Crumb Meets Santa

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Speaker 1 Welcome to bedtime stories for everyone.

Speaker 1 In which

Speaker 1 nothing much happens.

Speaker 1 You feel good.

Speaker 1 And then you fall asleep.

Speaker 1 I'm Catherine Nikolai.

Speaker 1 I write and read all the stories you hear on Nothing Much Happens

Speaker 1 with Audio Engineering by Bob Wittersheim.

Speaker 1 We give to a different charity each week, and this week we are giving to the MS Society.

Speaker 1 Mine is a family touched by MS,

Speaker 1 and I am grateful for the work that they do.

Speaker 1 Their mission is to cure MS while empowering those affected by it to live their best lives. Find out more in our show notes.

Speaker 1 And we have a mission too

Speaker 1 here at Nothing Much Happens to help people feel safe and relaxed, cared for, and very,

Speaker 1 very sleepy.

Speaker 1 That mission has led us to create a daytime version of the show, perfect for dealing with anxiety and finding more enjoyment.

Speaker 1 A 10-minute guided meditation podcast, as well as partnering with companies who are making useful products. My favorite right now

Speaker 1 is our weighted pillow. I plop it in my lap.
as I write or watch TV.

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Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 let's do some cognitive reshuffling. The right amount of engagement will shift your brain into a place where it can easily shut off and fall asleep.

Speaker 1 All you have to do is listen.

Speaker 1 I'll tell the story twice

Speaker 1 and I'll go a little slower the second time through.

Speaker 1 That element of repetition

Speaker 1 allows you to let go even more.

Speaker 1 If you wake later in the night, Don't hesitate to turn an episode right back on.

Speaker 1 Most people fall back to sleep within seconds.

Speaker 1 Our story tonight

Speaker 1 is called Crumb Meets Santa.

Speaker 1 And it's a story about a trip into town on a December afternoon. It's also about a chew toy in a red suit and hat, jingle bells on a collar.

Speaker 1 Being surrounded by your family at the holidays, whether furry or otherwise, and letting the joy of another fill your heart.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 Bedtime for bonzos.

Speaker 1 Switch off your light.

Speaker 1 Get as comfortable as you can.

Speaker 1 Your favorite pillow,

Speaker 1 the blanket in the right spot,

Speaker 1 and the feel of your whole body

Speaker 1 relaxing

Speaker 1 you have done enough for the day

Speaker 1 really

Speaker 1 it was enough

Speaker 1 so rest now

Speaker 1 deep breath in through the nose

Speaker 1 and sigh out

Speaker 1 one more time breathe in

Speaker 1 Then release it.

Speaker 1 Good.

Speaker 1 Crum meets Santa

Speaker 1 A few weeks ago, when we'd been putting up the tree,

Speaker 1 we'd noticed our little brown dog, Crum,

Speaker 1 staring at one of the ornaments.

Speaker 1 It was a Santa Claus,

Speaker 1 wooden and painted red,

Speaker 1 the kind with the string at the bottom that you pull to make his arms and legs jump.

Speaker 1 His beard was made of white woolly cotton,

Speaker 1 and his boots were shiny and black.

Speaker 1 I don't know which of those elements

Speaker 1 attracted Crum,

Speaker 1 the moving limbs, the shiny paint.

Speaker 1 But something about Saint Nick

Speaker 1 just enthralled him.

Speaker 1 He sat,

Speaker 1 his little round rump on the tree skirt,

Speaker 1 and stared.

Speaker 1 I pulled the string now and then, and he barked, jumped up,

Speaker 1 turned a tight circle, and sat again.

Speaker 1 The next day,

Speaker 1 afraid that

Speaker 1 his new fondness for Santa

Speaker 1 would turn into a disastrous attempt to pull him from the branch, I stopped at the pet shop downtown

Speaker 1 to look for a soft,

Speaker 1 kringleish type toy.

Speaker 1 They had a whole selection of holiday themed items,

Speaker 1 and I strolled around admiring them for a bit.

