Are you ready to meditate with Cori?
Lie down in your bed and make sure that you're all set so that your body can relax.
The light is just right in your room.
Try and stay still and quiet so you're not whittling around all over the bed.
And that way,
Your body can start to relax and slow down.
Hopefully,
You'll fall fast asleep as you listen to the story.
Stephanie was really excited about winter,
But the problem was where she lived,
It didn't snow and it didn't get very cold.
It was one of those places in the world where all the seasons seemed to be very similar.
She wanted snow.
She wanted to feel like she needed to wrap up and snuggle up and get warm.
She wanted to do all the things that she saw on holiday movies on TV where they drank hot chocolate and wore wooly pajamas with feet in them.
She wanted all the things that she didn't have to do because where she was,
Like I said,
Even though it was December,
It was still warm.
She decided that maybe if she went to Mumbo Forest,
Things would be different.
Luna and all of her friends there were so connected to her mind and her heart that they would know that she needed winter.
They would already know and guess how she was feeling because this had happened sometimes.
Sometimes when she visited,
It's like the place,
That world knew exactly what she wanted.
She was hoping that today would be just like that.
She walked upstairs,
Walked into her bedroom,
Sat down at her dressing table and got comfortable.
She decided that if Mumbo Forest was psychically connected to her,
She best go there dressed relatively warm in warm clothes.
Stephanie reached into one of the drawers on her dresser that was close by and grabbed a sweatshirt.
She already had on comfortable pajamas.
She figured that would be fine.
She opened up her jewelry box and pulled out her magical earrings.
Her earrings were shimmering in her left palm.
The light from above was shining down on them and making them very shiny.
She put the left earring in first and then the right,
Closed her eyes and took a big,
Deep breath,
Welcoming in all of the different sensations that she always felt in her body.
The sensations that she knew were changing her vibrational frequency.
Her vibration,
Her energy,
Needed to be different to be able to go to the other world.
She needed to raise her vibration so it was faster and lighter.
She needed to be able to feel the world around her.
And that way,
She could travel to another dimension in time,
The moonbow forest dimension.
The one where everything there you can eat,
Everyone there is your friend.
The one which felt like another home to her.
The place was so dear to her heart,
So dear to her heart,
She took another big,
Deep breath and she focused in on all of the tingles and the different sensations she could feel in her feet,
Her fingers,
Her nose,
The sensations and the tingles ran up her spine and the hairs on her arms stood up on end.
And just like that,
Even though she had her eyes closed,
She could see the veil between this world and the other world right there in front of her face.
It shimmered and twinkled just like her magical earrings.
The veil,
The curtain between the two worlds was just transparent enough to be able to see through it a little bit,
To see the slightest shadows and colors.
Today,
As she stared at the veil,
All that she saw was white.
There were no shadows.
She couldn't see the shape of trees or anything at all.
It was just white,
As if the curtain was white.
She got a little bit excited,
Thinking maybe,
Just maybe,
She would be stepping into Mumbo Forest in winter.
She slowly and apprehensively pulled back the veil so she could step into the other world.
The first thing that she saw was snow,
Absolutely everywhere.
All the mint chocolate trees were covered in snow.
The forest floor was covered in snow.
She stepped out and realized the silly mistake that she'd made.
She forgot to put on socks and shoes.
She was feeling the snow barefoot.
On the grass that she always steps onto.
But the grass was no longer grass,
It was snow.
And the snow was so cold,
But it was soft and fluffy,
And she could hear it crunching underneath her feet.
It was the best thing ever.
It was snowing.
She put out both of her hands and tried to catch the snowflakes landing on her hands.
Instinctively,
Stephanie put a snowflake onto her tongue.
It tasted like peppermint.
The snowflakes were peppermint flavored.
They were delicious.
She couldn't see anyone,
Anywhere.
No Luna,
No nightshade,
None of the other creatures,
No fairies,
Absolutely nothing.
All she could see was snow covered everything.
As far as her eyes could see,
Everything was white.
But then,
Right there,
Really close,
What she thought was a tree,
Moved just a slight,
Slight bit.
Her eyes instantly moved to what moved and focused in.
