Season's Greetings!

 Hello,

here we are again - with our last post in 2024... and after some thinking whether or not it was a good idea to do our traditional post showing funny pictures of our BiWuBeary Christmas Market these days. So far we pray for 5 losses, about 200 injuries (some of them still fighting for their lives) and the many people witnessing the attack who will never be able to forget. And let's not forget the despair of all the family members and friends of those victims; people who only wanted to have a good time at a Christmas Market a few days before Christmas, in this case in the city of Magdeburg, capital of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. All this sorrow and pain just because one single man for whatever reasons decided to take the lives of other people.

But our thinking didn't last long. This is only a very modest blog with very small impact to the world. It won't make any change to the world whether or not we're posting about the BiWuBeary Christmas Market. At least that's what one would think first... but in fact... there are a few friends looking forward to see those pictures... and we would really like to share them despite all craziness going on because... well, allow us to say it in the words of Tom Petty's song: We're gonna stand our ground, won't be turned around. We'll keep this world from draggin' us down and we won't back down. 

And we would like to make a suggestion: Let us few bloggers remember what Christmas is about... despite from the religious aspect of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ its message is one everybody can identify with. That's why this holiday with all its symbols became so very popular as its main messages are love and peace - but also joy, hope, family, caring about others, generosity and so much more. Does anybody remember still that some time ago Birgit tried to put the whole spirit of Christmas in just one cupboard? 

Try to think what Christmas means to you... and then have a look if you're able to find it symbolized in there. 

And if in any case somebody might be thinking now "Well... I see what Fluby and Rosey mean and what Birgit wanted to express. But isn't it strange that of all things a Christmas Market is missing???" - well in that case we would reply: Hey, please put a little more trust in Birgit! Of course there is a Christmas Market in this cabinet... you just need to have a much closer look here:

Look at this framed picture... it needs a bit of concentration... and keeping focus... maybe you should close your eyelids a bit to sharpen your sight... we're sure you will be able to see it right away... CONCENTRATE!!!

You're almost there... keep your focus!!!

You made it... so: Welcome to the BiWuBeary Christmas Market in 2024! And as giving is even more important in this special time of the year we're granting you an extra dose of light now. *smile*

Take the entrance and greet our welcome committee... Mr. Snowman, Mr. T and their majesties King F and Queen R... who are looking strangely familiar to some bearies I happen to know.. *giggle*

As ususal we're giving you an overview so you have an idea where everybody is - and we don't forget to add our traditional service of highlighting the names to make it easier for our foreign readers. As some of them include some German word jokes they're an impossible task for any translator. We're starting as always with Maggie's "Glashütte" where Mon Chéri is asking himself and his budget whether or not to treat himself with this stunning glass cherry (perhaps hard to spot - it's at the left side of the counter, on top of the box with green baubles).

Meanwhile Angelina and Sev are in trouble at Richard's "Weihnachtsbäckerei" - which cake should they choose??? Decisions... always so many decisions. One of the little angels by Goebel who always visit our Christmas Market was already able to decide. Well, it was easy as she gets herself a gingerbread chain every year. And Ele - who is always the first to have finished his Christmas Shopping - is now so relaxed that he takes his time to admire her treasure. However, Ele wouldn't be as relaxed if he would have noticed that somebody is missing in this picture. Oh my... seems we're going to have a tiny bit of drama this year.

Decisions are something Lucky and Ruby Fourty are also dealing with at the moment... my, all of Margret's treats at the "Zuckerbäcker" are so tempting and yummy.

And at the "Erzgebirgische Holzkunst" awaits us the usual sight... of course Richy offered once more a chair for the comfort of his most favourite customer... although we should better call Sabienchen an I-would-really-like-to-buy-some-of-these-treasures-if-only-I-would-be-able-to-decide-customer. And as we learned a few days ago... seems she's not only interested in the wood art anymore. Anyhow, her angel friend with the lantern is keeping her company as she does every year.

Lasse and Holly are enjoying a good chat from Christmas Elf to Christmas bear in front of the Toyshop...

... while Teddy is busy filling mugs with his famous Glühwein and Azurro is happily anticipating the next sips he and the others will enjoy soon and Naughty Boy is doing what Naughty Boy usually does. We can't help it, we can't change him and we don't want to comment it anymore... but of course we need to point out again that Naughty Boy is NO BiWuBeary! *grin*

You've already seen Lasse and he's not alone here... his parents as well as Crystal the cat and Soot the dog came along with them to enjoy at least some little time together with friends. As you would guess Einar and Ylvi have a lot of work to do these days... the more Einar enjoys to have a little chat with his good buddy Mikey.

And although the Christmas Market is open and visited since the Advent time began our trusted decoration team aka Jolly and his angel friend are convinced there are still some spare spaces on the big tree needing to be filled. And it wouldn't be Advent time at our Christmas Market if Igor the vampire bat wouldn't pretend to be the better version of an angel tree topper. However, it seems that something caught his attention... because we've never seen him next to the big star before...

Meanwhile Sunny is as always the happiest BiWuBeary in town as he enjoys every ride on Tschang's back. 

And of course there's a lot of fun, laughter, good talk and enjoying yummy treats going on at the tables. Here is the one next to the cart of our magicians with Magica, Arthud, Goldino and Ylvi having a great time...

... and so do Herzbube, Lavendelinchen, Sally and Amselino. And we know whenever he has the chance Herzbube will have a deep look into Lavendelinchen's eyes.

My favourite table is the next one... for reasons I could never explain *teehee*. Here we see Granny Smith, his angel friend, Erdbärchen and two blogbearies having a good time. 

