Happy Birthday, O Canada! Happy Birthday, Charles!

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, too. He's a handful! Oh. Wait!

Know what? Today is O Canada's birthday. James says that O Canada is 145 years old. That's really old but I'm gonna tell you a secret. I think James is older.

Today is my birthday! I love birthdays. Birthdays are fun. I'm the birthday bear. I get to pick the food. I want moussaka. Moussaka is yummy and that's one of the four food groups in Canada's Food Guide. I get to pick what I want to drink, too. Chance and me are sharing a lime drink. It's tasty, too. We play a game. I drink some juice and holler, "Lime slime!" Then I kiss Chance's nose. He makes little squeaky noises, 'cuz he's happy. Chance is too newborn to talk but he kisses my nose with lime slime, too. It's a fun game.

Birthday bears get presents. Presents come in boxes. I got a VIA Rail cap. Now I can really play train!  I got a Spiderman billfold to keep my money in. I got a Raffi album. I like Raffi's songs, don't you? I got a colouring book about trains. Oh! Wait! I forgot! We get to eat birthday cake, too. I l-o-v-e birthday cake!

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. We get to stay up really late tonight 'cuz we're gonna go down to the river and watch the fireworks.

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Be kind neighbours and friends. Then you can eat moussaka and drink lime slime. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and eat with us! We can eat birthday cake and watch the fireworks together!  Okay! Over and out!"