Introduction:

Hi,

Glad you decided to drop by my blog. I enjoy story telling and making up stories. Therefore, I decided to start this blog to share some of my stories with anyone who may be interested. If you enjoy what you read here, please tell others about it. I promise to never post a story here which you would be ashamed to read to your children (or be ashamed if someone caught you reading it).



Blessings,

C. Bowman

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

The Christmas Challenge

(This is a sequel to “An Under-the Pier Christmas” which I wrote and posted on my blog in 2011)

It had been a rough year. The Under-the-Pier neighborhood had gone through a lot. First, there was the sinking of the old tug boat tied up to the St. Simon’s Island pier. Though the humans had raised it and taken it away, it had caused quite a bit of damage to the sea creatures’ homes.

Then there were the two big storms which had caused such damage with their winds and messed up tides. The bottom had been badly affected by the shifting sands and mud banks. Once again many sea creatures had lost their homes. Why, Billy Crab was missing for a whole week before he managed to tunnel his way back out of the mess!
Then there was the invasion by the dolphins. These playful creatures often visited the area daily, but this time they came in such numbers and were so playful that they had unintentionally wreaked havoc on the community. Several of Billy’s cousins had been playfully carried far out into the sound before they had been dropped off by the dolphins. They thought it great fun to use the crabs as objects to be playfully thrown across the waves and then rapidly retrieved. Then teams of the dolphins would use the crabs to play keep-away, also.

All in all, it had been a rough year for the sea creatures which normally lived somewhat peaceful lives below the St. Simon’s Island pier. And now as Christmas approached, they were exhausted from dealing with so many events. As some of their leaders gathered to discuss how the holiday would be observed their meeting was somber. So many homes had been lost and damaged. Few of their decorations were to be found. “What to do?” they wondered.
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Someone later said they thought it had been Wiley Sea Turtle who came up with the idea. No one really remembers for sure who it was, but a gentle voice spoke above the din of discussion and asked, ”What about borrowing some decorations?” Sally Starfish asked immediately, ”From where?” The crowd looked around as the question sank in on them.
“Well… there is the old abandoned cottage just near the lighthouse. Those people used to have a lot of decorations around on their little pier. They just drove away one day and never came back. At least that is what Herman Crab told me last year. Maybe they left their decorations.” For a few minutes, no one spoke. The thought began to bring smiles of relief as the creatures suddenly erupted into many “Maybes” and “Could be’s” and several “Let’s go look’s”. Soon a decision had been made and several brave crab folk volunteered to approach the long abandoned cottage along the beach and scout out the possibilities.

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The day before Christmas several of the Under-the-Pier folk were hanging out near Ralphie Crab’s lunch bar admiring the decorations gently swaying in the morning’s current. “That was a GREAT idea!” stated Billy Starfish with a huge smile on his face. “Yep!” chimed in the crowd. “Who all participated in bringing the decorations back from the cottage?” asked Lily Starfish, as she looked around. “Oh those guys are easy to spot,” said Herman Crab.  “They are the Crab folk with the long scratch marks on their shells,” he said. “No one knew that a wild house cat claimed that cottage as his own and they had to wrestle him into a knotted pile of garland in order to get the rest of the decorations out of there.”

“Well, they sure are brave Crab folk!” declared Lily. “Yes, they are!” agreed the crowd. “And,” chimed in Herman, ”They have already agreed to return the decorations after Christmas. Seems that now, every time that cat sees a crab, he spits and hisses and runs off! They don’t think he will be a problem for them next time!” The crowd laughed as they all admired the beautiful decorations.  
THE END


MERRY CHRISTMAS!



READ THE REAL CHRISTMAS STORY HERE IN THE 

BIBLE...Luke 2:1-20.





MERRY CHRISTMAS!
 
 

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