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📖 Pip and the Mince Pie Mystery: a Christmas story for kids
5 min read
Every year, a week before Christmas, Mrs Claus bakes mince pies.
She bakes them in the big kitchen at the back of the workshop, in trays and trays and trays. Little round ones with star-shaped lids, dusted with icing sugar like fresh snow. They are for the elves, for the workshop party, and of course for Father Christmas, who says that a warm mince pie is the best thing in the whole wide world.
But this year, something strange was happening.
The first clue
On Monday, Mrs Claus put a tray of twenty-four mince pies on the windowsill to cool.
When she came back, there were twenty-two.
"How odd," said Mrs Claus.
On Tuesday, she put out another tray of twenty-four. When she came back, there were nineteen.
On Wednesday, there were fifteen. And a lot of crumbs.
"Pip," said Mrs Claus, "I think we have a mystery."
Pip the elf put down the teddy bear he had been stuffing. His eyes went very bright.
"A mystery?" he said. "I'll solve it!"
Pip the detective
Pip found a magnifying glass in the toy cupboard. He found a notebook and a pencil with a rubber on the end. He found a deerstalker hat that was much too big, so it came down over his eyes, and he had to push it up every few steps.
Then he went to the kitchen to look for clues.
On the windowsill, he found crumbs. He wrote that down. Clue 1: crumbs.
On the floor under the window, he found footprints in a dusting of flour. They were not elf footprints. They were not boot prints either. They were round, and split down the middle.
Clue 2: funny round footprints, Pip wrote.
And caught on the latch of the window, he found a single, long, brown hair.
Clue 3: hair. Brown. Quite long.
Pip held the hair up to the magnifying glass and frowned a very detective-ish frown.
The suspects
First, Pip went to see the gingerbread bakers.
"Have you been eating Mrs Claus's mince pies?" he asked.
"Certainly not," said the head baker, who was covered in ginger. "We only eat gingerbread. We're very loyal."
Pip crossed them off his list.
Next, he went to see Father Christmas, who was sitting in his armchair reading a book about knitting.
Pip looked at him carefully through the magnifying glass. There were crumbs in his beard. Lots of crumbs.
"Father Christmas," said Pip slowly, "where were you on Wednesday afternoon?"
Father Christmas looked a bit guilty. "Well," he said, "Mrs Claus did give me one mince pie. Possibly two. But Pip, look at my boots."
Pip looked. Father Christmas's boots were big and black and flat. They did not make round footprints split down the middle.
And Father Christmas's hair was white, not brown.
"You're free to go," said Pip. "I mean, you can stay. It's your chair."
Round footprints
Pip sat on the workshop steps and looked at his notebook.
Round footprints, split down the middle. Long brown hair. Someone tall enough to reach a windowsill.
He thought. He thought some more. And then, from the direction of the stables, he heard a sound.
Munch. Munch. Munch.
Pip tiptoed across the snow, pushed his hat up out of his eyes, and peeped round the stable door.
There stood the reindeer. All eight of them. In a little circle. And in the middle of the circle was a plate with three mince pies on it.
The reindeer froze. One of them had a star-shaped pastry lid stuck to her nose.
"Hooves!" said Pip. "Round footprints split down the middle! It was you!"
The reason why
The youngest reindeer, Bramble, stepped forward and hung her head.
"We're very sorry, Pip," she said. "It's just that, every Christmas Eve, all the children leave out a mince pie for Father Christmas. And they leave a carrot for us."
"We do love carrots," said one of the big reindeer quickly. "Carrots are lovely."
"But we wanted to know what a mince pie tasted like," said Bramble. "Just once. And then we couldn't stop."
Pip tried very hard to look stern. It did not work. He laughed so much that his deerstalker hat fell right off.
A happy ending
Pip took the reindeer to see Mrs Claus, and they all said sorry. Mrs Claus put her hands on her hips. Then she smiled.
"Well," she said, "I suppose everybody deserves a treat at Christmas."
So that afternoon, Mrs Claus and Pip baked something brand new: little golden cakes made with grated carrot, oats and apple, just right for reindeer. Bramble said they were even better than mince pies. The big reindeer agreed with their mouths full.
And Pip wrote one last line in his notebook.
Mystery solved. Everyone gets a treat.
So this Christmas Eve, when you leave out a mince pie for Father Christmas and a carrot for the reindeer, you'll know a little secret. The reindeer are very grateful for the carrot. But they might just be peeking at that mince pie, too.
The end.
Talking about the story
- Which clue helped Pip solve the mystery?
- What do you leave out for Father Christmas and the reindeer on Christmas Eve?
- If you were a detective, what would you put in your notebook?