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"The Day before Christmas" Written and illustrated by Catherine Young of Bumpkin Bears www.bumpkinbears.com Today was no ordinary day as the sun shone through the winter mist. Lewis appeared at the brow of the hill, shivering as the cold wind whistled through his fur and the snow dripped on his shiny black nose! He did not see the three bears moving out from behind the lone tree. The snowballs came flying towards him before he had time to duck!
Lewis, being the youngest bear, had been last to get to the top of the hill. It had seemed to take forever to get there but once they had enough berries the bears knew of a much quicker way down! Without a second's thought they were rolling down the hill with the wind in their fur and rather a lot of squashed berries as they landed with a tremendous bump! What a sight they were with red stains all over their fur! What was Papa Bear going to say. These little bears were so worried that they would not get their surprise they all just sat in a heap looking very sorry for themselves. Before too long the bunnies, twitching their ears, came out to see what the matter was. Followed on by the rather shy Mr Badger, a family of very sleepy hedgehogs woken by the bump and lots of twittering birds including wee Master Robin. Lewis explained why they looked so sad and all their friends took pity on them, especially as it was the day before Christmas. New berries were found even before the bears had had a chance to stand up and shake all the snow off their coats. Their wooly hats became baskets as the birds dropped berry after berry into them as they swooped by. The winter sun started to hide behind the hill, the bears tummies started to rumble and they realized it was time to go home for tea. They ran as fast as they could when waving goodbye, shouting thank you and holding onto all the hats brimming full of berries! How excited they were to get home and see their surprise.
Screaming with his eyes so tightly closed he swore he could never open them again! Suddenly through all their noise they heard Papa Bear's voice, Lewis thought he had come to save them. Forcing one eye slightly open he saw Papa Bear and…. NO monster, just the old red wheelbarrow with a fir tree in it. Mama Bear had always complained of the schreeching wheels! Once the little bear's hearts had stopped pounding and their legs stopped wobbling enough to stand up they were glad to be on their way home. The surprise didn't seem to matter so much anymore although it was a very beautiful tree Papa had chosen just for them to decorate with some of their berries. The rest of the berries will be for Christmas dinner tomorrow!
Lewis said over and over until his eyes closed as he dreamt of this very special day before Christmas. THE END Copyright of all text and images - Catherine Young Prints, Cards and Artist Bears available from www.bumpkinbears.com Back to main page |
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