Author: Susan Minarik

“It’s Festival Day! Today is the day that the sun’s northern visit comes to an end, and it turns southward again,” Little Pine thought as he drifted awake from his dreams.  That was how the elves explained it to him.

He felt a soft wave of peace in his heart and thought some more. It was kind of beautiful the way that all the creatures on the earth got their share of the seasons. For some parts of the great world, the elves said, the seasons’ changes were dramatic. In other parts they were hardly noticeable at all. But when you looked at the whole of it, everything balanced out.

Here in his woodland world, Little Pine thought, the hours of darkness would be at their longest today. Now the creatures of the north would get their winter rest, and those of the south would be moving into their most playful cycle. 

It was just like the Angel of Peace and Joy said, Little Pine thought.  ‘This peace holds a perfect balance.’  And Kimberley Kindbear was right, too.  No matter how this Festival Day unfolded, it would be perfect and beautiful.

As he lay there, feeling the peace of the dawn, Little Pine heard a lovely song drift across the pond.   It was his friend, the holly tree, greeting Festival Day with her clear, high, welcoming song.  Its beauty echoed inside Little Pine even as it crept out to every corner of the woods, waking the trees and the critters.

Little Pine rose from his sleep, calm and happy, and greeted his mother.  Together they ate breakfast, listening to the holly tree’s singing.  Mother Pine helped her son fasten his golden star to his crown and, kissing him on the forehead, said, “Do well, Little Pine, and have an excellent day.”

As he stepped to the edge of the pond, the holly tree’s song came to its end and there was a moment of hushed silence.  Then Little Pine raised his boughs high and sang out, “Let the Festival begin!”

And all at once, the woods were filled with drumming and a flock of a hundred doves soared into the air.  From the far end of the woodland, the mice began the Grand March down the long and winding trail that would take them at last to the clearing at the base of Grandfather Pine.  As they went along, all the animals of the woods joined in the Grand March, the smallest first, then the middle-sized ones, and finally the deer, who were the largest of them all.  After the deer, the Festival guests fell in line.

First came Grandmother Bear, and behind her the flower fairies and the dancing pony, and Marvin Monkey, who somersaulted along.  Then came Marty Moose with the whistling elf boys dancing on his back, the Gingermans, with Mother Elf, and finally, the dozens and dozens and dozens of bears.

Through the woods they all marched, and the squirrels and chipmunks and woodpeckers drummed and drummed.   As they reached the clearing at Grandfather Pine’s feet, the creatures formed an enormous circle, the wee ones in front, the larger ones behind them.  Overhead all the woodland birds gathered, singing, and finding places to sit in the trees surrounding the clearing.

When the two big brown bears brought up the last of the March and took their places, Little Pine raised a bough in the air and the singing of the birds and the drumming stopped.  Little Pine waited for the chipmunks and squirrels and woodpeckers to arrive from their drums, then he threw a whole basket of fun bubbles into the air.

They burst into music that captured the happiness in everyone’s heart and turned it into streamers of colorful light and song.  Then Sugar Bear stepped into the center of the circle and raised her wand, and choir of bears began to sing.  And their song filled the entire woodland with joy.

When their singing was finished, the dancing pony took center stage and delighted everyone with her prancing.   Then the mice sang, and the elves told stories, the monkey tumbled, and the flower fairies danced.

After the last of the performers finished his act, everyone exchanged gifts, all of them receiving exactly what would do their hearts the most good.

The bears sang again, this time a whole range of songs.  And when they were finished, the great feast began.

When everyone was full and happy, Grandfather Pine spoke, saying that the entire Festival was to honor the sun, and the Sun behind the sun, which gave life to their bodies and light to their souls that they might live with joy.

And when he concluded his remarks, he asked that everyone applaud Little Pine for all the work he had done to make the Festival a success.   And a great cheer rang through the forest.

Then Little Pine spoke, saying that everyone’s contribution mattered, that everyone is a note in life’s symphony of love.  And he released the rest of the fun bubbles into the air, and they showered everyone with laughter and light and song.  Then everyone danced and danced until the bright moon was high in the sky.