Speaker 1 There were stockings stuffed full of treats,

Speaker 1 squeaky elves and dreidels,

Speaker 1 reindeer sweaters and kwanza bandanas.

Speaker 1 There were bags of gingerbread dog cookies,

Speaker 1 bins full of small stitched Christmas trees stuffed with catnip,

Speaker 1 and a rack of those dangle wands kitties liked to swat at.

Speaker 1 But the feathers had been replaced with felted mistletoe and berries.

Speaker 1 I left with a bag full of things.

Speaker 1 I couldn't help it.

Speaker 1 And when I got home, I immediately called out

Speaker 1 that it was Christmas right now.

Speaker 1 I've always been the type that wants to give you your present the moment I've wrapped it.

Speaker 1 I set the bag of goodies on the kitchen counter and started unwinding my scarf from my neck.

Speaker 1 The house smelled of the fresh pine of the tree and coffee.

Speaker 1 As I shrugged out of my coat, the dogs came scampering into the kitchen.

Speaker 1 There was Crum,

Speaker 1 small, brown,

Speaker 1 kind of crunchy-looking, like he'd just been shaken out of the toaster,

Speaker 1 but so happy to see me.

Speaker 1 And then there was Birdie,

Speaker 1 a regal greyhound, long-legged and smooth-coated,

Speaker 1 calmer and quieter than his brother.

Speaker 1 Behind him came their dad,

Speaker 1 who swapped me a kiss for my coat.

Speaker 1 Last to arrive, loping disinterestedly in from the living room,

Speaker 1 was our ginger kitty, Marmalade.

Speaker 1 I loved this moment,

Speaker 1 and felt so lucky to experience it daily.

Speaker 1 To return home and be greeted lovingly by my whole family.

Speaker 1 I didn't take it for granted.

Speaker 1 I squatted down to pet Crum

Speaker 1 as he zoomed around my ankles.

Speaker 1 Birdie leaned his long body against me,

Speaker 1 and Marmie slinked past,

Speaker 1 letting her fluffy tail slide along my back.

Speaker 1 These were like our secret handshakes,

Speaker 1 the shorthand we shared with each other, that said,

Speaker 1 I missed you.

Speaker 1 I'm glad you're back.

Speaker 1 Birdie's dad was pouring me a cup of coffee,

Speaker 1 stirring in the cinnamon creamer he knew I liked,

Speaker 1 and smiling over at us.

Speaker 1 As he dropped the spoon in the sink

Speaker 1 and passed me my cup, he said

Speaker 1 Did I hear you say it is Christmas?

Speaker 1 Because

Speaker 1 He squinted at the calendar stuck on the front of the fridge and lifted an eyebrow.

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 1 hmm, that's a misprint, I said, looking at the calendar myself

Speaker 1 and blowing across the top of my cup.

Speaker 1 Yes, it turns out that it's Christmas right now.

Speaker 1 At least,

Speaker 1 um,

Speaker 1 animal Christmas.

Speaker 1 I see, he said.

Speaker 1 Is this sort of like birthday month?

Speaker 1 I nodded as I sipped. Very similar.

Speaker 1 We chuckled, and I began to pull items from the bag and hand them out.

Speaker 1 There was a new sweater for Birdie, whose lean body was nearly always cold.

Speaker 1 His dad pulled it over his head and helped feed his paws through the arms.

Speaker 1 It was a handsome red plaid,

Speaker 1 very

Speaker 1 grandpa energy, which he had in spades,

Speaker 1 and he immediately trotted off

Speaker 1 to break it in with a nap.

Speaker 1 Next, I took the Santa Claus squeaky toy from the sack.

Speaker 1 It had a big head with a squeaker in it, and a ropey bit that attached a bauble to his hat.

Speaker 1 I squeaked it a few times, and Crumb danced around me.

Speaker 1 I tossed it down the hall,

Speaker 1 and he went racing after it.

