On the evening of December 5th, Emil lay in bed with his eyes open and stared at the dark ceiling. His parents had just gone to bed and it was quiet in the house.Sometime that night Santa Claus would come and fill his boots with lots of goodies. But when would that be? Right at midnight? Before or after? Emil was far too excited to sleep.

Suddenly he had an idea and sat up in bed with a jerk.

"Of course! I could make myself invisible with the help of my miracle slime and wait for Santa Claus. He wouldn't even know I was there." Emil's Miracle Slime had served him well, taking him from one adventure to the next. But would he really be able to make himself invisible with it?

Emil got up, rummaged around in the drawer for his Miracle Slime and repeated his wish. A little later he felt a strange tingling all over his body. Did it work? Quickly, but as quietly as possible, he went to his room door, opened it and ran to the large mirror in the hallway. He stood directly in front of it, but could only see the wall behind him. There was no sign of Emil himself.

He almost cried out with joy, but was able to resist it. So it actually worked. All he had to do was find a spot from where he could see St. Nicholas well without getting in his way. Should he go out into the garden? No, it was much too cold in pajamas for that. Even when he put on thick winter clothes. After all, he didn't know how long he had to hold out.

"Better look out of a window, then," he murmured softly.

But which one gave him the best view of the front door where the boots were standing? The question was also: Where did Santa Claus come from? Would he come through the garden gate like all other visitors, would he just pop up in front of the empty boots or would he sneak around the house from behind so that he couldn't be spotted from a window?

But suddenly he had enlightenment. "All nonsense! There's a better place than a window!' Well, do you know which place Emil could mean? No, not the roof. How was he supposed to get up there? Besides, it was far too dangerous. One wrong step and he would tumble off. The solution was much simpler and above all safer: the front door was mostly made of glass.

So Emil sat down on the floor behind the door and waited. He had to stay there for a long time and gradually he got tired - so tired that he had to be careful not to close his eyes. Because otherwise he would fall asleep on the spot and end up missing Santa Claus. Well, what was that? Hadn't he just seen a dark figure? Emil rubbed his eyes and then opened them wide. He looked through the pane of glass at the garden.

The small garden gate opened at just that moment and someone came straight towards him along the narrow path. No, not on him, but on the house. 'He doesn't see me. He doesn't see me,' he whispered. Emil was trembling all over with excitement. It was almost time. Soon he would see Santa Claus in person.

The figure came closer and closer and suddenly the motion detector on the front door light went on.

Emil jumped in shock. At that moment, at the latest, Santa Claus would have seen him if he hadn't been invisible, because he pressed his nose very close to the glass so as not to miss anything.

But Santa Claus, who wore a decorative robe and a hat that felt a meter high and held a staff in one hand that curled up. In the other hand he carried a bulging sack. He put it down with a muffled panting through the door, leaned the staff against the wall of the house and rummaged around in the sack. He took out several small things and stuffed them into the boots.

Emile was happy. Already that night he could get a glimpse of the goodies stuffed into his boots. In addition, he could actually watch Santa Claus at his work. What kid could say that about themselves? It's just stupid that nobody would probably believe him. Anyway, he knew that this wasn't a dream, but another adventure that he was allowed to experience thanks to his miracle slime.

After a while Santa Claus was done, picked up his stick and sack again and trudged back along the garden path through the thin layer of snow, which was clearly visible thanks to the lights. Shortly thereafter everything was as usual - only the boots were no longer empty. Happy, Emil went back to his room and lay back in his bed. Once again his whole body tingled and he knew that he was no longer invisible.

He fell asleep with a satisfied smile on his face, looking forward to emptying his boots tomorrow.

Author: Bettina Huchler