Night before Christmas

You cautiously pull yourself up out of bed. You begin to wonder if this is a good idea after all. As usual, your parents have told you that Father Christmas will not come to children who are awake. Should you? [[Try and get some sleep, abandoning your plan]] [[Venture out into the house]]

You wake up in the middle of the night. But it isn’t just any old random night, it is the night before Christmas. What should you do? [[Get out of bed]] [[Go back to sleep|Try and get some sleep, abandoning your plan]]

You stay in bed, trying to get back to sleep. After about half an hour, you reason that you will never sleep tonight. You should probably [[Get out of bed]].

You start cautiously walking towards the door of your bedroom. You hear a noise outside the door which makes you jump. It could be anything; Your parents, Father Christmas himself, or just your cat. What should you do? [[Brave it and open the door]] [[Wait for a bit]]

You walk out into the corridor. It is dark. Nobody is in sight. It is 3 a.m. What should you do? [[Enter your bedroom, and go back to bed|Start]] [[Make your way down the stairs|Downstairs hallway]]

You stand stock still, waiting After a couple of minutes, you don’t hear anything more. Should you: [[Continue waiting|Wait for a bit]] [[Exit into the corridor|Brave it and open the door]]

You enter the downstairs hallway of the house. There is a long flight of stairs leading upstairs, and doors to the kitchen and sitting room. Select where you would like to go: [[Up the stairs|Brave it and open the door]] [[To the kitchen]] [[To the sitting room, where the Christmas tree stands]]

You enter the kitchen. Everything is dark and silent except for the low, continuous hum of the fridge/freezer unit in the corner. There isn’t much of interest in here, so you reason you should go somewhere else. Here are a couple of options: [[Go into the downstairs hallway|Downstairs hallway]] [[Open the front door and go outside|Outside]]

You pull open the sitting room door and enter. You dare not turn on the light, but there are so many Christmas lights on the tree that you can see everything anyway. You can see the Christmas tree, just as it was before: no presents, just the bare wooden floor covered with pine needles underneath it. Do you: [[Exit back out into the hallway as there’s nothing to see here, anyway|Downstairs hallway]] or [[Sit down on the sofa and wait, reasoning that it is only a matter of time until Father Christmas arrives]].

You find yourself standing in the chillingly cold garden, in front of the front door leading back into the kitchen. You hear some Christmas music coming from a long way away. You can either [[Walk in the general direction of the music]] Or [[Go back into the kitchen|To the kitchen]]

You sit down on the sofa and wait for what feels like all night, although your watch says it has only been half an hour. Father Christmas is nowhere to be seen. There are no presents under the tree. Were your parents right, after all? Is there no point in waiting? If that’s what you think, then [[Exit back out into the hallway and give up on waiting|Downstairs hallway]] But, if you’re especially determined, you can also [[Stay sat on the sofa, waiting]]

This seems ridiculous! You are walking through the dark moonlit garden. You are only in pyjamas and slippers. You here the music getting louder. It is coming from down the road. You can [[Walk down the road]] or [[Go back into the kitchen, and give up on the idea|To the kitchen]]

You continue to wait on the sofa. Another half hour passes. It is now about 4 a.m. Oh dear! If Father Christmas doesn’t come in the next few hours there will be no presents for you in the morning! And Father Christmas may know you’re here… It looks like this isn’t the right thing to do, sadly. There is nothing for it but to [[Give up on it and exit back into the hallway|Downstairs hallway]] unless, of course, you would like to put your presents at stake. In that case, just [[Stay here]]

You almost go to sleep on the sofa. You see light streaming in the window. It is 8 a.m. There are no presents! Your parents come down, looking for you. They find you, reason that you have only just come down, and give you permission to approach the tree. But there is nothing under the tree. You have lost the story, and better [[Start again, and turn back time|Start]]

You start slowly walking down the narrow country road. As you do so, the music gets louder. You can just make out the tune. It sounds like it might be Jingle Bells. But, it appears the music is further than you thought. You arrive at a crossroads, and wonder what to do: [[Walk back to the house and the kitchen, and get warm|To the kitchen]] or [[Continue the search. Who is playing Christmas music at this time of night? You would like to find out|Walk towards music 2]]

You walk down the road that crosses the one you were previously on. The music is getting louder, and you think you are nearly there. But, you are awake when you shouldn’t be, and you have been for quite a while now. Should you: [[Walk back to your house, and get to bed|To the kitchen]] or [[Keep venturing through the night]]

You think you are very close now, but you can never be sure. The road forks here. You must go [[left]] or [[right]] . It is not obvious which direction is best.