Speaker 1 While I waited for him to bring it back,

Speaker 1 to repeat the process,

Speaker 1 I watched Marmalade stare at the dangle toy in her dad's hands.

Speaker 1 Her big green eyes were wide as she stared.

Speaker 1 It was like a dance between them.

Speaker 1 And I took my coffee and backed up a bit to watch.

Speaker 1 He flicked the wand

Speaker 1 and she shuffled, not quite ready to jump for it,

Speaker 1 but unable to keep her excitement under wraps.

Speaker 1 They waited each other out.

Speaker 1 He let the mistletoe hang in the air.

Speaker 1 Then he twitched it again

Speaker 1 and she reached for it.

Speaker 1 Her paw spread out but whiffed through the air

Speaker 1 and she lifted onto her hind legs to reach again.

Speaker 1 This time she caught it up

Speaker 1 and clapped both paws around it.

Speaker 1 He tugged a bit, but

Speaker 1 she held fast.

Speaker 1 I knew from experience

Speaker 1 that she could actually be dragged along the floor at this point.

Speaker 1 She seemed to enjoy it, in fact, and wouldn't let go.

Speaker 1 But instead

Speaker 1 he did,

Speaker 1 and she bolted under the sofa with her new prize.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 a couple weeks later, Marmalade had grown bored with her mistletoe wand.

Speaker 1 Birdie's sweater had a hole near the collar, where Crumb had chewed it while Bird was asleep.

Speaker 1 But the Santa toy?

Speaker 1 That was still a favorite.

Speaker 1 Crumb carried it everywhere,

Speaker 1 out for walks, into his bed at night.

Speaker 1 It lay beside him while he munched dinner from his bowl.

Speaker 1 And that had given us an idea.

Speaker 1 Each year, for the week or so before the holiday,

Speaker 1 at the community center in the town square,

Speaker 1 Santa and his elves visited with the locals.

Speaker 1 I'd called and checked to see that

Speaker 1 four-legged littles were as welcome as the two-legged variety,

Speaker 1 and been told that many furry friends came to see Santa.

Speaker 1 So today

Speaker 1 we were taking Crum to meet his hero.

Speaker 1 I'd even tried to brush his wild fur,

Speaker 1 which he allowed for about two minutes.

Speaker 1 He had jingle bells on his collar,

Speaker 1 and we'd tried to convince him to leave his Santa toy at home, but he'd insisted.

Speaker 1 We considered bringing Birdie along,

Speaker 1 but he was happy in his bed, and we thought it would be special for Crum to do something without his siblings.

Speaker 1 Marmalade had meowed at us from her perch by the window as we trooped out to the car in our coats.

Speaker 1 Town was busy,

Speaker 1 and it had taken us a few minutes to find a parking spot.

Speaker 1 But when Crum jumped down from the seat with his toy in his mouth

Speaker 1 to see kids and dogs

Speaker 1 and twinkle light filled shop windows, he'd been so excited.

Speaker 1 We wove through the bustle and stepped into the community center,

Speaker 1 which was decorated with hundreds of drawings the local school kids had made,

Speaker 1 as well as a backdrop from the village theater

Speaker 1 of a fireplace and windows full of snowflakes

Speaker 1 the warmth of the indoors after our brief walk made my nose tingle

Speaker 1 and I found myself

Speaker 1 trying to make a memory of this moment

Speaker 1 to emboss the details of right now

Speaker 1 onto my mind and heart

Speaker 1 Hand in hand with my love.

Speaker 1 Silly, happy Crumb

Speaker 1 at the end of the leash,

Speaker 1 the smell of snow in the air,

Speaker 1 and at the end of the line, Santa in his chair.

Speaker 1 After a few minutes, it was our turn,

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 as we led Crum up to the jolly man in red, he came to a sudden halt.

Speaker 1 His mouth opened wide, and his toy fell out.

Speaker 1 I could see the mental gymnastics

Speaker 1 his little brain was striving for.