When Little Pine fell asleep that night, after hugging all the guests good-bye, a tear of happiness rolled down his cheek and a soft smile rested on his lips.  And when he was deeply into the land of dreams, another angel appeared to him.

“I am the Festival Angel, Little Pine,” she said to him.  “And I have come to thank you, and to tell you, ‘Beautifully Done!’”

The next morning, Little Pine woke up all at once in less than a flash.   Not even a wisp of a dream lingered in his mind.  He felt as if he was filled inside with the whole morning sky.

He quickly ate his breakfast and then, giving his mother a happy kiss on the cheek and wishing her a good day, he ran down the trail to the Elf house.  To his amazement, the three elf boys were just lounging around in the yard, telling stories.

“Hello!” he called.  “I thought I would have to hunt you down in the woods.   Don’t you have a lot to do today? This is it, you know.  Tomorrow is Festival Day.”  He paused and gulped a little, “Tomorrow!  Tomorrow!”

The elf boys laughed.  “That’s why we’re home today, Little Pine.  We planned to have everything done so we would be free to help YOU!  So, friend, come have a mug of birch tea and tell us what we can do.”

They all went inside where the Gingermans and Mrs. Elf were packing a few last baskets of treats.  Of course Little Pine had to eat a couple pieces of maple candy and have a winterberry muffin with his tea.

Little Pine was touched that the elves had planned ahead so they could help him.  But he was glad, too.  He could use six extra arms and legs today.  “I’ll tell you what would be great,” he said to the elves.  “I have the march and performance schedules here in my bag.  I discussed them briefly with everyone yesterday.  But I want to make sure everybody understands so they will be at ease and have fun.   Let’s look them over together, then you can go talk to the local critters—the birds, the opossums and rabbits and foxes and raccoons, the deer, of course, the squirrels, the beavers, the chipmunks . . . Well, you know them as well as I do.  Just ask if they have any questions and then,”  Little Pine paused and reached in his pocket.  How was he going to do this?  If he handed a couple hundred fun bubbles to the elves, would they burst?  That wouldn’t be any fun at all.  “Oh!” said Little Pine, laughing.  “And that’s why they won’t burst! Because it wouldn’t be any fun.”  So he handed plenty of fun bubbles to each of the elves and said to them, “In my role as Prince Little Pine, I invite you to pass these out as you talk with everyone.”

“I’m going to talk with the bears and all our other guests—the flower fairy, the dancing colt, all of them,” said Little Pine, smiling.

So the elves set off to talk with the creatures of the woods and give them fun bubbles.  And Little Pine went off to talk with guests.  It took the whole day.  It was almost supper time when and and the elves met together back at the their house.   The brothers told him that everyone was ready and excited.  And they shared some of the fun bubble stories.  Little Pine told them the guests were all ready, too.

They asked him to stay for supper, but he wanted to share his day with his mother, and he wanted to get an early rest.  Tomorrow, after all, was IT!  It was Festival Day.

He was over half way home when he came upon a pretty little girl bear sitting in the arms of one of his cousins.  She was wearing a heart-shaped sign that said, “Free Hugs,” and she had a sweet smile.

“Hello!  I’m Little Pine.  Welcome to the Festival!  I don’t think we’ve met,” he said smiling.

“Thank you, Little Pine.  I’m Kimberley Kindbear.   We Kindbears specialize in giving hugs to anyone who needs or wants one.  Are you in need of a hug?”

Little Pine felt shy when he thought about saying that he would like a hug, indeed.  But her voice was so warm and sincere that he knew her offer was made in love.   “Now that I think about it,” he said slowly, as if he was deeply thinking, “I really do need a hug.”

“And why is that, Little Pine?” Kimberley asked gently.

“Well, I think it might help me calm down,” he said.  “To tell you the truth, I have an unfamiliar feeling in my tummy.  I’m happy and excited about tomorrow, of course.  But I’ve never been a Marshall before and I hope everything turns out the way I planned.  That’s the part that stirs up my tummy.”

And with that, Kimberley climbed onto one of his branches, curled up to his trunk and gave him a soft, warm hug.   Then she took one paw and patted his trunk and smiled into his eyes.  “Little Pine,” she said quietly, “It’s all going to be beautiful, any way that it unfolds.  Any way.  Perfect and beautiful.”