You turn left down the road. You are ran over by a passing reindeer and you die. You have lost the game. [[Re-start|Start]]

You turn right down the road. Ahead of you, you see the source of the Christmas Music. It seems to be a magical travelling band, but you don’t know why they are out at this time of night. Would you like to ask them why they are here? [[Yes|Asking band]] [[No|Not asking band]]

You walk up to the band and curiously ask them why they are there. They tell you that they are here to summon Father Christmas to the area. They say they must get on with their job otherwise Father Christmas will not arrive. Would you like to wait here or go back to the house? [[Wait here|Wait by band]] [[Go back to the house|To the kitchen]]

You decide to not ask the band a question, and just keep walking around the village. Would you like to walk back to your house or further away from it? [[Walk back home|To the kitchen]] [[Keep walking down the road]]

You stand by the band and wait, willing something to happen. You check your watch and see you have been waiting 45 minutes. You can see it will be dawn soon. Should you? [[Rush back home, and back to bed|Start]] [[Keep waiting by the band]] [[Keep walking down the road]]

You keep walking down the road, away from your house. The road forks here. You can go [[left|Left after band]] or [[straight]]

You wait for another two hours. It is very boring! Finally, you see a sleigh speeding towards you. Father Christmas jumps out of the sleigh and stops by the band. He says (to you), “You should be asleep. I am putting you on my naughty list this year.” You rush back to home, only to find that there are no presents for you and only a lump of coal. You lose the game. [[Re-start|Start]]

You turn left at a junction and walk for a few minutes. You seem to have reached the local train station. This is made up of a single train platform. There are no barriers to worry about. You can: [[Get on the next train to arrive, however long you have to wait]] or [[Enter the ticket office, but you assume it is empty]]

You walk straight down the road. You are ran over by a passing reindeer and you unfortunately die. You have lost the game. [[Re-start|Start]]

You wait on the platform. Half an hour later, a train arrives. It looks like a mail or cargo train. You jump on, hoping you can squeeze in between the large sacks. Each sack has someone’s name on the front. Looking around, the sacks seem to contain parcels, not letters. Is this Father Christmas’s secret way to transport presents around that don’t fit on his sleigh? You think probably. Looking closer, you see that one of the sacks has your name on. Would you like to pick up that sack? [[Yes|Pick up sack]] [[No|Don’t pick up]]

You push on the ticket office door, and are surprised to find it give. You enter. There are a few benches, a table, and a deserted ticket desk. Although the building is unlocked, there is no one there. Would you like to [[Log into the computer on the ticket desk]] or [[Exit out back to the platform|Left after band]]

You press Alt+Control+Delete on the computer and are asked for a username and password. You try your luck with “admin” and “admin” and are in! You reach the desktop. What would you like to do? [[1. Print a ticket]] [[2. Track trains]] [[3. Log out]]

You find yourself staring at a surprisingly simple form. You just need to enter the destination, and click “Print”. Where would you like to go? [[The North Pole]] [[London]] [[Neither, go back to the desktop|Log into the computer on the ticket desk]]

The only visible train is in thirty minutes time. That’s curious, as that would be at 3:30 a.m. Who would want to travel at 03:30 on Christmas day? Only one person… It is labelled as “Strictly cargo only”. You can [[Exit back out to the platform and wait for it|Left after band]] if you would like, or [[Continue browsing the computer|Log into the computer on the ticket desk]]

You log out. There is nothing else to do in here, so you should [[Exit to the platform outside|Left after band]]

You print yourself out a ticket, go outside, and wait. You get on the first train, headed for London. There, you change onto a Eurostar to Brussels. In Brussels, you change onto a fast train to Germany. You lose count of how many more changes you do… Two days later, on the 27th of December, you arrive at the closest you can get to the North Pole by train It is empty. It is desolate. There is nobody here. And you have no ticket back! You are stranded. You lose the game. [[Re-start|Start]]

You print yourself a ticket for London. You walk back out to the platform, wait a couple of hours, and get on the first train. By 8 a.m., you are in London. Why did you come here? Father Christmas is not here, is he? And you’re not in bed, so you won’t get any presents. You get the next train back home, but find there are no presents for you. You lose the game. [[Re-start|Start]]

You pick up the sack with your name on. You then hide amongst the sacks as the train pulls into another station. Some sacks, luckily not yours, are unloaded. The train turns around, and travels back towards your station. You exit the train onto the platform, still carrying your sack. You run home with the sack. It looks like you have had to deliver your own presents this year! That was lucky, as Father Christmas had forgot to unload the sack. By 7 a.m., you are happily opening your presents after an eventful night. You have won the Game. Congratulations! There is only one way to win, and you did it. Don’t forget to re-visit the advent calendar tomorrow for more fun content.

You leave your sack where it is. The train pulls out of the station. It quickly picks up speed. At the next station, someone empties the train. They see that you are in the train. You manage to think up a story for why you were there, but whoever it was still types out a text message on their phone. You run home, but there are no presents. Father Christmas was likely notified that you were awake. [[Re-start|Start]]