Sheila was the cub of Scruffy, the black bear who lived in the woods beyond the lake in Toptimber Woods, way up in Oakmont County. It was her first winter, and her first Christmas – something bears don’t usually see, because they are normally hibernating at that time of the year. But when the snow came early that year, well before she was ready to hibernate, Sheila thought it was wonderful, and wondered why she had to sleep through the time of snow, that is to say, winter, although bears don’t call it that. They simply don’t have a word for winter, because they normally sleep most of the time it is here.
But Sheila didn’t want to go to sleep, just as it is true that oftentimes other children do not want to go to sleep when they should. So she simply pretended. She shut her eyes, and sighed a big sigh, and made little sleeping sounds like, “poooooh, poooh” and “haaaah, haaaah,” like the sound any little bear might make if it were truly sleeping. Scruffy, who was named that because she had a little spot of fur on her back that just wouldn’t lay down right, but always made it look like she had a bit of a bad fur day, finally lay down beside her cub, gave her a kiss on her head, and soon was asleep.
Gently, Sheila got up, and quietly tip-toed to the mouth of their cave. It had rained a little earlier in the day, which had turned to snow just about nightfall and, now, as she looked out of the mouth of her cave, everything was glistening white in the light of the moon. It was beautiful – like a vast fairyland. The trees glistened like crystals, and the ground sparkled like a million diamonds. “My,” she thought to herself, “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful! Why would any bear want to sleep through the time of snow?”
The air was crisp and cold, and carried the wonderful fragrance of hemlock, which made her want to step out of her cave a bit into the snow. It softly crunched under her feet. It was cold, but her heavy pads protected her feet, while her thick fur protected her from the cold air. Still, as she sniffed the wind, the rush of frigid air filled her lungs and caused her to sneeze: “Aachoo!”
“God bless you!” said a small voice. It surprised her, and she whirled around to see where it had come from. She couldn’t see anyone. “Who’s there?” she asked, the least bit afraid. She was not usually afraid of anything, because anywhere she went, her mother was always at her side, to protect her. But now, all by herself, she felt small and somewhat vulnerable. No one answered her so, trying to sound much bigger than she felt, she demanded, “I said, ‘who is there?’”
She saw a small movement, just over near a branch, that moved quickly behind a small clump of grass. She squinted to see what it was – a little mouse that had been out, scurrying around, trying to get some last minute things in before the heavy snows came. This early snow had made it much more difficult, covering up much of her food supply of small nuts and grasses and seeds. “I see you!” Sheila said, accusingly, and now feeling much bigger and braver. “Why didn’t you answer me?” The little mouse stopped its busyness, and looked at Sheila. “Because you didn’t say, ‘Thank you,” when I said, “God bless you” after you went ‘achoo!’ It really wasn’t very polite of you. I’ve a mind not to invite you to the big party tonight, if you’re going to be rude like that!”
“Big party?” Now Sheila was curious. “What big party?” The mouse sighed, as if Sheila was by far the dumbest animal in the forest, and it was really quite an imposition upon her to have to inform her of the biggest event of winter. “Don’t you know,” the little mouse informed her, as if it were certainly common knowledge, and she certainly should have known, “that tonight is the biggest night of the year? It’s Christmas Eve, when all of the animals of the forest get together at Old Log and exchange gifts. Of course,” she eyed Sheila closely, “it appears that you don’t have any gifts – so I guess you just can’t go!” She started to move, as if she were about to leave. She had a large acorn which she hoisted up over her head which was obviously a gift, since it had a piece of grass tied around it in a bow, and a little piece of moss with a single winterberry on it as a decoration. Sheila quickly stepped in front of her, “Please, PLEASE can I go? I’ve never been to a party.” Which was true, because bears are, as we all know, rather solitary creatures, and usually rather bad-mannered at parties anyway, so they are seldom invited. “Well,” said the mouse, again eyeing her rather closely, but thinking more about how heavy her package was to carry. “I guess if you help me carry my gift for the Squirrel family, you can come. But you must behave and be quiet. And you must figure out some kind of gift.”
Sheila took the small package from the mouse, who warned her again and again to be careful with it, and fussed the whole way. Sheila didn’t really care. The idea of a big party and of this celebration called Christmas was very interesting to her. Although she felt quite in a hurry to get to the party, she plodded along with the little mouse scurrying around her, stopping to check this thing and that, continually worrying: “Be careful, don’t drop my gift! I worked all day on that! If you drop it, neither of us can go to the party! Be more careful! You almost tripped!” On and on the went, until they finally came to Old Log – which was precisely that – a very large old log that had fallen in the forest. It had been a very large tree at one time – the largest tree in the forest. So, when it fell, it cleared a large spot in the forest. Now, most of its limbs were gone, and small shrubs were growing on the perimeter of the clearing. As they passed these, Sheila could see a large gathering of animals – squirrels and rabbits and chipmunks and the fox family and even puma, the cat. In the trees around the clearing there was an assortment of birds who, rather than going south for the winter, had remained here in the woods, and had stayed up this night for the great celebration. At the edge of the clearing, Sheila could see the sky beyond the trees. The moon looked large and icy cold, lighting up the forest and casting deep shadows, while stars twinkled brightly against the black sky.