Speaker 1 How was this possible?

Speaker 1 Then he rushed into into action,

Speaker 1 leaping onto Santa's lap and licking his face while yipping happily.

Speaker 1 The pictures from this moment would go into our album of holiday memories.

Speaker 1 We would tell the story every year

Speaker 1 of Crumb meeting Santa.

Speaker 1 But right now

Speaker 1 I let myself just be

Speaker 1 fully here

Speaker 1 while it happened

Speaker 1 To witness his joy

Speaker 1 and let it overflow

Speaker 1 into my own heart.

Speaker 1 Crum

Speaker 1 meets Santa

Speaker 1 A few weeks ago, when we'd been putting up the tree,

Speaker 1 we'd noticed our little brown dog, Crum

Speaker 1 staring at one of the ornaments.

Speaker 1 It was a Santa Claus,

Speaker 1 wooden and painted red.

Speaker 1 The kind with the string at the bottom

Speaker 1 that you pull to make his arms and legs jump

Speaker 1 his beard was made of white woolly cotton

Speaker 1 and his boots were shiny and black

Speaker 1 I don't know which of those elements

Speaker 1 attracted Crum

Speaker 1 the moving limbs,

Speaker 1 the shiny paint

Speaker 1 but something about St. Nick

Speaker 1 had just

Speaker 1 enthralled him.

Speaker 1 He sat,

Speaker 1 his little round rump on the tree skirt and stared.

Speaker 1 I pulled the string now and then,

Speaker 1 and he barked,

Speaker 1 jumped up,

Speaker 1 turned a tight circle, and sat again.

Speaker 1 The next day,

Speaker 1 afraid that his new fondness for Santa

Speaker 1 would turn into a disastrous attempt

Speaker 1 to pull him from the branch.

Speaker 1 I stopped at the pet shop

Speaker 1 downtown

Speaker 1 to look

Speaker 1 for a soft

Speaker 1 Pringle-ish type toy.

Speaker 1 They had a whole section of holiday-themed items,

Speaker 1 and I strolled around, admiring them for a bit.

Speaker 1 There were stockings

Speaker 1 stuffed full of treats,

Speaker 1 squeaky elves and dreidels,

Speaker 1 reindeer sweaters,

Speaker 1 and Kwanza bandanas.

Speaker 1 There were bags of gingerbread dog cookies,

Speaker 1 bins

Speaker 1 full of small stitched Christmas trees

Speaker 1 stuffed with catnip

Speaker 1 and a rack of those

Speaker 1 dangle wands kitties like to swat at.

Speaker 1 But the feathers had been replaced with felted mistletoe

Speaker 1 and berries.

Speaker 1 I left with a bag full of things

Speaker 1 I couldn't help it

Speaker 1 and when I got home

Speaker 1 I immediately called out

Speaker 1 that it was Christmas right now

Speaker 1 I've always been the type

Speaker 1 that wants to give you your present

Speaker 1 the moment I've wrapped it

Speaker 1 I Set the bag of goodies

Speaker 1 on the kitchen counter

Speaker 1 and started unwinding my scarf

Speaker 1 from my neck

Speaker 1 The house smelled

Speaker 1 of the fresh pine of the tree

Speaker 1 and coffee.

Speaker 1 As I shrugged out of my coat,

Speaker 1 the dogs came scampering into the kitchen.

Speaker 1 There was Crumb,

Speaker 1 small,

Speaker 1 brown,

Speaker 1 kind of crunchy looking, like he'd just been shaken out of the toaster,

Speaker 1 But so happy to see me

Speaker 1 And there was Bertie

Speaker 1 a regal greyhound

Speaker 1 Long legged

Speaker 1 and smooth coated

Speaker 1 Calmer

Speaker 1 and quieter than his brother

Speaker 1 Behind him came their dad

Speaker 1 who swapped me a kiss for my coat.

