Life of Moon Pie

Moon Pie meets the Panda and the Paunch
Christmas 2010

2013 is Moon Pie’s third Christmas with us. I don’t count the year he came to us because he arrived on Christmas Day. He was adopted as part of the BC Liquor stores’ annual “twin bear program”, where for every bear purchased, a twin is donated to the children’s hospital. If I buy a bear, I usually donate it as well. I mean, really. How many bears can one childless house contain? But in December 2010, I saw that criminally cute little face in a photo on the intranet website and emailed Ter with a subject line that read: “Oh, no ...”

She wrote back: “If you were to pick a scarf colour, would it be blue or silver?”

“Blue, of course.”

“Good choice,” she answered.

I was then encouraged to forget the conversation ever happened, and on the morning of December 25, a fluffy puffball wearing a blue scarf barrelled out of the gift bag and into my heart. Our hearts, actually. Ter is as daft over him as I am. The other bears, however, were a tougher sell; especially Jarkko – another twin bear who is all attitude and still only tolerates the little fella – but Bobo the panda calmly stepped in as babyminder without any coaxing.

Pandas are much milder in temperament than paunchy polar bears.

Moonie is still and always will be the baby. He’s a good-natured, playful, energetic and eternally adorable little guy. This year, he also taught me something new about Christmas.

One of our big tree perennials is Grizz. He hibernates for 11 months of the year and spends the twelfth sitting under the tree. His job is to guard the prezzies, but back in 2010, when Moon Pie was brand new and overwhelmed in his new home, Grizz huddled with him for a couple of days until he felt confident enough to venture out. Since then, we’ve moved house twice and Christmas was a bit of a gong show both times. Grizz continued to make his annual appearance, but in 2011, Moonie was recovering from a fall off the back of the couch (he was mildly concussed) and by 2012 he was spending his days playing with the bedroom bears and only came out to see the tree after dark, when it’s all lit up and mesmerizing.

This year, however, he was in the room while we decorated. As soon as he saw Grizz, he zoomed under the tree and sat with his old buddy for a whole day before we carted him away to bed. What did I learn from this? For one thing, the baby’s memory is better than mine. For another, seeing a friend at Christmas, even if you don’t see him at all during the rest of the year, can make the holiday more joyful for everyone. The sights and sounds of Christmas are magical, but so is the simple pleasure of catching up with an old friend.