There Was A Strange Bright Light

Frost's little goat friends were wide eyed. They sure did want to know if the R.T.O.G had found the boots. "Well, kids I tell you what. There is a lot more to this story than just finding the boots. Remember Santa had decided to retire. So Sue, one of his elves had sent out the alert to the R.T.O.G, but there were other elves involved in saving Christmas for little children as well. There was one elf, Carol was her name , I believe.
She was pretty strict. She organized a get together with some other elves that she worked with. She said, "Now look, we have to do something and do it fast. The goat drivers are flying through a blizzard. They can hardly see their hooves in front of their faces. What can we do?"

Many of the elves had connections with earth people. They sent messages to them all over the world to turn on the Christmas lights on their homes and businesses. And get those Christmas tree lights on!

Tiger even hurried his humans into decorating their tree. He had so much trouble getting them to turn the lights on. They didn't seem to understand that the goats needed more light! Sometimes he just wondered about them.

Just as Emma was putting the last decoration on their tree something happened outside. She could hear her parents talking about a strange bright light....

The Children Had A Plan

Santa's little elf did get in touch with the Royal Team of Goats. They were usually successful in completing their mission without fail. On this particular night however, the weather was terrible at the North Pole. The wind was howling and the snow was blowing. It was impossible to see through the snowstorm, even for the R.T.O.G.

They reported back to Sue, Santa's elf. They told her that they needed some help from Santa's reindeer. You see when the weather gets extremely cold the reindeer noses turn red. Little Rudolf always has a red nose even if the weather is warmer. They determined that if all the reindeer stood together with their noses pointed south they might be able to shed enough light for the R.T.O.G. to fly through the storm safely to find the missing pair of boots for Santa. Then maybe he wouldn't retire. They couldn't imagine a Christmas without their dear friend, Santa.

Sometimes secrets are no longer secrets because people tell other people, or in this case animals tell other animals. Rock had told Bella. Then she told her brothers Jax and Aiden. They had a plan. They decided that they would decorate their Christmas tree early so that it's light would guide the way. Then they called Marlee and her brother, Kyler.

They were decorating their tree early too. They asked their mom to call Addison's mama and explained why this year it was important to decorate their trees as soon as possible. It was almost Christmas. They needed as much light as possible; inside and outside. They really needed to hurry!

Kane helped to light his Christmas tree and Chata looked to the sky to see if there was enough light for the R.T.O.G.  She decided they needed more help, so she called on baby Addison. She loved the Christmas tree and her me'me's old rocking horse. that she had had for years and years. The lights on her tree were really really bright. Hopefully if they contacted all of their friends the R.T.O.G. could see through the blinding snow. They thought they saw something in the woods, but couldn't see well enough. They needed more light!

All at once there was a blinding light. They could see all around them now. They thought that they could see something black laying in the snow. There was a light all around it. Could that be the missing boots?

Santa Got Marlee's Letter, But Lost The Boots

Frost was telling his fellow goats that the little girl was looking at her family's Christmas tree. She had a very sad little face as she looked at the empty Christmas tree. The tree was very pretty, but it had no gifts. Her sister, Marlee, had sent Santa a note that Whitlee wanted a new pair of boots. She didn't have a single pair of boots. Her little feet were going to get cold because it was winter time. She just couldn't understand why there were no gifts under the tree. She had been a good girl at least she tried to be good. Time was running out. Santa surely would be coming soon.

What she didn't know was that Santa had received the Christmas Wish letter from Marlee. He had his elves make her new boots, but he had lost them! For the very first time in his life he had lost a gift for a good little girl or boy.

Frost told his friends that Ranger had finally gotten in touch with Rock. Rock was Bella's little dog. He was going to go along with her and her family camping in the woods. Hopefully, they would find the boots that had been lost. They looked in the woods, then they looked by the shore of the lake; no boots.

Rock knew that Ranger was depending on him to make sure that the boots were found. He got in touch with the little elf that had sent him the message. "You are going to have to check out the trees on the east coast. They are having a terrible snow storm out there. The boots may be lost most anywhere especially in the snow on the decks that people decorate with Christmas trees. They could get covered with snow and no one would be able to see them. They may have fallen into trees that are covered with snow, so we need sharp eyes on the lookout. We just can't let Santa retire."