As they entered the clearing, many of the animals stopped their chatter when they saw Sheila. “What is SHE doing here?” the titmouse tittered. “We NEVER have bears at the big party!” “That’s because they are usually asleep,” the mouse answered quickly, suddenly defending Sheila. Actually, she was defending herself, because she thought that they might think she did something wrong, and might tell her that she could not come to the party, which would mean that she wouldn’t get a gift, which would be a HORRIBLE thing on Christmas Eve! Mouse’s minds are always like that, you see – they are always thinking a hundred things at a time, and always worrying over things, and thinking about what might happen, and what could happen, and what would I do if this happened or that happened. They have to take everything into consideration all at once, unlike bears who just think one thing at a time, and can think about that one thing for a very long, long time. Which is what Sheila had been doing, all the way to the party. She was trying to think of a gift. In fact, she was thinking so hard that it almost made her head hurt. “Well,” she finally concluded. “I guess it would have to depend on who the gift is FOR!” And that was a very good thought, or so it seemed to her, except that it still didn’t answer the question of, “what do I give?” But it was all that she was able to think of along the way.
It was finally one of the deer who stepped forward to welcome Sheila. “All are welcome here tonight,” the big buck said. “After all, it is Christmas, and that is what Christmas is all about.” He looked at Sheila. “Tonight, you are our guest. And, as our guest, you get the privilege of beginning the story.” Sheila looked at the big buck, then around at the rest of the animals. Then it dawned on her – she had no idea what Christmas, or the Big Party, were all about. She knew she was supposed to bring a present, but she didn’t know WHY. And, since she could only think one thought at a time, it took her a while to think all these thoughts, so that, in the meantime, it became clear to almost everyone except the badger, who was always the last to understand anything, that she had no idea what Christmas was all about. The big buck laughed. “I thought bears knew just about everything. Apparently there are some stories that bear repeating.” Everyone groaned at his bad joke except Sheila, who was a bit embarrassed.
She was invited to sit down, and the owl was invited to begin the story. The animals liked to have him begin, because he knew exactly the right place to start, being so wise and everything. Then the others picked up the story, each telling the part that was most interesting to them. The owl had begun with the wise men for rather obvious reasons. The eagle told about the star, since he soared closer to them than any other animal. The fox told about John the Baptist and Herod, although he was somewhat incensed that someone like Herod would be compared to him. “It’s a black mark on all of us foxes,” he would say in a hurt voice. And so on they went, until the entire story was told from beginning to end, and Sheila sat in the midst of them, amazed that the One who created the universe, would send a child into the world – especially a human child. One that could not fly, or swim, or fend for itself, who didn’t know how to get his own food, or even have fur to keep him warm. One that was so helpless. As she sat and thought about these things, the animals sang “Away in a Manger,” and “Silent Night.” Then they exchanged gifts and wished one another a Merry Christmas. Then it was time to go home.
Little mouse hadn’t fared very well in the gift exchange. All the way home, she worried and fretted. “Last year I exchanged with one of the deer. He brought me a large piece of moss, and some grain from the field. The moss kept my house warm, and the grain was enough to feed me for half the winter!” She showed Sheila her gift from the squirrels. It was a few seed heads of grass, tied with a whisker. “It’s very pretty,” Sheila noted. “But it will never keep me through the winter,” mouse complained. “Which probably doesn’t matter. I’ll probably die from the cold anyway! She scurried from one place to another, trying to find something not covered by the snow. “I just don’t know how I’ll make it to spring!”
Meanwhile, Sheila was thinking – serious bear kind of thinking. Then suddenly a thought came to mind, and she said, sternly, “Follow me!”
She headed off down toward the lake, down the hill, along the deer path, then cut off at the birch clump onto the rabbit path, then along the frozen stream to a field where stubble from the harvest could be seen poking up through the snow. “Wait here,” Sheila commanded the little mouse, who was only too glad to wait – for while it was just a short distance for Sheila, since bears think nothing of walking for miles just for a few good berries, the mouse had been struggling to keep up with her and was very tired, and shaking from the cold. Sheila rooted around in the snow for quite a while, so long that the mouse had almost given up hope of not freezing to death before she finally heard Sheila exclaim, “Ahaa! Here it is!” And soon Sheila was bounding back with something in her mouth. She laid it at the mouse’s feet. It was a whole cob of dried corn! Enough to keep her for the whole winter! “I watched when the humans were harvesting their corn,” Sheila explained. “They never get it all!”
“And, ddddooo you know where I can get some mmmmoss?” The frozen mouse chattered. She was so entirely frozen, she could hardly get the words out. “Better than that,” Sheila said. “Come with me.” Back up the rabbit trail they went, along the stream, then into the woods, up to the birch clump and on to the deer path, then headed toward the cave. The mouse was ready to stop at the mouth of the cave, but the bear turned and said, “Well, come on – come inside! My gift is in here!” The mouse had never been in a bear cave before, and was quite timid, afraid that this might be a trap after all, and that perhaps she might end up on Sheila’s menu! But she was SO cold, and when Sheila curled up beside her mother, and laid the corn beside her, and she looked outside and felt the cold in her bones, she knew that there was only one thing to do. She approached Sheila slowly, looking to see where Sheila wanted her to go. And Sheila, feeling the great sleep at last coming over her, simply reached out with her large paw, and pulling the little mouse into her warm fur, in no time was fast asleep.