Poppy

Poppy lived in a little town in Oklahoma. He had a reputation for being an escape artist. He loved to roam the neighborhood to see what everyone was doing. His need to travel came naturally to him. His great great great grandfather was a very famous traveler/actor or at least that is what he was told. His name was Tramp. Oh that was quite a story! He had been told about Tramp all his life especially when he was "bad" as the humans like to say.

 "Well, without me, my lady wouldn't get near enough exercise She loves to visit with her neighbors. I just give her an excuse to get out and get some fresh air. Though she just wasn't exactly thrilled to go get me when I decided to explore one day when it was raining."
"Oh I was having the time of my life. You just can't believe how much fun it is in the "outside world." The sights and sounds and especially the wonderful smells are just delightful. Oh this is so  much fun. I must go jogging again soon. Oh oh, here comes my human; Don. Doggone it! He captured me again! I don't care. I love to ride in the car too!"

"My humans have friends they call it. Well those friends fixed my favorite hole in my fence, so now I can't get out and see the world. Surely I can find something interesting to see and do in my prison called a yard."

Poppy's human had a wonderful shed in the backyard. She decorated it with sunflowers. It was a great place to go and lay in the shade when Poppy felt the need to relax. The humans had left a little pile of cool dirt for him to lay on. From that little pile of dirt he could see a good distance away. He could also hear something that was going on inside that shed!

"As time went by the sunflowers dwindled in size to just one. One poor little sunflower on my shed. She says it shows the neighbors she has class. Such a funny human."

Being a very curious little dog he could see no way inside the shed so he decided that he would chew his way in. He did this just a little at a time. When his lady and her husband were gone it was a wonderful time for him to chew. It seemed to him that the more he chewed the noisier it got inside. He just had to see what was in there!
"Oh no, not again. They have a doctor appointment and want me to go in the house. No way! I have work to do. I am going to dig my way under this shed. She can't reach under the shed, I don't think...

Grandma B Sends Grandma Lu A Challenge

Marlee and Grandma B were out in the kitchen making an enchanted forest just before Christmas. Marlee was asking about Grandma Lu. "How come Grandma Lu has so many stories? It seems like she has a story about a lot of things."
 Grandma B chuckled and said, "Well, she has lived a long time and remembers a lot of things that happened when she was little. She loves to tell some tall tales too."
Marlee said, "Tall tales, what is that?"
Grandma B said, "Pretend stories. She loves to tell make believe stories just like you do."
"Oh, so that's what a tall tale is. Well, I wonder what kind of story she would tell about our enchanted forest?

"Let's put some little elves on the powdered sugar and take some pictures and send it to Grandma Lu. Do you think she could make a story out of these pictures of this enchanted forest, just like I do with Else, the elf, at my house?"

"I don't know. I'll send these to her and see what she does with them. We will tell her that we challenge her to tell a story from these pictures we send to her. That will be fun, won't it?"

Marlee said, "Yes, remember Else was bad while I was taking a nap? I wonder why she was bad...

What Marlee and Grandma B didn't know was that Else, the name Marlee had given her little elf was a second cousin several times removed of elves that lived as far away as Oklahoma. Those elves were having the time of their lives terrorizing a little dog called Poppy.

Christmas Eve Night

 Mazee was watching out her window and saw Santa arrive at Oakleigh Jo's house. She saw him motion with his finger to be very quiet because she was fast asleep.
Mazee thought to herself, "All is well, Santa. I got this." She quickly went to her bed and settled in for Christmas Eve night. Marlee and her baby sister's house was just a few minutes away so she knew that Whitlee Jo would get her shiny new black boots very soon.

The children and most pets around the world were fast asleep waiting for Santa to come during the night. It had been difficult to go to sleep because they were so excited, but sleep they did.

Brenna hadn't gone to sleep yet, but she had her new Christmas jammies and slippers on. She would soon be fast asleep perhaps dreaming of what Santa would be bringing her.

Santa was shaking his head thinking, "Wow, that was a close one. I should have known that Mother Nature would pull a stunt like that. She does this every year it seems like.

The R.T.O.G deserve all of the credit for finding those boots and getting them back to me in time. They are the heroes this Christmas Eve, that's for sure."

" Oh well, my workshop is quiet. Everyone is on Christmas vacation for a few days. I sure hope that Whittlee Jo liked the boots that the elves made her. They are shiny and black just like mine. The elves worked very hard making those so I gave them an extra bonus this year. They all get new shoes too. Ho! Ho! Ho.! What a year. I'm ready for a nice quiet day with Mrs. Claus and a nice warm fire.

What Santa didn't know was that Marlee had sneaked a peek under the tree after Santa had left. She smiled knowing that Santa hadn't let her down. There was a beautiful new pair of black boots for her baby sister.
After all the gifts had been opened Whittle Jo's mama dressed her up with her new pair of boots.

Marlee and Whittle Jo's family as well as mine wish you all a very Merry Christmas Holiday season.

Children And Pets Alike Were Keeping Santa Helpers Busy

As everyone knows Santa's magic spreads far and wide. All over the world in fact. He is called different names in different countries. He is dressed different where ever he goes. The rumor of Santa retiring had even spread to the middle of this country: Missouri. Sheriff Bradshaw was having a little talk with his Country Western Santa about his duty as a Santa helper. "I was in the store the other day with my sister, Johnnie Belle and her friend, Kaysyn. We heard rumors that Santa is retiring. Since you are the head man of the Santa Helper Organization, I expect you to take care of this matter."