And Little Pine felt the comfort and peace in her hugs and knew that she was absolutely right.

Little Pine was up late into the night working out his plans for the Grand March. The instructions and tips that previous Marshals had passed down were a big help, and he was pleased with his final plan. He would spend the next day visiting all the parade participants to tell them where they would fall in the line. And he would tell the performers the order in which they would present their pieces.

He checked his supply of fun bubbles and saw that he had plenty of them to use for the Festival. He smiled, sure that he had done everything that he needed to do.

He was just deciding to go to bed when he heard the music of the bear choir drifting across the pond. It had many more voices than before. He thought of Sugar Bear and how adorable she looked conducting the bears in their singing and decided he’d hike over to the encampment and watch again through the branches. It would be a reward, he told himself, for all his hard work.

He hadn’t gone far when a few snowflakes fell around him. He smiled, thinking it would please the bears. He took a few more steps and the snow grew heavier. Then he took a few more steps and it grew heavier still. Pretty soon, it fell as if someone had dumped a huge bucket of it from the sky. And then, suddenly, it stopped.

Little Pine had never seen anything like it. He stopped to stare at the sight. He was right at the edge of the bears’ encampment now where the elves had decorated all the trees, and the snow coating all their branches was sparkling in the night. “What a beautiful moment!” he thought as he looked at the shimmering snow and listened to the singing of the bear choir.

Then, from somewhere near his feet, he heard a sound like the panting of a large animal. He looked down and saw a deer-like critter with great big horns. “Oh!” he gasped. “Hello! Are you all right?”

“I think so,” the animal puffed. “At least I will be after I rest for a few minutes.”

“I’m Little Pine. Welcome to our Festival. Is there anything I can do to help you?”

The animal’s breath was already starting to settle. “Thanks, Little Pine. I’m fine. It’s just that bringing all that snow here was a really big job.”

“YOU brought the snow?” Little Pine said. “That’s amazing! It’s really quite beautiful. Thank you.”

“Well, you’re welcome, Little Pine. Oh, by the way, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Marty Moose. But bringing the snow wasn’t my idea. Santa asked me to do it. He said he had received so many wishes for it from the bears here at the Festival that he hardly had time to finish sorting all the gifts he has to deliver. He explained that the North Wind wanted to wait to bring snow until all the bears were home from the Festival. And the South Wind was keeping it warm here, so snow would quickly melt even if it fell. But Santa said the bears were among the sweetest, most loving creatures on the planet, and he wanted to give them a little treat, if only for a few hours.

“So he gave me this huge sled heaped high with it and asked me to bring it for the bears. He even gave me the power to fly so I could sprinkle it from the sky.

“It was heavier than I thought it would be. By the time I got here, I was so weary that I’m afraid I dropped most of it in one big heap.” Marty sighed a sad little sigh. “I hope I haven’t let Santa down.”

“Well, Marty, if you had to dump it, you picked the perfect spot,” said Little Pine cheerily. “We’re right at the edge of the bears’ camp. Hear that singing? That’s them. They’re right over there.” Little Pine pointed to the gleam of light shining beyond the decorated trees. “I was just on my way there to peek through the branches to watch them. Want to come with me?”

“Sure!” said Marty, bounding to his feet. “Their music is wonderful! Say, do they have anything to eat there? I’m famished!”

Little Pine laughed. “Oh, there’s plenty to eat. Grandmother Bear will fix you right up. She always has food on hand because the bears are very big eaters. I hope you like nuts and berries and honey.”

“Thanks, Little Pine. That would be fine. You don’t suppose she has some hay, too, do you? I kept dreaming of hay all the way here.”

“I’m not sure. But she’s a magical bear. Anything is possible.”

By now, the two of them were at the edge of the clearing where the bears were gathered. Marty was amazed at the number of bears there. And Little Pine told him that was only one group of them; there were many, many more.

“No wonder Santa was overwhelmed with their wishes!” Marty laughed. “Now I’m glad I could help him out.”

