A Night in the Nursery

The toys lay quietly on the floor or in the boxes and trunks where they had been placed, waiting to hear the steady breathing of the sleeping children. When they were sure all was quiet, the rocking horse gave the signal that it was safe to come out.

            “My goodness, you don’t know how stuffy it is in that ghastly old trunk!” exclaimed Bear to the Rocking Horse as he climbed out of the toy chest, “You’re lucky you’re big enough to stay on the floor where you can actually breathe! Well, what shall we do tonight? Any news that we’ve picked up during the day?” Bear asked the crowd of toys on the floor. There were wax dolls, a few china ones, some tin soldiers, stuffed animals like himself, and a few others. Bear was, of course, a teddy bear, a nice deep dark brown in color. He was stuffed full of polyester fiberfill and had a black thread nose, black button eyes and a stitched on mouth. He was very soft and looked so inviting that one just had to pick him up and give him a big hug. He had come to the nursery on the little boy’s birthday as a present from his grandmother. He was now the boy’s favorite toy.

            The nursery itself was not very large, nor very small. It had two beds against one wall in which the children were sleeping. There was a tiny fireplace near the beds, and on either side of it, two shelves for holding books. Against all the other walls were trunks and boxes in which to put the toys. A rocking chair and some stools finished up the room.

            “I don’t really have any news to report but I do think that since it is Christmas I think it’s about time we have our yearly celebration,” said the rocking horse.

“Wonderful, simply bully, idea, I was just going to say that myself,” Bear said. “C’mon now everybody, let’s go sing Christmas Carols!” With a little squeak of joy all the toys followed Bear to the little toy harpsichord. The toy harpsichord was a family heirloom that had been passed down from generation to generation. It had a whole story behind it, but we won’t get into that now. The toys all gathered around the harpsichord and sang while one of the wax dolls named Eloise played. She had learned to play on one of the toy pianos that was for sale in the toy shop where she spent her days before she was bought and taken to the nursery. She was a well bred, highly educated doll for she had come from a very high class factory. She could read and write, dance the minuet and of course, play the harpsichord. Afterwards, as a little treat; the cowboy doll yodeled a few notes. He was very good. Then, they all had all sorts of lively games throughout the night until they finally dropped on the floor from exhaustion. (That is, all those that could.)

            “Well now,” gasped Bear, “I do believe that just about does it for our little celebration. What say we all go to bed?”

            “Bear,” the Rocking Horse reminded, “children also exchange gifts on Christmas. Even though we haven’t done gift exchanging through the past years, I think it is about time we should.”

            “Excellent! Just a fine, simply bully, idea! I was just going to mention that myself.”

            “But Bear,” whined all the other toys, “we can’t exchange gifts! The humans will notice them and wonder how they got there and then we’ll be in big trouble!”

            “Too true, too true. In that case we’ll get presents for our children.” replied Bear.

            “But Bear,” whined all the other toys, “How can we get them presents? We have no money to get them anything and . . . . .”

            “Nonsense! I’m sure we’ll think of something! Now then, let’s start thinking.”

            So they thought. And thought, and thought, and thought some more till they were all thoughted out. Throughout this whole process of thoughting and thinking, Bear had been pacing across the room like most people do when they are nervous, impatient or thinking. In this case, Bear was all these things, he was nervous because he was afraid they wouldn’t have enough time to do all the things that they needed to do. It was already half past six in the morning and the children’s nanny came into the nursery at seven. He was impatient because it was taking them so long just to think of what to get their children. “It can’t be that hard, people do it all the time,” he thought to himself. And he was thinking very hard, so hard that he nearly used up all of his thinking thoughts. He finally decided that pacing the room wouldn’t get him anywhere so he sat down. “Ow!” Bear yelped. He had sat down on a pinecone.

            “What on earth?” started the Rocking Horse,

            “Oh, its nothing, I just sat on a pinecone,” Bear said crossly. “Wait that’s it!” Bear exclaimed.

            “What’s it?” asked all the other toys.

            “We’ll decorate pinecones! All we need is some glue, glitter, and ribbon,” Excited at the new idea all the toys scrambled off to get what was needed. In no time at all, they were busy decorating. When they were finally finished and the mess was cleaned up, they came upon another problem.

            “Err, how are we going to get the pinecones in the stockings?” asked Bear, “They are much too high for us to reach.”

            “I know,” said the rocking horse, “you and some others pile on my back. I’m sure we will be able to reach the stockings then.” So Bear, a stuffed elephant, two soldiers, and a wax doll named Mirabelle piled on top of the rocking horse. With considerable difficulty Mirabelle at the very top managed to toss the pinecones in the stockings. Then everyone came crashing down on the floor. Fortunately none of the toys were ripped. Then suddenly Bear looked at the clock. It was one minute to seven! “Places everyone!” yelled Bear as loudly as he dared. Everybody flew back to their places. Just in time too, for as soon as Bear closed the lid of the trunk the nurse came in.

            All went well that Christmas Day. The children were delighted with their presents, and everybody had a good time. But the best surprise of all was the decorated pinecones. The children loved them even though they had no idea where they came from and thought they were the most wonderful gifts of all. Why? Because the best presents are presents from the heart and not from the store.

 

 

 

THE END!