" If that doesn't work there is the Royal Team of Goats or better known as the R.T.O.G. that is well known for their rescue work of lost items. They may be our last hope. That little girl really needs a new pair of boots."

Frost Tells Friends His Family's Christmas Story

Frost had a very interested audience as he thought about the old old story that had been passed down over the generations. Many many years of mama goats telling their baby goats about their families from long long ago. He thought, "I hope that I have all of the facts straight in this story. I remember one time I told this story to a little girl goat and she fainted dead away. Scared me to death. She was alright though; just got a little excited. It is a really good story so here goes."

"A long long time ago all of the animals in the world liked each other. Well, sometimes they didn't all agree, but all of our ancestors lived in the mountains. Well, maybe not the mountains. Oh dear. I'm getting all mixed up. Let me start again."

 "Well, you guys have heard of Santa Claus, right?"
All of his little goat friends bleated in agreement. They had all heard of the jolly old elf. They said, "He says Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!"

 Frost said, "Yes he usually does. But this particular year you see, Santa had a really big problem. He had a gift for a special little girl, but he had misplaced it. He was so very busy that year. He was afraid that it had fallen through the clouds and had gotten lost in the forest. He was so disappointed in himself. "You are getting too old for this job old boy. Maybe you should retire."
"Well the elves heard him say the "Retire" word and it got very very quiet in the workshop. They never thought in the whole wide world that Santa would no longer be traveling the world with his reindeer and sleigh full of gifts. What would he do with all of his spare time? What would the little boys and girls do with no gifts? It was all so very confusing. Well sir, there was a little elf that overheard what Santa had said. She was not about to let Santa retire.

She knew exactly what she had to do. She had to contact Ranger. She knew he had moved to Bella's farm. She quickly got on the ham radio and contacted her good friend. "Ranger, I need help. Santa has lost a gift he had for a little girl. He says he might retire. We can't let that happen. He thinks he dropped it and it rolled down the mountain side. It might have gotten lost in the woods. Do you think you can help us out?"

Ranger told little Sue, Santa's elf, that he would certainly try. He went behind the barn and summoned the storm cloud. He hopped into the wind and called out to the big moose. The moose let out a loud grunt. He was miles away from the North Pole. "Sorry, Sue. I'll let the mountain goats know. They should be able to help you."

"No, they haven't seen a thing, Moose. I've already gotten in touch with them." Is there anything else you can do from your end?"
Ranger happened to think that Bella and her family had gone out camping in the woods. He thought he would tell Rock. He and Rock were good friends. He would let Bella know then she could tell her brothers and daddy. He just knew that his plan would work. At least he sure hoped so. If it didn't there was a little girl that wouldn't have a Christmas present. If it didn't work there were lots of good little girls and boys that wouldn't have Santa and his reindeer on their roofs on Christmas Eve night.

The Goats Are Proud Of Their Heritage

While Grandma Lu was thinking of a Christmas story to tell Marlee there was an interesting conversation happening out at the Anderson Family Farm. It was a terrible day. The wind was howling and the temperature was very very cold. There were two goats, Bubbles and Dolly all huddled up together to keep warm. They had found a comfortable yellow tub. It was full of straw that helped to keep them warm too.

Bubbles said, "Do you remember that talent scout that was out here a few weeks ago? " Dolly bleated, "Yes, I sure do. Why?"
"Well, did you notice that none of us goats got any attention at all? All she was interested in were the alpacas. She thought they were so cute. That's all she could say. 'Oh, aren't they just the cutest things? You could be in the movies' and on and on. She didn't say one single thing about how cute we were. She just ignored us, didn't she? Well if she ever comes back I sure hope that one of the Andersons tells her about goats and how famous we are. We are interesting too."

Dolly bleated and said, "Oh just forget it. We know we are special. That's why the Andersons adopted us. They give us head scratches everyday and really good food and shelter. We couldn't ask for anything more. We know that they love us. When we are babies they even give us a bottle if they need to."

