Trash Bear Gives Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

Today's a pretty important day--and not just because it's the reason Katie's been off school all week. Today's Thanksgiving! It's a day for, well, being thankful! And if Katie's taking a break from celebrating Christmas and writing her research paper(s), then it must be an important day.

I know it can seem like everything's going wrong right now, and the country's experiencing some big, scary changes, and it still hasn't rained in forever, but I just wanted to remind you that there's so much to be thankful for!

Like, for me, I'm thankful that Katie and her friends found me in the trashcan. I got a new life with them, and it's been awesome! And I'm thankful that her friends are now my friends. I'm thankful that we laugh whenever we're together, and I'm thankful for all the pictures we take together, because they'll be forever reminders of our fun memories. I'm thankful that I have plenty of shirts to wear so that I'm never cold, and I'm thankful I get to write this blog to you every once in a while. I'm thankful for my roommates (the animal ones and the human ones). I'm thankful that even when I get sick sometimes I have medicine to help me get better and friends to help take care of me. I'm thankful that Katie shares her bed with me at night and that she lets me come home with her on vacations. I'm thankful that we can watch the MAcy's parade together and sneak bites of food off the kitchen table. And hugs. I'm really thankful for hugs.

I know that some of those things seem silly to you, but I'm lucky enough to be a bear without a lot of responsibilities, I don't have homework or real work or families to take care of or friends who are in the hospital or loved ones who have died. But that also means that I don't have any of the good things that come with those things--and you do! So I bet you have a LOT to be thankful for today. And everyone who knows you has something to be thankful for, too: YOU!

So, in honor of Thanksgiving, I want to share some of the things I've been most thankful for this year (but there so many more!)

I went to my first prom in April, and it was so much fun! I met all these
great girls and their handsome dates, and we took so many pictures!

I also went to my first formal in April, and that's where I
met Fancy Boy. We're basically best friends now, so I'm
thankful that I got to meet him that day!

This is from the day that Katie and I saw "Captain America:Civil War."
Even though we were on different sides, I'm glad we could share this
day together. (PS #TeamIronMan !!)

Even though I was sick this day, it was fun because I got
to spend it with Katie in The Chanticleer office! (And I
got new unicorn pajamas!) 

This is one of my favorite pictures because it has all of my stuffed friends in it! I have some really great friends, with and
without opposable thumbs, and that's probably what I'm most thankful for this Thanksgiving. What about you?

So, what are you all thankful for today? I know there's probably a lot!

~Trash Bear (and Katie)~

Special Friends & Special Favors

Hi friends,

I have a special request today. Katie's roommate/BFF and one of my very good friends--Short Girl--is having some big, big, big surgery today. The doctors are going to break both her legs and move them around so they don't hurt her anymore. Because, right now, sometimes her legs hurt really, really bad when she walks...or when the weather changes...or when she has to stand up a lot.

I've never had surgery before, but it sounds kind of scary. And Katie says this is a special surgery, because Short Girl won't come back to college until next semester because she won't be able to walk! She'll be in a wheelchair and on crutches for a long time--like 6 weeks!--and she'll have to go to something called physical therapy. (That's a special kind of doctor who teaches you how to do stuff again. For Short Girl, they'll teach her how to walk and move around and make sure her new legs are strong and getting better.)

I was a little scared for Short Girl when found out, but Katie told me she's going to be just fine. She's a tough cookie, that Short Girl, and this is going to be really, really good for her. She left after the football game on Saturday with her family and Curly-Haired Boy, so I know she's going to be taken care of. (Between you and me, though, Katie's already missing her like crazy and has a countdown to when she'll get to see her again. I can't really blame her. I'd miss Katie that much if she had to go away for a long time.)

But, still, I'm a nervous little bear, so if you're a praying kind of person, would you pretty please pray for Short Girl and her family and her friends and her doctors? And if you're not a praying person, would you pretty please send some positive thoughts her way? And if you're not a positive person, would you pretty please just think about her?

Short Girl is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very amazing person, and Katie and I love her very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very much and want her to get better as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, here are some of my favorite memories with Short Girl! (She doesn't like pictures, but she took some with me and Katie, and that makes me smile!)

It's always sad when you have to be away from your friends, but I know that this surgery is going to be good for Short Girl in the long run. She's the kind of person who always thinks about other people before herself, and now all those people get to help take care of her in return. So, even though it's going to be tough for everyone, I wanted to say thanks for being such great friends, friends! I really appreciate it, and I know Short Girl does, too!

~Trash Bear (and Katie)~

Have Yourself A "Beary" Little Christmas

Hi, friends!

It's officially the most wonderful time of the year! That's right: IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME!!!

Okay, okay. Katie told me that some of you might yell at me for saying that, but let me explain.
It's only officially College Christmas time. Real Christmas doesn't start until December, but because Katie and my other friends will only get to see each other for a few days in December, she decided that they needed to decorate now, AND SHE LET ME HELP!

I love spending Christmas with Katie, because she always has so much to do: shopping for presents and baking cookies and decorating the dorm and making ornaments and taking pictures; she basically IS Christmas spirit. When you're around her, you can't help but get excited, too!

Katie's Freshman Year
ornament

Katie's Sophomore Year
ornament--a snow princess!