Just then, Little Pine saw Grandmother Bear looking out through the doorway of the main cave. He led Marty over to her and introduced them to each other. Little Pine told her about Marty bringing the snow, and she laughed when she heard how he had dumped it all right at her doorstop. “It’s beautiful, Marty. I think I had better find something special for you eat. Come right in!”

“Before you do,” Little Pine said to Marty, ”Here’s a welcome gift for you.” Grandmother had heard about the fun bubbles, so she stopped to see what would happen when Marty reached for the one that Little Pine offered. As soon as he touched it, a little clump of hay fell from the sky. Then another and another. And then a huge pile of it fell right at Marty’s hooves.

“Hey! It’s hay!” Marty shouted with delight. And Grandmother Bear and Little Pine laughed.

“I think the fun bubble took care of his dinner!” Little Pine said. And he told them goodbye and went home to sleep, the sound of the choir drifting all around him.

“You look very happy this morning,” Little Pine’s mother said to him as she dished up a bowl of beechnut porridge for breakfast. “Your long night’s sleep must have helped your brain sort everything out.”

“It did, Mom! And I dreamed of a beautiful angel who told me to be at peace and be happy.”

“How lovely,” said Mother Pine. “I’m glad you’re in good spirits. Mother Elf sent word that she needs to see you when you can stop by. She needs to talk with you about the final arrangements for the Grand March on Festival morning.”

“Okay, I’ll call on her right after breakfast,” Little Pine said.

He skipped happily down the trail to the Elf house, glad for another day of surprising warmth and sunshine. Last year at Festival time, the woods had been blanketed with a deep snow. But this year, it was unusually warm. He’d even seen some dandelions blooming.

Mother Elf opened the door with a tray of freshly-baked maple candies in her hand. “Oh, good! I’m happy to see you, Little Pine. I have a surprise for you.” She invited him to sit down at the kitchen table and offered him a mug of birch tea as they chatted about the weather.

Then she sat down across from him and smiled. “I met with the Grand March committee last night, Little Pine, and we all agreed that this year we want you to be the parade’s Marshal. It’s quite an honor, as you know. But it’s also quite a responsibility. It would be up to you to plan the parade’s route and to lead it. Then, when everyone has arrived at Grandfather Pine’s home, you would be the Master of Ceremonies, announcing each act for the Festival Performance.”

Little Pine was more than surprised. This was an honor he had never dreamed would be his.

“Will you accept this position, Little Pine? And will you promise to carry it out faithfully to the best of your abilities?” Mother Elf asked. She was smiling and her eyes were twinkling with affection. But her voice was serious and Little Pine understood that she wanted him to consider seriously whether he felt that he was wholly willing and able to do it.

A wave of happy warmth washed up from his heart, and he knew the answer at once. “Yes, Mother Elf! Yes, I accept with honor, and I promise I’ll do my very best.”

“I am delighted to hear that, Little Pine. We all believed you were exactly the one for the job.” She handed him a little scroll tied with a red ribbon. “These are the instructions,” she said, “passed down from Marshal to Marshal since the Festival began, way back in time, since before even Grandfather Pine was born. They will clearly spell out your duties and give you helpful hints added by many past Marshals. You may add your notes to it when the Festival is over. Then return the scroll to me.

“Now you must go home and study. The Festival is quickly drawing near and you have a lot of planning to do.” She gave him a basket of treats to take home to nibble on as he worked on his plans. Then she gave him a big elf hug and sent him on his way.

Little Pine was about half way home when he spotted a white bear in one of the decorated trees. It was hanging a pretty snowflake ornament on one of the branches. When he first saw the white fur, he thought for a moment that it might be Sugar Bear. But this bear, it turned out, wasn’t fluffy and round like she was. It was quite sleek and handsome.

“Hello, white bear!” Little Pine said. He introduced himself and welcomed the bear to the Festival.

“Thank you, Little Pine. I’m Peter Polar Bear, and I’m delighted to be here. Where I live, near Santa’s home, it is very cold and this warm weather of yours is quite a treat for me. I was just getting ready to leave for your Festival when one of Santa’s elves stopped by to tell me that some of the bears here were wishing for snow. It is that time of year, you know.

I brought this snowflake ornament as my Festival gift hoping that the sight of it would make them feel happy.”

