The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree

Papa Bear:
[chanting] Chocolate covered snails.

Brother Bear, Sister Bear:
Chocolate-covered snails? Yuck!

Narrator:
In Bear Country, Christmas excitement was mounting. The waiting was down to 10 hours and counting. The holly was hung... the presents were bought... a magnificent Christmas salmon was caught.

Papa Bear:
No matter what, no matter where, if it means going down to the Panama isthmus, if it means climbing up to the top of Pike's Peak, I'll find the right tree, if it takes us a week!

Papa Bear:
[seeing the first Christmas tree with the animals perched on it] Oh, this tree at first seemed quite a find. [he, Brother, and Sister hurry away as the crows chase them] It isn't quite - what I had in mind! Come, cubs!

Papa Bear:
Yes, a Christmas tree is something we cannot do without. Because a tree with all the trimmings... [seeing the second tree he comes across] is what Christmas is about.

Papa Bear:
[after he, Brother, and Sister escape from the second tree they see] No, that tree back there wasn't quite it. Its green was - too green. Yeah, and it leaned a bit.

[prying his axe from the stump that the eagle threw into, and collapsing to the ground]

Papa Bear:
It wasn't quite what I had in mind. Come, we *still* have a tree to find.

Sister Bear:
[as she, Brother, and Papa see the second tree they come across] What a tree!

Brother Bear:
Yeah, it's really a beauty.

Papa Bear:
Axe...

Narrator:
Papa said...

Papa Bear:
[chuckles] Do your duty.

Narrator:
But when they got back to the Christmas tree lot, the lot was there - but the trees - were not. Only a sign saying: "Sorry, sold out", and some tired old needles lying about.

Mama Bear:
[singing] The Christmas star, it says to us, "There's more to Christmas than the fuss."

Mama Bear:
So Merry Christmas to us all. Fellow creatures, one and all.

Papa Bear:
This is the time... to be thinking of others. Mamas, papas, sisters, brothers. Fellow creatures great and small, fellow creatures one and all.

Papa Bear:
A magnificent tree. A tree full and fat, with oodles of needles and crannies and nooks. Get out the tree things. Where are the hooks?

Narrator:
And now it was time for the most fun of all... getting the tree. A tree full and fat, straight, green, and tall... for the Christmas delight of the bears, one and all.

Musical Bear:
[singing] 'Tis the season to be furry, especially if you're a bear!

Papa Bear:
What an array; what a display! What a grand and glorious sight it will be when we hang all this stuff on our Christmas tree! Why, bears will come from near and far to see how Christmasy we are!

Narrator:
Now, Brother and Sister usually did what Mom said, but not Papa. Pop did whatever came into his head. And a fine, fat tree is what came into his head that particular Christmas.

Papa Bear:
A tree straight and tall, fine, full, and fat! Come, cubs!

Narrator:
Said Papa, as he put on his hat.

Narrator:
But Pa was forgetting something that day. Christmas is more than show and display. It's more than just tinsel and pink plastic stars and stuffing yourself with sugar nut bars. There was something important that Pop was forgetting. Christmas is for giving; it isn't for getting. This was a time to be thinking of others. Mamas, papas, sister, brothers, a time to think of each neighbor and friend. But all that was forgotten as they rounded a bend. As they rounded that bend, what did they see? Papa's perfect Christmas tree! What a tree! What a tree! This surely was it! Its green was so green, its tall didn't quit, its nooks all had crannies, its crannies had nooks. One question was, would they have enough hooks?

Papa Bear:
Up the mountain, follow me! I'll find one soon, you'll see! You'll see I'll find the perfect Christmas tree!

Brother Bear:
I hope so, Dad! The snow's getting pretty deep!

Sister Bear:
And the mountain is getting pretty steep!

Papa Bear:
Full and fat, tall and green! The finest tree you've ever seen! [seeing the third tree perched atop a cliff] Now *that*... is the kind of tree I mean!

Sister Bear:
[as Papa prepares to carve the Christmas salmon; last lines] Pop, on that thinking of others thing, how about the salmon? How about it?

Papa Bear:
Your remark shows wit and perception. But in the case of the salmon... [chuckles briefly] we'll make an exception.