So this weekend, Katie (and I helped, too!) decorated the dorm room for Christmas!! It was a lot of work--we had to move furniture and build a Christmas tree and unpack boxes--but it was SO worth it! Katie and Katie's Mom even made new Christmas ornaments for all of Katie's friends. Katie makes them a new ornament every year so they'll always remember all the fun they had in college. The first year was a little red cup with a lime wedge on it that says, "Baby's First Christmas" on it. (She made these ones before I knew her!! That's so weird to think about!) Then last year's was a snow-filled ornament with a snowman on it that was themed around her friends' favorite things. Tall Girl's snowman was holding mallets, because she plays marimba, and Glasses Boy's snowman was wearing a fez and a funny scarf, because he really likes this TV show called Dr. Who, and Short Girl's snowman was carrying lots of books, because she likes history, and Curly-Haired Boy's snowman was wearing a teeny tiny replica of his favorite tie, and Bearded Boy's snowman had a beard! And now this year, Katie and Katie's Mom painted little canvases and put pretty Christmas stickers on them. Tall Girl says they're fancy!! All of her friends really like their ornaments, and I know that Katie likes making them for them and making her friends feel special.

Katie's Junior Year ornaments!

"Don't get your tinsel in a tangle!"

They put allllllll those ornaments on the tree, plus more! Katie kind of has a thing for tinsel (because it's like glitter but less messy), so their Christmas tree is ALL silver tinsel! I think it's pretty cool. But they put MORE tinsel on it! Red and gold tinsel! Plus red and gold jingle bells and fake candy canes (you CANNOT eat these!! I tried!!) and a blue crab covered in Christmas lights and a cat with reindeer antlers and a nativity scene and a Santa head and all of Tall Girl's ornaments that she made! They're called "sat dough ornaments," and you kind of make them like you would make cookies, only the dough isn't yummy, and then you let them dry and paint them. Tall Girl has one that's shaped like a sloth, and it's really cute!

"The stockings were hung by the futon with care...."

Even Johnny Depp is in the Christmas spirit!

And Legolas, too! He's wearing an elf hat....
get it?

Besides the Christmas tree, Katie put out lots of Christmas signs, and she put tinsel around the lamps and TV, and she hung their stockings over the futon, and she even has ornaments that she's going to hang from the ceiling later!! Our dorm room is super Christmas-y, and I'm so excited about it!!

Christmas is my favorite time of year, because I get to send extra special time with my extra special friends! For a few days, we can all put aside our really busy schedules and have fun as a little family. They all make me and Katie feel so loved, and I'm so glad they stole me out of the trash can two and a half years ago.

"Welcome to the Island of Misfit Toys"

I know it's a little early for "Real Christmas time," but I just wanted to wish all of my friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah and a Merry Kwanzaa and a Happy/Merry/Wonderful/Fun/Whatever-Holiday-or-Holidays-you-celebrate right now!

~Trash Bear (and Katie)~ 

The 2016 Election as Told by a Bear

Hiya, friends,

Today's a special day in American history (according to Katie)! It's election day, which means America is going to pick a new person to be in charge of the country! Right now, Mr. Obama is in charge of America, but he's been the president as long as he's allowed to be, so now it's someone else's turn. And because this is America, the people who live here get to choose the new president. That's called a "democracy." It was set up by the Founding Fathers when they started America in 1776.

Katie got to vote because she's a person. But she didn't vote for
Mickey Mouse. That would be weird. She even got a cool
sticker for voting! It makes me wish I had thumbs! I love
stickers!!

But this year is a little different. People have been really mean about this election. Some people like the man who's running, and some people like the woman. (Side note: they're not actually running. That would be exhausting. But they are getting on TV and going to big rallies and talking to news people, and that sounds pretty exhausting, too!) And some of the things the man says are really mean, and some of the things the woman does aren't very nice, and the people who support them get really mad at the people who support the other one, and some people don't support either of them, and, instead, they support this other guy or this other lady, and it's all very confusing to my fluff-filled head.
I wish people would just be nice.
Because I'm a bear.
I don't care about politics. I care about happy things: friendship and snacks and movies and cat videos.
And it makes me sad when Katie gets on Facebook to show me a video about my BFF Lil Bub and all I see are people yelling at each other about Mr. Maybe President and Mrs. Maybe President.
Now, maybe I don't understand how politics works, but maybe we should just accept that some people have different opinions.
Like, I like Fritos. They're my favorite. But Katie's favorite are Cheetos. And that's ok. We're allowed to have different favorites. And she's still my friend, and I'm still her friend.
It's a little different with picking a president, I guess. But, like Katie tells me when we play Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit together, "You can't always win."
I guess it could be worse. At least we live in America. And it has some problems, yeah--like people who try to throw away their bear friends just because they broke up--but it doesn't have as many problems as some other places.
Come tomorrow, America is going to have a new president. And lots of people won't be happy. And that makes me sad, too. I guess you can't make everyone happy, but I'm afraid that people will be mad at each other, and I'll never get to watch my Lil Bub videos in peace again!
So, maybe we should all just be nice to each other, no matter what happens tomorrow. We're all people (and bears!) after all. And we all want the same things in the end: friendship and snacks and movies and cat videos and to feel safe and to be happy.
I don't think the Founding Fathers would be very happy if they saw how America is handling the 2016 election. In fact, Katie says this may be the craziest election since the election of 1800! You can see how that went down in this song from Hamilton. Katie likes this musical a lot. She's been playing it all day long. And it's about politics, so I guess that counts.

(Katie's Note:  Hamilton is fantastic! But there are some explicit lyrics. Go check it out if you haven't already, and really consider what people went through to set up the democracy we have today. America has never been perfect, but sometimes you just have to accept that and keep going.)

 ~Trash Bear (and Katie)~