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Well, I probably had rooerbread snowman, but that was about it

I paused as I approached the head of the table; Mrs Tehbourhood as a whole, as she always did I’d heard Holly earlier, saying to someone how much nicer the old woman had turned out to be than she’d expected, but I didn’t buy it If anyone there was still likely to send me to the pound, I kneas her

Suddenly, as if she’d sensed my presence, she twisted in her chair and looked down atwhich way to run first

Then, Mrs Te I’d never seen her do before Ever

She smiled

‘You’re still here, are you?’ she said ‘Well I suppose we could co and I moved cautiously closer

Then she picked up a gingerbread snowman froured, if I could make friends with Perdita, my furry nemesis, as one more enemy turned friend? So I jumped up into her lap to enjoy my treat

The sound of h the chilly air, and the conversations around me stu beside the table with all the desserts on it

‘Everyone? If I could just have a moment of your ti there with everyone staring at hi his hand, and he s you’ve done to make the first Maple Drive Christmas a success’

A cheer ran down the table and I barked reement

‘We couldn’t have pulled this off without you,’ Holly added ‘And it’s been just brilliant’

‘It has,’ Jack agreed ‘But there’s one person who needs a very special thank you forany of this possible And that’s our friend Claude’

Me? I put my paws up on the table as all around me, the humans of Maple Drive burst into applause Applause for hbourhood aniend

‘If Claude hadn’t belly-flopped his way into Holly’s kitchen, we ht never have become friends,’ Jack went on ‘And if he hadn’t broken into Kathleen’s house, hunting for gingerbread, we’d never have had the idea for this Christmas celebration at all’

‘Don’t forget the time capsule,’ Holly added ‘It was Claude who found that, and brought Mrs Templeton into our plans’

‘Speaking of which,’ Mrs Templeton said, ‘I’ve put the ti with soht be nice to start a new Maple Drive time capsule, in memory of the occasion’

‘What a lovely idea!’ Holly bea happier than I’d ever seen her before ‘What do we need to do?’

‘Just write down your favourite Christmas memory, or a Christmas wish, and put it in the tin We’ll bury it soain in, say, five years?’

‘Sounds perfect,’ Jack agreed ‘Whichbehind him, he picked up a plate from the dessert table, and walked towardsA whole house of gingerbread, with a little model of me at the front ‘Claude, this is for you, to say thank you for bringing us huether this Christmas’

‘Just don’t eat it all at once,’ Holly warned, with a laugh

I pro Suddenly I wasn’t so full any more

They’d erbread They’d talked about me like I was important – not just to my humans, but to everyone on Maple Drive I kne that, wherever Daisy and Oliver were, Maple Drive here I belonged

And I always, alould

I barked with happiness, as Mrs Teerbread roof for me to eat

Everything see perfectly

Until the sound of an approaching car cut through the conversation, and everyone fell silent as aited to see who had co

But deep down inside, I already knew

It was my family, at last

‘Hang on, slon,’ Oliver cried, and Daisy instantly put her foot on the brake