The Spirit of Christmas Future

Have you ever had spooky spirits haunting your dreams at night? Well you’re in for a rough ride if you haven’t. Fasten your seatbelt and hold on tight because your nightmares are about to come to life!

A young female teenager goes to sleep angrily on December 23rd. She tells her pet dog, “I don’t even want to celebrate Christmas this year.” Let’s rewind for a second. The girl, Eliana sits at the round dinner table and glares at her phone nonstop. She takes a look at the food and just scoffs. Her mother, Lily, stares at her in disappointment.

Lily says,” Honey, why aren’t you eating your food? I’ve been cooking this for over an hour.” Eliana gives her mother a sigh and says, ” I don’t feel like eating, I’m too depressed. All my friends are getting Christmas gifts and having big feasts. But, I only got a Christmas card.” Lily looked across the table, at her husband, Alex, hoping he had something in mind to tell Eliana. He took off his glasses and rubbed off the fog. They sat in silence. Eliana looked disappointed.

Suddenly, Alex remembered something, he said, ”Well, honey, I got you a christmas tree to decorate and a new phone! I was going to give it to you on Christmas Eve, but since you asked. Here you go!” Eliana replied, ” OMG! Thanks dad!” She tore the wrapping paper open and grunted. She said “Dad! This is purple! I wanted a white phone! How could you!

” Lily said, ”Honey, be grateful. The store was out of white. Here, I’ll help you throw the trash in the recycling.” Eliana wanted to go to her room, she didn’t care about the tree or the phone, and she definitely didn’t want to recycle anything. She stood up angrily, but then, Alex said, ”I’m sorry honey, I didn’t realize you wanted a white one. I promise I will make it up to you this Friday after school. Okay?” Eliana reluctantly said “Fine” and leaves the table instantly. Her feet stomping on the floor felt like an intense earthquake. She finally headed to sleep on her soft, fluffy bed. She normally adores sleeping, but nothing could cheer her up at this moment. She told her dog Zeus, “If I don’t get to enjoy Christmas, then nobody gets to.” Was she turning into the grinch?

Eliana wanted to find a way to ruin everyone’s Christmas. She knew that all the parents would give the presents to their kids on Christmas Eve, because it was her town’s tradition. So, she had to find a way to ruin Christmas before that. She felt too tired to think, so she went straight to bed. Not knowing that her dreams were going to change her whole Christmas experience. She went to bed and started to doze off into sleep. In her dreams, she saw a light, it looked almost like a ghost. She walked towards it, and noticed that it was a spirit. It melted into a candle, but it was floating. What kind of spirit was this?

The spirit slowly melted into a candle and it said proudly, “I am Eugene, the spirit of Christmas PAST! I am here to show you what people like you have done to the environment on our Earth. The Earth is suffering because people like you don’t know how to recycle and appreciate good gifts. Your dad got you a Christmas tree to decorate, and you weren’t even a little bit grateful! Do you know how wasteful that is? I am going to show you when the world was more peaceful and precious. Hopefully, you will change your mind about being ungrateful and apathetic.” Eliana shouted, “ NO! I will not be part of this! This is so un……” Her voice faded while Eugene dragged her into the portal and went back to the past. When they arrived, she saw trees standing tall and heard birds singing songs. It was like a fairytale! Eugene led her to her old house where she saw herself reject gifts one by one right in front of her mother and father. Young Eliana said” I hate this present! Why couldn’t you have gotten me a purse or a wallet?!” with an angry tone. This happened several times in her past.

Eugene said” See what I mean now? You have rejected every single gift you have ever gotten, and they always end up in the garbage. This is why our Earth isn’t as appealing as it is now, here in the past.” Eugene took out a huge snowglobe that showed what Earth looked like in the past. It was remarkable! She couldn’t believe her eyes! She felt a sudden change of heart and wanted to change, but she couldn’t admit it. Instead, she said” What’s done is done, I can’t change the past!” Eugene said proudly” Right! But you can change the future! All you have to do, is to…………” His voice faded while he got sucked into the time portal. Eliana shouted” No! What did you say? Uhh!” Suddenly, a ghostly spirit pulled her aside and whispered “Boo!”

Eliana jumped up and gasped like a cartoon. The spirit said, ” I am the spirit of Christmas present! That’s why I am dressed like a present! I am here to show you what is happening to our beloved environment in the present! Call me by my name, Serene.” Eliana replied in a mocking tone “Ok, Serene. Why are you here? I guess you want to teach me a lesson like Eugene did. Eugene and Serene. Hey! That rhymes!” Serene stated” Well, yes! You have not learned a single thing about wasting and hurting our environment! People like you are the reason why we will have to leave Earth one day! Let’s embark on a journey and explore the present! They teleported into a dark and empty space.

Eliana asked” What is this place?” Serene replied” You don’t reconize it? It’s the forest of life! But it’s become the forest of death! Lumberjacks have cut down countless trees, and caused a major problem, what we now call, deforestation. Wrapping paper is one of the things we cut down trees for. Some people don’t even recycle it after they tear it apart!” Eliana looked disappointed, she started to question her life choices and began to think things over. They stood on the dead grass in silence until mist began to fog up Eliana’s sight. Before she knew it, Serene said” My time is up. I’m afraid we have to part ways now. Oh, and remember! You can’t change the past, but you can change the future!” Serene disappeared before Eliana could even say goodbye. She assumed that the spirit of Christmas future would pick her up and teleport her, but nothing came. She was stuck in the forest of life, or should I say, the forest of death.

Eliana cried for help until suddenly, a bush started to rustle. A flaming spirit jumped out of the bush and made a peculiar sound. Then, more similar looking spirits started to jump out of the bushes around the rustling bush. They joined together and formed an odd creature/spirit. It then said “There is no time for introductions. The future of our beloved Earth is in your hands!” Eliana asked” Are you the spirit of Christmas Future? Were you sent here to teach me a valuable lesson?” The sprit answered “ No! I was sent here to inform you that no one or thing can ever predict the future. The things that happen in the future will depend on what you do in the present and what you have learned from the past. You don’t ever change the future. The future is what you have to create on your own!” These words touched deeply into Eliana’s heart. They struck her heart like a lighting bolt. The spirit disappeared into the bush and Eliana sat down on a log cut down from a tree. Someone pulled her from the back yelling “Eliana wake up!” She got startled and woke up from her dream instantly. She felt like a whole new person!

Eliana ran downstairs and gave her parents a warm hug. She didn’t say anything, neither did her parents. She went straight to the dinner table and picked up the wrapping paper. She took a random cardboard box and tossed all of the wrapping paper in it. On the side, she wrote recycling. Her parents smiled and hurried her to the Christmas tree. She saw countless presents laying under the tree. She was tempted to open them up but hesitated. She said to her parents “I don’t want my presents wrapped next Christmas. I also don’t want a big feast next year.” Her parents were shocked that those words came out of their very own daughters mouth. Then Alex, her dad said “Very well sweetheart. But since we already wrapped them this year, can you at least enjoy it this time?” Eliana didn’t hesitate at all and shouted “ Yes! Of course!” They all sat under the Christmas tree and celebrated Christmas as a happy family.