Little Sister #116: Karen's Reindeer

Tagline: Karen, the Red-nosed Reindeer, had a very shiny nose...

Cover: It looks like Karen, Hannie and Nancy are in some kind of school performance. We never had matching outfits like that in any of my school shows, but I guess that's what makes Stoneybrook Academy different.

Plot!: Karen wants to be Rudolph in her school play, but it goes to Hannie instead, and she's jealous. She's trying to be extra good for Santa, but she steals Charlie's ornament and breaks Nannie's vase and then lies about it.

Points of Interest:

• Karen, in an attempt to be good, picks up someone else's gum and puts it in the garbage. Ew. I think Santa would understand if she left someone else's gum on the ground.
  
• Heh. Emily Michelle calls Karen a meanie-mo.
  
• Karen sees a reindeer in her yard. She immediately assumes it's Rudolph.
  
• Nancy is telling the class that they should do a Hannukah presentation, when Karen blurts out "Rudolph!" because she's thinking about the reindeer, but the rest of the class immediately decides to do a Rudolph number. Nancy is some pissed.
• The big house trims the tree and decorates the house with all of their big house decorations. I wonder if Karen ever thinks of Mom in the little house, decorating the house all by herself.
  
• So if Karen is here in December, she'd be there in December next year, right? Assuming the month-to-month thing doesn't change. Little House: Jan, Mar, May, July, Sept, Nov; Big House: Feb, April, June, August, October, December. I guess it's about even for holidays.
  
• Karen keeps claiming that she sees the Reindeer, but whenever Charlie looks, it's disappeared. He's being really nice about the whole thing, going along with the food in the backyard plan. He is a good big brother. More Charlie fanfic, please!
  
• Hannie gets to be Rudolph, while Karen is Elf #4. Heh. Of course, Karen starts pulling diva fits all over the place.
  
• Hannie gets wired up to some kind of harness so she can fly as Rudolph, but she's scared to do it. I'm so sure. First of all, what kind of school has harnesses so kids can fly? That just seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Also, I do not buy Hannie as being scared of heights or flying.
  
• Karen finally confesses that she broke the vase, and it turns out not to be a big deal, because she's Karen.
  
• In Karen's stocking is a note from Santa, thanking her for taking care of his reindeer, in what I imagine is Charlie's handwriting.
  
• At the end of the book is a weird little change "Carefully I folded the note and slipped it into my robe pocket. I would treasure it forever. But, as it turned out, I would never see my reindeer again." So...is Karen writing this from the future? An adult Karen telling stories about her younger days? What's going on here?!
  

Final thought: The other day I saw some Halloween decorations in a store, and I thought, "this is ridiculous! it's not even September!" but then I looked at the store's other wall and saw Christmas decorations, and thought "oh, I love Christmas, I can't wait!" So I'm a total holiday hypocrite.