after all, and no blizzard could stop him.
Mum said.
At that moment a shadow flashed past the window, Natasha rushed to look, but saw nothing.
In reality, Father Christmas had managed to climb onto the roof so the girl wouldn't notice him, otherwise he would have had to tell her about how his friends — the forest dwellers — had saved New Year, and how they'd found it in the Blizzard's ice castle. But Father Christmas still has so many children to visit, so many presents to give.
New Year arrived on time thanks to Father Christmas, who always grants wishes and gives the most cherished presents!
