Category: Little Pine

Welcome, Friends, to the 11^th annual telling of the Adventures of Little Pine and the Festival of Light.

This year, while I sneak off on a seasonal retreat, I’m sharing the last of the Little Pine series, Volume 3, “A Beary Merry Festival.”

Follow along as Little Pine and his forest friends enter the magical time of preparing for the Winter Solstice, when the sun once again turns northward, bringing back days of lengthening light.

If you read a chapter a night, the story will take you all the way to the holidays. Or read them all in one big gulp and let their magic flow through you all month.

I’ll return with my daily verses in time to wish you a Merry Christmas. In the meantime, pour a cup of hot cocoa and enjoy!

Warmly, Susan

A Beary Merry Festival

Chapter 1 – Little Pine Meets Grandmother Bear

For weeks now, the days had been growing shorter and shorter. Little Pine used to play for hours after dinner, but now the sun set as he was eating.

He didn’t mind. His leaf-friends had already gone for the year and most of the forest critters were hibernating or spending their time in their burrows or nests. Besides, he seemed to enjoy sleeping more now that the nights were long.

During the day, he explored the woods on his own or stopped by the elves’ home to invite them to come out and play.

Now that the days were growing cold, he seldom saw humans. He kept an eye out for them anyway, of course. He knew the First Rule: Always stand perfectly still whenever a human might see you. If they see you move, it will frighten them.

Sometimes he would see a chipmunk or rabbit or squirrel on his travels, and if he was lucky, he might even see one of the deer. They were all his friends, and he liked telling his mother about his chats with them over dinner.

He liked to visit the waterfall to listen to it sing, too, and his mother always laughed when he sang her the songs he learned there.

Mother Pine loved dinner time. She looked forward to hearing about the adventures Little Pine had enjoyed during the day. Today, she had just finished setting out maple seed stew when she heard Little Pine racing toward home shouting, “Mother! Mother! Wait ‘til I tell you who I met today!”

She reminded him to rinse his boughs in the rain log and sit down. Then she smiled and said excitedly, “Well? Who did you meet, Little Pine?”

“A bear!” Little Pine said. “A beautiful bear standing in front of one of our cousins, and the cousin was all decorated with ribbons and lights! She said she was Grandmother Bear, and that she was here to begin preparing for the Festival of Light.”

The words tumbled from Little Pine so fast that Mother Pine could only laugh at his excitement. “I didn’t know Festival time was coming already!” he went on. “I hadn’t even thought of it yet. No wonder the elves have been so hard to find. They must be working hard at all their decorations.

“I never saw a bear in the forest before, Mom. But Grandmother Bear said they lived nearby and many of them were coming for the Festival this year. Some were even traveling a great distance. Isn’t that wonderful? Bears! Imagine!”

Mother Pine was delighted with the news. She hadn’t seen a bear since she was a little pine herself. She knew, of course, that the Festival was approaching. She had intended to mention it to her son this very night. It was a happy time for them both, marking the return of the sun and the beginning of the season of snow and thei long winter sleep.

They talked about past Festivals as they cleared away the dinner. Then Mother Pine tucked her son in for the night and wished him sweet dreams. He gave her a big hug and said he could hardly wait to see what surprises his dreams that night would bring. And with a smile on his face, he fell asleep, whispering, “Grandmother Bear! Imagine that! A real, beautiful bear!”

Chapter 2 ~ A Message from Friends

Mother Pine woke just after sunrise to the sound of uproarious laughter from her son. “Little Pine!” she said, bending down to talk to him, “What’s so funny?”

Little Pine was still brushing sleep and happy tears from his eyes. “Oh, Mom! I had such a dream! At least I think it was a dream,” he chortled, still wiggling with laughter.

“A great big saucer flew down from the sky. It was bright red and had pretty blinking lights all over it, and a giant Tweety Bird was riding on it singing all these funny whistling songs!”

“A Tweety Bird! A flying saucer! Oh, my!” laughed Mother. “Then what happened?”

“It landed! Right beside me! And Tweety unstrapped his seat belt and flew over to me chirping my name. ‘Little Pine! Wake up!’ he said, ‘I have a message for you!’”

“A message? What did he say?” Mother Pine asked.

“Well, I sat right up and asked him that very thing,” said Little Pine, “and then he made this deep bow and cleared his little birdie throat, and then he whistled a sort of Pay-Attention sound. ‘I bring you greetings, Little Pine, from the Spirits of Fun to let you know they are thinking of you and wish you a Festival Season filled with merriment and good cheer.’ Then he took a big green box from the UFO, tied with a bright red ribbon, and told me it was a gift for me from the Spirits of Fun.”

“Oh my!” said Mother Pine. “Did you open it?”

“Oh, yes,” said Little Pine. “Tweety insisted. So I took the lid off the box, and it was filled with all these sparkling bubbles.”

“Bubbles?” asked Mother Pine.

“Yes! They were all different colors and sizes and kind of squishy. I had no idea what they were, but they were awfully pretty. Tweety laughed at the expression on my face and told me they were magic bubbles, each one holding a hug or a tickle, a wink, a laugh, or a smile. I could fold them all in my pockets and pass them out to everyone I met, all Festival long.”

“What a wonderful gift!” Mother Pine said, smiling.

“And at the very bottom of the box, two especially large bubbles were jiggling, one was purple and gold, and Tweety said it was meant for the Elf Family. He said to stand back when I gave it to them because it was ready to burst with glee. Isn’t that funny? Imagine the elves enveloped in bursting glee!” Little Pine erupted in laughter just thinking of it, and Mother laughed, too.

When Little Pine caught his breath, he reached into his pocket and, almost as if he didn’t believe it would truly be there, he pulled out a large bubble, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow. His mother’s eyes opened wide in surprise. Up until this moment, she was sure that his dream had been only a dream.

“And this one,” Little Pine said, “this one, Mom, is for you.”

He lifted the bubble up to her boughs, and when she accepted it, the bubble burst and a beautiful melody filled the air with a sound like the singing of a thousand birds. “He said it would fill you with love and laughter all season long,” Little Pine said, looking at his mother’s surprised and glowing face.

“Why, I think it will do just that, Little Pine. Thank you! And thank you, Tweety and Spirits of Fun. What a fine, fine way to start this beautiful day.”

Then she and Little Pine settled down for a breakfast of winterberry muffins. And all the while, little bursts of color and laughter popped all around them.

Chapter 3 – Meeting the Flower Fairy

After breakfast, Little Pine put the big fun bubble that the Spirits of Fun had sent for the elves in a pine cone basket and set off to find them. That wasn’t always easy, particularly this time of year.

They could be anywhere in the woods, most likely decorating the stumps of fallen trees with bits of fungus and moss. On Festival Day, all the squirrels and chipmunks would come to use the stumps as drums during the Grand March and the elves always made sure that the drums looked as wonderful as they sounded.

Little Pine stuffed his pockets with more of the fun bubbles to pass out to anyone else he met along the way.He would go to the elves’ house first. Even if they were out working, he could give a fun bubble to Mother Elf, and she might know where he could look for them.

Besides, she would probably be baking treats for the festival, and she just might offer him a taste or two.

He was just two bends of the trail away from the Elf house when a flicker of color caught his eye. And what he saw stopped him in his tracks.

“Wow! Hello!” he said to one of the prettiest little creatures he ever saw. “My name is Little Pine.  Who are you?”

“Hello, Little Pine,” the delicate creature smiled. “I’m Princess Rose, one of the flower fairies of the roses. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Have you come for the Festival?” Little Pine asked. “I hope you’re not looking for your roses.  I’m afraid they’re all sound asleep this time of year.”

“Yes, Little Pine, I am here for the Festival. And while it’s true that all the wild roses are deep in their winter dreams, in the nearby land where humans live, some roses grow even this time of year. The humans keep them warm and fed in their own little indoor gardens. 

“Humans have a special place in their hearts for flowers, and they’re especially fond of roses. They give them as gifts to each other to celebrate all kinds of lovely things—love, friendship, achievements, the birth of babies. And they give them as gifts of comfort in times of sorrow.

“They have their own versions of the Festival of Light and they will be sending roses to each other by the thousands. My job is to encourage the roses to bloom their brightest and to give off their best perfumes. I thank them for the beauty and joy they add to the world.

“But while I was in the area this year, I thought I’d stop in and visit your woods. Your Festival is quite famous, you know. I’m looking forward to seeing it.”

“That’s wonderful!” Little Bear said. “Maybe you would like to be a part of the Grand March. It happens at the very start of Festival Day, the day the Light returns.

“All the creatures of the woods parade through the trees to the waterfall, and from there around the pond to the feet of Grandfather Pine, our eldest tree. When everyone is there, they join in a song about the triumph of the light.

“Do you think that you would like to join us?”

