Friday, December 23, 2005

Finding Friends

Once upon a time there was a very large bear. He was so large that he found it difficult to fit in with the rest of the bears in his part of the neighborhood. Granted, his neighborhood was fairly large since he was living at the North pole but he was so big that he found it difficult to fit in. The other bears had friends and family and many of his buddies that he grew up with had girlfriend bears and he was very lonely.
One day when he was walking around wishing he had at least a best friend he walked around a big block of ice and just as he got on the other side he saw a very small penguin. The penguin looked up and was very startled and didn't know which way to run but the bear, who was feeling very lonely indeed, just sat down and stared at the penguin. He just wanted the penguin to know that he wasn't going to hurt him and he wasn't particularly hungry or anything and bears don't really like to eat penguins anyway. So he just sat down and looked at the penguin with a sorrowful look in his eyes.
The penguin noticed that there was something wrong with the bear and he tentatively stepped forward and got a little closer and said, "Are...are you alright?"
Bear said, "I'm so lonely." And penguin said, "Oh I know what you mean! Look at me," penguin said, "I'm so little!" Bear seemed to notice penguin for the first time and said, "You are unusually small. I've seen a lot of penguins in my time and I just thought you were a young one but you're all grown up - I can tell."
"Yes" penguin said, "I'm all grown up but I'm so small that no one really wants to be with me. They all think that I'm strange. Do you know what I mean?"
"Oh yes!" said bear, "It's just the way for me. I'm so big that none of my friends that I grew up with wants to be with me either."
"Ohhhh," said penguin and he sat down and they sat there very mournfully for a long time looking at each other with sad eyes until all of a sudden almost at the same time they both got an idea. Bear was the first to say it, "Say," he said, "Do you know what?" And penguin said, "I think I do!"
"Yes" bear said, "We could be friends! I mean, I'm awfully big but..." Before he had a chance to say anything penguin said, "And I'm so small but..." And they both said it at the same time, "We could be best friends!"
They smiled at each other and for the first time in their lives even though they were both very different from each other and very different from their own people they realized that they had a chance to have a best friend and they remained best friends for the rest of their lives even though penguin did eventually find someone that wanted to be with him and bear eventually found someone who wanted to be with him, they always lived near each other so that they could talk to each other and be around each other all the time and they were best friends.
Bear was Uncle Bear to penguins children and penguin was Uncle Penguin to bears children. It just goes to show that no matter how big you are or how small you are, no matter how different you are, no matter how unusual you are, there's always a best friend waiting for you right around the next corner. Sometimes you just have to look.
Goodlife to you all and have a very merry holiday season.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Charlie The Christmas Tree