About that time Prometheus jumped up on a tree stump. He listened to Dolly and Bubbles for awhile and finally couldn't stand it any longer. "Hey you two! he bleated. I'm just a little goat, but I know a lot about the history of goats. We actually have saved a lot of people. Maybe the whole wide world! Did you know that? A long long time ago there were some of our ancestors that lived in Iceland. They kept those people alive with their wool and milk and meat. That's a really really cold place. And if you have some time to listen, there are some babies that would get really sick if it wasn't for our milk. Some babies are allergic to cows' milk. I think we are cuter anyway. In fact I think that Grandma B's little granddaughter had to drink goats' milk so she wouldn't get sick."

"Well if you don't already know, I have some really famous ancestors I can tell you all about them. They have gone down in history. Even my name is famous. I was a trickster in the ancient Greek Mythology. There are books written about my ancestor. He was a character. He stole fire away from the Greek gods and gave it to humans."

"Hold on there Prom. I'm probably more famous than you are. My name is Smithers. I even have my own family crest in my shelter the Andersons made for me. My ancestors belonged to a Silversmith. They made beautiful things for rich people out of silver. My name when it is shortened up a bit sounds like Smith."

Little Harry was wearing his new sweater to keep warm. He had been listening to all of his friends talk about their famous ancestors. "Well, guys I have famous ancestors too. I have ancestors that have already been in the movies. Walt Disney was a famous man. He started making movies that both children and adults liked. Goats were in some of those movies clear back in the 1930's even. I think that goats have been written in books and poems too. I know for a fact that Prometheus had an ancestor in a Fairy Tale called Billy Goat Gruff. He played a trick on a troll and got across the river without that mean old troll eating him. He was so smart!"

Soon another goat called Frost came ambling up to the group that was bragging about their ancestors. He finally had had enough of his friends telling about what famous families they had. "Well, I happen to know that I have a very very famous ancestor. He lives at the North Pole and helps Santa Claus make all of the children very happy on Christmas Eve or morning. His great great great grandson actually used to live on the Mini Farm with Grandma B. He started head butting Marlee so now he lives with Bella and her brothers with other little goats. He and I are cousins you know. Probably a few times removed....

Four Days After Thanksgiving

It was four days after Thanksgiving in 2019. Marlee came bounding into Marleewood looking for Grandma Lu. She tore into the Sitting Room and said, "Tadah!! Hi Grandma Lu. I have so much to tell you about our Thanksgiving Day yesterday. We had so much food you can't even believe it. We had turkey and dressing and pies and cakes and wow I can't even think of all of it."

"We had so much company. We even had more babies besides Whitlee Jo. The room my Grandma B rented was really big so I got to run amuck. That's what my mama said. I wasn't in very many pictures 'cause I was really busy."
People didn't even look at their phones very much. They seemed like they talked and laughed an awful lot. It was a pretty good day. I'm sure you will get some photos for your photo album."

"When we walked in Grandma B had the tables all decorated. It was the same place that we had my birthday party."

"Grandma B put pretend leaves on the table and some pumpkins. Then everyone had their pictures taken in one place but me cause I was busy."
I didn't even get to go visit Grandma B the day before 'cause she was baking. Some day I'm going to get big and bake too."

"My daddy was being silly and laid down on the floor. He's pretty fun. My mom got him to get off the floor and have his picture taken so you can see it."

My Grandma B's sister and her family was there and so was her mama, my nanny. That's what I call her. All of my B's kids were there too. I think you know my Uncle B and Uncle Anthony and their families."

"Whittly Jo got to have her picture taken with a pumpkin 'cause she was good. I was busy playing. She can't run as fast as I can."

"Grandma Lu will you tell me a story again? We have had so much company I can't even remember when you have told me a story. Do you know any Christmas stories? I think I have been a pretty good girl, so I think that Santa Claus will come. Does Santa come to your house? Does he go to everyone's house? I need to know all this stuff so I can tell Whittle Jo about it when she gets bigger."
Oh Grandma Lu laughed with her little friend. She was so  much fun and funny too. "Yes, I think I just might have a Christmas story or two. Let me think where to start....