What she was looking at was just bright white until,
Whatever it was,
Opened her eyes.
And then,
She was struck with these bright blue eyes,
Frosty,
Cold,
Bright blue,
Icicle looking eyes staring right at her.
Stephanie blinked a few times and the face that belonged to the eyes smiled.
The eyes turned into more of an almond shape.
And then,
She noticed,
The more she blinked and the more she focused,
That the eyes had black eyelashes.
And then,
She looked at the face that was smiling.
Whoever it was,
Their skin was porcelain white with just the softest kiss of pink on their cheeks.
They had white hair,
A white gown,
A white coat,
White gloves,
White boots,
Everything white.
No wonder she couldn't see whoever it was at first.
The more Stephanie looked,
The more she could see.
More details seemed to be coming into focus.
She realized that this thing,
This person,
Whoever it was,
Was a woman,
A beautiful woman.
She was tall and slender.
She looked down at Stephanie and she smiled again.
And then,
She said,
Welcome,
Stephanie.
Hopefully,
You like what you see so far.
Welcome to Mumbo Forest when it's a winter wonderland.
Stephanie smiled at the lady.
And then,
The lady said,
My name is Octavia and I will be your guide today.
I'm here to show you some of the splendors of Mumbo Forest when it snows.
Are you ready?
Stephanie just nodded.
Octavia was beautiful.
She was like a snow queen in the flesh,
As real as anything.
She even had a crown on her white hair.
It was silver with diamonds and it glistened like icicles.
Octavia opened her coat.
She motioned her arms as if to tell Stephanie to step closer so she could wrap her coat around her,
So she could step into the warmth of Octavia's body.
Stephanie was cold and her feet were freezing already.
The sweatshirt that she put on was nothing.
She should have wore a hat,
A gloves,
Ski pants,
Padded coat,
You name it,
Anything warm,
Especially shoes.
Duh,
She thought to herself.
Stephanie stepped forward into the warm embrace of Octavia.
And as she did so,
They seemed to disappear and transport to somewhere else.
Somewhere that she'd never seen before in Mumbo Forest.
When the sensation of movement stopped,
She opened her eyes,
Octavia opened her jacket,
And Stephanie was dressed just like Octavia.
White boots,
White dress,
White jacket.
She even had on her own crown.
She was very pleased with this.
When she looked around,
It looked like she was in a crystal palace.
The whole palace was made from ice.
The floor was clear and shiny ice,
The walls,
Ice.
All of the furniture was carved out of ice,
Everything.
It was all ice.
It was so cold she could see her breath.
When she breathed out,
She'd always wanted to do that and never ever had the opportunity.
She kept breathing out big,
Deep breaths.
She was trying to make little circles with her breath.
She'd seen that somewhere before.
She could not do it.
Octavia smiled and made big love hearts with her breath.
Stephanie was mesmerized.
And then,
As if everybody and everyone that lived there with Octavia,
The Snow Queen,
Seemed to come out of the cracks.
First of all,
There was lots and lots and lots of miniature snowmen,
Tiny little things,
Like about the size of a rabbit,
But they were snowmen and they were so tiny and cute and they all had different colored scarves.
Their noses were made of different things.
Some carrots,
Some potatoes,
Some cauliflower,
Cauliflower noses,
Which Stephanie thought was very funny.
It made their nose look all fat and bulbous and squishy,
Which was hilarious.
Oh,
Stephanie said,
They're so cute.
Yes,
Said Octavia.
These are my snowmen.
They bring with them a delicious treat.
It's one of my favorites.
All of the snowmen started to throw snowballs at Stephanie and Octavia,
The Snow Queen.
Octavia giggled very loudly,
Catching them and eating them,
Dropping them in her mouth like they were coconut macaroons or something.
Stephanie caught one.
The snowballs were quite small.
They were probably like the size of a golf ball.
She caught one and popped it into her mouth and bit it so that she could get the whole thing in because she couldn't get the whole thing in.
It was a snowball,
But it was like made from frozen condensed milk.
Now,
That sounds very strange.
And if you haven't ever tasted condensed milk before,
You'd think,
What is that?
