This is my 'Christmas Story' for all of you friends in 'The Garden'. All of us hope you have 'a good one’ and/or 'a decent one', if not a rapturously joyous one!

Hugs from Hunny,
The Hive



Once upon a time…

there was a little girl. The best thing that she loved the most in all the world was nature. Because of this she had many flowers in her little garden. The pots were filled with pinks, mauves, purples, yellows, reds and greens…flowers of every kind she could fit in. There were flowing flowers and ones that stood up straight and there were little fairies holding tiny buckets and wire dragonfiles with multi-coloured wings and all shapes and sizes of stones. It seemed to her to be a magical garden. And on a sunny day the fragrance was soft and full at the same time and didn’t the light make everything look more clear than on an overcast day! There were bunnies in the yard and squirrels and all manner of insects, and in the morning the webs of the spiders sparkled with dew. There were horses and cows in the rolling fields over in the distance and the huge grove of spruce trees carved a piece of the sky out and gave shade below.

The only thing missing from her garden, this little girl thought, were the smallest birds, the little humming birds. Oh there were crows and some blackbirds sitting in a row on the wires and cute little sparrows and of course, in the spring, filled belly, red robins looking for even more to eat. But no, there were no humming birds.

A person who she thought was a friend came over one day and talked and talked about all the hummingbirds that came to her house. She blabbered on and on about it. The little girl got madder and madder inside and sadder and sadder but said nothing except: “I don’t have humming birds.” To which the guest went on and on about how she made this special potion up and put it in a feeder and how the hummingbirds just loved her and went on and on…

The little girl tried not to think about the hummingbirds or at least never said anything but she secretly longed for the day when the little birds would visit. She was not one to tell anyone much of anything so her heart was just so heavy. Then one morning her heart was so broken she decided to phone somebody who she knew might be there. She didn’t have a clue what her end of the conversation would be like but she just wanted to hear a warm, friendly voice. When the person answered the first thing the little girl heard was the kindness and gentleness in this voice. The person listened to her tell of some things that happened to her in her life like planting the flowers and how she listened to the horses galloping in the field across the road and how really beautiful her flower garden was getting to be with just the right amount of watering and sunshine.

But at last it came spilling out. She was not deserving of the beautiful hummingbird, not like her so called friend. She didn’t have one, not one visiting hummingbird in her garden she howled to the sweet gentle voice on the other end of the phone. By this time tears were streaming down her face and her nose was running and the tissue box was nowhere to be found. Oh, and the sobs admist the heaving chest, stomach and scrunched wails from her mouth. She knew she should be happy with all that she had but oh, she just would absolutely love a humming bird to come and visit.

Then, just when she thought she would break in two, she looked over to her open sliding glass window that opened onto the patio where her flower pots were and, what! She couldn’t believe her eyes! Flapping madly right there in her doorway was the most beautiful humming bird she had ever seen. A tiny little creature, it was peeking its head in the door as if to say: “Hey anybody here? Somone call for a humming bird?” The little girl stopped crying and peered through her red eyes trying to open them wide. She started to chuckle and then laugh. Wasn’t that the most beautiful humming bird she ever saw, for sure! She chortled through the phone to the gentle voice on the other end saying: “Hey, wait, wait a minute! There is a, you aren’t going to believe this! There is a hummingbird peeking in my doorway! There is! It’s right here now! It is here, she cried with glee to the voice. It’s really a hummingbird visiting! She could not contain all the joy and she laughed loud and kept telling the voice that here, here it is. The voice just listened and smiled and commented: “Hmmm and oh and oh really” and smiled more too. Glowing, the little girl finished her conversation with so much relief and glee and said a very, very happy goodbye.



(This is my story that really happened to me and the little girl was really about 50 years old and the voice was her dear, dear therapist. Thank you for reading.)

Have a happy holiday!

PS We kinda borrowed this story-telling idea from Anderson who we thank very much for helping it be a possibility.