When my wife and I woke up on Christmas morning, we were, umm, we were… huh. What is the word for when something is so incredibly cute that you just can’t stand it, and you are making the sad puppy dog face and saying “awwwww,” but in an extremely good way? Anyway, there were some precious moments going on, and we were fully aware of it. Ruby and Edward had both spent the night in Ruby’s bed so that they could wait for Santa together, and at 6:54 we awoke to hear them counting down the minutes until Christmas.
“Edward, it’s not Christmas till 7!” Ruby was telling him, making us the happiest parents on the planet. “Only six more minutes to Christmas!” They stared at her clock, both bubbling with excitement and anticipation, as the counted down each minute. My wife and I were also counting down each minute, wondering what was going to happen at 7. Would they come wake us up? Would they run downstairs to see the tree? We didn’t have long to wait, but suddenly we were as excited as the kids, and when Ruby finally yelled “7:00! It’s Christmas!” we could hardly stand it.
“Merry Christmas!” Edward yelled, as we heard the sound of the two of them climbing out of Ruby’s loft bed. He ran straight into our room and shouted a holiday greeting to us, and then it was downstairs to tear into the stockings. Daddy Bear and Uncle Bear accompanied both of the children, but were dropped near the tree at the sight of all of the presents that had appeared overnight.
Once the stockings were empty we were ready to open presents, but the bears were gone. They had been sitting right there on the carpet, and we had all been right there the whole time, and yet somehow they had disappeared. When we asked them where they had gone, they told us that they had to finish wrapping their presents, and that we should just start opening our gifts. When you have not one, but now two magical bears living in your house, you never know what they are going to be up to, but we accepted their explanation and started in on the tree.
After we had opened maybe a third of the presents, Daddy Bear told us that he had finished wrapping and was going to put the presents under the tree, and the children told the bears how silly they were, but then we saw, sticking out from behind one of the larger presents way in the back of the tree against the wall, a paw. Ruby and Edward wasted no time in squeezing under the branches to move the large present aside, and revealed an amazing scene.
Up against the wall, buried under branches, ornaments, and other presents, were Daddy Bear and Uncle Bear, holding scissors, tape, and a roll of wrapping paper covered in Christmas teddy bears. Beside them were three presents with tags handwritten in brown marker, one to Edward from Uncle Bear, one to Ruby from Daddy Bear, and one to the whole family from both of the bears. This was possibly the most exciting thing that has ever happened in the history of the universe.
Edward tore his present open to reveal the movie “Yogi Bear,” and Ruby got a book about animals with a note that told her to turn to page 9. It was a page all about bears. Our magical bears are nothing if not bear-lovers. But then it was time to open the huge box, and we all ripped into it with wild abandon. And you will not believe what Bear got for us. A Playstation 4. Bear is my favorite. Ruby and I had been to every store in town a half a dozen times, just to see if they had one in stock, and of course they never did, and of course they were very expensive anyway, but I guess they have them in Lightbulb Land, which is where Bear apparently bought the PS4 for a very good price. If you are ever looking for a hard to find item, just ask Bear.
Christmas is a magical time, and our bears are full of magic, so I guess it only makes sense that there would be extra magic on that day, but none of us could have ever dreamed of just how magical a day it would be. And on a completely unrelated note, I have now become 600% less productive. But don’t blame me. It was Bear.