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Speaker 1: Hello friends, and welcome to sleep Tight Stories. I'd like

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Speaker 1: to say thank you to our latest supporters, Tammy and

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Speaker 1: Alison and Sam. If you would like to support us,

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Speaker 1: please visit us at patreon dot com slash sleep Tight Stories.

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Speaker 1: A link can be found in the show notes. Thank you.

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Speaker 1: I am starting to get excited for the Christmas holidays

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Speaker 1: to arrive. Christmas for me is a time to spend

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Speaker 1: with family. We usually start the month of December by

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Speaker 1: decorating our tree. We have some ornaments that have been

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Speaker 1: around for years that bring back memories of past Christmases.

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Speaker 1: This episode is about a Christmas Star and how the

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Speaker 1: star becomes special to a little boy. A Christmas Star.

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Speaker 1: Come now, my dear little stars, said Mother Moon, and

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Speaker 1: I will tell you the Christmas Story. Every morning for

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Speaker 1: a week before Christmas, Mother Moon used to call all

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Speaker 1: the little stars around her and tell them a story.

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Speaker 1: It was always the same story, but the stars never

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Speaker 1: got tired of it. It was the story of the

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Speaker 1: Christmas Star, the Star of Bethlehem. When Mother Moon had

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Speaker 1: finished the story, the little stars always said, and the

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Speaker 1: star is shining still, isn't it, Mother Moon, even if

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Speaker 1: we can't see it? And Mother Moon would answer, yes,

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Speaker 1: my DearS, Only now it shines for men's hearts instead

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Speaker 1: of their eyes. Then the stars would bid the Mother

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Speaker 1: Moon good night, and put on their little blue nightcaps

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Speaker 1: and go to bed in the sky chamber. For the stars,

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Speaker 1: bedtime is when people down on earth are beginning to

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Speaker 1: waken and see that it is morning. But that particular morning,

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Speaker 1: when the little stars said good night and went quietly away,

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Speaker 1: one golden star still lingered beside Mother Moon. What is

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Speaker 1: the matter, my little star, asked the Mother Moon. Why

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Speaker 1: don't you go with your little sisters. Oh, Mother Moon,

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Speaker 1: said the golden star. I am so sad. I wish

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Speaker 1: I could shine for someone's heart, like that Star of

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Speaker 1: wonder that you tell us about. Why aren't you happy

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Speaker 1: up here in the sky country, asked Mother Moon. Yes,

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Speaker 1: I have been very happy, said the star. But tonight

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Speaker 1: it seems just as if I must find some heart

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Speaker 1: to shine for. Then if that is so, said Mother Moon,

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Speaker 1: the time has come, my little star, for you to

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Speaker 1: go through the Wonder Entry. The wonder entry, What is that,

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Speaker 1: asked the star, But the Mother Moon made no answer.

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Speaker 1: Rising she took the little Star by the hand and

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Speaker 1: led it to a door that it had never seen before.

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Speaker 1: The Mother Moon opened the door, and there was a long,

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Speaker 1: dark entry. At the far end was shining a little

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Speaker 1: speck of light. What is this, asked the star. It

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Speaker 1: is the Wonder Entry, and it is through this that

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Speaker 1: you must go to find the heart where you belong,

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Speaker 1: said the Mother Moon. Then the little Star was afraid.

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Speaker 1: It longed to go through the entry, as it had

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Speaker 1: never longed for anything before. And yet it was afraid

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Speaker 1: and clung to the Mother Moon. But very gently, almost sadly,

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Speaker 1: the Mother Moon drew her hand away, Go my child,

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Speaker 1: she said. Then, wondering and trembling, the little Star stepped

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Speaker 1: into the Wonder Entry, and the door of the skyhouse

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Speaker 1: closed behind it. The next thing the Star knew it

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Speaker 1: was hanging in a toy shop with a whole row

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Speaker 1: of other stars, blue and red and silver. It itself

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Speaker 1: was gold. The shop smelled of evergreen, and was full

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Speaker 1: of Christmas shoppers, men and women and children. But of

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Speaker 1: them all, the star looked at no one but a

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Speaker 1: little boy standing in front of the counter. For as

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Speaker 1: soon as the star saw the child, it knew that

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Speaker 1: he was the one to whom it belonged. The little

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Speaker 1: boy was standing beside a sweet faced woman, and he

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Speaker 1: was not looking at anything in particular. The star shook

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Speaker 1: and trembled on the string that held it, because it

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Speaker 1: was afraid lest the child would not see it, or

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Speaker 1: lest if he did, he would not know it as

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Speaker 1: his star. The lady had a number of toys on

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Speaker 1: the counter before her, and she was saying, now, I

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Speaker 1: think we have presents for every one. There's the doll

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Speaker 1: for lou and the game for Ned, and the music

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Speaker 1: box for May, and then the rocking horse and the sled.

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Speaker 1: Suddenly the little boy caught her by the arm. Oh, mother,

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Speaker 1: he said, he had seen the star. Well what is it, darling,

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Speaker 1: asked the lady. Oh, mother, just see that star up there.

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Speaker 1: I wish, oh, I do wish I had it. Oh

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Speaker 1: my dear, we have so many things for the Christmas tree,

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Speaker 1: said the mother. Yes I know, but I do want

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Speaker 1: that star, said the child. Very well, said the mother, smiling.

