Sweater Time!

Faith came to me as a little angel.

But even little angels get cold.

 Since the wind chill is making it feel like 7 degrees outside, we decided to exchange her wings for a sweater. Since there are still a few days of Christmas left, we thought this sweater could still be deemed appropriate.

Faith is now nice and warm in her snuggly sweater! She wants to let everyone know that removing her wings was not painful and she still feels quite angelic.

Begun in 2009, To be completed in 2010

I've begun work on my next new bear. I'd planned to sew this one with my sewing machine, since he'll be much larger than my last bear. Unfortunately, my sewing corner is in my eat-in kitchen, which is being repainted and crown molding installed. It could be weeks before I can resume this project unless I break down and decide to do it all by hand - I'm not sure my hands are up for that! In the meantime, I can dream about what a wonderful teddy this will be!

A Bear of Very Few Days

A new little fella was born into the hug at our cottage this week.  We don't know what his name is yet, but he can already stand by himself, and climb into Christmas trees!

  What do you think his name is?

Beary Christmas

The Christmas Bears wish all bear lovers a very Beary Christmas!

Baking Cookies

One of our favorite cookies to make for holiday get togethers are Meringue Surprises.  Ginger Snap, a little brown Christmas bear, is making sure that no other bears try to steal the cookies while they cool.

Here is the great-grandmother's recipe:

4 egg whites at room temperature
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. cream of tartar
2 t. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 12 oz. package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Beat egg whites, salt, cream of tartar and vanilla until soft peaks form.  Add sugar gradually and beat until the mixture is stiff.  Fold in the chocolate chips.
Cover cookie sheets with brown paper if you have it.  Drop meringues by teaspoonfuls into small mounds.
Bake at 300 degrees for about 25 minutes, reducing heat to 250 if they begin to show signs of browning.

Meringues should be creamy white and crisp dry when done.  Let cool and store in a sealed tin.

Snow Pooh

Snow Pooh came to the Baybearys' Cottage way back in December of 1999.  He was living in Florida, of all places!  He reports that he is much happier living in the Mid-Atlantic state of Maryland, where the winters are more agreeable.    We will have to watch him carefully to make sure that he does not try to catch a ride in Santa's sleigh, because his dream home is the North Pole!

The First One Out and Into the Snow

We had a blizzard between Friday night and Sunday morning.  The bears could not go outside on Satuday because it was too cold, snowy and windy.  It was a good day to stay indoors and hibernate while the human beans did housework.  But on Sunday morning, Corey Allen Bearsmore, who already had his winter coat on, was the first one to dash outside to check out the snow.  It was over his head!

He climbed up a mound and sat a top what was left of the butterfly bush.  The flag pole was something good and sturdy to grab should he start to sink - but he didn't sink.

So he climbed up onto another snow hill which was a little smaller and was going to lean on the fence. He did start to sink into the white fluffy snow.  He decided to head back inside and have a nice hot cup of hot chocolate instead!