Hollyberry Woods looked like a winter wonderland. Snow clung to the trees, sleigh bells jingled and a choir sung Christmas carols.

In her cottage, Elmira the bear waited for her guests to arrive. She wore a blue-striped dress, and a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles.

The dining room table gleamed with the best china. A Christmas cracker sat beside each plate along with a glass of eggnog and a piece of fruitcake.

Boris the Bulldog arrived first. He looked very smart in his best black boots and a scarlet waistcoat. "Merry Christmas, Elmira,” he said, and handed her a beautifully wrapped present.

Vicky the Racoon came next. She wore a red sweater with pink pom poms, and carried so many presents she dropped some.

Boris helped her pick them up. They arranged them under the tree, just as the last two guests arrived. 

Quilty, a calico cat, was dressed in green. And Rachel the Rabbit wore blue.

Everyone gathered around the table, chatting happily and listening to the Christmas music on the radio. Elmira’s cottage was ablaze with lights and laughter and music, while the old furnace blasted out lots of heat. But just as she carried in the Christmas turkey––they would open up their presents after dinner––everything was suddenly pitched into silence and darkness.

For what seemed like a very long time nobody spoke. Everyone was just too shocked at what had happened. Where were the lights, and the heat, and the music?

Then finally, Elmira broke the silence.

“It must be a power-cut,” she said. 

“Shoot, it couldn’t happen at a worst time,” complained Vicky. “It means we can’t have Christmas.”

“That’s right,” agreed Quilty. “It’s getting chilly already without the furnace. We’ll all have to go home.”

“This is really disappointing,” said Rachel. “I was so looking forward to Christmas. I never thought it could just disappear.”

“By golly it hasn’t and it won’t,” Elmira declared. “I’m going to bring out the candles and get them lit. And fetch some wood from the shed and start a fire. Who’s going to help me?” 

“That’s the spirit,” Boris exclaimed. “I’ll organise the wood gathering detail. Follow me gang.”

Soon there was great bustle and activity where for a few awful moments; there had been only silence and darkness, along with the terrible fear that Christmas had simply disappeared.

Elmira set the candles all around the room and a fire soon blazed in the grate.

“Gee, this is cosy,” said Vicky, and everyone agreed.

They all settled down and enjoyed the delicious dinner. Boris ate so much plum pudding they feared he might burst. Then they pulled the crackers, finding all sorts of interesting trinkets inside, and opened the presents.

“There’s still one thing missing though,” Rachel complained. “We’ve made our own heat and light, but we don’t have any music.”

“Well we can soon remedy that,” Elmira replied. “We can make our own music too.”

Soon everyone was singing their favourite Christmas songs as they gathered around the fireside. The candlelight flickered up the walls, and the snow drifted against the windowpanes.

“You know this is quite the best Christmas ever,” Quilty declared happily, stretching her toes towards the fire. And everyone agreed. 

Then later that night, when the church bells chimed midnight, Boris fetched a sleigh to take them all home. A patient old horse named Daisy pulled it. She neighed in greeting and smiled broadly, showing off her huge teeth. 

The snow lay thick all around and it was very frosty.

“Merry Christmas,” Boris called out to a group of ducks that waddled out of Lily the Swan’s home.

“Merry Christmas,” they quacked back, and the whole night rang with joy.