Speaker 1 Last to arrive,

Speaker 1 loping disinterestedly

Speaker 1 in from the living room,

Speaker 1 was our ginger kitty,

Speaker 1 marmalade.

Speaker 1 I loved this moment

Speaker 1 and felt so lucky

Speaker 1 to experience it daily,

Speaker 1 to return home and be greeted lovingly

Speaker 1 by my whole family.

Speaker 1 I didn't take it for granted.

Speaker 1 I squatted down to pet Crum

Speaker 1 as he zoomed around my ankles.

Speaker 1 Birdie leaned his long body against me,

Speaker 1 and Marmie slinked past,

Speaker 1 letting her fluffy tail slide along my back.

Speaker 1 These were like our secret handshakes.

Speaker 1 The short hand we shared with each other

Speaker 1 that said,

Speaker 1 I missed you. I'm glad you're back.

Speaker 1 Bertie's dad was pouring me a cup of coffee,

Speaker 1 stirring in the cinnamon creamer

Speaker 1 he knew I liked,

Speaker 1 and smiling over at us.

Speaker 1 As he dropped the spoon in the sink

Speaker 1 and passed me my cup.

Speaker 1 He said,

Speaker 1 Did I hear you say it

Speaker 1 is Christmas?

Speaker 1 Because

Speaker 1 he squinted at the calendar stuck on the front of the fridge

Speaker 1 and lifted an eyebrow.

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 1 that's a misprint,

Speaker 1 I said,

Speaker 1 looking at the calendar myself

Speaker 1 and blowing across the top of my cup.

Speaker 1 Yes, it turns out that it's Christmas right now

Speaker 1 at least,

Speaker 1 um

Speaker 1 animal Christmas.

Speaker 1 I see,

Speaker 1 he said.

Speaker 1 Is this sort of like birthday month?

Speaker 1 I nodded as I sipped. Very similar.

Speaker 1 We chuckled, and I began to pull items from the bag and hand them out.

Speaker 1 There was a new sweater for Birdie,

Speaker 1 whose lean body

Speaker 1 was nearly always cold.

Speaker 1 His dad pulled it over his head

Speaker 1 and helped feed his paws through the arms.

Speaker 1 It was a handsome red plaid,

Speaker 1 very

Speaker 1 grandpa energy, which he had in spades.

Speaker 1 And he immediately trotted off to break it in with a nap.

Speaker 1 Next I took the Santa Claus squeaky toy from the sack.

Speaker 1 It had a big head with a squeaker in it and a ropey bit

Speaker 1 that attached a bauble to his hat.

Speaker 1 I squeaked it a few times

Speaker 1 and Crumb danced around me.

Speaker 1 I tossed it down the hall,

Speaker 1 and he went racing after it,

Speaker 1 while I waited for him

Speaker 1 to bring it back,

Speaker 1 to repeat the process.

Speaker 1 I watched Marmalade stare

Speaker 1 at the dangle toy in her dad's hands.

Speaker 1 Her big green eyes were wide as she stared

Speaker 1 it was like a dance between them

Speaker 1 and i took my coffee and backed up a bit to watch

Speaker 1 he flicked the wand

Speaker 1 and she shuffled

Speaker 1 not quite ready to jump for it,

Speaker 1 but unable to keep her excitement under wraps.

Speaker 1 They waited each other out.

Speaker 1 He let the mistletoe hang in the air.

Speaker 1 Then he twitched it again,

Speaker 1 and she reached for it.

Speaker 1 Her paw spread out,

Speaker 1 but whiffed through the air,

Speaker 1 and she lifted onto her hind legs to reach again.

Speaker 1 This time, she caught it up

Speaker 1 and clapped both paws around it.

Speaker 1 He tugged a bit,

Speaker 1 but she held fast.

Speaker 1 I knew from experience

Speaker 1 that she could actually be dragged along the wood floor at this point.

Speaker 1 She seemed to enjoy it, in fact,

Speaker 1 and wouldn't let go.

