Dublin, December 2007

This year some of us were going to celebrate christmas in Slangerup near Copenhagen in Denmark. For the toy animals who would be staying at home in Finglas, Ireland, we wanted to help them decorate the rooms to make it a really cosy christmas season. We bought new decoration stuff. Here's Tom trying to hang up decorations in the sitting room. Olivia told him to be careful.

It turned out that Tom wasn't tall enough even though he was sitting on an empty barrel of cashew nuts. We had to wait until Roger came back with Sam. They had gone out to find our old christmas tree and soon returned. McBear said it was an environmentally friendly tree.
"What'dya mean?" Sam asked.
"Well, it's artificial, so it can be used many, many christmases..."
"Can we also have candles in the window? Erasmus wanted to know."
"Are you nuts? McBear said. "Our humans would have a heart attack! Imagine one of us catching fire! No, that's out of the question, I'm afraid."

Click each photo to enlarge

Like Tom, Roger wasn't tall enough to hang up the decorations, but unlike Tom, Roger stood up on the barrel without hesitation and was able to reach higher.
"Be careful!" Olivia warned Roger.
"Calm, calm, Olivia!" Roger said.
When Roger reached the couch, suddenly the barrel tilted and ... SMACK! Roger was turned upside down!
"I told you to be careful!" Olivia gave out.
"Ah, Olivia! I might be nuts, but I'm a stuffed bear... I am not human with a fragile skull... Come and help me instead of giving out!"

Dublin, December 2007

With operation Christmas Decorations completed, McBear and Roger worked on their wish lists.
"What's on your list?" Roger asked of curiousity.
"Well, I have a new laptop, a handheld GPS device to help us find our way when travelling, a laser printer - bear sized of course - a permanent desk, toffees, honey, a bigger bin that can contain more paper and finally a solar panel."
"Solar panel??? Why on earth...?"
"Well, to help cut down our use of fossil fuels to make electricity. Bears have a responsibility in the world too, you know."
Having finished our long lists, we discussed what address to write on the envelopes.
"Well..." McBear started, "...according to the Danes, Santa lives on Greenland. However, if you ask people in Finland, Santa lives in Lapland. Other people believe he lives on the North Pole. Speaking of the North Pole, with the present rate of melting ice, he will soon have to move!"
We decided to send the letters to the North Pole. McBear proposed to send our lists by email to Santa Claus as well just as a precaution. The only problem was we didn't know Santa's email address.

McBear went into his office and turned on his laptop. Roger followed him, and we started to google Santa Claus to find the right email address.
"Good Lord! There's 9 and a half million Santa webpages! If only one of them is the right one, it means there's 9 and a half million minus one fraud pages!
"But what about the websites that write about Santa?" Roger asked and continued: "Would you call them fraud?"
"Oh, eh,... well, good point, Roger. I suppose Santa has quite a few supporters around the world".
McBear tried santa.com and santaclaus.com, but none seemed to be the official Santa Claus website.
"Maybe we should try something bigger than .com... Hmmm, I'll try santa.org or santa.wld"
"What's wld?" Roger asked.
"dot-World. You know, it has to be something bigger than com, even than the eu".
"Why are we googling Santa Claus?" Roger wanted to know. "I mean, we're bears, shouldn't we be googling Santa Bear?"
"Oh, very good point, Roger! We're bears, and we should believe in Bears!"
McBear googled Santa Bear.
"Hmmm... there's 150,000 pages. That's a lot less, however, I am afraid that when we finally find the right email address, christmas will be long gone."
"Okay," Roger said. "We'll stick to the normal post and send it to Santa Bear. If we get any presents, that should be full proof of who we should believe in..."

Kongens Nytorv, Denmark, December 2007

With all the Christmas preparations done, we could travel to Denmark to celebrate Christmas in Slangerup near Copenhagen. On the way from the airport we went through the city centre of Copenhagen. This was because our owner, Frances, wished to try out the icerink in front of Hotel D'Angleterre on Kongens Nytorv. A lot of people enjoyed skating here.

Then we went for coffee at D'Angleterre. Nicholas was impressed by the fine standard of the hotel. He wasn't really supposed to come with us, however, a last minute cancellation enabled him to accompany us as he was a real Christmas toy animal dog.

As per usual, we also enjoyed the lounge - we had been here quite a few times by now, but it was lovely to be back.
"This is really a nice place..." Nicholas said.
"Yeah, it's just too easy to get used to..." Roger said and leaned back to relax with a content sigh.

Slangerup, Denmark, December 2007

We were going to stay with Mrs. Madsen in Slangerup for Christmas. In the evening, sweets were going to be made, and it didn't take McBear long to locate the sweets factory. An entire plate with soft nougat and marzipan was being made.
"Careful now!" Roger warned. "You wouldn't want your figure to expand too much...".
Nicholas was sniffing to the sweets and found the smell heavenly.

In Denmark, tradition has it that presents are given on Christmas eve, not on Christmas Day. We went into the living room where the candles on the Christmas tree had been lit up. We were warned to keep away from the candles.

Slangerup, Denmark, December 2007

When it was time to open the presents, we searched for possible presents from Santa Bear. Roger got excited to find a present for him.

When he unwrapped it, it was a fine acoustic guitar and Roger was blissful.
He was even more excited to find yet another present for him.

Slangerup, Denmark, December 2007

McBear had got a bit worried as he didn't seem to be able to find any presents, but then.... he discovered an enormous present. Much bigger than himself. It said "To McBear from Santa Bear" on the name tag. McBear was jumping up and down in excitement.

While McBear was tearing the wrapping apart, Roger studied his second present.
"Wow! It's a custom built electric guitar. How on Earth did Santa Bear know that I wanted a custom built guitar...?".
McBear went hyper as he discovered he had got a new drum kit. It was red like the Christmas colours.
"How did Santa Bear know that I wanted a drum kit? It wasn't on my wish list...?".

Slangerup, Denmark, December 2007

We started wondering about a present for Nicholas. Then we discovered a missing package, however, it only said "Nicholas", not "TO Nicholas from Santa Bear". When we unwrapped the present, to our surprise White Bear and the Pinbear bros. appeared. Nicholas was giggling.
"Ho-ho. I wanted them to be here, but since they were supposed to stay at home in Ireland, I decided to wrap them up as a present...
McBear started to giggle. He was deligthed that more TA's had got the chance to celebrate Christmas together.
McBear and Roger discussed the words in front of McBear's drum. It said "The Beatles".
"But this is a mistake", Roger pointed out. "We are not the Beatles! We are The Bearlife".
McBear was thinking of a possible solution.
"Well, it looks like all we have to do is to change the letters slightly. We'll do that when we get home", McBear said.

The next day Roger and McBear was playing on their new instruments. Soon they were playing "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree" and "Lonely this Christmas."
"There's only one thing that still puzzles me", Roger said. "How did Santa Bear know that were going to celebrate Christmas in Slangerup? We didn't write that on our wish lists..."