Editor’s note: This is the second chapter of a 12-part fictional holiday tale that is running daily until Christmas. Parents are encouraged to read aloud with their children.

Juniper watched the brother and sister as they worked at the craft center, helping little kids put gemstone ornaments onto their mini foam Christmas trees.

Seeing the easy way the siblings interacted with each other, teasing and laughing, sent a pang through her heart. She missed her own big brother more than she thought she would. Never in a million years would she have imagined she’d miss the way he stole the marshmallows from her cocoa, or used his magic to jingle the bells on her hat when they were in school, or started snowball fights when they were supposed to be working.

She even missed him calling her “Junie,” a nickname she hated but was almost desperate to hear again.

“Jasper is happy at home,” she reminded herself. “He loves being an elf.”

She, on the other hand, did not. Oh, sure, it had its high points. Endless toys to play with, a diet loaded with sweets and treats, not to mention getting to live in the most magical, beautiful place on Earth — the North Pole.

But even though it was beautiful, the North Pole was small, and filled with the same elves she had known her entire life. Most were happy doing the same job day after day, never wondering what else was out there.

Juniper, on the other hand, had suffered a bad case of wanderlust for as long as she could remember. She had always been envious of Santa Claus for his ability to leave the North Pole every year and see the world.

And while it wasn’t necessarily forbidden for elves to leave, it just wasn’t done. No elves ever wanted to leave. There was clearly something wrong with her, since she had never been content like all the others. So she had done the unthinkable: she packed up, left home, and set out to explore the world.

She had even made a pact with herself to limit her use of magic. If it wasn’t something humans could do, she wouldn’t do it either.

The problem was, she had severely underestimated how difficult it would be for someone who looked like a child to navigate the world alone. The use of magic was unavoidable, so she had been forced to break her pact. She tried to limit her magic use, though, and not to do anything that would catch anyone’s attention, but sometimes she just couldn’t help herself.

Like the little girl who had almost spilled hot cocoa on herself. Juniper couldn’t just watch her get burned, not when she had the ability to help. The problem was that the girl ­– Katie, she heard her brother say — had seen her.

Despite finally living her dream, she was unbearably lonely, and desperate for someone to talk to. Not quite desperate enough to go back home, though. Not yet, at least.

But she was getting careless ­– she should never have allowed a human to see her using her magic, and she couldn’t believe she let herself slip up. It was something she could definitely get in trouble for if they ever found out back home.

Home. Another pang hit her heart. She might not be ready to go back, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t feeling homesick. What she wouldn’t give for a cup of her mother’s special, secret-recipe hot cocoa right about now.

“This is just as good,” she lied to herself as she took another sip of the Christmas Village’s hot cocoa. “Who needs fancy chocolate anyway?”

She sighed as she looked around the bustling village. The children were all so happy to be playing in the make-believe winter wonderland, and she couldn’t help smile as she watched them.

She had been spending most of her time here. Being surrounded by so much Christmas spirit helped ease her homesickness a bit.

Juniper casually moved closer to the craft table, still watching the brother and sister. The brother was busy showing a little girl how to fold a paper star, while the sister was helping another girl carefully arrange her ornaments on the foam tree.

While the siblings were distracted, a small boy ran up to the table and yanked the top off a jar of red glitter, preparing to toss it into the air. Juniper acted before she thought, and she meant to just magically seal the jar, not allowing any glitter to escape. But somehow, something went wrong.

Instead of staying contained, the glitter swirled out of the jar into the air. It whirled up in a sparkly tornado, and Juniper watched in horror as the glitternado caught the attention of almost everyone nearby.

Read tomorrow’s newspaper for Chapter 3 of this Christmas tale.