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Speaker 1: Then we will take that too. So the star was

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Speaker 1: taken down from the place where it hung and wrapped

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Speaker 1: up in a piece of paper, and all the while

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Speaker 1: if thrilled with joy. For now it belonged to the

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Speaker 1: little boy. It was not until the afternoon before Christmas,

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Speaker 1: when the tree was being decorated, that the Golden Star

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Speaker 1: was unwrapped and taken out from the paper. Here is

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Speaker 1: something else, said the sweet faced lady. We must hang

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Speaker 1: this on the tree. Paul took such a fancy to

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Speaker 1: it that I had to get it for him. He

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Speaker 1: will never be satisfied unless we hang it on too.

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Speaker 1: Oh yes, said someone else, who was helping to decorate

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Speaker 1: the tree. We will hang it here at the very top.

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Speaker 1: So the little star hung on the highest branch of

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Speaker 1: the Christmas tree. That evening, all the candles were lighted

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Speaker 1: on the Christmas Tree, and there were so many that

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Speaker 1: they fairly dazzled the eyes, and the gold and silver balls,

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Speaker 1: the fairies and the glass fruits shone and twinkled in

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Speaker 1: the light, and high above them all shone the Golden Star.

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Speaker 1: At seven o'clock a bell was rung, and then the

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Speaker 1: folding doors of the room where the Christmas tree stood

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Speaker 1: were thrown open, and a crowd of children came trooping in.

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Speaker 1: They laughed and shouted and pointed, and all talked together,

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Speaker 1: And after a while there was music, and presents were

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Speaker 1: taken from the tree and given to the children. How

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Speaker 1: different it all was from the great, wide, still skyhouse.

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Speaker 1: But the star had never been so happy in all

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Speaker 1: its life. For the little boy was there. He stood

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Speaker 1: apart from the other children, looking up at the star,

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Speaker 1: with his hands clasped behind him, and he did not

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Speaker 1: seem to care for the toys and the games. At

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Speaker 1: last it was all over. The lights were put out,

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Speaker 1: the children went home, and the house grew still. Then

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Speaker 1: the ornaments on the tree began to talk among themselves.

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Speaker 1: So that is all over, said a silver ball. It

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Speaker 1: was a very lovely evening, the loveliest Christmas I remember, Yes,

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Speaker 1: said a glass bunch of grapes. The best of it

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Speaker 1: is over. Of course people will come to look at

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Speaker 1: us for several days yet, but it won't be like

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Speaker 1: this evening. And then I suppose we'll be laid away

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Speaker 1: for another year, said a paper fairy. Really it seems

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Speaker 1: hardly worthwhile such a few days out of the year,

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Speaker 1: and then to be shut up in the dark box again.

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Speaker 1: I almost wish I were a paper doll. The bunch

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Speaker 1: of grapes was wrong in saying that people would come

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Speaker 1: to look at the Christmas tree the next few days,

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Speaker 1: for it stood neglected in the library and nobody came

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Speaker 1: near it. Everybody in the house went about very quietly,

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Speaker 1: for the little boy was ill. At last, one evening

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Speaker 1: a woman came into the room with a servant. The

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Speaker 1: woman wore the cap and apron of a nurse. That

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Speaker 1: is it, she said, pointing to the golden star. The

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Speaker 1: servant climbed up on some steps and took down the

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Speaker 1: star and put it in the nurse's hand, and she

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Speaker 1: carried it out into the hall and upstairs to a

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Speaker 1: room where the little boy lay. The sweet faced lady

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Speaker 1: was sitting by the bed, and as the nurse came in,

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Speaker 1: she held out her hand for the star. Is this

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Speaker 1: what you wanted, my darling, she asked, bending over the

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Speaker 1: little boy. The child nodded and held out his hands

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Speaker 1: for the star, and as he clasped it, a wonderful,

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Speaker 1: shining smile came over his face. The next morning, the

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Speaker 1: little boy woke feeling better, and seeing the star still

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Speaker 1: in his hand, he smiled a happy smile. I would

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Speaker 1: like to share a poem now about a Christmas tree

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Speaker 1: called it Wasn't a dream? Is this a dream? The

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Speaker 1: pine tree cried, when all its trimmings it had spied.

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Speaker 1: Is this a dream that I'm to wear these shining

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Speaker 1: balls beyond compare am I to have these strings of gold?

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Speaker 1: I fear a fairy tale, I am told. I fear

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Speaker 1: someone is teasing me, and in a thrice no balls,

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Speaker 1: I'll see my silver star will disappear, and I'll be

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Speaker 1: playing again, I fear. But no, They dressed the anxious

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Speaker 1: tree and put it where the world could see. They

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Speaker 1: stood it in a window wide to be admired by

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Speaker 1: those outside. It was so graceful and so proud. Folks

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Speaker 1: loved the pine and cried aloud. On Christmas Eve they

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Speaker 1: lighted the tree. Oh then it was a sight to see.

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Speaker 1: It isn't a dream, the pine tree said, when all

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Speaker 1: the children had gone to bed. No, it isn't a dream.

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Speaker 1: Santa Claus cried as he entered, wearing a smile so wide.

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Speaker 1: It isn't a dream, said the Christmas fairy as she came,

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Speaker 1: dancing her step. So merry. Wasn't it fine that the

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Speaker 1: little pine knew her dearest wishes had all come true?

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Speaker 1: Wasn't it great? She never need fear that her wonderful

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Speaker 1: tinsel would disappear? So the happiest pine tree in all

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Speaker 1: the land in the wide window, we'll leave her stand.

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Speaker 1: Good night, sleep tight,