“That would be splendid, Little Pine! Yes, I’ll gladly accept your gracious invitation, thank you. I’ll see you again before them, I’m sure  But right now I have to be off.  I’m meeting some of the other flower fairies for tea.”

“They’re welcome to be in the Grand March, too,” said Little Pine. “Please be sure to extend an invitation to them. I offer it on behalf of all the creatures of the woods.”

“Why, thank you! I’ll do that, Little Pine. Until we meet again, may your eyes see beauty and your heart feel love.”

“Same to you, Princess Rose. Oh! And here, take this,” Little Pine said, reaching into his pocket for a fun bubble.

As soon as he handed it to her, it burst into a shower of laughter and sparkling pink, coral, red, white and yellow lights that looked like tiny roses.

“Happy Festival, Princess!” said Little Pine he skipped off down the trail.

“Happy Festival, Little Pine!” she laughed. Then she fluttered her rosy wings and flew away, a shower of laughing lights trailing behind her.

Chapter 4 – Helpers Arrive

Little Pine could see lights twinkling as he made the last bend in the trail leading to the Elves’ house. How wonderful! They had decorated already! He began skipping merrily up the path.

He was admiring all the sparkling lights and bright ribbons when suddenly a creature unlike any he’d ever seen before emerged from behind one of the trees.

He stopped in his tracks, holding perfectly still, and stared at it, wondering if it was a tiny human, wondering if it had seen him skipping. He was quaking in his roots.

“Hi there! You must be Little Pine! Don’t be scared. I’m Jeffrey Gingerman, Mother Elf’s cousin. She told me a little tree like you might come to call.”

Little Pine didn’t dare breathe. This little guy sounded friendly. And if he was a cousin of Mother Elf’s, he couldn’t be a real human, could he? But he sure looked an awful lot like one.

“Oh, it’s okay, Little Pine,” Jeffrey said, as if he was hearing Little Pine’s thoughts. “I’m not a human. I’m made of gingerbread. Look—no nose, no ears. See?”

“Whew!” breathed Little Pine, convinced the little fellow wasn’t a human. “Hello, Jeffrey Gingerman! You had me scared for a minute. But I am glad to meet you!”

“I just came out to gather a couple more eggs,” Jeffrey said. “The cardinals and jays are laying some in this nest here just to help us out. Grab a couple and c’mon in. Mother Elf and I are baking.”

A few minutes later, the two of them brought the fresh eggs into Mother Elf’s kitchen. “Little Pine! How nice to see you!” Mother Elf smiled. “I see you have met Cousin Jeffrey.”

Little Pine laughed shyly and said, “Good Morning, Mother Elf. Yes, Jeffrey gave me quite a scare for a moment. I thought he might be a human who saw me skipping.”

“I’m sorry you were frightened, Little Pine. But I don’t think you have to worry about humans today. Besides, the crows surely would have warned you if a human was nearby. Your scare probably made you a little hungry. Would you like to sample a maple sugar leaf?”

Suddenly Little Pine noticed that the table was heaped with candies and muffins and cakes and pies.

“Wow! You sure are baking up a storm, Mother Elf!”

“Well,” she laughed, “We need extra treats for the Festival this year. We got word that a lot of bears are coming, and that they love their sweets. Actually, that’s why Jeffrey and Josie are here. They’re expert bakers and when I put out the call to the Elf family that I could use some help, they came right away.”

Little Pine took a bite of the maple sugar leaf that Mother Elf had handed to him. “Mmmm!” he smiled. “This is delicious!”

“Jeffrey made them. They’re quite a special treat, aren’t they!”

“They’re wonderful! Jeffrey, thank you! And say, who is Josie? Will I meet her, too?”

“I’m pleased that you like the candies, Little Pine. Josie is my wife. She’s gone out to take a basket of cookies to the elves. They’re hard at work decorating the stumps, you know. I’m sure you’ll meet her later.”

“How did the two of you learn to make such wonderful treats?” Little Pine asked.

“Oh, we were both born in kitchens in a big human bakery. When we popped out of our ovens, a fairy came by, waved her wand over us, and we came to life. It was Festival season then, too. And the fairies were looking for creatures who might want to help prepare. So they brought us to life and put us in the woods.

And every year, we do everything we can to help fill the Festival season with cheer. The return of the Great Light means the Light of Life to us. So it’s a special time, and our great honor is to add to its sweetness for all.”

“That’s a beautiful story, Jeffrey,” Little Pine said. “I can’t wait to tell it to my mom tonight. But first, I want to find the elves. I have a present for them. Oh! And I have presents for you, too!”

And with that, Little Pine reached into his pocket and brought out two of the magical happy bubbles. He gave one to Mother Elf and one to Jeffrey. And when they took them, the bubbles burst and the air filled with music and with the fragrances of vanilla and cinnamon, ginger and oranges, honey and chocolate and everything sweet and good to eat.

Mother Elf and Jeffrey laughed in surprise and did a little happy dance all around the kitchen. Mother Elf told Little Pine where the elves might be found, and he set off down the trail, delicious smells following him all the way.

Chapter 5 – Josie Gingerman’s Special Gift

A light snow began to fall as Little Pine skipped down Holly Trail in the direction Mother Elf suggested. When he heard laughter and whistling, he knew he was on the right path. Those elves couldn’t do a thing without whistling happy tunes.

Besides, this was where they built their workshop to keep their tools, a likely place to find them.

He was just nearing it when Josie Gingerman appeared. He knew who she was right away, of course, because she looked so much like her husband, Jeffrey.

“Hi, Josie Gingerman!” he waved, “Welcome to the Festival! I’m Little Pine.”

“Happy Festival to you, too, Little Pine! It’s nice to meet you. I just gave your elf friends some lunch. They were hoping to see you. They’re taking a break in that tree over there, just outside the workshop door.”

“Oh, good! I met your husband at the elves’ house a few minutes ago. He and Mother Elf are up to their elbows in treats. It was so nice of you to come and help.”

Josie laughed. “Well, we hear you’re expecting a hungry crowd,” she said. “And we were born to help others. It’s our biggest joy. Life just seems more wonderful when you can put a smile on somebody’s face. And we discovered that our baking talents give us a great way to make smiles. ‘Happy tummies make happy faces,’ Jeffrey always says.

“I’m not sure what my talent is yet,” Little Pine said. “But I know that making people smile makes me smile, too.”

“Usually we find that our best talents are tied to the things that we like to do best. What do you do enjoy doing most, Little Pine?” Josie asked.

“Hmmmm,” Little Pine said thoughtfully. “I like learning the songs that the waterfall sings. When I sing them to my mother at night, she laughs. And I like telling her stories about my adventures. I like to dance in the wind, too. I can do that even when humans are near and I see them smile when they watch me dance. But I think that most of all I like visiting my friends. I know almost everybody in the whole woods.”

“Ah,” said Joey, “visiting is a wonderful talent. It heals loneliness and lets others know that someone cares about them. One of the happiest sounds I know is a friendly tapping at my door.”

“I never thought of it as a talent before, Josie,” Little Pine said. “It just seems as if my day isn’t complete if I haven’t visited with a friend or two.”

“That’s beautiful, Little Pine. I’d say Friendship is your special gift.”

Little Pine got a big grin on his face. “I’ll bet it’s one of your gifts, too,” he told Josie.

The snowflakes were getting bigger now, falling in pretty lacy flakes. “Can you find your way back to the elves’ house okay? Would you like me to go with you?”

“Oh, I’m sure I can find it,” Josie said. “Besides, your elf friends are waiting for you.”

“Well, have a happy day, Josie. It was a special treat just to meet you. Oh, and before you leave, here’s a little Welcome present,” said Little Pine, reaching into his pocket for a happy bubble. He handed it to her, wondering what this one held.

Josie took the bubble and, like all the others, it burst into song and a thousand glittering smiles of every shape and size floated among the snowflakes in the air.

Josie laughed and hugged Little Pine goodbye. “Stop by on your way home for some treats for your mother,” she said.

“Thank you! I’ll do that, Little Pine said. Then he watched her head down the trail with twinkling smiles falling all around her.

Chapter 6 – Little Pine Finds the Elves

“Calling all elves! Calling all elves!” Little Pine sang out as he walked to the tree where Josie told him they were resting after eating their lunch. “Here I come, ready or not!”

The elves loved to play hide and seek. It was one of their favorite games. They weren’t any good at it though, because it was so much fun that they couldn’t help but giggle, and the sound always gave them away. But Little Pine pretended that he didn’t hear them.

“Where could they be?” he said as he walked around the decorated pine, lifting its branches. “Are they here? No, not here. Maybe they’re under here. No. They’re not here either. Where or where could they be!”

His efforts only made them giggle harder, despite their best efforts.

Finally he lifted the branch where they were hiding. “There you are! I found you at last!” he said.

“Oh, Little Pine, you’re just too clever for us,” said the oldest of the three. “Merry Festival!”

