Happy New Year!

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance. He takes off his diaper and climbs way high on things and then he can't get down. James says we have to watch him like a hawk. That's silly. We're not hawks. We're bear cubs! Chance is a real handful!

I know what today is. It's Happy New Year Day. That's the first day of the newborn year. James says it's 2011 everywhere except Ethiopia. It's 2002 in Ethiopia. That was a long time ago. Ethiopia is pretty far away, you know. We can't even go there on the train. Sometimes we go to Marathon House. That's downtown. They have Ethiopian food. I l-o-v-e Ethiopian food.

We watched the fireworks. Fireworks make a lot of noise. They're pretty. I wish we could eat fireworks. I bet they taste yummy. That's one of the four food groups, you know. Yummy, sweet, sticky and nasty. That's the four food groups. I can't find fireworks in Canada's Food Guide. Fireworks are how we know that Happy New Year Day is here.

I'm sitting at my desk. I'm thinking. Thinking is hard, you know. I'm thinking about my Happy New Year's Day list. I'm writing down all the things I will do this year to be a good citizen. Good citizens get to eat Smarties and drink root beer. Know what? Bear cubs in Quebec don't drink root beer. They drink cream soda instead.

1. Pick up my toys so James doesn't fall down again.
2. Don't bite Chance.
3. Eat brocollis and sauerkrauts without holding my nose.
4. Stay off the Time Out Chair.

That's a lot of things to remember!


 Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Be kind to your friends and neighbours. Do good deeds. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can have Happy New Year's Day together! Okay! Over and out!"