I am just soooooo excited!! Yes, there are even more oooo's than normal! I am doing a "happy dance", "disco dance", and a "chicken dance" (that makes me giggle sooo much! Can you imagine me, a little teddy bear, doing a dance like a chicken! I look very funny when I am doing that type of dance! My teddy paws flap up and down like wings, and I jump about going "cheep cheep"! Oh, I have just had the most awfullest thought! It would be so very terrible if someone saw me when I am doing the chicken dance and mistook me for a real chicken!! I might then get snatched up, taken home and turned into a roast ted chicken for a nice roast dinner meal! Oh, it would be sooo hot in the oven! My fur would frizzle, and I would feel so very warm.  And I do suffer just a touch from claustrophobia so I would not like to be enclosed in an oven! My cooking companions would be potatoes and pumpkins… and from what I can hear through the "bearline", which is a lot more truthful than the "grapevine", I heard that potatoes and pumpkins are not very talkative! I would very, very lonely, very enclosed and a very VERY unhappy little teddy! I don't think that I would be very tasty to eat too!! Please  keep your eyes out, and make sure that the next time you have roast chicken  that you don't see any bear fur  in your meal,  or else it may have been one of my teddy bear friends who was doing a chicken dance with me!)

Would you like to know why I am dancing? Oh, before I tell you, I just want to let you know that when I have my dancing music b-pod on (the bear's version of an ipod!) I don't have it on too loud. I have never had a boom box in the Kiosk. I am a very responsible Kiosk -Ted and would not want to interrupt  the quietness of Strathalan with the strident, loud music! Oh, I would be soooo embarrassed if Management called the local Police because of a complaint that me, Kiosk Ted Strath had been partying and playing his music too loud! I would go red with embarrassment; well I would go red if I wasn't brown!

I am dancing because the Kiosk Christmas Sale is very, very soon! I have the date of the Sale ringed around in red on my calendar!  I have been seeing all the Christmas gift items appearing and being packed away into cardboard boxes. Oh, it is just soo hard to not go and have a sneaky peek inside the boxes!  But… I have strong teddy will power and I  WILL NOT go and have a little look! But from what I can hear, there are lots and lots of goodies that will be sold that day. Biscuits, chocolates, soft toys, novelties, Christmas food items … and so much more!!

My friend, Felicity, the Face painting teddy came visiting me the other day. She makes the bestest pikelets in the whole wide world, universe, solar system and outer space! Hmmm…  I haven't tasted piklets made by people who live on Mars or even Saturn, but I still don't think that they would taste as good as Felicity's does!  I will tell you a little secret, if you would like to draw close to me and listen what I whisper in your ears.  Right, can you hear me?  Felicity's middle name is Pamela. Sooo… her full name is Felicity Pamela Bear. This means that she is Felicity the face painter- Pamela the pikelet maker- Bear the teddy!  Felicity seems to have just the right knack of making the pikelet mixture just the right consistency for dropping spoonfuls onto the sizzling hot fry pan and making pikelets. Oh, it is such fun to watch the bubbles appear on one side of the pikelet when it is time to flip over to the other side. Of course, there has been a few cooking "disasters" . One day, my teddy friend Billy and I were watching Felicity making her pikelets. We were having such a fun time of chatting, giggling and discussing the daily teddy news. Felicity was telling us about something that she had read, and she needed to explain it using paw gestures. Hmm… she forgot  at the crucial moment in her relating of the story that she had her frypan flipping utensil in her hand, and had the pikelet on the edge of it! At the most dramatic stage, she lifted up her paw to demonstrate  a point in the story, and  my special friend Billy quite instantly got "bopped" on the head by a flying pikelet! He got quite a surprise when this very hot object landed on his head! But it was okay, because it was quite a chilly day that day, and he had forgotten to bring with him  his beanie to keep his head warm. The pikelet was a most acceptable alternative to the beanie! It warmed his head too! I wonder if we should have let the fashionistas in Paris know about what happened? It could have started a new trend amongst teddies, otherwise known as the "pikelet hat wearing style". All modern trendy teddies could have started wearing this new "must have" accessory! And it would have all started in the kitchen of Felicity! But… we didn't let Paris know, and Bob who got bopped was just keen to wear the pikelet for the rest of the day to keep warm. I wonder if he ended up eating it when he got home…

Anyway, Felicity brought some freshly made pikelets with her the other day when she visited me. She brought them without butter or jam, because she knows that the Kiosk sells lots of nice varieties of jams to spread on them. She looked a bit nervous all of a sudden, and I got a little bit concerned as to why she was looking nervous. I wondered if it was something I had said or hadn't said that had upset her. Not wanting to even have another second of Felicity feeling concerned or nervous, (and also to ease my worries that I may have caused a problem), I asked Felicity what the problem was. She then said in a quiet voice:"I would be delighted to come to the Kiosk Christmas Sale and do face painting of the Residents!" Then she collapsed into a chair and said: " At last I have told you, that is a relief! I didn't know how to ask you!" I didn't know how to answer Felicity! It would be so much fun to have her face painting all the lovely Residents that come to the Sale but… I don't think it is a very wise choice to do that! What if Felicity ran out of red paint, and some of the residents became very  sad because they couldn't have red hearts painted on their cheeks, and they had to have blue hearts instead? And it would not be very nice if Felicity was chatting to one of the Residents and having a little giggle (she is a such a funny teddy and tells the bestest jokes!) and she accidentally painted their hair or head instead!  I had to tell Felicity in the most politest and tactful voice and words that I could find that sadly, she could not come to the Sale to do face painting. Oh, a little tear welled up in Felicity's teddy beads eyes, and she looked so sad!  My teddy heart melted. But… then she soon brightened up when I asked if she could instead do the face painting for  Trina and Terry teddies Christmas party that was being held that same morning as the Sale. There is going to be lots and lots of little teddies attending that party. She then got very excited again, and started to give some happy jumps in the air as she planned what painting shapes she would paint on the faces of the little teddies. So in the end, everything turned out okay!

Well, I must get some sleep now.

    Until next time,

                   I just am sooo very excited for the Sale!  Hope you are looking forward to it too!

              Your friend, Kiosk-Ted Strath.  

                  Also simply known as "Ted"!!