You know what that Santa said? "I'm on my way to the North Pole right now. I have already been informed that there is a meeting of all the Santa helpers in just a very short time. You can be assured that Christmas morning, you will find that Santa has been at your house. Merry Christmas, young fella!"

There was another shopper in the store that day; Chata and her human. She did not like the sounds of the retiring stuff. Her human always saw to it that Santa knew that she needed new toys for Christmas. Chata loves her human because she has Santa deliver pet toys to her friends that have not found a forever home yet. They need a fun Christmas too.

Miles visited with one of Santa's helpers. He told him that all he wanted for Christmas was something Bat Man. Then he said really quiet, "You will make sure that Santa comes while I'm asleep won't you?" Santa's helper assured him that he would make sure of it.

Emma and her baby brother got to have their picture taken with a Santa helper too. Emma was getting excited for Christmas morning.

Maddie was such a big girl and sat on her Santa's helper's lap for a pictures too. She said that she had been a good girl all year long.

Kylee and Kenlee and Aadon and their mama all got to have their pictures taken with a Santa helper. They told him that they were going to put some cookies and milk out for Santa.

Lucky and Mouse decided that they would stand watch at their house. Lucky took his place by his stocking to make sure that Santa would find it. It was right by the door, so he was pretty sure that Santa would fill it. He was sure that Santa would not retire. Jett and Charlie had a new tower just for them. It made it much easier to look for Santa or an occasional jump onto the new tree that their humans had tried to hide/protect from them.

Tiger took his position at the window so he could watch for Santa. He had no doubt that Santa soon would be there...

Marlee's best friend, Charlie, had also heard the rumor. She had been selected to be a Santa helper this year. She was so confused. "I don't know what to do. Should I tell Marlee or should I just wait? I know that Whittlee Jo needs new boots. I saw her the other day without boots again. She can't even go outside to play. I had better tell my nanny. She will know what to do."

Sometimes Mother Nature gets in a bad mood and takes it out on the humans that live on earth. Today she wasn't in a bad mood, she was in a very good mood. But she laughed so hard at how she had fooled Santa that the high pitch of her cackle could be heard by dogs, cats, and elves. That was a really big mistake on Mother Nature's part. Dogs and cats have very good hearing. I'm afraid it was all over for Mother Nature's dirty trick on Santa.  At this very moment Santa was being called into a meeting with hundreds of Santa helpers. They all heard the dogs and cats warning of Mother Nature's trick.

Santa now knew he had not made a mistake. He needed to hurry! He needed to deliver gifts to the whole wide world. Round and round the globe he would go with his eight reindeer or nine if you included Rudolf. "Oh I am in such a hurry come on Dasher, and Cupid and Vixen, or what is your name? Prancer and Dancer, yes that's it, Comet come on; let's get going, and Blitzen we need to work like a team! Oh, I'm so sorry, Danner and of course, Rudolf. Turn on that nose of yours. I hear it's foggy so you need to guide my sleigh tonight! Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas everyone!"

But there was Marlee's baby sister, Whittlee Jo, that had no boots waiting anxiously for Santa to come. Soon she would be falling asleep. She just couldn't help it. She was so very tired..

Santa Did Not Make A Mistake!

Unbeknownst to Santa he had not made a mistake at all. He had gotten Marlee's letter asking him to bring her baby sister a new pair of boots. He had sent the request to his elves and they had made them. They also had put them in his sleigh in the exact order of his delivery route to children's homes on Christmas Eve. What he didn't know was that his mean old stepsister, Mother Nature, was up to her old tricks again. She was sick and tired of Santa getting all the praise and smiles. "After all, I am much older than he is. I have been around since time began. I deserve more respect." She decided that she was going to pull a trick on him and she did.

She huffed and puffed and blew a terrible wind along with snow so thick that people couldn't see very well. Oh she smiled to herself. She could see through her magic telescope that those little black boots had flown off the sleigh and had landed in some snow in New Hampshire. She chuckled to herself, "Ha ha, now the old fella is going to feel bad. I think he just might retire; then I will have all the praise for the sunny skies and beautiful weather."

Little did she know that the special team of goats had already found those boots and had delivered them back to the North Pole. They had fallen in Sawyer and Talia's grandmother's yard. But how was Santa to know that he had not lost the little black boots, but that his stepsister had blown them away on purpose?

Amelia was busy busy shoveling snow so that Santa could get to her house as easy as possible. She just couldn't wait until Christmas morning. David out at Anderson Farm was so bundled up he could barely see where he was going, but the animals were counting on him and his family to feed them even though it was cold and icy outside.

Mother Nature had even made 'wonderful weather' tags to put in people's food just to make herself look better. She was tired of getting blamed for bad weather all the time. "People would complain if their ice cream was cold," she thought.

"Of course, there are some families that like me. Cooper and Lucas and their grandma like me because I make the sun shine and their weather is always just right, well, most of the time it is," thought Mother Nature.

"Justin loves me too. He loves playing in the ocean where it is nice and warm. I make beautiful sunsets and white beaches where humans stand for hours and stare at my handiwork. Yes, I am the best. Once Santa retires I will have no competition for happiness from those humans. They will love me and only me."

There were three elves that knew what Mother Nature had done. They had gotten together with two of Santa's helper elves that were working in a store. They had heard rumors about Santa retiring, but you will never believe how they found out. Well, I will give you a hint, there was a secret shopper in the store; or maybe there was more!