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Good evening and welcome to the sleepy book shelf where we put down our worries from the day

and pick up a good book. I'm your host, Elizabeth. It is wonderful to be with you tonight. We are wishing you all a

happy holiday for everyone who celebrates this time of year.

This evening we are reading the final pages of the Nutcracker and the Mouse King.

But before that... of the nutcracker and the Mouse King.

But before that, I'll give you some time to settle down for the night.

Give yourself a nice big stretch and allow all that tension to release from your muscles.

It can be a busy time of year for a lot of us, but you have nothing left to do today, but get a good night's sleep.

And that is such a nice feeling, isn't it?

Now let's take some deep breaths to calm our minds.

Inhale deeply and mentally collect all the thoughts still occupying your concentration.

And now exhale, letting them all go.

Once more now, inhale the positive and exhale the negative.

Lovely.

There once was a beautiful baby princess named Palapat. One evening as the Queen was preparing a meal for the King.

Mrs. Mouse Rinks, Queen of the Myes, asked for some pork. The Queen acquiesced but was soon overrun with all of Mrs

Mouse Rinks, family and friends. The King was furious at the lack of pork and hired the local clockmaker

Christian Elias Drosselmeyer to invent some mouse traps which caught and killed seven of Mrs. Mouse Rink's sons.

The mouse queen swore to take revenge.

Despite Princess Palapat being watched over by six nurses with cats on their labs. On the night they all fell asleep,

...