Hey Little Legends,
It's Steph here jingling into your ears with bells on at the most magical time of the year.
Today,
Oh today,
We are stepping straight into the Storytime Crew Village on Christmas Eve morning.
A place where magic shimmers in the air,
Excitement wiggles through the streets and absolutely nothing goes to plan.
Are you ready?
Hold on to your stockings because this one's a wild sleigh ride.
Q the Quokka arrived in the Storytime Crew Village humming a little fa-la-la-la-la to herself expecting a warm peaceful day of hanging baubles and sipping hot chocolate.
Silly Q.
The moment she stepped in she walked straight into a Christmas hurricane.
Coops the capybara zoomed past dragging a trolley overflowing with baubles behind his scooter.
Q emergency!
I'm organizing the decorations by vibrational frequency of Christmas joy.
I've got the jolly baubles,
I've got the nostalgic baubles,
The mildly overwhelmed baubles and the full-blown festive frenzy baubles.
Whatever you do,
Do not mix them up,
Okay?
Right,
Okay Q said already laughing and thinking to herself this is totally normal,
Right?
Next,
Ollie the otter bounded over eyes sparkling like someone had plugged fairy lights straight into his brain.
Q!
Q!
I've been up since 4 a.
M.
I am so excited I might just actually burst.
Ollie's tail was thumping the ground like a Christmas drum solo.
Meanwhile,
Emmy the axolotl was holding a tiny jar that had a label on it saying,
Do not shake.
Seriously,
Whatever you do,
Do not shake.
Emmy,
My darling,
What's the.
.
.
Emmy smiled the biggest smile and before Q could finish what she was saying,
Emmy responded,
It's Christmas glitter powder Q!
How magical does it look?
It triples in size when it's activated.
Spoiler alert,
It activates when it's shaken.
Lenny the llama was next,
Having what could only be described as a festive meltdown.
This tinsel is ruined,
Ruined!
I sneezed all over it.
It's over.
Christmas is cancelled.
Wowzers,
Thought Q.
Slightly over dramatic,
But that's our Lenny in a nutshell.
Isla the tiger,
On the other hand,
Was having the time of her life,
Rubbing her paws all over every textured decoration she could find.
Oh,
Sparkly.
Oh,
Fluffy.
Oh,
Prickly.
I love Christmas!
Chloe the cat was standing nearby,
Brushing glitter off her fur with clinical precision.
Chloe Q said,
Your coat looks gorgeous and sparkly.
Chloe frowned,
Please don't compliment me during a crisis,
She said.
And then there was Baxter the badger,
Standing very still in the middle of the chaos.
Her invisible backpack practically bulging out the zippers.
I just know I'm going to mess something up today,
She whispered.
Before Q could scoop her into a hug,
Two new sounds joined the mayhem.
A deep,
Cheerful,
Ho,
Ho,
Ho,
Let's go!
From Dane the dibbledocus,
Who came stomping in,
Wearing a Christmas wreath around his waist like a Christmas tutu.
And Odin the octopus,
Who glided in on all eight tentacles while clutching a clipboard.
I have created something,
He announced.
A step-by-step,
Data-driven,
Christmas decorating strategy for optimal efficiency,
Odin says.
He held up a giant chart with all eight tentacles,
Titled Operation Christmas Perfection.
And that's when Q realised,
Uh-oh,
We're in trouble.
Q gathered everyone in a circle.
Team,
Let's take one big,
Deep breath together.
They breathed in,
And they breathed out.
They almost reached calm.
Almost,
Guys.
And then,
Emmy sneezed.
Just one tiny,
Sparkly,
Innocent little sneeze.
The jar slipped out of her hands.
Time slowed down like a dramatic Christmas movie.
Q reached her hand out.
Dane dove in slow motion,
Yelling,
No!
Odin dropped his clipboard and gasped.
This is going to ruin my spreadsheet.
Coops fainted.
Baxter whispered,
Oh,
I knew it.
And then,
The jar hit the ground.
A glitter explosion blasted through the village,
Like a bedazzled snowstorm in a snow globe.
Everything,
And I mean everything,
Was covered with glitter.
Q,
The trees,
The sky,
Ollie's whiskers,
Dane's wreath skirt,
Odin's charts.
Even the ducks at the pond were sparkling like disco balls.
Then,
The reactions came fast.
Coops shouted,
This was not in the plan.
Ollie said with a bit of concern,
Am I invisible?
Like,
I can't even see my fur right now.
And Lenny,
In his dramatic voice,
This is how civilization falls.
Chloe folded her arms against her chest and said,
Please do not compliment my glitter.
Just do not.
Isla shouted with excitement,
This is the best sensory experience of my life.
And Baxter said,
Oh,
It's all my fault.
I breathed wrong.
Dane screamed,
Don't panic everyone.
And I mean,
Okay,
Panic a little bit,
But like,
Just in an organized way.
And Odin was like,
Oh my gosh,
I need,
I need a calculator.
Emmy stood frozen,
Glitter swirling around her.
I broke Christmas,
She whispered to herself.
Q knelt down,
Took her sparkly little hands and said,
No,
Sweet Emmy,
You haven't broken Christmas.
You've just given us a different kind of Christmas.
Q called everyone back into a circle.
Although it was more like a glittery blob at this point.
Friends,
She said softly,
Christmas was never meant to be perfect,
But it was meant to be ours.
And this will sure be a memorable one.
Q took a few minutes to help all of our storytime crew breathe and regulate and reframe what had just happened.
She helped Koops let go of the perfection plan.
She helped Ollie by grounding himself and naming five sparkly things he could see,
Which let's be honest,
Was easy since everything was sparkly.
She helped Lenny learn to pause before declaring it was the end of the world.
She helped Chloe practice saying thank you without running away or being embarrassed when someone gave her a compliment.
She helped Isla explore the glitter safely instead of rolling around in it like a cinnamon donut.
She helped Baxter unpack her invisible backpack and realize none of it was her fault.
She helped Odin redesign his chart,
This time with a little bit of flexibility.
She helped Dane cheer for everyone like the world's loudest Christmas hype dinosaur he was.
And she helped beautiful Emmy learn that accidents don't make you bad,
They just make you human or an axolotl.
Same,
Same.
And that some accidental mistakes actually make the best moments and memories.
Once everyone settled,
Q asked,
What if,
Guys,
What if we didn't clean this up?
What if we turn it into something magical?
Odin blinked.
What,
You mean incorporate the chaos?
Yeah,
Q smiled.
Exactly.
And so the storytime crew got to work.
They created Glitter Snow Angels,
A kind words corner where Chloe accepted compliments like a brave sparkly queen.
Isla's Sensory Station.
The reviews on Google say 10 out of 10,
Very sparkly.
Dane's Hype Zone,
Where he shouted things like,
Yeah,
Ollie,
Place that bauble,
Baby.
Baxter's Courage Spot,
Where she hung the first wonky ornament and was okay with it being wonky.
And Coop's new creation,
The Wobbly Wonder Tree,
A tree full of mismatched ornaments,
Silly memories and glitter that would never,
Ever come out of anyone's fur ever again.
And my goodness,
Little legends,
It was glorious.
So as the sun began to set,
They all stood together,
Shimmering like the funniest Christmas choir ever created.
Crew,
Q said softly,
Christmas isn't about everything going right.
It's about everyone being loved,
Even when things go wildly and hilariously wrong.
And the storytime crew all agreed.
This was the most wonderfully wobbly Christmas yet.
So thanks for tuning in,
Little legends.
What a sparkly,
Silly adventure that was.
Now remember,
Mistakes can be the funnest part of the whole journey.
Perfection is just a pretend idea someone wrapped in tinsel a long,
Long time ago.
And Christmas isn't about getting everything just right.
It's about love and laughter and kindness and letting everyone shine in their own wonderfully wobbly way.
So my little legends,
Stay brave,
Stay kind,
Stay sparkly.
Until I see you next time for another adventure with the storytime crew.
Merry Christmas!
Ho,
Ho,
Ho!
Merry Christmas!
