Mmm… it smells sooo very delicious! I just can't wait to eat one!! I feel quite peckish just thinking about it and smelling the aroma. Is it Morning Tea time yet? Come on, Mr. Clock! Please hurry up and tick over the minutes! I would like something to eat! I suppose it doesn't really matter what the time is. I could have a little something to eat anytime couldn't I? But I suppose I really should wait until "Morning Tea time"… but then what is Morning Tea time? I think I will declare Morning Tea time right this minute because I had an early breakfast and my teddy tummy is just a little bit saying to me in a very polite voice: "I would like to have some food in me  if it is at all possible please!" And when your teddy tummy says:" I want some food"… I really can't ignore it can I?!! Yes, I must make my stomach happy! Oh, I am sooo sorry! I am just chatting away to myself and I am not explaining what I am talking about and what food I can smell or have right near me to eat! Would you like to know? I have a sneaky suspicion that you would like to know so I would be very happy to tell you!! Gillian the Gingerbread cooking teddy came to visit me first thing this morning! She is the bestest ever gingerbread making teddy in the whole universe! Her gingerbread men are sooooo tasty! They look sooo cute! The aroma of the gingerbread when they come out of the oven is very appetizing and "scent-full"!  I have been in her kitchen when the gingerbread has been cooking… and it is a very nice place for a teddy with a nice nose to be!! Hmmm… I am not saying that I have an actual nice nose though! I mean that I like smelling tasty food aromas! Did you know that Barbie the Broken Nose Bear has a … broken nose! I suppose if you didn't know you do know now! I feel sooo sorry for Barbie!! Would you like to know why her nose is broken? Well, I am quite embarrassed but the "scene of the accident" was actually in the Kiosk! Barbie was visiting me, and we were chatting and chuckling and giggling just like we always do!  We then started to reminisce about past happy days and became deep in conversation. We didn't notice that outside the skies were getting darker and darker. All of a sudden, there was a HUGE sparkling bright bolt of lightning that exploded over the skies and a "thunderous thunder" noise completely invaded our ears! (Do you like my "thunderous thunder" description? I am quite proud that I made up that descriptive expression! Thunder really should sound thunderous shouldn't it!!) Anyway, I didn't know that Barbie is very, very scared of thunder and lightning and she got such a shock! (I have to admit that I got a shock too!)  Her little teddy paws got flung straight up into the air, and unfortunately they hit the shelf of long life milk cartons… which fell onto her nose!! And not only that, but also a greeting card hit her nose too!  I think it was the weight of the greeting card that did the damage to her nose! We called the teddy ambulance, and Aaron and Annabelle the Ambulance doctors quickly arrived, and they tried so hard to squash her nose back together again! In the end, they had to admit defeat and said that they were sooo very sorry but her nose just couldn't be repaired. Barbie was a little bit sad to learn that she would always have a broken nose, but I cheered her up by buying some tissues for her that had her favorite flowers as the design on the front of the box.

Anyway, back to what I was saying! I have a great nose… meaning I like smelling pleasant aromas!!

 Oh, I didn't tell you about the HUGE catastrophe that Gillian had one day when she was cooking her gingerbread! She uses golden syrup in her gingerbread. One day, she had to open up a new jar of golden syrup when she wanted to do her baking, and when she managed to get the lid off, she discovered that there was a foil section underneath the lid, to keep everything extra hygienically clean. Well, she tried to get the foil off… and a part of it broke away and fell into golden syrup itself !! Gillian was having a day when she was sooo very tired and wasn't thinking too clear in the head.( Gillian's little daughter Jemima,  the Jelly Bean eating teddy,  was feeling a little bit sick, and so Gillian had stayed up the whole night to  keep her company whilst Jemima lay in her bed. Gillian told me Jemima was so very sick that she didn't even want to eat a jelly bean! Not even her most favourite type of jelly bean which is the pink flavour!! Little Jemima must have not felt very well to not even want to eat one jelly bean! Gillian is such a very kind teddy Mum and she stayed up all through the night so that Jemima could drift in and out of teddy sleep. Gillian is a very wise teddy mum and knows that sleeping is the best thing to do if you are feeling a bit unwell. But… because Gillian hadn't had any sleep, she was very tired and her teddy brain wasn't functioning as good as it could!) Instead of getting a spoon to take the foil out of the golden syrup, Gillian instead used her paw ! She put her paw into the sticky golden syrup (she had washed it very well before then though!!)  and it got stuck!!  She just could not get her hand out of the jar!! She thought that she would have to go through the rest of her teddy life with a golden syrup jar attached to her hand! It would have been quite a funny sight to see! I wouldn't have said that to Gillian, but I did have to give a little silent chuckle to myself of what the funny image of a teddy with a golden syrup jar attached to her arm would look like!   I just can't wait to tell you what happened next!! The most bestest ever solution to Gillian's golden syrup jar hand problem occurred very accidentally!  Gillian's husband Gerry was having a shower whilst all this was happening. He was having a nice time singing under the shower!  He has such a melodious voice you know!! He got selected for the "Singing Teddies Spring Spectacular" concert last week! He was doing some practising of his singing whilst he was under the shower. He was just about  ready to the sing the last word of the chorus… when all of a sudden there was a big CRASH… BANG… and the next thing Gerry knew was that he was riding a surf wave of water because the hot water system had exploded!! There was water gushing out from the shower, out from the roof where the hot water system is kept, and out from all the taps in the home!! Gerry's remark at the time was: "I think I should not have sold my surfboard on ebay! It would have been handy to have it now , and then I could surf from one area of the house to another! " But… with all the commotion of what happened, the hot water hit Gillian and her hand, the golden syrup jar exploded, and Gillian became a very "sticky Gillian" when the golden syrup landed all over herself!  But she shouted "yippee" with glee because the jar was no longer attached to her hand! There was sooo much cleaning up to do after that!! There was water and golden syrup everywhere! But… did I tell you that Gerry is a very good Handyman teddy? He knew how to solve the water problem. Apparently there was a crack in the hot water system container. He had a very good solution to it. He climbed up into the roof where the hot water system is and put some band aids over the crack! Solution found… problem solved… end result= no more water problem!! There was a lot of cleaning up to do though! Little Jemima was sooo kind though and offered her Mum and Dad some of her jelly beans to give them a quick sugar energy boost before they attempted the clean up process.  Jemima also started to feel a bit better… and after have 3 pink jelly beans she started to mop the floors too! Hmmm… no gingerbread was made that day! The only reason for not making gingerbread that day was because Gillian did not have any spare jars of golden syrup!

Anyway, I must return to what I am sooo looking forward to eating for morning tea! Because it is Christmastime, Gillian this morning brought me over a freshly baked batch of upside down gingerbread men reindeers! They are gingerbread men that have been turned upside, icing has been put on them, and they have turned into reindeers! They look so very cute! I have taken a photo of them, so I can show you what they look like! Have a little look at them on the next page!  They smell so yummy! In fact, I think this is just the right time to eat one!! I will have to say goodbye to you whilst I enjoy my morning tea…

Until next time,

                    Enjoy some tasty gingerbread… never ever put your hand or paw into a jar of golden syrup… and if lightning arrives, make sure that you are not standing near any long life milk!

                     Your friend, Kiosk-Ted Strath. 

                  Also simply known as "Ted"!!