The Red Christmas Rose – A Story Written by the Kids of Big Paws

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Lily who lived with her parents in a small cozy house in the middle of a beautiful green forest. They had a warm home, firewood, books and a big kitchen that always smelled like cinnamon.

Just down the path — not too close, not too far — lived a grumpy troll.

He had a huge yard full of moss, rocks, tiny streams, and quiet shadows.

Every year at Christmas in that yard one single magical red rose would grow.

Bright, glowing, perfect red. Only one. Only on Christmas.

No one knew why.

No one understood how.

The troll didn’t even plant it.

It just appeared.

Every year.

One Christmas morning, Lily was walking near the troll’s yard… and she saw the rose.

It was the most beautiful rose she had ever seen.

Lily wanted it so badly…

so she quickly grabbed it…

and ran home.

Her parents were surprised, but they didn’t ask too many questions.

Soon after that winter… Lily and her parents moved far away to another town.

New life. New school. New places to explore.

But the troll stayed.

And the next Christmas…

no rose came.

So the troll tried planting seeds.

He tried watering.

He tried singing to the ground.

He tried waiting quietly.

He tried waiting loudly.

He tried and tried… every Christmas… for years.

But the magic rose never grew again.

Slowly… the troll got tired.

Tired of hoping.

Tired of trying alone.

And even though he looked strong and rough… his heart felt smaller.

The forest noticed.

The birds noticed.

The trees noticed.

The troll wasn’t angry anymore.

He was just… softer.

More quiet.

Some sadness stayed in him — not forever —but for a long long while.

And every Christmas night…

when the moon was bright…

the troll would sit in his yard and close his eyes…

and remember the red rose.

And sometimes

he would imagine it still growing

right in front of him.

And in that small imagining…

something gentle would bloom again.