The Mystery of the Missing Christmas Letter

Nola Northwind checked her delivery tray.

A blue letter. A red letter. A striped letter.

No yellow letter.

“That’s odd,” she said. “Juniper told me a yellow envelope was coming next.”

They checked the tray label. Then the arrival record. The yellow envelope had reached the Mail Station, but it wasn’t where they expected it to be.

Pip gasped. “A mail mystery!”

He fetched a magnifying glass so large that his nose looked like a potato.

“Let’s start with what we know,” Juniper said.

They knew the letter had arrived that morning. They knew it had a little silver moon on the back. They knew it had traveled beside a very large folded drawing.

“Perhaps a snow gust carried it away!” Pip said.

“The windows are closed,” said Atlas.

“Perhaps someone took it!”

“Or perhaps,” said Juniper, “it’s somewhere we haven’t checked yet.”

They looked beneath the sorting table. Nothing.

They checked the empty mail sack. One mitten, no letter.

At Dottie’s table, Tilly spotted a tiny silver shape peeking from a folded sheet of paper.

“Is that our moon?”

Dottie carefully opened the drawing.

Out slid the yellow envelope.

It had become tucked between the folds of a giant picture of Santa’s sleigh. There were so many reindeer in the picture that Santa appeared to need a traffic officer.

“Found it!” Pip cheered.

Dottie checked that both children’s work was safe. Juniper returned each piece to its proper sleeve, and Nola added the yellow letter to her tray.

They also moved large drawings to a separate arrival tray so little envelopes wouldn’t hide inside them again.

Pip put away his magnifying glass.

“The clue was smaller than my nose,” he said.

“The answer was closer than our guesses,” said Juniper.

Then the Letter Lift dinged.

Mystery solved. Special delivery ready.