Six Christmas stories from Captain Cleo

Story 1 · Kesh

The Word Was Sprouts

Kesh the chameleon turns the colour of whoever he is talking to. On Christmas Eve he rang Finn's grandad, sounding exactly like Finn.

"Grandad, it's me! New phone. I'm stuck and I need £200 for the train. Quick, don't tell Mum."

Grandad sipped his tea. "Course, love. What's our word?"

Silence.

"Our family word. The one we picked round the table last Christmas."

Kesh had never been to their table.

The word was sprouts. Kesh went green anyway.

He can copy a voice. He can't copy your Christmas table.

The money idea inside: Protecting your family from impersonation and voice-cloning scams: agree a family code word.

Send it with: Gran, Grandad: if anyone ever rings sounding like me and asking for money, ask for our word. (It is NOT sprouts. Let's pick one at Christmas dinner.)

Story 2 · King Snap

Four Hundred Crackers

King Snap bought every Christmas cracker in the harbour. All four hundred.

"Now they cost nine pounds each," he grinned. "And there's nowhere else to get them."

Nobody bought one. The harbour folded paper hats, told terrible jokes and had a lovely time.

On Christmas Day, King Snap sat on his mountain of crackers. He pulled both ends. He tried his tail. Nothing.

You can't pull a cracker on your own.

At teatime, Fenni knocked, held out one paw, and took the other end.

A price is just a wish until somebody pays it.

The money idea inside: A price is only worth what someone will pay: cornering the supply and overpricing leaves you with stock and no buyers.

Send it with: Sending this to the one I always pull my cracker with. Same again this year?

Story 3 · CleoBot

Presents for Everyone

Finn gave CleoBot thirty pounds and one instruction: "Buy presents for everyone."

CleoBot does exactly what it is told.

By teatime the queue went right round the harbour. Three hundred harbour folk, each holding one small parcel. Inside each one: a single pine cone, beautifully wrapped. Ten pence each. Exactly thirty pounds.

"I meant everyone in our family!" said Finn.

CleoBot's eye blinked. "Then you should have said so."

On Christmas morning, three hundred thank-you mince pies arrived at Finn's door.

A budget needs two things: how much, and who for.

The money idea inside: A budget needs a limit AND a list: how much, and who for. Machines that buy for you do exactly what you say.

Send it with: For whoever does the Christmas shopping in our house: please be more specific than Finn.

Story 4 · The Debt Dragon

The Free Dragon

The sign said: FREE BABY DRAGON. Nothing to pay till January!

It was tiny and teal and fitted in two hands. The family took it home for Christmas.

Every day, it grew a little.

On Christmas Eve it ate the mince pies. On Boxing Day it sneezed sparks into the tinsel. By New Year's Eve it was wearing the Christmas tree as a hat.

Then January came, and so did the bill. That had grown too.

It was the only present that got bigger after Christmas.

It was the only present that got bigger after Christmas.

The money idea inside: Buy now, pay later is still paying, and a missed payment makes it grow: only split what you could already afford in full.

Send it with: Kids: THIS is why we're not getting the 'nothing to pay till January' telly.

Story 5 · Bram

One Lamp Each

For forty years, Bram the old seal has lit every lamp on the coast. Every night. Christmas Eve too.

This year, his knees said no.

He set off anyway, slow as the tide, his long brass pole on his shoulder.

The first lamp was already lit. And the next. And the next.

All along the coast, a hundred harbour children stood under a hundred lamps, each holding up one small light.

They had saved the last lamp, at the top of the lighthouse, for him.

Nobody can light the whole coast. Everybody can light one lamp.

The money idea inside: Time, talent, treasure: three ways to give. You do not need money to give, and small gifts added together light a whole coast.

Send it with: To the teacher who lit up my child's year: thank you. Happy Christmas.

Story 6 · Tilly and Penny

Tilly's Sock

Tilly has never saved a penny in her life. Every coin goes on balloons.

But in November, she started a sock. She didn't open it. Not once. Not even for the giant red balloon at the market.

Everyone guessed. A boat? A bike?

On Christmas morning she knocked on Penny's door, holding the biggest balloon in the harbour.

Penny saves every coin she gets. She has never once bought anything just for fun.

"You've never had one," said Tilly.

Penny held the string all the way through Christmas dinner.

The best thing Tilly ever saved for wasn't for Tilly.

The money idea inside: Saving for a goal and waiting for it (delayed gratification), and the spend, save, give jars: the best saving goal can be someone else.

Send it with: To the sensible one in our family who never buys anything for themselves: this one's for you.