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!"

GO! CANADA! GO!

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's old and forgetful, so I have to look after him. 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.

Know what? We watched the Lympics on CTV. The Lympics are for athletes. They win gold medals. O Canada won lots of gold medals. Chance and me play Lympic Games. I won a gold medal for running. I can run fast 'cuz I got Cat-in-the-Hat sox. They were a present from Tanner. Tanner was a big 'ole yeller dog. He was my firstest bestest friend but he got sick with cancer and died. When I wear my Cat-in-the-Hat sox I remember him. Chance won a gold medal for climbing really high but he tried to eat it. I said, "My son! Take that out of your mouth this instant!" We can't eat gold. It's not in the Canada Food Guide. I have to watch him you know, he's a real handful.

We're having porridge for breakfast. We're not eating gummy worms, though. Today we have chocolate toonies and loonies wrapped in gold and silver foil. We take off the foil and put the chocolate coins in our porridge. It's a Lympic breakfast!

Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where's my handsome bear cubs? Who's gonna help me eat a Lympic breakfast?" That's me! Charles. I'm a handsome bear cub! That's Charles, too! I'm gonna sit down at the table and my breakfast a-l-l u-p! Chance is too little to eat porridge. He drinks condensed owls' milk out of his bottle.

Okay! We gotta go! This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens! Eat all your food so you can be strong and win lots of gold medals today. Good citizens get to drink root beer and eat Smarties. Over and out!"