Little Pine laughed. “Merry Festival to you, too. How’s your work going? You did a splendid job with this tree. It’s absolutely gorgeous!”

“Thanks, Little Pine,” the middle brother said. “We have acres and acres to go yet. But right now we’re stuffed. Josie Gingerman brought us a huge, wonderful lunch.”

“Yes,” Little Pine said. “I met her on the trail. I met her husband, Jeffrey, at your house earlier, baking goodies with your Mom. Before they finish, their Festival treats are going to be piled as high as the ceiling!”

“We’re going to hide them all over the woods as soon as we finish decorating the drums,” the youngest elf said. “We learned that bears like to dig in the hollows of trees to find treats, and we want to make sure that everywhere they look they’ll find one.

Of course we’re not going to hide them all! We’ll have plenty for all the other critters and for the Festival Day celebration, too. Not to mention that we need a good supply to keep us working elves whistling as we work!”

“Well, yes,” said Little Pine. “I know that’s important. There’s nothing sadder than a hungry elf.”

The elves giggled at his teasing. “Say, what’s in your basket?” asked the youngest elf.

“Oh, I’m glad you asked,” said Little Pine. “It’s something very special—just for you three. It’s a present from the Spirits of Fun. A giant Tweety Bird brought it on a big red UFO!”

The elves laughed at his story. A Tweety Bird! A UFO! That Little Pine sure could make up some amazing tales.

“Really!” Little Pine laughed, as he pulled the glistening purple and gold fun bubble from his basket. “But I can’t just give it to you. You have to catch it.”

Little Pine had remembered Tweety Bird’s warning to stand back and he took six giant steps backwards and held the bubble in front of his chest as if he were going to hurl a basketball into a hoop. “Ready?” he said.

The three elves leaped to their feet, full of anticipation. “Ready!” they sang.

“Okay, then. ne—Two—Three!” shouted Little Pine, tossing the bubble with all his might.

It floated directly above the elves and then slowly descended right over their heads. All together the three of them leaped into the air, grabbing for the bubble. And when their hands touched it, it exploded in fireworks and confetti and streamers that shot out in every direction. And every streamer and piece of confetti whistled a tune, and the fireworks turned to dancing light that whooshed around the three elves to the sound of Festival music and laughter.

Never had the elves been so surprised! For a moment, they couldn’t even move. But then each one grabbed a ribbon of circling light and rode it around and around the tree in big circles, laughing until they all finally fell to snowy ground below.

Little Pine had laughed so hard at the sight that he fell down beside them, holding his sides. “What a show!” he said, catching his breath.

“That’s the best present we every got!” said the oldest brother.

“The Spirits of Fun said to tell you it was meant to return to you some of the joy that you unfailingly bring to others,” said Little Pine, “and because you keep the Great Light in your hearts all year long, even in the darkest season.

“And you know what? I think that they were right.”

Chapter 7 – Little Pine Meets Sugar Bear

The day’s light was dimming quickly when Little Pine said goodbye to the elves. He was thinking about how fun it would be to tell his mother about his day’s adventures as he turned homeward.

Then he remembered that he was supposed to stop by the Elf house to pick up treats for her.

Mother Elf had a fancy package wrapped and ready when he knocked on the door. Little Pine thanked her and said he had to hurry home or he would be late for supper.

 “Wait until you hear about the elves adventure today!” he said as he told Mother Elf and the Gingermans goodbye. “Be prepared for extra laughter!”

He had taken only a step or two away from the door when he heard a little, “Hello!” coming from the decorated tree at the bottom of the porch.

“Oh! Hello!” he said. “I’m Little Pine. Welcome to our woods!” He recognized the creature as a bear, even though he didn’t know they could be all white.

“Thank you, Little Pine. I’m Sugar Bear, and I’ve come for your Festival. Would you happen to know where I can find Grandmother Bear?”

“I’m so glad you could come, Sugar. This is a wonderful time of year for us, and your company will make it even more fun.

“Our oldest pine, Grandfather Pine, has invited all the bear guests to stay with him. So far, Grandmother Bear is the only bear I’ve met, until you. But Grandmother said a lot of bears are coming from all over.

“Walk with me and I’ll show you the path to Grandfather’s end of the pond. It’s right on my way home.”

Little Pine and Sugar Bear ambled down the trail chatting with each other. Sugar said she loved the snow. It matched her fur and when she walked through it, she felt as if she were a giant snowflake.

She liked to catch the big, lacy flakes – like the ones that were falling around them right now – on her tongue, she told him, giggling, “Me, too!” said Little Pine, and the two of them laughed as they walked along with their tongues out, catching the flakes.

“I got three that time,” said Little Pine.

“I got four!” sang Sugar Bear with glee.

Sugar Bear hadn’t met the elves yet, she said. The only creature she saw was a squirrel who directed her to their home. She was just about to knock on their door when Little Pine came out.

“Where did you get the big candy cane?” Little Pine asked.

“Oh, I brought it with me from home to give as a gift at the Festival,” Sugar said.

“It’s beautiful,” Little Pine said. “And I’m sure you’ll receive something wonderful in exchange. The gift-giving is a special part of the Festival ceremony. You’ll see.”

It was almost dark when they got to the branch in the trail where the path led around the pond to Grandfather Pine’s home.

“It’s an easy path to follow,” Little Pine said. “Even in the snow, you shouldn’t have any trouble. But if you like, I’ll be happy to go with you.”

“Oh, I can see in the dim light very well, Little Pine, and you need to get home for supper. I’m sure I will be fine. But thank you for your offer. I’ll look forward to seeing you again.”

“I’ll look forward to seeing you, again, too,” Little Pine said. “And before you go, I have a present for you.”

He reached in his pocket and pulled out a fun bubble. It glowed with light and wiggled in his hand. “What’s this?” she asked as he handed it to her. But before he could even answer, the bubble burst, and dozens of tiny white birds appeared, twinkling with an inner light, and singing “Follow me! Follow me!” as they headed down the path toward Grandfather Pine’s home.

And that’s just what she did.

Chapter 8 – Little Pine’s Dream

Little Pine fell asleep thinking about Sugar Bear. What a sweet creature she was! He wished bears like her would come to live in his woods. Then maybe, when he was bigger, they would climb his branches, hugging him with their furry limbs. Bear hugs, he thought, must be wonderful. Especially if the giver was a bear like Sugar Bear.

Soon he was sound asleep, his mind full of nothing but star-spangled sky. He drifted there for quite a while before he began to dream.

At first the dreams were replays of the day’s events. He dreamed he was in Mother Elf’s kitchen and that fragrant, freshly-baked treats were stacked in towers that reached to the ceiling and pressed against all the walls, making them bulge.

As fast as the elf brothers could haul them away to hide in the tree hollows, Mother Elf and Jeffrey Gingerman would pull more of them from the oven. He dreamed he was running through the forest with the elves, helping them hide the maple leaf candies and the winterberry muffins in every nook of every tree. And then he dreamed about the fun bubble exploding and the elves laughing as they rode its light streams around and around the decorated tree by their tool shop.

Finally the dreams faded and once more he drifted through a deep darkness lit only by twinkling stars. He floated there for a long time before a faint pink light began to fill the space. He dreamed that the pink was filled with rosy pine needles and streamers of some kind, and then, as the vision came into focus, he saw a beautiful bird in its center. Its wings were lavender and pink with a whisper of pale gold, and its body was pale gold, too, and reflected the lavender and pink. He had never seen anything like it in the woods. It must be a creature of the dream world, born of the starlit sky.

“Greetings, Little Pine,” it said to him in his dreams. “I am a messenger of the Great Yes, sent to tell you that the song of your heart fills your woods with joy. You lift the spirits of all you encounter with your cheerfulness and your respectful manner. And we thank you for that.

“It may seem to you that you are nothing but a little tree, one of many in a woodland full of trees. You do not think of yourself as important or special, and that is part of your sweetness.

“But your cheerfulness matters a great deal, Little Pine. It helps to balance the hurt and suffering in the world, and more of that exists than you will ever know. Because your heart sings with friendship and love, Little Pine, you add to the healing of the world.

“I have come to thank you for being exactly who you are, and to tell you that you are known, and loved, more than you can even dream. Carry on, dear child, with your mission of joy. Be undaunted in the face of darkness. Even as you celebrate the life-giving of the Great Light’s return, we celebrate the light in your heart. May it shine brightly forever.”

And with that, the vision began to fade, and Little Pine felt his heart float high, high into the nighttime sky. And when he woke the next morning, he was bursting with gladness.

Chapter 9 – Meeting Tuffy Bear

“Wow! It skips!” the bear said when he saw Little Pine coming down the trail.

“Hi, Mr. Bear! I’m Little Pine. Welcome to the Festival!” Little Pine said.

“You move! I mean, you don’t just bend in the wind. I saw you skipping right down the trail!” the bear said.

“Well, don’t tell any humans! Only their children know, and by the time they grow up, they think they made it up. We work hard to keep it that way. They can be unpredictable, those grown-up humans, you know. Our number one rule is never to let them see us move—except, as you said, to let our branches dance in the wind.”

The bear blinked and then smiled. “Oh my! Where are my manners! Thank you for your welcome. I’m Tuffy, a healing bear. And I’m delighted to be here for your Festival season.

“I totally understand about the humans, by the way. My kind has the same rule, and only the wee ones know that we’re alive. The big ones think we’re toys.”

“What do you mean when you say you’re a healing bear?” Little Pine said. “And where did you get that big apple?”

Tuffy Bear laughed. He liked this little tree. “Well,” he said, “all bears have healing power. A hug from a bear can do wonders to soothe anything that ails you. That’s because we’re all made with love. But some bears have special healing powers.

We get to go to humans’ hospitals and are given as gifts to people of all ages who are sick or injured and scared. We let them know that they are loved, and that everything will be okay, no matter what. We whisper comforting stories in their ears when they sleep so they will have sweet dreams.

“Of course we help all kinds of critters; not just the humans. Wherever there’s hurting, we’re at work.

“I brought this big apple from my special supply. It’s a tradition among healing bears to give them to those who have recovered their health. We tell them ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away.’

They’re always happy to hear that and pay us back with hugs and smiles. This one is going to be my Festival gift. But I brought a whole sack of them with me. You never know when somebody is going to need a healing bear, after all. I wanted to be ready.”

“That’s a wonderful talent you have,” Little Pine said. “Grandmother Bear told me that my special gift is Friendship, and I am proud to have you as my new friend.”

“Oh, you’ve met Grandmother Bear, then. Do you happen to know where I can find her? I want to let her know that I’m here,” Tuffy said.

“Sure. See that path down by the pond? Follow it to its end. It will lead you to our Grandfather Pine’s area where all the visiting bears are staying. Grandmother Bear will be there. She’s greeting all the bears and helping them settle in. My mother told me that she’d heard quite a few have arrived now, and that they’re having great fun.

“I’d go with you, Tuffy, but I think Mother Elf and the Gingermans need my help this morning. Maybe I’ll stop by this afternoon and see how you’re doing.

“Oh, and before you go, here’s a little welcome present,” said Little Pine, reaching in his pocket for a fun bubble.

Tuffy looked at it with big eyes. It was wiggly and shimmering and so very pretty. “Why, thank you! What is it?”

“Take it! You’ll see!” giggled Little Pine.

And when Tuffy took the bubble it burst into an enormous shower of apple blossoms that filled the air with music and a wonderful perfume. And whenever they landed on Tuffy, they turned into kisses, and sang ‘Thank you! Thank you!’ making Tuffy so happy that he almost cried.

“Have a beautiful day, Tuffy,” Little Pine said, touched by the sight and turning down the trail to the Elf house. “And if you see Sugar Bear, tell her I said hello!”

Chapter 10 – Up a Tree

Little Pine worked all morning tucking freshly baked treats in the hollows of trees. He was just finishing with his seventh basketful when he heard the whistling of the elves coming down the trail.

“Hey, Little Pine!” one of the shouted to him, waving. “It’s lunch time!” They skipped over to him and handed him a big mug of hot butternut stew.

“Thanks for your help, Little Pine. Mother said you have been out here for hours.”

“You’re welcome. I’ve had fun. I got to chat with some chipmunks and mice, and a couple squirrels and even an opossum. They were quite curious about what I was doing.

So I explained about the bears and they said they wouldn’t eat the treats we hid in the hollows since they were meant for our special guests.

I promised them that Mother Elf was making plenty for Festival Day, too—enough for them to take plenty of them home after the feast.”

“We finished decorating the stumps today,” the middle elf said. “So we’ll be able to hide the rest of the treats that are ready if you have other things that you’d like to do.”

“Thanks!” said Little Pine. “I would like to see if more bears have come. They’re wonderful creatures, you know, and I want them to know that they’re welcome.”

As they ate, he saw a look on the eldest elf’s face that he had noticed the other day. It was kind of smug and mischievous and he wondered what it meant.

“What’s going on?” he asked the elf. “You’re wearing a most peculiar expression.”

“Oh, nothing,” the elf said, smiling. The other two elf-brothers giggled. “It’s a secret,” the youngest one said. “You’ll see. It’s a surprise.”

Little Pine knew better than to try to get them to tell him what it was. Elves were some of the best secret-keepers in the world, especially when they had surprises up their sleeves.

So he told them about meeting Tuffy Bear and Sugar and how sweet they were, how full of affection. And the elves told him about the red-headed woodpeckers and how they were inviting all their aunts and uncles and cousins from the nearby woods to join in the drumming on Festival Day.

When they finished their lunch, Little Pine told them goodbye and headed over to the end of the pond where the bears were staying. He kept thinking about the elves’ secret and grew more curious with every step, trying to imagine what it could be.

He had just reached the edge of the pond when he heard a tinny, clanging sound up ahead. “What could that be?” he wondered out loud. He quickened his pace. The noise seemed to be coming from a tree down the trail and it was accompanied by the funniest chattering sound.

Then he saw a flash of red and looking closer saw a bear and some other kind of little animal sitting on a sled way up on one of his cousin pine’s branches.

“Hello!” he hollered up to them. “I’m Little Pine. Welcome to our Festival. What are you doing up in that tree?”

“Hello, Little Pine,” said the bear. “I’m Atlanta, the sailor bear, and this is my friend Marvin Monkey. We went sledding yesterday when the snow was still here and we went flying over the top of a big hill and ended up in this tree. Now we’re stuck, I’m embarrassed to say. We’ve been here all night.”

“Oh no!” said Little Pine. “How can I help you?”

“Help is on its way,” Atlanta Bear said. “Sugar Bear heard Marvin’s cymbals this morning and she went to get some big brown bears who came in last night. They’re very tall and clever, and I’m quite sure they will be able to get us safely down.”

“I’m sorry you had to be stuck all night,” Little Pine said with a soft laugh, “But I have to tell you that you two look pretty funny up there on a sled in a tree!”

“I’m sure we’ll be the talk of bear town for days,” said Atlanta. “Marvin thinks it’s marvelous. He lives to amuse. And I must admit that I’m an adventurous sort of bear, and now I have another yarn to tell when I get home. So no one is the worse for it.”

Just then the two brown bears arrived and in no time at all, they rescued Marvin and Atlanta. “Grandmother Bear will be relieved to see you safe and sound,” one of the big bears said. “She was concerned. She had Tuffy on standby, and she’s made a special lunch to feed you when we get back.”

Little Pine introduced himself to the brown bears and thanked them for their help. Then he gave everyone fun bubbles as they left to return to bear town. They all walked along together in the shower of dancing lights from the bubbles and laughed at the song that filled the air: “Over the river and through the woods, to Grandfather’s house we go . . .”

Chapter 11 – Another Guest Arrives

 It was late afternoon when Little Pine and his new friends got to the end of the pond where the bears were gathering A happy noise that sounded like a mixture of bear-talk and singing grew louder and louder as they neared the cave-like shelters that the elves had built for the guests.

“Lunchtime!” one of the big brown bears said, sniffing the air.

“Yum! Yum!” said the other, and the two of them quickened their steps.

Atlanta, the Sailor Bear, stayed by Little Pine’s side, but the little monkey leaped into the trees and began swinging toward the main cave, a large construction that could hold dozens of bears.

Atlanta pointed to the ground and said, “Look at all the tracks! A lot more bears must have come.”

Then she wiggled her nose and breathed in the air. “Honey!” she said. “My favorite thing! And am I ever hungry after spending the night stuck on that sled in the tree!”

“Who’s cooking for everyone?” Little Pine asked. He couldn’t even imagine making treats for dozens of bears.

“Oh, all your little woodland creatures have been bringing baskets of nuts and dried berries and things. And someone named Josie is doing the cooking.”

“That would be Josie Gingerman,” Little Pine said. He told Atlanta how the Gingermans were food experts and loved to help feed people. It gave them, he told her, great joy.

They were nearing the encampment now and Little Pine saw a long line of bears of every color, shape and size outside the main cave. But walking toward him was a pretty white bear, smiling, and calling his name. He felt his heart do a little dance at the sight of her.

“Hi, Little Pine,” she said.

“Hi, Sugar! I’m so happy to see you! Let me introduce you to Atlanta Bear. She’s had quite an adventure and I’m sure she’d love to tell you about it.”

They had reached the end of the food line now, and after Sugar and Atlanta chatted for a moment, Sugar said she had to be off.

She was teaching the bears to sing a couple Festival songs in the clearing behind the main cave. As each group of them finished eating, they would come to the circle and join in learning the songs. It was almost time for the next round of lessons. Sugar said goodbye and hurried down the trail.

Little Pine said goodbye to Atlanta, too. The sun was already sinking in the sky and he was getting hungry himself. Besides, he wanted to stop and see Holly Tree and hear how she was enjoying the Festival activities.

She lived across the pond from him, right next to one of his cousins, and was a longtime friend. Often, hers was the very first song he heard when he woke on Festival Day morning. He had time before dinner. And anyway, friendship was even more important to him than eating.

As he neared the place where Holly lived, he heard her musical voice. She seemed to be chatting with someone.

When he got to their curve in the pond, he saw that his cousin was all decorated for Festival. The elves picked out different pine trees to decorate every year and it was a special honor to get to wear the berries and bows. Little Pine was happy for his cousin.

“Hi, Little Pine!” Holly called when she spotted him. “Happy Festival! Come and meet one of our new guests!”

Little Pine scampered over to her side and there, nestled in his cousin’s branches, he saw a darling little horse. At least he guessed it was a horse. He’d seen humans riding them on the trails sometimes. “This is Penelope Pony, Little Pine. She came to represent the family of horses this year.”

“Welcome, Penelope,” said Little Pine. “Yours is a magnificent family. I’m glad you could join us.”

“Thank you, Little Pine. I’m delighted to be here. Everyone is so friendly! I especially like the chipmunks that I met this morning. They let me give them rides and they clicked and chirped with glee as I danced them around the trees. I love to dance.”

“And I would love to see you dance sometime,” said Little Pine. I have always been impressed with how gracefully your kind moves. “The horses that come to the woods with their humans are much, much larger than you and yet they move as if they are dancing to some beautiful music that only they hear.

“Maybe you could dance for everyone on Festival Day! Would you like to do that? I would be happy to have you added to the program.”

Penelope was thrilled with Little Pine’s offer and nickered a happy acceptance. “Consider it done, then,” Little Pine said.

He visited with Penelope and Holly and his cousin for a while, telling them the story of Atlanta Bear and Marvin Monkey, and then, as the sun sunk behind the trees, he wished them a good evening and said he had to be heading home.

But of course before he left, he gave each of them a fun bubble. “Gifts for you,” he said laughing, “from the Spirits of Fun.” He tossed the first one to Penelope and it burst into lights that looked like carrots and apples. It gave off a happy tune that set her to dancing in delight.

 Holly’s bubble sang Festival tunes and sent ribbons of gold light swirling around her adorned with holly berry wreaths. And the one he gave his cousin played sound of trumpets and sent a rush of white doves circling him in ribbons of light.

“Happy Festival!” sang Little Pine as he scampered away. “See you later!”

“Goodbye, Little Pine,” they called. And he heard the music and their laughter all the way home.

Chapter 12 – Choir Practice

Little Pine was half asleep by the time he got home. But he revived as he shared supper with his mother and told her about all the adventures his day had held.

Every day was an adventure, of course.  You never knew when you got up in the morning what the hours would hold. But Festival season seemed to overflow with surprises.

Mother Pine laughed at her son’s stories. He was having such a happy time meeting and greeting all the guests as they arrived. She was proud of him, too, for taking time to help the elves before he went to meet the bears. He had a good heart, she thought, a heart full of kindness.

By the time he finished telling her about Penelope the Pony, Little Pine was yawning. His mother gave him a small maple leaf candy for dessert and then tucked him in for the night, kissing his forehead and wishing him sweet dreams.

He fell instantly asleep.

Then, long about midnight, he woke to a moonless sky glistening with stars. As he lay there gazing at their beauty and thinking about how marvelous it was just to be alive, a faint sound of music floated across the pond.  It was quiet, but very rich, and like nothing he had ever heard before.

It went on for a while and then stopped.  His mind was still trying to figure out what it was and where it was coming from when it began again.

Drawn by its haunting beauty, he decided to follow it to its source. He stood at the edge of the pond and listened. It seemed to be coming from Grandfather Pine’s end of the pond, from the bears’ encampment.

As he headed in that direction, he almost felt as if he were floating on the enchanting sound.

Then it stopped again. And he stood still, wondering if he was really awake or if this was a dream.

No, he was pretty sure he was awake. He kept walking toward the camp and after a short while a new song started. He was even more curious now about what it could be.

When he got to the camp, he saw a light gleaming from the big clearing behind the main cave.  Quietly, he tiptoed toward it, all the while lost in the wonder of the sound. At the edge of the clearing, he stopped and parted the branches of a tree just as the music stopped again. And what he saw astonished him.

Dozens of bears were seated in a big semi-circle, quiet, and gently smiling. Sugar Bear stood before them with a wand of some kind in her paw. “Very good,” she was saying to them. “You’re getting better with every song.” The bears’ smiles broadened and their eyes twinkled at her praise.

“For this next one, I’d like the younger girl bears to sing with just a bit more volume so their part sounds as if its dancing atop the rest. Let’s imagine that their notes are snowflakes falling, and that the older girl bears are the treetops, and the boys are the woods, the earth and its waters.”  

She smiled at them, tapped her wand on a little log in front of her, then raised it in the air. Every bear was watching her intently.

 When she began to move the wand, the young girl bears began to sing a high, sparkling line of music. Then softly, the others chimed in and the song grew in depth and richness. It was a song about peace, and comfort, and joy—a perfect song for bears to sing, Little Pine thought.

He stood perfectly still, listening, and his heart filled with sweetness and love.

When the song finished, he turned to tiptoe away, casting one last glance in Sugar Bear’s direction. He could hear her voice giving the choir more direction and he thought she sounded like the brook in springtime as it danced over the pebbles.

His eyes were filled with happy tears as he once again returned to sleep. This was the best Festival season ever, he thought, and he fell asleep with a smile on his face and the sound of distant singing floating through his boughs.

Chapter 13 – Billy Bear’s Bumps

After breakfast the next morning, Little Pine headed out to see if the elves needed any help. His mother told him that she had heard the singing during the night, too, and she was humming some of the Festival songs as he left. The whole woods felt happier somehow as he scampered down the trail.

The elves had already gone out to deliver more treats to the tree hollows when Little Pine got to their house. But Jeffrey Gingerman was out in the yard looking at an enormous pile of seeds.

“Hi, Jeffrey!” Little Pine said. “Where did you get that all those seeds?”

“Hi, Little Pine. A flock of blackbirds brought them early this morning. They heard we needed more supplies to feed the bears,” Jeffrey laughed, “and they scoured all the fields at the west end of the woods and scooped up every seed they could find. I think we’re set for the whole Festival season now!”

“I guess so!” Little Pine laughed. The seed pile was as high as the roof the elves’ house. There would be no hungry bears here!

“You and Mother Elf certainly have your work cut out today. Is there anything that I can do to help you? Or do the elf boys need me?”

Jeffrey Gingerman smiled and said he and Mother Elf had a great system going, and were having a ball baking up all the treats. The little elves were happily at work, too, and said a little dancing horse named Penelope had come with a cart to carry more batches of goodies for them. But if Little Pine wanted to take a basket of lunch to them and tell them hello, Jeffrey could pack one in a jiffy.

Little Pine was glad he could do that, and soon he was skipping down the trail in pursuit of the elves and Penelope. He found them, whistling as usual, and they all greeted him with big smiles when they saw him. He was happy to see Penelope again, too. “How nice of you to help!” he told her.

“Thanks, Little Pine,” she said. “I never dreamed that I would get to play with elves! When I get back to the stables after the Festival, the other ponies won’t even believe all the stories I’ll have to tell!”

“And you haven’t even see the best of it yet,” one of the elves chimed in.

It was too early in the day to eat lunch yet, so Little Pine just left the basket with his friends and wished them a happy day. Then he headed down the back trail to the pond’s edge to meet some of the newly arrived bears. Maybe he’d even get to see Sugar Bear, he thought. He wanted to tell her that he had seen her directing the choir.

He was almost to the edge of the encampment when he spotted two little bears sitting in a tree. “Hello,” he said. “I’m Little Pine. Welcome to the Festival!”

The girl bear, who was the bigger of the two, said, “Thank you, Little Pine. I’m Milly Bear, and this is my little brother, Billy.”

Little Pine’s heart was touched by the sight of Billy Bear. He had a big bruise on his forehead and he looked very sad. “What happened to Billy?” he asked.

“Oh, we were playing and he fell out of the tree and bumped his head. He started howling and I was scared. But all of a sudden a bear named Tuffy showed up. She looked at his head and kissed it and gave him a big hug and said he would be perfectly fine in no time at all. Then she gave him an apple. She was sweet.

“He stopped howling after he ate the apple, but he saw his reflection in the pond and now he’s sad because he won’t look pretty for the Festival.”

“Hi, Billy,” Little Pine said gently. “I’m so glad that you could come to our Festival. I’m sorry you took a tumble and banged your head. But everybody has accidents, you know. Especially the most daring and playful among us.”

Little Pine told Billy and Milly how just yesterday two big brown bears had to rescue Atlanta Bear and Marvin Monkey after their sled got stuck in a tree. Billy laughed at the story, despite himself. “I think your bruise is a sign that you are a bear who knows how to have fun,” Little Pine said. “And merriment is a big part of what our Festival is all about.”

Little Pine’s words cheered Billy so much that he turned a somersault right there in the tree.

Chapter 14 – Meeting the Wuzzy Brothers

Little Pine had only gone a few steps down the trail when he spotted two more little bears playing in the branches of one of his cousin pines. He introduced himself and welcomed them to the Festival.

“Hi, Little Pine! We’re the Wuzzy Bears. I’m Fuzzy and this is my little brother Buzz,” said the older bear.

“We’re so happy to be here for your Festival. The trees in your woods are so, so, um, fluffy! Their needles are so long and soft! We love playing in them. Where we live, the pines all have short, bright needles, like yours. They’re easier to grip, I must admit. But these long ones tickle and make us laugh!”

Little Pine giggled. This was the most talkative bear he’d met yet. “Well, just be careful. Only a few minutes ago I met a little bear who took a tumble from one of these trees and bumped his head.”

“Oh, we’re adept climbers,” Fuzzy said. “Don’t you worry about us.”

“Say, I like your name, Fuzzy. It suits you,” Little Pine said.

Fuzzy giggled. “Thanks,” he said. “My fur came from a wish. When I was born, for some reason I didn’t have much fur, just a little bit of fuzz. So Mom and Dad called me Fuzzy, and they made a birthday wish that my fuzz would turn to fur. And as you can see, their wish came true, even though it took a full year, and by then, of course, it was too late to change my name.”

“That’s a great story,” said Little Pine. “I believe all wishes that are made from the heart come true in one way or another. Sometimes they take a while, and sometimes they don’t turn out quite the way you expected. But sooner or later, they’re granted. At least that’s what I believe.

“And how did Buzz get his name?”

“Well,” said Fuzzy. “His story is kind of funny. Just after he was born, he went for a little stroll and somehow he tumbled into a pool of honey. He thought that he’d been born into the sweetest world! He ate as much as his baby tummy would hold, and when he came back from his adventure, he was covered in sticky honey and a bunch of bees were buzzing around him. Then when he tried to say how fun it all was, his mouth was so sticky that all he could do was buzz.

“And you know what? To this day, when he’s really, really happy, he buzzes with joy.”

Buzz buzzed, and Little Pine laughed.

“Are you two in the choir?” Little Pine asked. “I heard some of the rehearsal last night.”

“Oh, yes!” said Fuzzy. “All the bears are taking part. It’s our special gift for Festival Day.”

“Well from what I heard last night, it’s going to be very special indeed,” said Little Pine.

“Sugar Bear is teaching different groups of us every night because bears keep arriving. And on Festival Day, we’ll put all our parts together. So until then, even we don’t know how it will sound. But we sure are excited!” Fuzzy said.

“Everyone is excited,” said Little Pine. “Festival Day is the best day of the year. The Light begins its return and it plants the kernels of new dreams in everyone. Then we rest and let the kernels grow, each of them taking its own special shape for each of us, all of them helping us reach for our own best possibilities for the coming year. It’s a gift from the Yes, and that’s why we celebrate with so much joy.”

“It happens that way where we live, too,” said Fuzzy. “The Light brings the Life of the Yes to us to show us what we can be.”

“Well whatever dreams it brings you,” said Little Pine, “I bet they’ll be wrapped in fun.”

“I hope they’ll be drenched in honey!” said Buzz, buzzing a little and smacking his lips.

Little Bear laughed and reached in his pocket. “I’m going to see if I can meet more bears,” he said. “You are one of the friendliest species I’ve ever met!

Here’s a little present for you, just to thank you for coming.” And he gave them each fun bubbles that burst into the sounds of a laughing kazoo and wrapped strands of honey candy all around them.

Chapter 15 – Little Pine’s Surprise

Little Pine’s breakfast was waiting for him on the table when he got up, and his mother seemed to be bubbling with excitement. “Good Morning, Mother,” he said, wondering what was going on.

“Good Morning, Little Pine. You need to eat your breakfast quickly. A blue jay stopped by with a message from the elves. They have a surprise for you, and they need you to meet them at the end of Holly Trail as quickly as you can.”

“The surprise!” Little Pine said, taking a big bite of his winterberry muffin. “I’d almost forgotten all about it! What do you think it could be?”

“Well, with your little elf friends, I suppose anything is possible,” Mother Pine said.

Little Pine quickly finished his muffin, took a big swig of spruce juice, kissed his mother on the cheek and ran out the door.

Holly Trail was a long trail, weaving up and down through the wooded hills. But Little Pine was so excited that he felt as if he was flying as he ran along.

As he neared the end, he saw twinkling lights and bits of bright colors shining through the trees. “They must have decorated a special one,” Little Pine thought, racing over the last few bends in the trail.

“Oh!” he gasped when the tree came fully into view. It was the most spectacularly decorated tree that he had ever seen. Just then he heard the elves calling his name.

“Little Pine! Little Pine! Come see!” they called.

He ran toward their voices, and then all of a sudden he came to a screeching halt and his heart pounded with fear. Right there on a tree branch sat a small white-bearded human. “Oh, no!” Little Pine thought. “He must have seen me running!”

He had broken the Number One Rule.

The elves burst into gales of laughter. “It’s okay!” the youngest elf called. “He’s not a human. He’s our Grand Old Elf, our Elf King. He just wears a human disguise because the humans love him. He’s famous among their kind. They know him all over the whole world!”

Little Pine stood stark still as the little elf’s words sunk in. “Are you sure?” he gulped.

“Hello, Little Pine,” the bearded figure said in a surprisingly warm, deep voice. “It’s true. I’m an elf. One of the oldest in the world. I’m known by many names, but in your part of the world, they call me Santa Claus, and so may you.”

Something in the old elf’s voice assured Little Pine that he was telling the truth. Little Pine stepped nearer and with a little bow said, “I’m so pleased to meet you, Santa Claus. It’s such an honor that you would come to our Festival! Welcome!”

“The honor is mine,” said Santa. “Your Festival has quite a reputation. I understand that it’s one of the most joyous and sincere Festivals anywhere. Besides, I had a couple tasks to do here.”

“Tasks?” said Little Pine. “Can I help you with them in any way?”

“Ho-ho-ho!” laughed the old elf. He turned to the oldest brother. “He’s just like you said he was!”

Little Pine wondered what his friend had told Santa. But it wouldn’t be polite to ask.

“Little Pine,” his friend said, “we first learned that Santa would be visiting when the bears started coming. See, every year on Festival Day, Santa flies around the world leaving gifts for everyone—for the humans and all the other creatures of the earth, to remind them that they are all dearly loved. He needed to check his list so he would know which bears had come here so he could deliver their presents to the right place. We were just going over it with him to be sure it was complete.”

“You mean this is the REAL Santa? The one who leaves gifts for us all? Wow! I never dreamed that I’d get to meet you in person!” he said to the Elf King.

Santa laughed his “Ho-ho-ho!” again and said, “My second reason for coming here does involve you, Little Pine.

When your elf friends here learned that I was coming, they asked if you could meet me and if I would bring you something special. They told me you were the finest of friends, not only to them, but to every creature in the woods. You are always kind, willing to lend an ear and a helping hand. And not only that, but you bring happiness to everyone you meet. They said you are a Prince among trees.”

Little Pine didn’t know what to say. He never thought of himself as being any more special than anyone else. And all of his friends brought him as much happiness as he gave to them.

“So,” Santa Claus continued, “At the request of your elf friends, and because I can see that everything they have told me about you is true, I have a special gift for you.” He reached into a big bag that was balanced on a branch near where he was sitting and rummaged around in it a bit.

“Ah, here it is!” he said, pulling out a beautiful golden star with blazing streamers falling from each of its points. “Come stand in front of me, Little Pine, and bow down your head.”

Little Pine did as Santa instructed. “In the name of the Love that is Friendship,” Santa said, “by the powers vested in me as King of the Elves, I hereby grant you the title of Prince Little Pine, Ambassador of Friendship to all.” And with those words, he fastened the star to Little Pine’s head, and the elves flung glittering confetti in the air and whistled their very best song. And Little Pine’s heart filled with joy.

Chapter 16 – Meeting the Her Family

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 like 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.

Chapter 17 – The Angel of Peace and Joy

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 feeling of deep 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.

Chapter 18 – Another Surprise

“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 beside 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.

He 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.

Chapter 19 – Marty Moose

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. arty 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.

Chapter 20 – Kimberley Kindbear

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, 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 they met together at the elves’ 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 Marshal 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.

Chapter 21 – Festival Day

“It’s Festival Day! Today is the day that the sun’s southern visit comes to an end, and it turns northward 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 were 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. o 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 found 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!’”

###

Little Pine fell asleep with the sights and sounds of the day whirling inside him.

How magical it all had been! It was more beautiful than anything he had ever experienced.  

Yet inside him, questions mixed with the images.  What was it all about?  What did it all really mean?

He sensed that he was right on the edge of understanding.  But before  he could find his answers, the dancing images of the day spun him off to the world of dreams.

The dreams finally faded to darkness as Little Pine entered a deep, peaceful sleep.

And that is when the beautiful bird appeared.

“I have heard your heart’s questions, dear Little Pine,” it cooed.  “And I have come to unravel the mysteries for you.

“Everything in your world is but a reflection of something greater.  Only a portion of who we are takes on earthly form.

“Think of the love that you feel in your heart.  Think of the friendships that you hold dear.  Think of the way that music stirs you, and of the thrill that beauty provides.  These things are all a part of you.  And yet you cannot see them.  They do not show themselves in earthly form.  They are too large, too pure, too high.  And yet you know that they are more real than anything that your eyes can see or ears can hear.

“Behind the sweet earthly being who is Little Pine is a vast, magnificent Pine that you might call your soul.  Only a sliver of it can become dense enough to experience this earthly adventure.  And that little sliver is you.

“You know that your Festival celebrates the sun.  Well, the Sun behind the sun is Love, a love so deep and vast and pure, that it causes worlds upon worlds to come into being, worlds as small as the tiniest particle and as large as all the heavens.  This is the source of light, this Love, and of life itself.  And the miracle is that it lives within us, and is us, and calls us by our names.

“And that is what we celebrate, Little Pine.  That is the reason for our ecstatic joy.

“We forget, when we descend into the darkness of our heavy earth forms, that we are the children of this Love and its Light.  We get lost in our illusions of separateness and suffering.   And so, every year, just when the night is longest, Nature sings anew the eternal promise of the Light’s return.   It reminds us that the Light can never die, for it springs from the Love that is everything, and beyond all things and within them.

“And that is why we dance, Little Pine.  That is why we sing.”

And when it had spoken, the beautiful bird faded away, and Little Pine sank into a deep and  dreamless sleep and floated in its peace.

The first song that Little Pine heard as he stepped outside was the caroling of his friend, Holly, dancing across the water from the opposite bank of the lake.  The melody spilled across the gently rippling waters and rose from them, filling the air with its sound.

He stood still and drank in the clear, sweet notes.  They filled his heart with tenderness, and once again he was entranced by the beauty of the world and felt its joy and peace.

He bowed to Holly, and she laughed in delight.  He laughed, too, and ran off to see what other treasures the day would hold.

The rows of tall pines stood at attention while chickadees and red-headed woodpeckers played their fifes and drums.  And accompanying them, he heard the merry tapping of fairy feet dancing on the decorated drums that the elves had prepared.  The sound seemed to come from everywhere and thundered joyfully through the whole forest.

Before long, Little Pine came to the slope where the Queen of the Fields stood, more radiant than ever with her light dusting of snow.   “Hello, Little Pine,” she sang to him.  “Have a lovely Festival Day!”  He stopped to chat with her a bit, telling her how lovely she looked.  He asked if she might know how he could find the Snow Queen.  He wanted to thank her, he explained, for her beautiful gift of snow.

She told him the Snow Queen herself couldn’t take on an earthly form, but that she would happily pass along his thanks when she spoke with her later.

“Have you been to the ballet yet?” the Queen of the Fields asked.  Little Pine told her that he was headed there right now.

As he turned toward Holly Trail, Little Pine came to the great oak that had given birth to his friend Red Leaf, and stopped to thank the mighty tree for that gift, which had so blessed him throughout the past year.  From high in the oak’s branches, he heard the happy chatter of the squirrels, who were munching away on their Festival Day breakfast.

Little Pine traveled on, and as he rounded the next bend, he caught his first glimpse of the delicate tree performing her graceful ballet.  The elves were right. Her dance itself seemed to create the wondrous music that surrounded her.   Her leaves were snow-capped now and glistening as she leaped and twirled, the very picture of grace and joy.

He took a seat by his elf friends who had come to see the show, and they erupted in applause and loud whistles when the little tree took her final bow.

Then, to Little Pine’s amazement, the elves themselves took to the stage and danced a jig so fast and intricate and lively that the whole audience broke into laughter and clapped until they could clap no more.

Just as the clapping came to an end, the howling of a pack of coyotes echoed through the trees, signaling that it was time for the Great Procession of the Animals to begin. Suddenly everyone headed to Holly Trail to take their places. Even the critters who were tucked in for the winter came forth to celebrate Festival Day. Mice and moles, mink and ground hogs, raccoons, squirrels, skunks, beavers, foxes, rabbits, coyotes and deer paraded through the forest singing their praises to the returning Light. It was a magnificent parade, ending at the base of Grandfather Pine, where everyone enjoyed a grand feast together.

By the time the festivities ended, it was growing late. But the elves asked Little Pine to join them as they delivered presents to the birds.  Their mother had packed pretty bags full of nuts and seeds for all the cardinals and blue jays, and chickadees and sparrows, and for all the other winter birds who kept the forest singing in the winter.  And so they trooped off, the elves whistling their merry tunes.

A light snow was falling as Little Pine turned toward home.  What an extraordinary day it had been!  He could hardly wait to share its adventures with his mother.

As he neared the door, he smelled the fragrance of the special meal that Mother had prepared, and heard Holly’s evening carol, still wafting from the lake.  And his heart was filled with tenderness and joy.

Little Pine drifted to consciousness from a dream of stardust swirling through the sky.  Before he even opened his eyes, he sensed that some kind of magic had happened.

Then he noticed a bright tingling on his needles, and he was instantly awake.  “Snow!” he shouted.  “Mother!  Look!  It snowed!”

Mother Pine laughed and said, “Yes!  Isn’t it beautiful?”

Little Pine stared around in wonder.  The whole forest was shimmering with light.

“Little Pine,” Mother said, setting a bowl of hot porridge on the table, “Do you know what today is?”

Mother looked so pretty with the layer of sparkling snow on her branches that Little Pine could hardly think.  “What day is it, Mother?” he asked.

“It’s the day that the Great Festival begins,” she sang.  “Today the Light starts its return!”

“That’s why it snowed, isn’t it!” Little Pine said.

“Yes,” Mother said.  “I think it’s a special gift to us from the Snow Queen.  If you see her today, be sure to tell her thank you.”

Little Pine loved the special note of happiness that he heard in his mother’s voice.  He could tell that she was as excited about the great celebration as he was.  Every creature in the woods had been preparing for this day.  The fairies would dance and the trees would march and do their ballets, and all day long the air would be filled with singing.

Mother Pine smiled at her little one’s eagerness and gave him a special lunch she had packed for him to take with him today.  He thanked her and almost ran toward the door.  But at its threshold, he suddenly stopped and turned, and looking into her beaming face, he said, “Mother, I love you so much.”

And Mother, her eyes nearly spilling over with joy, said, “Little Pine, I love you, too.”

It wasn’t only his vision that seemed to have new clarity.  Little Pine’s hearing was more alive now, too.

As he walked through the woods, almost drunk with the beauty around him, he found himself thrilling to the calls of the blue jays and crows, to the whistle of the cardinals.

The wisp of a breeze that murmured through the boughs of the pines and spruces carried the wordless stories of the trees.

The air seemed filled with music.  He thought of the elves, whistling in the far end of the forest as they worked.  And he smiled at the story they’d told him about the ballet of the little tree and how music came from nowhere when she danced.

Little Pine had never felt so alive.  It was as if the whole world was awakening around him.   He wondered where this wondrous stirring was coming from.  Was it the blessing that came with the gift his mother had given him?  Or was it something more?

But he let the thought go as soon as it arose.  He didn’t need to know where all this beauty came from; it was enough to be living it.

As he neared the lake, Little Pine heard a music that he hadn’t heard in a long while.  Yesterday’s rain had filled the lake enough to send its waters over the spillway, and the cascading waters were filled with song.  He ran to them and stood on the slope breathing in their music.   “The Light is near!  It’s nearly here!  Let your heart rejoice!  It brings us life.  It brings us cheer.  To the Light, we raise our voice.”

“That’s it!” Little Pine said, right out loud.  “I’m being filled by the Light!”  No wonder, he thought, that we hold a Festival!  No wonder that the whole earth sings!

As he fell asleep, Little Pine thought about the young human girl who came to the forest to make paintings of the lake and trees.   In his dreams, he imagined seeing the forest through her eyes.  He paid attention to the shapes and colors of the woods as he never had before.

The next day, as he strolled through the woods after breakfast, it was as if he was seeing everything with new eyes.   Colors that he never noticed before suddenly came alive.   He saw new depth in the textures of things.  Patches of tree bark looked like little masterpieces.

