This story is part of my collection, A Fairy Tale Christmas, which was originally written in 2007 for my family.
Dedicated to my cousin, Kayla.
There were once two little girls who lived on opposite sides of the world. The one named Mara lived in a place where everyone loved to dance, sing, laugh and play. The one named Vail lived in a place where everyone loved to build things, have intelligent conversations, to read and learn. The funny thing about these two girls though, is that Mara liked to read and have philosophical conversations while Vail liked to sing and play. The other funny thing about these two girls, who had never met the other, is that they were not related but were identical. They both had cute curly hair, perfectly rosy cheeks and even the same nose.
One year, twelve days before Christmas, Mara’s parents took her to visit the side of the world where Vail lived, hoping to find the perfect Christmas present for a relative that would be coming for dinner on Christmas day. It so happened, that Mara and her parents went to the bookstore that Vail’s parents owned, and she was separated from her parents as she picked up a book she had never seen before which looked very interesting. It also happened that Vail had come into the bookshop with her parents and had gone outside the store just as Mara looked away from the door, and Vail played outside in the snow where she sang Christmas carols.
When Mara’s parents were finished shopping, they saw the girl outside who looked like their daughter, and left the store to gather her. Since Vail was singing and playing, they assumed that this was merely the normal behavior of their daughter Mara who was from their side of the world where everyone loves to sing and play. And inside, when Vail’s parents saw a girl who looked like their daughter reading a book, they assumed it was Mara acting they way all people on their side of the world do. Because of this confusion, even though each girl insisted they were not the child each set of parents believed them to be, Mara’s parents took Vail back to their side of the world, because she looked like Mara, and Vail’s parents made Mara come home with them to eat dinner because she looked like Vail.
Both Mara and Vail’s parents were very confused by their daughter’s insistence that they were not each other. Mara claimed that she was not Vail, and Vail claimed that she was not Mara, and both were telling the truth. But their parents believed this to be some silly game their daughters were playing. That night, as the girls realized they were in the wrong place, they both coincidentally decided to write a letter home to their parents to let them know that strangers had stolen them and sent them behind their false parents’ backs.
But the next day, Mara, who was believed to be Vail, lived a whole day with the life of a child from the part of the world where people read instead of playing silly games, where they have intelligent conversations instead of just laughing, and learn interesting things instead of learning ridiculous songs. She was very happy to pretend to be Vail that day and the next and the day after that as she realized that she could finally fit into a part of the world where she could do the things she liked to do.
On the other side of the world, when Vail discovered how much she liked being in a place where she could dance instead of building pointless inventions, where she could play games instead of reading books with no pictures and where she could sing instead of talk about boring things like philosophy, she didn’t want to leave her new home either, and was also glad to keep up the charade of pretending to be Mara.
It was on the fourth day that they were each in the wrong home that their letters arrived at their right home. When Vail fetched the mail for Mara’s parents, she intercepted Mara’s letter to them, and read it to finally understand why her parents had gone without her. On the other side of the world, Mara did the same, in retrieving Vail’s letter to her parents. So each girl, now having realized what had happened, and having changed their minds, wrote a letter to the other girl, addressing it to themselves so that they would know that the other who was thought to be her would read it. It was only two days before Christmas that each girl received the letter from the other girl, and both were very pleased as both letters said that they should stay where they were, and not inform their parents of the mistake, as they were both much happier now in the part of the world where they fit in.
But the next day on Christmas Eve, Vail missed her real parents, who were on the other side of the world in their bookshop, and Mara missed her real parents too. Christmas is about family, and about spending it with the ones you love. Though each girl loved their new lives, they didn’t really love their new parents, they still loved their own parents. But as they were just girls, the hope of gifts under the tree cheered them up very much, for they knew that since they were in the part of the world they each fit into, their presents would be ones that they would like. Vail was excited that she would not end up with a stupid book and Mara was excited that she would not get another silly pair of dancing shoes.
On Christmas morning, however, when each girl opened the gift from their false parents, thinking they would get the perfect gift, they were grossly disappointed. Vail, who was thought to be Mara, opened up her package to find a dictionary and a set of tools to build inventions. Mara, who everyone thought was Vail, got a pair of dancing shoes and a song book. How could this be? Vail, who was finally in the part of the world where she could dance and sing and play, held a gift in her lap that was like the kind from where her parents were from, and Mara, on the other side of the world received the gift that Vail really wanted. Mara felt the same thing, as she sat in the apartment over the bookshop Vail’s parents owned.
Mara asked Vail’s parents why they got her these things, of dancing shoes and a song book in the part of the world where people actually like to think and invent. Vail’s real parents, still thinking that Mara was actually their daughter explained:
“Because, we know that you don’t really like to read books and invent things, Vail,” said Vail’s mother to Mara. “Yes sweetheart,” said Vail’s father, “Did you think we didn’t notice how you sing when you’re supposed to be reading, or how you always dance instead of walk home from school?”
“You knew that Vail didn’t like to read and invent things?” Mara asked. “You knew that she would want this kind of present?”
Vail’s parents were confused that the girl had just spoken about their daughter as though she was not their daughter, so Mara confessed, and showed Vail’s parents the two letters in her possession that Vail had sent. On the other side of the world, the real Vail had a similar conversation and gave an identical confession to Mara’s real parents, and the parents contacted each other about the mix up, and met in the center of the world, to switch their daughters back. Each girl’s parents forgave their real daughter for misleading them instead of trying harder to convince them that they were not each other, and each girl went back with their real parents. Every year after that, during the summer, Mara and Vail would switch places, this time with their parents knowing who they really were, so that each could either dance or read and feel like they fit in, but it was only during the summer, so that they could spend Christmas with their real parents who loved them more than anything.