Yippee !!  Happy dance time!! Hooray!! Hooray!!  I am such a very, very happy little Ted-gemite! It is so much more better than being a very, very happy little vegemite! Can I tell you a little secret?! Everyone likes hearing secrets don't they?! I know that I do. But if everyone knows a secret… then it is no longer a secret, I suppose? But it once was one, so it is still exciting to hear what the secret was! Anyway, I will tell you my own secret now! But… you have to promise not to tell anyone else. It is very important that you keep the secret under your hat. Hmm…you may not be wearing a hat. Well it is Summer now, so you may like to wear a sun hat. "This is an important Teddy care Health watch announcement. For sun protection and to try to avoid skin cancers, please wear a hat, apply sun cream and wear sunglasses to protect your eyes when you are out in the sun." These are very important things to do. It doesn't matter if you are a teddy or not, how young or old you are, and wherever you live, please be sun-smart! But back to wearing hats, it is very stylish to wear hats, caps, beanies, sombreros, akubras, berets, fedoras and fascinators. And, the best part about it is that you can then hide secrets under your hat! Anyway, please make sure that you place  my secret on your head then place a hat over the top of it! My secret is: I don't like vegemite! I apologise to all Australians. I am a very patriotic teddy, and I do so much enjoy living in Australia but I have to admit that I do NOT like the taste of vegemite! It has quite a "unique" taste and is very, very, very salty! I think that I have more of a refined, delicate teddy tongue! Also, it is a little hard for my teddy face to have "rosy cheeks" like the vegemite jingles says, when I am a brown teddy bear! You have to promise not to let the news that I don't like vegemite to spread around Strathalan. It would be quite a "disaster" if because of this news, the sales of vegemite plummeted down at the Kiosk! I would be so very, very embarrassed if the Kiosk went into bankruptancy if no one bought vegemite ever again at the Kiosk! Oh, it would be just so very, very awful if the Kiosk closed just because I didn't like vegemite and no one  bought  jars of it at the Kiosk! Please keep buying your vegemite supplies there!

Anyway, I am a very happy little ted-egemte teddy that doesn't eat vegemite because…. it is almost Christmas Day! And this year, I am determined to stay up reallllly late and try to catch sight of Santa Claus! Every year, I try sooo hard to stay up very, very late to try to see him appear but I seem to always fall asleep! This year, I am going to try very, very hard to watch for him to appear around one of the corners of Strathalan.  I am going to get a tall glass, take a carton of long life milk off the shelf at the Kiosk and pour some milk in to the glass.  Then… decisions, decisions… I have been having very important discussions in my mind over this last week concerning what is Santa Claus'  most favourite biscuits to eat? It is a very important decision to make, just like the decisions that Prime Ministers and Presidents need to make.  My plan is to put a plate of these biscuits with the milk outside the Kiosk door.  Then, I will wait in the Kiosk for when Santa comes and has a bite of these biscuits and a drink of the milk, then I will get to see him! I know that when he sees the biscuits and milk he will just have to stop and have a bite to eat and a drink because it will be sooooo  tiring going around to each of the Residents and whispering a little "happy Christmas" greeting to them whilst they are asleep! He will need something to keep his energy levels up! My friend Nora the North Pole Teddy is great friends with Santa.  Can you guess where she lives??!! Yes, you are correct; she lives at the South Pole! She often comes visiting me when she wants to enjoy a bit warmer weather. She is known as the Nora the North Pole teddy because she  goes up to the North Pole every December and spends the whole month there.(   hmm…. 24 days to be exact, because Santa leaves home on his sleigh  on December 24^th!)  And for the nearly whole month of December, she spends all the time there cooking apple pies! Yes, Apple pies are Santa's favourite food to eat. His reindeers and elves think that these pies are very yummy and delicious too. Rudolph confided to Nora, that her apple pies are even better than carrots! Wow! Nora said that it was the best compliment for her food that she had ever had. Hmmm… then she said "can I change my mind and say that it was the second best compliment," because the  very best compliment was when her  lovely little daughter , Nellie, said that her Mum was the  bestest ever cook in the whole wide world and solar system! Nora is very well known in the North Pole for her pie-making, she is quite a celebrity! 

I decided to ask Nora what biscuits that she thought Santa might like to eat. Would he like chocolate biscuits? (or perhaps if the weather was very hot on Christmas Eve they may melt.), or cream biscuits?( but there are lots of varieties to choose from! Which one would he like?) Or plainer biscuits like milk coffee or milk arrowroot  or marie?(  He might like something a bit more plainer after all the rich food that other people may leave out for his supper.  I have heard whispers that a few Strathalan Resident are planning to leave out some neenish tarts, jelly slices and even a big slice of pavlova! Santa will be very happily enjoying lots of food here!) Or should I leave out some dry biscuits such as saladas or cheds or ritz biscuits?  (I could put some cheese on top of the biscuits, and that would help to build up Santa's calcium levels and keep his bones strong. He needs to have strong bones because he jumps about a lot as he falls down chimneys and delivers many presents.) Perhaps I should "hide" a vitamin D tablet in with the biscuits that I leave for him, because I have heard that there is not much sunshine at the North Pole and so he may need to have some help to keep his vitamin d levels up. I wonder if there is a pharmacy at the North Pole that dispenses bottles of Vitamin D tablets? I think that I might wrap up a bottle of these tablets in pretty Christmas paper and leave it out for him with the milk and biscuits. But I still am trying to work out what would be the best biscuits. I am thinking and thinking and thinking and… I have decided to leave out for him milk arrowroot biscuits, so that he can "dunk" them in the milk! How yummy!!

It is great that I have now decided on milk, milk arrowroot biscuits and vitamin D tablets. It sounds like a great calcium/ vitamin D boosting snack!

 I downloaded off the internet a teddy Christmas song that I  thought that I would play on my bear ipod on Christmas Eve, and that would keep me awake all night. The song that is currently number one of the Teddy song list top ten is: " Jingle Bells! Roses have a nice smell! Jingle your way to the Kiosk on each week day and Saturday!  Oh, what fun it is to see all my Strathalan friends as they visit me at the Kiosk each day!  Hey! Jingle Bells! Roses have a nice smell! I send a teddy smile your way! Oh, what fun is to be a teddy and live in the Kiosk! Yippety-yay-yay-yay!"  It is such a catchy tune don't you think?! I am sure that it will keep me awake. Perhaps I had better have some sleep now, in preparation for my big Christmas Eve night. Happy Christmas to you all!!

Until next time,

                   Don't get too over excited as you too wait up for Santa on Christmas Eve ! 

                 Your friend, Kiosk-Ted Strath. 

                  Also simply known as "Ted"!!