“Mother Elf and I were just talking about the weather, Peter. She asked the North Wind about it, and he said they were holding the cold and snow back for another week or so, until all the bears returned to their homes from the Festival. While it’s warm and there’s plenty of food, they’ll stay awake and fill their tummies. When the snow and cold come, they’ll want to hibernate for the winter. So the North Wind said it would be better to wait to bring snow until they were near their dens.”

“That old North Wind is very wise,” said Peter. “He’s a great friend of my kind.”

“And it’s very thoughtful of you to bring a snowflake as your gift, Peter,” Little Pine said. “It will give everyone a happy reminder of the beauty that’s soon to come.”

Little Pine told Peter where to find the bears’ encampment and said that he would see him in a couple of days for the Grand March. The other bears would explain everything to him when he met them. “And they’ll be sure you get your share of treats, too!” he said. Then he gave Peter a fun bubble. “Here’s a welcome for you,” he said, tossing it to the bear.

It burst into a song sung by barking seals and ribbons of silver fish splashed into the air. Peter Bear laughed as only a polar bear can, and Little Pine laughed, too, as he set off toward home to begin his work as the Grand March Marshal.

By the time Little Pine finished sharing his day’s adventures with his mother over supper, his eyelids were drooping.  “You’ve had quite a day, Little Pine,” his mother said.  “In fact, your days have been full of amazing happenings since the Festival season began.  Your young mind must be working hard to understand all the things you have experienced.”

“That’s for sure,” yawned Little Pine.  “All those bears and their stories, the choir music, the hugs, and then meeting the real Santa Claus and having him name me ‘Prince Little Pine, Ambassador of Friendship.’”  Little Pine rubbed his eyes and yawned again.  “I mean, it’s been wonderful. But it’s something else, too.  I don’t know the word for it, but it sort of freezes up my brain.”

Mother Pine rubbed Little Pine’s back and said, “I think the word is ‘overwhelmed.’  But don’t worry.  You’ll get it all sorted out in time.  And you’ll have wonderful memories to enjoy.”  She picked up his empty soup bowl and said, “Why don’t you go to bed early tonight.  Sleep is often the best remedy when our brains are working to put things in place.”

Little Pine didn’t argue with her suggestion at all.  He washed up and settled in for a good night’s sleep with his mother’s kiss on his forehead and her wish for sweet dreams in his heart.

He fell asleep right away.  At first he dreamed a dream where all the week’s images danced like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.  But then he drifted away into a beautiful starlit silence, filled with nothing but a deep feeling of peace.  If you could have seen him then, you would have noticed a soft, sweet smile on his face.

He had been floating through the velvety peace for quite some time when a glow began to fill the space.  It grew brighter and soon, in his sleep, he was seeing the vision of a beautiful angel.  “Greetings, Little Pine,” she said.  “I am an angel of Peace and Joy, and I bring a message from the Yes to you.   This message is for your heart, which is pure and full of love.  Do not be concerned whether your mind remembers or understands it.  Your heart will know its meaning and be at ease.”

And with that introduction, the Angel of Peace and Joy spoke these words:

“This peace you feel is the breath of the Yes,
holding your sorrows and your joys
in balanced measure, enfolding them both
in Its love.  And the Light whose return
you celebrate on your Festival Day–
although, in truth, it has never left you–
is the breathing of the Sun behind the sun,
an emissary, of the Yes, fostering Life
in every form and place and season,
in the unspeakable  name of the Yes
and through Its infinite love.

And here, in these woods,
you, too, are an emissary of love,
bringing joy to everyone you meet.
And so, I bring you peace,
for you, too, are of the breathing
of the Yes, and deeply loved.
May peace and joy dwell in your heart forever.”

And then the angel faded into the night sky, and Little Pine slept in its velvety, star-sparkled peace.  And when he awoke in the morning, his heart was filled with contentment and joy.

After his meeting with Santa Claus, Little Pine wandered the back paths of the woods for a long, long time.  He needed time to try to understand what it meant to be named a Prince by the King of the Elves.  It sounded very important and he wasn’t quite sure what was expected of him.

