In one magical bush lived a family — Mum Bear, Dad Bear, and their little bear cubs. The eldest was called Buttercup, the middle one — Goodie, and the youngest girl cub was called Tail-Paw. They all lived in a beautiful big house, where the walls and stairs were made from fragrant timber.
The boy cubs lived in their own room. Each had his own wooden bed, and on the shelves lay heaps of different toys — big tanks, almost like real ones, toy guns, bulldozers, and even huge construction sets from which you could build a proper house.
You could tell straight away that boys lived here. But in Tail-Paw's room, everything was pink — the bedspread, the curtains on the windows, and the dresses, of which there were loads in the pink wardrobe.
All the bears, both grown-ups and little ones, worked all summer and autumn to store up as much tucker as possible for winter. Because in winter there's no food in the bush, fluffy snow covers everything, and there's not a single shop where you could buy any treats.
So in the huge storeroom, barrels of honey stood against the walls, along with big wooden boxes filled with raspberries, apples, apricots, plums, pears, and lingonberries. And there was loads more food besides.
Actually, the bears should have gone into hibernation ages ago, because bears sleep in winter. But our bears couldn't sleep, because the most important celebration of all was about to arrive — Christmas. And for such an occasion, you could even miss a bit of winter sleep. Plus, they had to prepare presents for each other and all their bush mates.
Before this bright, lovely celebration, all the bears tidied the house, put away toys, books, and things, and decorated the house with beautiful drawings, baubles, garlands, handmade paper crafts, and shiny tinsel.
Little Tail-Paw watered all the flowers in the house. She and Mum had grown loads of beautiful flowers in pots, and the whole house was filled with a pleasant floral aroma. In the biggest room they set up a large table, covered it with a beautiful white tablecloth, and placed heaps of plates with different delicious dishes.
And suddenly there was a knock at the door — not even a knock, but a barely audible tap. All the bears looked at each other. Who could that be at this hour? Tail-Paw ran to open it and saw on the doorstep two little hedgehogs, a brother and sister — Spike and Tiny. They'd come to ask the bears for help.
G'day, bears. We really need your help! Our mum's fallen crook, Dad's gone to fetch the doctor — the wild boar — and he's probably got lost. We've got no firewood at home, it's freezing outside, and soon there'll be icicles in our rooms. And we've got no tucker at all.
The hedgehogs greeted them.
The poor hedgehogs were shaking like leaves in the wind, from cold, from hunger — they were absolutely miserable. Mum Bear rushed to the little ones, quickly changed them into warm dry clothes, gave them hot tea with raspberry jam, fed them delicious honey pies, and tucked them into Tail-Paw's little pink bed, whilst the girl herself had to settle down in her brothers' room.
At first the little bear cubs were cross with their parents, but then they thought about how frightening it must be when you're hungry, cold, and worst of all, when your mum's sick, and they felt sorry for the poor hedgehogs too.
The next day, when everyone woke up, the whole bear family set off to the hedgehogs' house, taking along loads of different food, fruit, medicine for the sick mum, firewood to heat the house, presents for the little hedgehogs, and heaps of different toys and gifts.
It was brilliant fun helping the poor little hedgehogs. It felt so good for everyone to celebrate together, jump around, play with the hedgehog joeys, and watch as the sick hedgehog mum took her medicine and got better straight away. Then the hedgehog dad came home, safe and sound. Turns out he'd fallen into a huge snowdrift and couldn't get out. But now everything was right, and all the mums, dads, and kids were together.
And that's how the bear cub family celebrated Christmas, without presents or special treats. But they felt so good helping their bush mates, because it's really important to have close friends like that.
