The Little Fish That Could Not Go To The Christmas Party

The little animals and the Wise Old Owl held a surprise Christmas party for Grandma Lu. They all got together and decorated the old tree with acorns, and the cardinals went to the top of the tree to make it so pretty. The Wise Old Owl held his wings out big so Grandma Lu could not see out her window. You see, Grandma Lu was kind of nosy and looked out her window all the time to see what the little animals were doing.

The little fish that couldn’t swim had grown to a bigger fish in the last few months, but when he was a tiny, brand new fish his mother and father had quite a time with him because he wouldn’t swim.

Little fish had to go with his parents to the bottom of the lake for the winter. Ice covers the water so the fish go to the bottom. There is plenty to eat down there until spring.

Since little fish went below the ice, he wasn’t able to join the forest animals to celebrate Christmas for Grandma Lu.

Little fish told his mom that he felt bad that he couldn’t go because he really did like Grandma Lu. He asked his mom what he could get Grandma Lu for Christmas. His mom thought and thought and finally came up with something that she told the little fish that she thought Grandma Lu would like.

She told Little fish that Grandma Lu would be very happy if he grew up to be a good fish like his father. She also told him that at the first Christmas there were a few gifts for the baby Jesus, but there were animals there and a shining star to lead the wise men to the baby. Grandma Lu understands that all animals cannot gather together, but they all can grow up to be good. Lions and lambs can lay together without fighting, as could big fish and little fish. The little fish smiled a fishy smile and thought Grandma Lu would like that. The little fish thought that when spring arrived, he would flip flop by Grandma Lu when she came to the lake to sunbathe. She would probably giggle.

Christmas In The Woods

Grandma Lu was sitting at her desk looking out the window and something caught her eye. There seemed to be some unusual activity in the woods across the road from her house. Grandma Lu frequently watched the little animals to see what they were doing. Sometimes she would write stories about them because they were so interesting and funny. Harry the Hummingbird was gone. The weather was too cold for him so he had to fly south where it was warmer.

The fish that couldn’t swim was not there either. The water was freezing, so the fish had gone way down deep. Lakes don’t have ice down deep; in a lake the ice actually floats so that fish can survive even though the water is freezing cold.

Grandma Lu couldn’t see the Freddie the Frog or the Garden Snake. These animals she knew had gone into hibernation or a winter sleep until spring.

She leaned closer to the window and she could see a flurry of movement. There were many squirrels, rabbits, deer, turkeys, opossums, mice, and one armadillo.

Grandma Lu’s house was high on a hill and she sat at her desk writing stories and articles on her computer. Sometimes she would get tired or had to rest to think so that her stories would be good for boys and girls to read. During these times she would look into the woods to see what her animal friends were doing.

It was really cold outside. The days were short. It seemed like when Grandma Lu woke up it was dark and when she went to bed it was dark, so it was difficult to see what was going on in the woods.

One night she looked out the window and there was a light that was blinking by the biggest tree in the woods. Rex the squirrel and his family lived in that tree. Grandma Lu had written a story about him. He had been a naughty little squirrel and didn’t do what his mama had told him and learned a lesson of being safe during a bad storm.

The rabbits lived in a hole in the bottom of the big tree. Baby rabbit also had been naughty and wouldn’t run when his mom told him too and had almost gotten run over by a lawnmower.

The possum slept during the day so she seldom got to see them, but when it was dark in the morning she could see that they were part of the activity by that big tree.

The deer seemed like they were very active and were stomping their feet like they were excited or cold.

The squirrels were running and climbing the tree and Grandma could tell that their mouths were full of acorns that were all over the ground.

The wise old owl seemed like he had his large wings spread out facing Grandma Lu’s house so she couldn’t see what was going on with the animals.

Suddenly the animals all stepped in front of the Wise Old Owl. They had made a Christmas tree out of the Big Tree. They had decorated it with acorns, the raccoons  and opossums had crawled up the tree and looked into Grandma Lu’s outside light and their eyes glowed in the dark and light. There Grandma Lu could see Casey the cardinal and his family were at the top of the tree as if they were the star that shone brightly so long ago at the first Christmas.

The deer laid down in front of the tree just like the first Christmas, the snow was gently falling and it was a Silent Night in the woods.

The tears fell softly down Grandma Lu’s cheeks.

The Play Dough Boy

Ricky and Jesse and Jeannie, and Holly were sitting at the kitchen table waiting for their mother to bring their surprise. Their mom had promised them a surprise for their craft time today. They usually had craft time every Friday afternoon.
Soon their mother came to the table with four small bowls and four bottles of food coloring. In the bowls were round balls of dough. Their mother explained that the dough was not good to eat because all it was was salt and flour. The next thing she did was bring each one of them sheets of wax paper. That was their “work table.” The next thing that she brought them was a group of four glasses of water with just a little bit in each glass. Their mom sat with them and made some suggestions of what they could make out of their dough. Ricky decided he wanted some red food coloring in his water. His mom gave him a spoon to stir his water with, it turned a nice cherry red. He then poured just a tiny bit into the salty dough. He worked and kneaded it with his hands. It turned out a pinkish color. He was happy with the color. His mom told him to think of something fun to make out of the dough. When his mom’s back was turned he put some in his mouth. He made a terrible face. It was so so salty! His mom saw the bad face and smiled. She said, “I think I told you that the dough was not good to eat. You should always remember things that I tell you because someday it would be a very dangerous thing to eat.” Ricky promised her that he would from now on. He enjoyed making animals and little people from his dough.
Next came Holly. She chose the color green. She poured a lot of water into her dough and it became sticky and difficult to work with. Again her mother had told her to use just a little bit. Holly had to wait until the dough was not sticky in order to make her little animals.
Jeannie was determined to do the best job of all the children. She was the oldest so she thought she would do better even than her mother could. Jeannie was a child that was not easy to please and was very spoiled. She often had temper tantrums if she didn’t get her way. She told her mother that her animals and people would be much better than anyone else’s. Her mother told her that it didn’t matter if her crafts were better, just that she enjoyed what she was doing. Jesse reached across the table to get some food coloring and spilled the food coloring into Jeannie’s dough. She had a fit of screaming and crying. She kicked the table and threw her dough .Jesse cried and said he didn’t mean to do it, it was an accident. Jesse offered to give Jeannie his dough and Jeannie screamed at him and stomped out of the kitchen.
Jesse was a quiet boy and was going to leave too, but his mom told him it was okay to enjoy his play dough and that he could make anything that he wanted to out of it. He worked and worked and finally made a play dough boy that looked a lot like a gingerbread boy. He decorated his head with tiny little pieces for his eyes and nose and mouth. He made shoes and mittens for the little play dough boy. He changed food coloring several times so that the play dough boy was very pretty. He told his mom that he wanted to put the boy on a plate and let him dry. The next day he went to the kitchen and got the play dough boy. He carried the plate very carefully and found Jeannie. He told her that he was very sorry that he had ruined her dough and that he wanted her to have what he had made. She laughed at him and told him that his play dough boy was ugly. The children’s mom heard and saw what had happened. What do you think that the children’s mom should do?

Miss Autumn Whispers Her Promise

Miss Autumn had an enemy. Her enemies name was Mrs. Winter. For about two months people had taken Miss Autumn’s picture, and ohhed and ahhed about the beautiful show Miss Autumn put on every year. But far to the north, there was Mrs. Winter smiling her icy smile and thinking evil thoughts against Miss Autumn. She thought “this year I will prevent that show off from being the star attraction of all the seasons of the year.”
It didn’t take long for the wicked Mrs. Winter to plan the destruction of Miss Autumn. She decided to come early this year and kill off all the beautiful leaves.
The first thing that she did was to put on her most beautiful white dress that was decorated with frost that sparkled in the sunshine. Mrs. Winter’s face was hard and mean looking as she planned her vengeful trip to the south.
She had made friends with Jack Frost and with the Black Clouds of the North that carried freezing rain. Then she called upon the help of Wind. Wind had been taking it easy this particular year, allowing the people to enjoy the beautiful flowers and colorful leaves on the trees that Miss Autumn had been decorating with. He actually felt kind of good about himself. Sometimes he acted kind of childish and blew leaves off the trees, garbage cans down the street and bikes over in a heap.
Mrs. Winter called all of her bad friends together and told them of her plan. Jack Frost was all for it and told Mrs. Winter he had no other plans and could definitely start work early this year. Black Cloud laughed a sinister laugh and said, “ Ok, Jack, tell you what I’ll do, I will wait until you do your job, then I will come in with my freezing rain and sleet. That should put Miss Autumn and all her beauty in her place.”
Mrs. Winter’s smile was so icy that it showed her teeth which were icicles.
Mrs. Winter looked around and thought that she was missing one of her committee members. Then she realized it was Wind. She was having a little trouble with him this year, she thought she might have to have a visit with him. She could not have one of her members disobey her.
When Mrs. Winter finally found Wind, she was very angry. She had a plan against Miss Autumn and it would take all four of them working as a team to make it work. After Jack Frost, Black Cloud, and Wind did their work, then Mrs. Winter would come running on the wings of Wind and whip all the leaves off the trees. Miss Autumn would hang her head this year. “She would not think she was so beautiful this year,” thought Mrs. Winter. She told Wind what she expected of him. They would all meet the next day to destroy Miss Autumn’s work in Ozarks. The next day Jack Frost did his work and did it well. He made beautiful little pictures of frost on the windows and flowers. Black Cloud rained the freezing rain that made the people very uncomfortable. Wind, however, was missing. Mrs. Winter was furious. Without Wind her plan was not complete. Miss Autumn saw what was happening to the leaves and the people that she had been pleasing. She knew it was time for Mrs. Winter to arrive, so she withdrew. She bowed her head with a promise that she would return next year more beautiful than ever. When Mrs. Winter heard Miss Autumn whisper that promise to Mother Nature, she howled in fury. Mother Nature having had to go through the two of them disagreeing year after year, just sighed and called Wind in to blow a gentle breeze. The four seasons, spring, summer, fall, and winter have their own beauty and every person has their favorite.

Willow

Willow was so beautiful. She looked like an angel. Willow had wings that were arched and delicate. The colors of her wings were orange and black. Little spider like webs of black trailed through her wings to add to the effect of angelic nature. Willow was named after her mother who was also very beautiful.
Willow made no noise. She flew to flowers that she especially liked the taste of. She had special feelers called antennae that helped her get the nectar from flowers to feed herself. Just below her antennae is a part of her mouth called a palps which is a kind of a mustache. It has sticky hairy, little things that can tell Willow whether the food is good or not.
Willow especially likes nectar in special flowers. She likes the hummingbird food too. Some people plant gardens that have hundreds of beautiful flowers that butterflies come and visit. Willow also likes rotting fruit.
When Willow was a baby she was a caterpillar looking creature with hooks on her legs. She kept those legs until she grew up to be a beautiful butterfly. Her mother laid her eggs on the underside of a milk weed plant. She glued Willow on that leaf with a special glue that kept her there for several weeks. While she was there there was a lot going on inside that caterpillar. Willow was growing into a beautiful butterfly. When she was born, her wings were soft and moist. This whole time that Willow was wiggling and struggling to get out of the caterpillar looking creature is called a very big word called metamorphosis She had to be very careful for awhile before she flew away, because she was very fragile.
One thing that protected Willow from her enemies was that she was poisonous to animals. If they attempted to eat her they got very very sick and probably vomited. They most generally didn’t die, but they always remembered not to eat a Monarch butterfly.
Monarch butterflies like Willow don’t stay in one place very long like we do. Willow can’t live in a cold place, so most of her friends and relatives migrate or move to a nice warm place like Texas. They stay there and rest because that is a long ways from Missouri. After the butterflies rest they go to Mexico. There are people that take videos and pictures and actually count them. Some people actually tag Monarchs so that if they are ever seen in the future the tag will tell people where they had been. Those people have to be very careful when they tag them because the tags go on the wings. The wings are extremely fragile and could cripple the butterfly if not done correctly. There are between one hundred and three hundred million Monarch butterflies in Mexico during the migration time.
There are some people that believe that a touch of a Monarch butterfly is actually the finger of God trying to get your attention with her fragile little wings. Bless Willow and all of the beautiful butterflies that make our gardens so beautiful. We will all be waiting for your return in the summer!

Elaina's Garden

This summer Elaina went to visit her Grandma Lu.
Grandma Lu promised Elaina that they would plant an herb garden together. Well, things happened like no water and she had to go home to her house.
Grandma Lu was so sad because she needed Elaina’s help planting the little garden. There were so many things to do.
First of all they needed three cups of dirt. That’s a lot of dirt. Grandma Lu was scared she would find a worm. They are so squirmy. It took Grandma Lu a long time to go through that dirt looking for worms and bugs. Then the next thing she had to do was put it in an old bowl and put one and a half cups of water in it. Then she had to mix it up. It looked like batter for brownies. Grandma Lu was tempted to taste it then she thought of the worms.
Grandma Lu had a beautiful china herb garden vase that she got for her birthday. She had to put the dirt in that vase so that later, she could put the seeds in there to grow in the sunshine.
Oh what a terrible mess Grandma Lu made, if only Elaina could have stayed and helped her with the garden. She could have helped clean up the mess.
Grandpa Fran came out to the kitchen just smiling from ear to ear. “When are the brownies going to be done?” Grandma Lu was not in the mood for his silliness. She missed Elaina.
Well, she decided there was nothing she could do but plant Elaina’s garden by herself. There were six packages of seeds. There was Chives, that are green that they often put in sour cream, there was parsley that makes things look pretty like on potatoes and soup. There was also cilantro that Elaina’s mom loves for a spicy flavor to soups and Mexican food. There was Thyme and also Basil that is used in many many recipes to add to the flavor of the meat and soups, and casseroles.
Grandma Lu planted all the seeds in the dirt and covered them up in the dirt so that they would grow roots. The package said to set the pot or vase in the sunshine and the herbs would grow. She did that by putting the herb garden vase in the sun out on the back porch.
What did Grandma Lu forget? There was two things that Grandma Lu forgot. God took care of one thing and the other thing is completely forgotten. Maybe Elaina’s mom can help.

Freddie The Frog The Fourth

Freddie was just miserable. He wanted his own name. His dad’s name was Freddie the Frog the Third and his grandpa’s name was Freddie the Frog the Second and his Great Grandfather’s name was Freddie the Frog. He knew his mother would probably tell him he should feel lucky to have such a wonderful frog as his father, so he did not complain to her.
One day Freddie was down by the pond practicing jumping and rolling out his tongue for insects to eat, when his father came jumping down by the pond too and said hello. Little Freddie decided to talk to his dad about his name. Oh how his dad laughed, but of course frogs do not laugh, they “ribbet.” His dad’s voice echoed down by the pond, and it caused other frogs to join in with his dad’s laughter. It was so funny, soon little Freddie started to “ribbet” too. Finally Freddie’s dad quit laughing and said, “I was just your age when I complained to my dad, and told him I wanted my own name.” Other daddie Frogs were listening to their conversation and said, “I had the same conversation with my dad too!” We are all named the same name, Freddie. What if all the baby Frogs were all named something different? That would be terrible, we would all get mixed up at the time of danger. This way if I signal to you to be careful, danger is close, all baby frogs are careful and they pay attention. It was a good idea of some Great Frog down in history to name us all the same name. Ribbit!