As he walked along, deep in thought, the trees and woodland creatures greeted him with merry smiles.  “Oh, Little Pine!” they would say, “What a beautiful star you have!”  He stopped to chat for a few minutes with each of them, asking how they were enjoying Festival season so far.  Their stories cheered him, and by late afternoon, he decided he would focus on the second half of his new title, “Ambassador of Friendship.”  He liked that part a lot.  He didn’t have to tell anybody that he was a prince.  In his mind, everybody was a prince or princess.  Everybody was special in his or her own way.

Still, he admitted to himself, he really liked the shining star that Santa had fastened to his crown.  It would always be a reminder of this special day and of his mission—to be a friend.  He decided that he would keep it in a special place where he could see it every day, but he’d wear it only for Festival season.

After he figured everything out, he was his usual happy self again, and he turned toward home.  He certainly had quite a story to tell Mother over supper tonight.

He was right at the fork in the trail where he turned to get home when he spotted a family of bears resting beneath the branches of one of his cousins.  “Hello!” he greeted them cheerily.  “I’m Little Pine.  Welcome to our Festival!”

“Thank you, Little Pine.  We’re the Her family.  I’m Her-Man, and this is my wife, Her-She, and our twins, Her-O and Her-Oine.  We just got here and we’re supposed to find Grandmother Bear and check in.  Do you happen to know where we can find her?”

“You’re almost there right now,” Little Pine said, and he explained how the right branch of the fork in the trail would take them to the bears’ encampment.  “You’re going to have a wonderful time,” Little Pine told them.  “Grandmother will make you feel right at home and you’re going to get to meet more bears than you can imagine.  They’ve been coming every day, some from very far.

“Did you have to travel long to get here?”

“Oh, yes,” said Her-she.  “We’ve been walking many days.  In fact, we thought we were lost.  But then we heard some whistling and it seemed that we should follow the song.  To our surprise, when we reached the source of the music, it was coming from three happy elves!  They gave us a snack and told us we were already here.”

“You’ll be seeing more of them,” Little Pine said.  “They check out the whole woods every day to make sure everybody is happy and the decorations are in order.  You’ll see their handiwork everywhere.

“Listen, I have a little time before I have to be home for supper.  Let me take you to Grandmother Bear.”

“Thank you, Little Pine,” said Her-man.  “That would be wonderful.”

Little Pine was quite taken by the baby bears and the pretty cart they were riding in.  He suspected the family was ready for some rest after their long journey and he didn’t want them to feel alone or to be afraid again that they might be lost.  So he led them toward the encampment.

Her-She noticed the decorations on the tree-stumps and Little Pine explained that they were drums that the chipmunks and squirrels and woodpeckers would play for the Grand March on Festival Day.  “You’re in for a day that you’ll never forget,” he told her.

They were nearly there when the babies sniffed the air and started laughing.  Her-She sniffed the air, too, and said, “Oh! Honey!  There’s honey nearby!”

“That’s Grandmother Bear’s special holiday treat,” Little Pine said.  “She adds it to everything she makes for the bears.  And after you eat and are rested, you’ll get to join the choir,” Little Pine said.  He was thinking about Sugar Bear and hoping he might see her.  Secretly, he wanted her to see him wearing his bright, new shining star.

The Her family picked up the pace a little once they smelled the honey.  When they got to the camp, Little Pine was pointing out the main cave where Grandmother Bear would welcome them and feed them.

“But before you go,” he said, reaching in his pocket for four fun bubbles, “Here’s a little welcome gift for you.”   Each bubble burst into streamers of different colors and the sound of elves whistling danced around them in the merriest Festival songs.  They all laughed at the surprising show, and then they said their good-byes—just as Little Pine spotted Sugar Bear coming from the main cave.

She was, she said, on her way to another choir practice and couldn’t chat long.  “But I must tell you, Little Pine, that you looking stunning with that beautiful golden star!” and before he knew what was happening, she wrapped her soft white arms around him and gave a big bear hug.

“What tales I’ll have to tell tonight!” he said to himself, “a whole bear family!  And another, wonderful hug!”  And he skipped happily all the way home, thinking to himself that he must be one of the luckiest pines on the planet.