But if we'd ask Nevermore he would say he did not have a good time right now as he really tried to avoid meeting Crystal... and see for yourselves that this didn't work as she is just standing in front of him saying "Hey, handsome!" (But just among us... I don't have too much trust in what Nevermore says aloud. I mean... if I would try to avoid meeting Crystal then Einar's cart would be for sure the last place I would go to... *grin*)

And while we've just met two cats from the magical world... I happen to know two magicians who managed to finally solve a big problem. *smile* As you may remember Mysteria de Spell lost her legs in a magical duel many years ago... and as curses can never be broken she's quite small in height. And as her partner Borthud Skullington is a wizard of normal height Mysteria had a very special wish: Exchanging kisses with her friend without him having the need of visiting Gertie Gumthrop afterwards for getting some potion helping against an aching back (btw in German we call this special kind of pain known as lumbago being shot by a witch... *teehee*). And if you're wondering now why they didn't solve this problem perhaps with a floating spell, a growth spell for Mysteria or a shrinking potion for Borthud... well... this kind of magic doesn't work anymore if the much more powerful magic of love is involved. But Borthud came up with a practical idea declaring it to be an early Christmas gift which needed to be tested and what am I supposed to tell you...

It worked perfectly - Mysteria is now the happiest witch in the whole wide world finally being able to look directly into the eyes of the wizard she loves. At least as long as she's standing on that sleigh Borthud gave to her. Those two don't need any mistletoe... and the Snowman Mysteria built and brought to life many years ago is very discrete and checks the cakes on the sales cart with full concentration.

And now that you know where everybeary and everybody is... feel free to walk around!

We hope you've enjoyed your visit at our BiWuBeary Christmas Market... although we're not yet finished. There's something missing still... because there's still a problem needing to be solved. Remember Ele? And that we told you he had a problem but didn't notice he had one so far?

And do you remember that we told you that it was strange somehow that Igor's attention was caught from something else than him being the perfect tree topper?

But Igor was not the only one who noticed what had happened... and that a teeny tiny being wandered around the Christmas Market all by himself. Soot and Roar had noticed him too and kept their eyes on him as Igor too did from his top position.

Yes, Ele's best little friend Fant had started to get bored when Ele didn't stop to admire the angel's gingerbread chain that's why he hopped from Ele's sleigh and started to wander around. (And btw this might be a good moment to remind you that an elephant in German is spelled Elefant... *smile*) Ele is very caring and protective when it comes to Fant... so it's very good for his nerves that he did not notice so far that Fant was strolling around. And of course it was even better that those three magical animals kept watch over Fant until they decided this needed an intervention. So Igor informed Ele who was so shocked that he did not even have time for a nervous breakdown because he hurried in a wink of an eye to his little friend to hug him tight.

Now the others being around noticed too that Fant had been all by himself and shared Ele's happiness that nothing had happened to the tiny elephant and thanked the ones who were keeping watch on him. Ele was both happy and shocked and asked Fant why he walked away without saying a word and Fant answered he had been bored and decided to explore the market by himself. "I now understand that it was wrong to hop from the sleigh without informing you... I'm really sorry and I will never do this again but see... I... eh... " Fant stopped... but Ele nodded as he understood. "Yes, I see it now... you're growing up, my little friend. And you need to go your own ways sometimes not only hanging around with me; even more when I'm talking to a friend without involving you in the conversation. I'm sorry too, Fant... so let's make a deal: Just let me know when you want to do something on your own so I know where you are. Otherwise I would go sick of fear anything could harm you..." And he hugged Fant even tighter but then he said: "And what would you like to do now?" Fant smiled: "Maybe have some fun together with the best guards a tiny elephant can ever have while you keep on talking with the angel?" Ele smiled back: "Sounds good... if our friends would like to." Soot replied for the others: "Of course we do... and see, here come Nevermore and Crystal to join us." 

The bearies and angels went back to what they did before while Crystal asked Fant: "So what would you like to play?" Fant had no idea so he asked back: "What do you usually play?" Roar laughed when he answered: "I like to chase young dragons." Nevermore nodded: "Me too... but the only dragon around here at the moment is Tschang and I'm pretty sure he would rather chase us and roast us to well done afterwards." Crystal laughed: "I see your point. Well, at the North Pole we love to run in the snow... and in my personal case I love being fast as the wind leaving the black annoyance called Soot far behind me." Soot growled back: "Thank you very much, Miss Exploded-cushion-coming-along-in-a-cat's-shape... we'll have a word about that later on. For now I think a little snow race would be fun."

Igor fluttered among them. "Great idea! And I will be the referee watching that everything will be fair as it should be at Christmas time. And as you, Soot, are so much bigger than the others I would suggest that you and Nevermore keep watch at both ends of the race track to prevent anybody from accidentally crossing." Both black animals agreed and went to their positions while Igor flew back to the Christmas tree's top from where he started the race.

And it may be either the fact that you can't judge somebody just by his looks or perhaps the magic of Christmas... but little Fant was in lead right from the start and even won the first official animal running race at the BiWuBeary Christmas Market. Well, Ylvi who watched this race knew the answer and she told herself that some magical animals deserved some extra good points in the Golden Book of Santa for caring so much about little Fant... or for running as slow as they could just to bring some extra joy to a little friend. And after all... what counts is that we have a happy ending here. And what does it take for a real happy ending after visiting the BiWuBeary Christmas Market? Sure, two blogbearies and their mini nutcracker versions saying bearsonally "Goodbye and thanks for visiting us!"

And now there's only one thing left to do - all of us wish you from the bottom of our hearts:

Merry Christmas - and all the best for the New Year 2025, above all health!

See you again next year - until then... have a great time and enjoy these special days to the fullest!

All members of "BiWuBearies on the Blog"

(and an extra hug from your trusted blogbearies Flutterby and Rosey and of course from Birgit too)