Once upon a time there was a Christmas tree named Charlie. Now I know, you're going to tell me that Christmas trees don't have names but Charlie was different. You see, he grew near a path where the children walked to get to a trail that led to one of their favorite places. They loved this spot because there was an old rope that hung from a tree and they could swing on the rope back and forth and back and forth and they had a lot of fun doing that. Charlie grew right next to that path and when the children would go by him to swing on the rope they were happy and laughing. So he decided, hearing all their names as they came and went, that he would call himself Charlie since he was happy too.
One day it got towards Christmas time again, and Charlie always looked forward to Christmas time because he knew he and the other trees would be covered with snow and they would be happy and beautiful. In the distance he could see houses all decorated with lights that would look so nice. Sometimes someone would come by and throw a little tinsel on Charlie and he'd feel real nice about that and perk right up. He loved Christmas just like the children did who passed him by on the path. This year Charlie decided he wanted to do something different. He wasn't sure what it was but he just knew he wanted to do something different.
Most people were going to the lot to buy their Christmas trees but there were still a few people who went out to the woods to cut one down. Some of those people came over and stood by Charlie. There were two children with their Mother and Father. The Father said, "How about this one?" Both the youngsters spoke up right away, "No, no, no. We walk by that tree all the time when we go to the place where we swing on the rope." "Oh yes, I know that place", Dad said, "that's a favorite spot of yours. I remember doing something like that around here when I was your age."
"Yes, yes", their Mother said, "seems there's always been a rope up there for the children to swing on. It's been replaced a few times. Yes, you're right, we can't disturb this tree." "Maybe we ought to decorate it this year", said one of the children whose name was Millie. Millie's brother Timmy said, "Yes, can we?" "What about the tree we're going to have at home", said his Mother."Well sure, we can do that but wouldn't it be fun to decorate this tree too?", said Millie.
"Well, sure - why not. Come on, we'll go to the lot like usual. We'll buy a tree there instead of cutting this one down. How about that," said Dad. Everyone agreed and as they went on down the trail their voices faded away.
Charlie leaned over to his friend next to him - "How about that! See - the children looked out for me and they're going to decorate me." His friend said, "Oh, people - you can't be sure about them." "No, no", Charlie said, "I know they'll be back." Sure enough, about two or three days later he saw Millie and Timmy headed towards him and right behind them was their Mother and Father.
Where the snow wasn't covering Charlie they put on tinsel and bows and a star right on the very top of him. Then they stood back and smiled. The sun was shining and glittering off the snow and tinsel and Millie said, "Oh it's so pretty. I bet all the other kids are going to love it." " Maybe", said her Mother," this will become a tradition and every year people will decorate this tree and then when they walk by they'll smile." What a wonderful idea Charlie thought to himself. I'd like that. The children admired the decorations for a while and took pictures standing in front of Charlie. "Oh boy!" they said and as they went home their voices trailed off. Charlie leaned over to his friend. "Ah hah", Charlie said, "how about that?" "Yes", his friend said, "you were right. I guess there's hope for people after all."
Well the years went by and every year Timmy and Millie or some of the other neighborhood children would come by and they'd reach up as high as they could on Charlie and they'd re-decorate him every Christmas. Pretty soon Charlie was so big and so tall that they couldn't reach that high up and no one had any chance of putting a star on the top of Charlie so they just did as much as they could and everyone liked and admired what was done. Every once in a while someone would throw tinsel way up high and it would stay there year round, sparkling in the sunshine and catching a little ray of light when the moon was out. Charlie would enjoy it and appreciate the added beauty to himself.
Well the years went by and the children grew up and had children of their own and their children grew up and had children of their own. Charlie started feeling kind of old and tired and was about ready to drop some seeds the way pine trees do in the form of pine cones to become new young trees. Before he did that he said to his seedlings, "Now I just want you to know that sometimes people can be kind of a problem for trees but other times they'll come along and surprise you and do wonderful things. They'll appreciate your beauty and maybe even add to it. It just goes to show, people and trees can be friends after all." Then he let go of his seeds and they rolled this way and that way and they looked forward to making friends with other trees and becoming friends with people someday too.

Goodlife and Happy Holidays everyone

Monday, December 19, 2005

A Little Gift For You

Once upon a time there was a happy holiday. The happy holiday was lonely
because it didn't have a day to celebrate. Oh it was happy alright but it
didn't know what it was happy about.

It decided to ask its best friend what it could do about that. Now its best
friend was Mary Christmas and Mary said "we have to put our heads together
about this. I know what", Mary said, "we'll invent a holiday for you."

"What will we call it", Happy said. "We'll call it twosday",she replyed. "Oh
that's wonderfull", Happy said, "what is it celebrating?" "It's celebrating
the number two",said Mary. "Oh", said Happy.

Well for many years everyone celebrated Twosday and Happy was very happy.
But you know how it is, over time people forgot what the holiday was about
even though they celebrated it all over the world. One day Happy said to
Mary,"I think people have forgotten what Twosday is all about even though
they seem to be having fun. Do you think we ought to do anything to remind
them?"

"Well", Mary said, "I'll have to think about that." And so she did. "I have
it", she said, "why don't we commemorate Twosday with a special dedication
and a re-christening. We'll change the spelling to Tuesday and then if
people don't remember that it's a celebration of the number two, you won't
feel so bad about it since it's mispeled anyway." "Oh I feel much better
about that", Happy said, "now I don't have to feel nervous that people have
forgotten what my holiday is all about." "Good", said Mary, "and to support
you I'll change my name too. I'll call myself Merry Christmas". And they
both smiled and were happy.

Well you know how things are. People forget things over time and even though
we still have Tuesday nobody really remembers what it celebrates but
everyone remembers Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays!