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. And 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!” sand 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.

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 he accompanied them back to bear town. They walked along 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 Grandmother’s house we go . . . “

“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 human grown-ups, 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!”

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.

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! Be prepared for extra laughter!” he said as he told Mother Elf and the Gingermans goodbye.

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 on her tongue. “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 said 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.

“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 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. One—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.”

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 Josie, “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.

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.