I am sooooo happy! I am jumping up and down, doing cartwheels, bopping from one side of the room to another, waving my teddy paws about in the air and… flopping straight into my comfy armchair because all those happy movements have tired me out! But now I am back up on my teddy legs again, as happy as can be!!  I have had the most bestest ever time! Hmmm… it perhaps was not the "most" bestest time because I was very happy the time when I went flower picking with Flora the Florist teddy, and we collected some pretty geraniums and marigolds from her backyard garden. That was such a fun afternoon!  It was really funny though because for hours and hours after we had picked the flowers, the lovely scent remained on our paws!! It was a very lovely scent, but I had decided to have a cheese and tomato sandwich for tea that night, and it ended up to be quite a powerfully geranium/marigold flavoured cheese and tomato sandwich! Perhaps one of the top chefs in the world should test out this new variety of sandwich? I am sure that the food critics would agree that the flowers give a certain "tangy" taste and flavour to such a sandwich. It could be served on a nice white plate with a doiley serviette underneath, and a waiter could bring it out with a teatowel over his/her arm, and it would look soooo elegant. And… the diners could all be given bibs to put around their necks in case the tomato splattered out! Very fine cuisine indeed!  They could name the meal:" Kiosk Ted's gera-gold-tom-chee sandwich" which would be a mixture of all the ingredients and flavours! I would be famous! Hmmm… on the other hand, I do NOT want to be famous! The paparazzi may start chasing me! The magazines may invent not- so -nice stories about me!!No… I am very happy just being me, a friendly little teddy that likes "plain" cheese and tommie sandwiches!!

 Anyway, I still haven't told you about the almost bestest ever day that I had! I just can't wait a moment longer to tell you about it. I know that you would like to know.   I went to the Kiosk Christmas Sale!! It was soooo much fun!! Even the day before it was just so very much lots of fun, because kindly Heather brought me home with her on Friday night so that I could have a sleepover at their home and go on  the car trip with them straight away early in the morning up to the McKitttrick Centre. Oh, the car trip was very, very exciting! I felt just like the Queen does because Heather let me sit on her knees whilst I travelled in the car and I waved to everyone through the side window! It was grand to do that! I kept my eye on the speedometer so that David kept to the speed limit. He had very precious cargo on board you know! He had Heather, me and some mince pies! I was allowed TWO car trips! The first trip was to their home and then the next day back up to Strathalan. ( I must admit, I am lying!  I did sneak in a few extra car trips, because I just could not wait at all to tell my bestest friend  Sparrow allllll about the Kiosk sale day! I always  text her on my bear mobile phone about my adventures, but my bear paws were sooo tremble-ly from the excitement of the Sale day that I just had to tell her alllll about it in person! So… Heather brought me home for an extra night!! Don't tell Heather or David, but my friend Mr. Oliver the bear, Sparrow and me all stayed up the whole night and had a fun time giggling together on Friday and Saturday night!! I am a very chatty teddy you know!! )

 Now, I must tell you about the Kiosk Sale morning. I decided that the best vantage spot to survey all the happy shoppers coming in to buy the Christmas goods was on the table behind Heather. I could keep my eye on the Sale Helpers and make sure that no one fainted. Hmmm… I couldn't actually prevent them from fainting, but if they slowly or quickly descended elegantly to the floor, I could jump off from where I was sitting and call the Teddy Ambulance. Nooo… that wouldn't have worked. People needed to have paid their Ambulance fees and be a member of the "Teddy Tending Tenderly Terrific Therapy Ambulance Society" to be able to be assisted by the Ambulance. All teddies when they are born are automatically members of this society and their Ambulance fees are paid off straightway for their whole lifetime. I am sorry to say but I heard that none of the Kiosk Helpers are teddies and unfortunately they had decided not to pay the "TTTTT  Ambulance" fees this year. I think it is because of the economic downturn. People just have to cutback on these little extras. But really, health is not a little extra. Health insurance is very important you know! But… anyway these Kiosk Sale Helpers had not paid the fees and it was too late on the day because there was a waiting period of 4 days until the teddy ambulance could be called for them. I may have been able to "pull some teddy strings" and get a teddy ambulance if the need did arrive, but I was very happy that no one fainted so everything was okay!

My teddy eyes got wider and wider as I saw all the lovely Christmas items appearing out of the cardboard boxes where they had been stored! They looked so pretty, and colourful, and festive, and yummy and…and… all ready to jump into shoppers bags! (Once they had been paid for of course!!)  It was soooo much fun watching lots of people arriving and looking at the items. I think that I could read their minds! I have a suspicion that their heads were saying:" That would be nice for my daughter, that would be great for my son,  that would be ideal for my grandchildren, and that would be just the right gift to give to my friend," I am a little bit clever and understand things like that!! My favourite thing to see was the smiles on people's faces!! Their smiles made my inside teddy stuffing feel very warm and cosy.

I will tell you a little secret! The secret is… I made lots of new friends last Saturday!  I had people say: "Hello Kiosk Ted" to me, and some kind people gave me an encouraging pat! It was a very special and fun day!! I definitely had a great teddy adventure!

But… eventually, the morning had to come to an end, and everything had to be packed up and taken back down to the Kiosk to sell the items there until Christmas Day. But I am very, very excited still because I will be watching all the nice Kiosk customers come in and do their Christmas shopping at the Kiosk each day!

I felt sooo very tired after all the excitement of the Sale day, but it was a happy tired feeling. I was glad to get back to my "home" at the Kiosk, and just relax. I think that I had better have a little nap now, just so I am ready to see all my Kiosk friends when they soon arrive to buy Christmas goods. Goodnight!!

Until next time,

                   Thankyou for shopping at the Kiosk Christmas Sale. Please come and say "hello" to me at the Kiosk! I am a very friendly teddy you know!

                 Your friend, Kiosk-Ted Strath. 

                  Also simply known as "Ted"!!