But if you have tasted condensed milk,
Then you know how delicious condensed milk is.
Now,
Imagine condensed milk frozen and then made into scoops like ice cream.
It was absolutely,
Oh my golly,
So good.
She kept catching the snowballs over and over and over again.
And in no time at all,
She'd eaten like eight of them.
Octavia was the same,
Eating them over and over and over.
And she kept giggling really loud.
This is my favorite room,
She said.
Tell me when you're ready and I'll take you to the next room.
Stephanie chomped down one more snowball and said,
Okay,
I'm ready.
The next room that they walked in looked like they'd just walked back outside.
There were trees and bushes.
It was like being in the middle of a forest,
But more so bushes,
Lots and lots and lots of bushes.
And the bushes were covered in snow.
It was just like walking into Moonbow Forest at the beginning,
But this was a room.
It had ice walls and ice floor,
But there were bushes and trees.
Stephanie assumed that there would be something to do with these bushes and trees and that was why they were in that room.
She looked up at Octavia and said,
Can we eat the bushes?
Is that why we're here?
Octavia said,
Oh,
Stephanie,
Luna told me you were very smart.
Yes,
We can eat the bushes.
Do you want to give one a try?
Octavia reached down and broke off a branch on one of the bushes.
Each one of the branches was shaped just like a snow cone.
Stephanie did the same.
When she brought the snow cone shaped branch up to her nose and she breathed out,
It turned bright green.
And then when she opened her mouth,
The warmth of her breath and the warmth coming out of the breath of her nose made it go even greener,
Even brighter,
As if it was magically changing through the heat of her breath.
She looked up at Octavia and Octavia seemed to be totally fine with it.
That was exactly what was supposed to happen.
So just like eating a snow cone,
Stephanie had a bite.
It was sweet and tangy and it made all of her face and her mouth pucker up.
It was lime.
It tasted just like lime cardinal,
Sweet and syrupy and very,
Very delicious.
These are so good,
Said Stephanie.
Yes,
They are,
Aren't they?
Said Octavia,
Eating them just like she was a kid,
Munching away and then doing that giggle that she had,
Giggling as if she'd never tasted them before.
Obviously,
Clearly she had because this was her ice palace and she was the snow queen,
But she was very childlike and Stephanie thought this was super cute.
It made her feel like Octavia could be a friend.
They laughed and giggled together and kept picking different branches.
To Stephanie's amazement,
Every snow cone tasted different.
They would turn color,
Different colors with the warmth of her breath.
Purple,
Pink,
Blue,
Green,
Orange and each color was a different flavor.
They were really,
Really,
Really good.
She was quite happy to just stay there,
But she was getting pretty cold because after eating snowballs and snow cones,
It was making her cold from the inside,
But they were so good,
She didn't want to stop.
Octavia sensed that Stephanie would probably be ready to go to another room.
So she asked her,
Are you ready to try a different room,
Stephanie?
Stephanie nodded.
This is the best,
She said.
She followed Octavia through a big golden door.
When they got through the doorway,
They found themselves in a room with what looked like a giant swimming pool in the middle,
But the swimming pool was filled with tiny frozen balls,
Like a ball pit.
Stephanie said,
No way,
Is that a ball pit?
Octavia giggled her giggle and said,
Yes,
It's amazing,
Isn't it?
Stephanie said,
Can we jump in?
Octavia said,
Well,
I hope so because I'm going in.
Octavia ran really quickly towards the ball pit,
The swimming pool with the frozen balls in it and just dived in.
Stephanie decided she wasn't as brave as Octavia.
She was gonna do some kind of cannonball jump.
She jumped in from the side,
Cannonballed and landed.
Octavia was swimming,
Pretending to swim in the tiny frozen balls.
And as she was doing so,
She kept collecting different ones in her mouth and eating them.
Oh gosh,
This is just too much fun,
Thought Stephanie.
She put one of the balls in her mouth.
Oh,
She should have known.
The balls were green,
Red and then like a dark purple color,
The color of grapes.
The balls were frozen grapes.
Frozen grapes were one of Stephanie's favorite,
Favorite treats.
They were the best grapes.
They were like cotton candy grapes,
Sweet and juicy and very crispy because they were frozen.
The red ones tasted slightly different and the purple ones,
They tasted different too.
They were swimming,
Pretending to do front stroke,
Back stroke,
Jumping,
Getting out,
Jumping back in.
They were having a whale of a time with the frozen grapes.
At one point,
Stephanie thought to herself,
How did they stay frozen?
But then she was like,
Well,
How does everything else stay frozen here?
It's probably because it's so cold.
And that's when it hit her.
It really hit her how cold she was.
She found that she couldn't even feel her feet anymore.
Octavia noticed,
Are you cold,
Child?
Stephanie said,
I'm freezing.
Octavia said,
I have just the thing,
Follow me.
She climbed out of the grape ball pit.
She helped Stephanie.
Stephanie was so cold,
She was shaking by now.
Just the combination of the frozen snowballs from the tiny little snowman,
And then the snow bush,
And then swimming around in the frozen grapes,
It was just too much.
Luckily,
The room that Octavia,
The snow queen,
Was taking Stephanie to wasn't too far away.
And as soon as she opened the door to it,
Stephanie felt the warmth.
There was a big,
Giant log fire crackling.
The heat coming from it was so strong,
It instantly felt like it was burning her cheeks.
There was two rocking chairs in front of it with big,
Soft-looking pillows.
And by the side of the rocking chairs were two pairs of slippers,
A big,
Big,
Fluffy blanket on either side,
One for Octavia,
One for Stephanie.
Hats,
Gloves,
Scarves,
And then something in a cup that was steaming.
Stephanie followed Octavia over to the chair.
Octavia sat down on one of the rocking chairs and motioned for Stephanie to sit next to her.
"'Here we go,
' she said.
"'This'll warm you up in no time.
'" Octavia reached down and picked up the cup,
Warm,
Thick,
Very,
Very creamy-looking hot chocolate.
Stephanie could smell it.
She picked her cup up and took a sip,
And it instantly started to warm all of her insides up.
"'She shuddered and smiled the biggest smile.
"'This is delicious,
' Stephanie said.
And then she wrapped herself in the blanket,
Put on the fluffy slippers.
She was okay,
She didn't need hat and gloves.
She was holding the cup and it was keeping her hands nice and toasty warm.
And Stephanie sat there,
Staring at the fire,
Drinking her hot chocolate with Octavia the Snow Queen,
Feeling very,
Very comfortable,
Happy,
And absolutely just perfect.
It was one of those moments where she didn't feel like she needed to say anything.
She didn't have to talk.
She didn't have to do anything.
She just rocked back and forward and relaxed her gaze on the fire,
Listened to it crackle and pop.
She felt like this was the best winter holiday feeling that she could ever,
Ever feel.
She was in Moonbow Forest,
Her favorite place.
And she was in a winter wonderland.
And just being so close to Moonbow Forest,
They read her mind,
Her heart,
And her thoughts,
And knew exactly what she needed.
Even though there was no Luna or any of her other friends there,
She felt like she had all of those friends in one,
Octavia the Snow Queen.
She was beautiful,
Kind,
Friendly,
And very,
Very fun to be around.
Stephanie started to get sleepy.
Her body and her muscles got soft and relaxed because of the warmth.
She was all cozy.
Her tummy was full.
Her chocolate was delicious.
And it was as if it had a magic aroma,
Made you tired and dreamy.
And so,
So relaxed.
Her eyes kept getting heavier and heavier and closing more and more.
And she'd open them back up and try and focus on the fire.
But then her eyes would close and fall once again.
She couldn't help herself.
It was just the best,
Best,
Bestest day.
It was everything that she was dreaming of.
Cozy.
It felt like the holidays.
It felt perfect.
And just like that,
Stephanie fell fast asleep.
What felt like just only a breath,
She felt a falling sensation.
And when she opened her eyes,
She found herself back in her bedroom,
Laying on her bed,
Underneath the covers all warm and snugly.
She smiled a big smile,
Turned over onto her side,
And went back to sleep.
The end.
