Good-bye Merry Christmas!

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

Chance got a chocolate toonie for Christmas. We're not supposed to eat money but it's okay if it's chocolate, 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! Frankie lives with us, too! He's four and he goes to the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre with me.

At Christmastime we got lots of presents. Frankie and me got new hockey sticks. We can play Stanley Cup all winter! We shoot! We score!

Frankie and me got Space Ray Guns. That's good! We will need them next summer when we go on lion hunts in the back yard.

We got Smarties. We got lots and lots of Smarties.  Auntie Kerri gave us a Smarties Train! All aboard!" I holler. "Next stop is Chocolate Land!" Chocolate is our friend, Grandpa James says.

We got Kinder Eggs in our stockings! We love Kinder Eggs! They're yummy, sweet and sticky. That's three of the four food groups in Canada's Food Guide, you know.

I got Caillou and a pop-up Christmas book and Jelly Belly, too. We got chocolate toonies. They are giant sized! The toonie is almost as big as Frankie and Chance.

Know what? Christmas is over. Merry Christmas is gone but she'll be back next year.

Christmas all the Time is our favouritest Christmas album.

This is how we say 'good-bye- to Merry Christmas. First we put on Nana Ruth's album and sing along.  I will tell you a secret. I think Nana Ruthie is a princess. Frankie thinks she is an angel. Maybe Nana Ruthie is an angel princess!

Now our Christmas tree is bear naked, just like us!

Then we take all the decorations off our little tree and put them in the red box. Then we put away our Christmas tree. It's a rota Picea canadensis. I know what that is. It's a Canadian Tire Spruce tree.

The tree sleeps in the cedar chest. It will be there when it's time for Merry Christmas next time!


 Did you hear that? Grandpa 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!

Grandpa James is hollering, "Where's Frankie? Where's my Knight of Knewfoundland and my Lord of Labrador?" That's Frankie! He's our Knight of  Knewfoundland and our Lord of Labrador!

We gotta go find Grandpa 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 friends and neighbours. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! Bring your hockey stick and we can play Stanley Cup! Okay! Over and out!"

Getting Ready for Merry Christmas

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I'm five.  live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Grandpa 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! Frankie lives with us, too. He's our cousin. Frankie is four. He goes to the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre with me.

We have an important job to do. We have to get ready for Merry Christmas. She will be here in seven days. We have to decorate our tree and bake cookies. First we have to have Christmas music. We have special Christmas music to listen to. Nana Ruth sings the songs. She put them on an album so everyone can sing them. Nana Ruth knows lots of songs about Christmas.

You can get Nana Ruth's Christmas album right here, you know.

Nana Ruth lives in St. Andrews by-the Sea. That's pretty far from our house.We can go there on the train or in Uncle Rob's truck. It takes three days. Know what?  Because we have her album it's like she's right here in the living room with us. We sing along 'cuz we know all the songs by heart.

1. Feels Like Christmas 
2. O Come O Come Emanuel/God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman 
3. Christmas All the Time  
4. Precious Promise 
5. King of Kings 
6. What Child Is This 
7. Christmas In the Trenches  
8. It Wasn’t His Child 
9. Away In a Manger 
10.Childish Eyes 
11.God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/ I Saw Thee Ships (Instrumental)

12.Christmas Morn

So we have the music. Next we have to make hot cocoa with newborn baby marshmallows on top. Frankie and me get to drink out of mugs. Chance is newborn. He drinks his cocoa from his bottle.

Grandpa James brings out the tree. He says it's a  rota picea canadensis Grandpa James makes up stories. It's a Canadian Tire Spruce tree. Grandpa James says that it came from the forest but I know where Christmas trees come from. They come from Canadian Tire. I'm five. Grandpa James can't fool me!

Now, we have to untangle the silver garland. It's a big job!

Frankie and Chance are putting on the silver garland. Chance licks it. He can't eat the garland! It's not one of the four food groups!

When we hang something on the tree, we say something we're thankful for. It's a special thing to do. Our tree is almost all decorated. Uncle Kit and Auntie Kim surprise us. They bring us something special to hang on our tree.  They brought little boxes of Smarties.

Next we put the presents under the tree. We get to open one on Christmas Eve and the others on Christmas morning, after breakfast.

 There are only seven more days until Merry Christmas gets here. I will tell you the Christmas story soon.

Did you hear that? Grandpa 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! Grandpa James hollers, "Where's Frankie? Where's my Knight of Knewfoundland and my Lord of Labrador?" That's Frankie! He's our Knight of Knewfoundland and our Lord of Labrador.

We gotta go find Granpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. 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 decorate the tree together! Okay! Over and out!"

Christmas Music

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Grandpa 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! Frankie lives with us, too!

Last Christmas Chance tried to climb up on top of our Canadian Tire spruce tree. I had to help him get down when he got stuck up there. "My son! You are a handful," I tell him." Santa has to sit on top the tree so he can see who's naughty and nice." Chance is too newborn to know better.

Know what we're doing? We have on our headphones. We're listening to Christmas music. That's 'cuz it's only 243 days 'till Merry Christmas comes to our house. She comes every year. She brings Santa and the angels. She brings the elves and Elvis. The little drummer boy comes and so do the shepherds and the sheep. Sheep smell funny, you know. Oh. Wait! The three wise guys come but they follow the OnStar.

Auntie Ruth plays the zither. She sings, too. I bet she knows a hundred songs!

This Christmas album is special. It was made by our Auntie Ruth. She knows lots and lots of Christmas songs.  The CD is called Christmas All the Time and she sent it by Canada Post all the way from New Brunswick. It was a surprise present. Grandpa James helped us write a thank-you letter to Auntie Ruth.

If Christmas came every day I'd get to eat a lot more Smarties!

 Some of the songs Auntie Ruth sings are old and some of them are new ones 'cuz Auntie Ruth wrote them all by herself. She's very smart, you know. My favouritist song is Christmas All the Time. I like that. I want Christmas to be every day! Then I wouldn't have to wait all year. I tell Frankie everything about Christmas. He hasn't had Christmas with us before.

Christmas All The Time has lots and lots of songs!

Did you hear that? Grandpa 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! Grandpa James hollers, "Where's my Frankie? Where's my Knight of Knewfoundland and my Lord of Labrador?

 We gotta go find Grandpa 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 friends and neighbours. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can listen to Auntie Ruth's Christmas album together! Okay! Over and out!"