Speaker 1 But instead,

Speaker 1 he did.

Speaker 1 And she bolted under the sofa with her new prize.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 a couple weeks later,

Speaker 1 Marmalade had grown bored with her mistletoe wand.

Speaker 1 Birdie's sweater had a hole near the collar where Crum had chewed it

Speaker 1 while Bird was asleep.

Speaker 1 But the Santa toy

Speaker 1 That was still a favorite

Speaker 1 Crum carried it everywhere

Speaker 1 Out for walks

Speaker 1 into his bed at night

Speaker 1 It lay beside him

Speaker 1 while he munched dinner from his bowl

Speaker 1 And that had given us an idea

Speaker 1 Every year

Speaker 1 for the week or so before the holiday

Speaker 1 at the community center

Speaker 1 in the town square,

Speaker 1 Santa

Speaker 1 and his elves

Speaker 1 visited with the locals.

Speaker 1 I called and checked to see that four-legged littles

Speaker 1 were as welcome as the two-legged variety

Speaker 1 and been told that many furry friends came to see Santa

Speaker 1 so today

Speaker 1 we were taking crumb to meet his hero

Speaker 1 I'd even tried to brush his wild fur,

Speaker 1 which

Speaker 1 he allowed for about two minutes.

Speaker 1 He had a jingle bell on his collar,

Speaker 1 and we'd tried to convince him

Speaker 1 to leave his Santa toy at home,

Speaker 1 but he'd insisted.

Speaker 1 We considered bringing Bertie along,

Speaker 1 but

Speaker 1 he was happy in his bed.

Speaker 1 And we thought it would be special for Crum

Speaker 1 to do something

Speaker 1 without his siblings.

Speaker 1 Marmalade had meowed at us from her perch by the window

Speaker 1 as we trooped out to the car in our coats.

Speaker 1 Town was busy,

Speaker 1 and it had taken us a few minutes to find a parking spot.

Speaker 1 But when Crum jumped down from the seat

Speaker 1 with his toy in his mouth

Speaker 1 to see kids and dogs and twinkle light filled shop windows.

Speaker 1 He'd been so excited.

Speaker 1 We wove through the bustle

Speaker 1 and stepped into the community center,

Speaker 1 which was decorated with hundreds of drawings

Speaker 1 the local school kids had made

Speaker 1 as well as

Speaker 1 a backdrop from the village theater

Speaker 1 of a fireplace

Speaker 1 and windows full of snowflakes

Speaker 1 the warmth of the indoors

Speaker 1 after our brief walk

Speaker 1 made my nose tingle

Speaker 1 and I found myself trying to make a memory of this moment

Speaker 1 to emboss the details of right now

Speaker 1 onto my mind and heart

Speaker 1 hand in hand with my love,

Speaker 1 silly, happy crumb

Speaker 1 at the end of the leash,

Speaker 1 the smell of snow in the air

Speaker 1 And at the end of the line

Speaker 1 Santa in his chair

Speaker 1 After a few minutes it was our turn

Speaker 1 And as we led Crum

Speaker 1 up to the jolly man in red,

Speaker 1 he came to a sudden halt.

Speaker 1 His mouth opened wide, and his toy fell out.

Speaker 1 I could see the mental gymnastics

Speaker 1 his little brain was striving for.

Speaker 1 How was this possible?

Speaker 1 Then he rushed into action,

Speaker 1 leaping onto Santa's lap

Speaker 1 and licking his face,

Speaker 1 while yipping happily.

Speaker 1 The pictures from this moment

Speaker 1 would go into our album of holiday memories.

Speaker 1 We would tell the story every year

Speaker 1 of Crum meeting Santa.

Speaker 1 But right now,

Speaker 1 I let myself just

Speaker 1 be fully here

Speaker 1 while it happened

Speaker 1 to witness his joy

Speaker 1 and let it overflow into my own heart.

Speaker 1 Sweet dreams.