Christopher's Letter Home

(July 6, 2002: I am finally getting around to putting this up on the Mouse House site! Christopher dictated this to me the date you see below; and I wrote it out longhand, sending it snail mail to The Vermont Teddy Bear Company. I kept a copy for our files. Names have been changed to protect the furry and non-furry.)

Wed., 31 January 2001

Dear Bear Friends,

I have been thinking about writing ever since Christmas, when I finally got to my new home. I was taken out of my box once, at a friend of Mousie's house. He wanted to check me over, to see if I had survived the trip from Vermont all right. Then back into the box, with lots of rustling of paper to be heard outside.

When I next came out of my travelling box, which incidentally was very comfortable what with the air hole and reading matter on the walls, Mousie was very excited and happy to see me. There were a few awkward moments later in the day and for a day or so afterwards (for which she keeps apologizing profusely) when she seemed disappointed in my appearance, saying I didn't look like the bears in the catalogue. However all was made right when she carefully did a little fur-trim around my eyes. Cat'r (her friend who originally caused me to be born) told her not to trim the extra fuzziness above my nose. He says this gives me "character". I don't know what that means, but he says it in a way that makes it sound like a Good Thing.

Oh, by the way, Mousie is writing this for me, but I am telling her what to say--she says she is my scribe. :-)

Anyway, the next change came when she decided she liked me better au naturel. She says I am cuddlier and more huggable this way, can sit down properly (the jeans are very becoming, but a bit stiff), and look a lot like Winnie the Pooh (she says he is a very famous bear and showed me his books).

Since I have been here, I've met many other bears, mice, Beanie Babies, Briarberry Bears, and all manner of plush people. Mousie has many fuzzy friends all over her house. They are all very nice and have given me a warm welcome. Stutz Beary-Bear, the Head of all her people, has been most kind. He's actually a very humble and self-effacing [where did you learn all these big words, Christopher??] bear, quiet and calm.

What I've been up to: I live a fairly quiet life: listening to music, watching TV (films, anime, news, etc.--oh, remind everyone in case you haven't discovered it yet, that we all have what Cat'r calls "Bend-y Vision", meaning you don't actually have to be facing something in order to see it. We can read upside-down and sideways too!), being hugged and kissed and brushed, talking with the other fuzzy folks. Mousie took Stutz and Teddy (a Mr. Bean knitted bear!) and me to the front door one day and showed us SNOW. The air was all white out there and so was the ground. Teddy had recently been out in snow and explained how snow feels on one's face. It sounds hard to believe, but very interesting. Oh! I've been on the Internet several times with Mousie. She made sure to show me the factory's Web site! Very lovely! Please tell the designers they are doing a Good Job.

Yesterday the things Mousie had ordered from amazon.com arrived. I helped her shop online last week--she was using her Christmas gift certificates. She was really surprised and pleased that the teddy bear book she'd ordered was about a Vermont Teddy Bear! The book is called It's Me, Teddy! by Amber Alexander. Mousie says she chose it over many other teddy bear books because of the cover artwork, a brief review of the story, and especially a customer review by a 16-year-old girl who said she'd received it as a present and SHE likes it. Anyway, Mousie and I read the book a couple times yesterday, with her exclaiming at almost every page, "This is so CUTE!". I found it an exciting story, myself. I doubt I'll ever have such wild adventures; but Mousie says bears live long lives, and you never know what interesting things might happen. I have something I wanted to tell Ms. Alexander: in the book Teddy says he has no mouth. Well, that isn't true for me, for how else could I talk? My mouth (and I expect all the other bears') is just hidden by my fur. :-) Mousie says to tell you that the designer in charge of Hello Kitty at Sanrio Company Ltd., Yuko Yamaguchi, says in the Dec. 1999 issue of "Wired" magazine that Hello Kitty has a mouth [too] and that "it's hidden in the fur." I guess that's why Cat'r and Mousie now and then offer various ones of us nibbles of food.

Well, I don't have any photos to send along like Teddy did in the book; but I just wanted to say hello and to let everyone know how I'm doing and that it's nice out here. Some of you may be going to live with children, and some of you may be going to live with adults (who may be children at heart, anyway). Take your Bearly Duties seriously and give all the love, comfort, protection, and support you can. You will receive, at the very least, lots of hugs and kisses and attention--at least that is my happy experience so far. I am told that many other good things--love, trust, companionship, and more--come as time goes on. I am looking forward to it!

Well, so long for now.

Your friend,

Christopher C. Bear