Julian is getting just a little old for Santa – at least, he thinks so. His mother and father seem to disagree, and Santa is all they can talk about as Christmas gets closer. Finally, just to appease his parents, Julian writes a letter to Santa and asks for a video game system just like his cousin’s. His mother goes a little pale when she sees the request, but Julian assures her that Santa can afford that kind of thing.
Christmas morning comes and sure enough – the game system is under the tree. But way back under the tree is another gift – a toy train. “Santa must have dropped this out of his sack,” Julian’s father said, adding that Santa might want to pick it up when he came the following year.
Julian played with that train all day, and over the next year, it became his favorite toy. He took it everywhere with him, it sat on the dinner table while he ate, and it sat in a special place on his shelf while he was at school. The video game was cool, but it was nothing compared to his train.
Christmas drew near again and Julian began to worry. What if Santa decided to take the train back? He just couldn’t let that happen, so he wrote a letter and told Santa that he understood if he was too busy to come on Christmas. That didn’t ease his mind any, so with a big sigh, he decided he’d better write another letter. He left it with the train under the tree and thanked Santa for letting him play with the train all year and that he could have it back if he wanted it.
His parents had said this would be his last year to get a present from Santa, and he was really worried that things might end on a sour note. But on Christmas morning, the train was still there, and four shiny cars were attached on behind, as Santa’s last present for Julian.
(This book was published in 2003 by Peach Tree, and was illustrated by Quentin Blake.)
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