He walked in a trance of wonder, feeling almost as if he were in a different world.

A moss-covered tree stump caught his eye, and he looked at the collection of fallen leaves, twigs and pine needles nestled in its hollow.  It reminded him of a bird somehow, landing on its nest.  How beautiful all the colors seemed to him, and how perfect their arrangement!

When he came across a patch of the drums that the elves had decorated for the Festival, he was amazed by their artistry.  He had liked them before, and thought they were quite pretty, but now they nearly took his breath away and filled him with so much delight that he began twirling and twirling, and shouting “YeeeeHah!” just to release his joy.

The blessing in the gift that his mother had given him last night—the painting of his ancestor’s pine cone, the story of the little human girl—was larger than he had supposed.  It brought with it a whole new vision of his world, one filled with more beauty than he had ever imagined a world could contain.

Little Pine was reading one of his favorite story books after dinner when his mother came into the room.  She was holding her arms behind her back and wearing a mysterious smile.

“Little Pine,” she said, “Come here and sit beside me.  I have a gift for you.”

“Shut your eyes,” she said when he was seated.  He felt her lean forward and set something on the table in front of them.

“Okay!” Mother whispered. “Look!”

When Little Pine opened his eyes, he could hardly believe what he was seeing.  It was a framed painting of the most beautiful pine cone that he had ever seen.  It looked as if it had just fallen from heaven.

“Is that an angel, Mother?” he gasped in wonder.

“In a way,” Mother said.  Then she told him a story. 

“One summer, a long, long time ago, before Grandfather Pine was born, a human little girl started visiting the forest.   She liked to sit beneath Great Grandmother’s boughs.  Sometimes she would bring a book with her and read.  But often she brought canvasses and paints, and she would sit for hours, singing and painting pictures of the lake and of the trees.

“She was a sweet little girl who always greeted Great Grandmother as she seated herself by her side.  And when she left, she would always say goodbye and thank Great Grandmother for her shade.

“Late that autumn, she came with a basket and gathered the pine cones that Great Grandmother had released to spill their seeds.  When her basket was full, she walked over to Great Grandmother and pressed her body against Great Grandmother’s trunk, stroking her bark with her free hand.   ‘Thank you!’ she whispered to Great Grandmother.  And then, as she skipped with her basket from the woods, she turned and waved and shouted, ‘Thank you!  Merry Christmas, beautiful tree!’

“The weather turned cold and the days grew short and the human girl didn’t come to read and paint any more.  But Great Grandmother often thought of her and the thought made her heart smile.

“Soon all the forest beings were preparing for the Festival of Light.  And on the day that it began, the most amazing thing happened.  The little human girl came singing through the forest, carrying a large basket in her arms.  ‘Happy Christmas, great tree!’ she said to Great Grandmother.  ‘I brought some presents for you!”  And, laughing, she hung dozens of little portraits of angel pine cones all over Great Grandmother’s lower boughs.  ‘May your seed grow and fill the land,’ she sang.

“And then she left, and Great Grandmother never saw her again.  When the squirrels came by, she asked them to tuck the paintings carefully away, and to cover them with leaves to protect them.

“Over the years, her seed grew and covered our whole section of the forest.  And when each of her offspring reached a certain age, she gave them one of these paintings as a blessing,  that their seed might grow and continue to fill the land.

“Now you have reached that certain age, Little Pine.  And it is my honor to give this gift to you, and to pass on its blessing, in memory of your Great Grandmother, and of a little human’s love for our kind.”

Little Pine’s heart was filled with wonder and joy.  “What a beautiful gift!” he thought.  “What a treasure!”  He thanked his mother and snuggled against her.  And the two of them sat gazing at the painting of the angel pine cone long into the night.

The elves, of course, were still busily decorating the forest for the Festival.  When they weren’t making drums for the fairies’ dance, they fashioned garlands of the colored, fallen leaves to decorate the pines’ boughs, and draped strands of ivy around the hardwoods’ trunks. They were happy and industrious workers, mostly because, to them, their work was play.

Today they were into the piney section of the forest.  The air there was filled with the wonderful fragrance of the trees.  They started as soon as the morning light broke.  But because the days were so short now, they had to work quickly to meet their day’s goal before the darkness fell again.

That didn’t mean skipping lunch, though.  Elves let nothing interfere with their meals.  Food keeps them happy so that they can whistle merry tunes as they work.

Just before noon, they put aside their tools and found the lunch sacks that their mother had packed.  They were talking amongst themselves, trying to decide where they would like to rest, when the youngest one heard a sound off to the east.

“Listen!” he said.  “Do you hear music?”

The elves fell silent, and sure enough, a lilting melody was drifting through the trees.  They decided to follow it.  The only thing better than lunch, after all, was lunch with music.  So they skipped through the woods, in search of the sound.

Before long, they came to a clearing where the music completely filled the air.  In its center, a young tree dressed in her fine autumn leaves was pirouetting joyfully.

She stopped in mid-twirl when she saw them.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “I wasn’t expecting an audience!  I was just rehearsing for the Festival.”

The elves giggled at her shyness and the elder one introduced himself and his brothers and explained that they were taking a lunch break from decorating the fairy drums.

“You’re the ones who do that?” the tree said.  “I’ve been seeing them all over the forest.  You do such beautiful work!”

“And you do such beautiful dancing!” the elder elf said.  “We would love to watch you rehearse while we dine, if you wouldn’t find it an intrusion.”

“Please do!” the tree said.  “I dance much better, actually, when I’m dancing for someone.  You just took me by surprise.”

So she danced, and the elves ate, elated to be treated to such a wondrous show.  And when at last she took her bow, they applauded and whistled until she blushed.   They gave her a cup of the morning’s fresh dew and shared their cakes to thank her.

When the last crumbs were gone, they bid her farewell and returned to their work.  And she danced on and on.

It was raining when Little Pine woke in the morning.  He loved the way the round little drops slid down his green needles and hung at their tips like pearls, reflecting the world all upside down.

After breakfast, he decided to visit the lake.   In a way, he giggled to himself, the lake was like a giant raindrop.  It held the world upside down, too.  He found his favorite spot, next to a big granite boulder, and sat down to watch the show.

It was a light, gentle rain, and the drops drew little circles as they slipped below the lake’s surface.  Then the circles spread themselves out in wonderful curving ripples that grew larger and fainter until they finally disappeared.  It was really quite beautiful, Little Pine thought.

But even more beautiful was the rain’s song.  It was a soothing sound, almost a whisper, like the sound of a faint breeze dancing through summer leaves.

Little Pine stilled his breath to hear it more clearly, listening with all his being.  The song made the world seem more luminous somehow, and larger.  The boundaries that separated him from the lake, the forest, and the sky almost seemed to disappear.

He sat listening for a very long time, lost in the beauty of the sight and the song.  His heart filled with a sweet and spacious tenderness that he couldn’t quite name.

But when he finally rose to return home, he noticed the tiny waves lapping against the lake’s shore.  And listening very closely, he heard their clear, small voices singing, “Peace.  Peace.  Peace.”

On the morning that Jack Frost sparkled the woods, Little Pine set out to visit his cousins at the far end of the forest.

As he neared their neighborhood, he heard a deafening, buzzing sound unlike anything he had ever heard before.   It frightened him a little, but his curiosity drove him onward.

Just as he got to the edge of the neighborhood, he heard humans loudly yelling.  He stood absolutely still, remembering the First Rule was never to let a human see you move.

Then, to his amazement, one of his cousins fell to the ground, making a mighty crash.  Looking around, he could see that others had fallen before him, large and small, young and old.  The humans were fastening giant chains to the trees and hoisting them on a big truck.  They laughed as they worked and steam came in great clouds from their mouths and noses.

As soon as the humans left, Little Pine ran back home to tell his mother what he had seen.  He was confused and dismayed.

Mother Pine told him that this happened every year.   She told him that Grandfather said that he learned from the birds that the humans took the fallen pines into their homes.  They hung tiny, brilliant lights and decorations from their branches and laid gifts at their feet.   It was the way, he said, that some humans celebrated the return of the Light.

That night, when Little Pine fell asleep, a snow owl came to him in his dreams.

“It is a great blessing, dear child,” the owl told him, “to be an evergreen tree.  With your bright needles, you sing to the world that life can endure the days of cold and of darkness.  You are a messenger of comfort, and hope, and promise.

“Those cousins of yours who gave their lives to be part of the humans’ celebrations receive special honors as their spirits return Home.  They expressed love beautifully through their earthly forms, and they offered them with thanksgiving.

“And while none of us knows in advance how long our earthly stays will be, or how our adventures will end, what a privilege it is to be one of those who gets to visit here.  Let your heart be glad, Little Pine, and your days filled with joy.  For we are all children of the Great Yes, and we are all dearly loved.”