Summary: Can a gingerbread man help Little Joe make a new friend?
\nRating:\u00a0 G\u00a0 Words: 560
\nWritten for the 2022 Bonanza Brand Advent Calendar<\/p>\n
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Bonanza<\/strong><\/span> “Be A Friend”<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Little Joe sat at the table as Mama and Hop Sing took more gingerbread man cookies out of the oven.\u00a0\u00a0Adam and Hoss also sat at the table and watched.\u00a0\u00a0The whole kitchen smelled like ginger.\u00a0\u00a0Mama and Hop Sing placed in front of Adam and Hoss two plates of cooled gingerbread man cookies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Little Joe saw his brothers putting tiny candies on the cookies to form eyes and mouths, and squeeze on icing to form clothes.\u00a0\u00a0They did it every year, and he wanted to do it too.\u00a0\u00a0He was 4 years old now, and not a baby anymore.\u00a0\u00a0He was big enough to do it also.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI wanna do it!\u201d Little Joe said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWatch how your brothers do it,\u201d Mama replied.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYou can help with this other batch when it\u2019s cool.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Little Joe watched Adam and Hoss carefully put icing and candies on their gingerbread men.\u00a0\u00a0Then Mama put a plate of cooled cookies in front of him.\u00a0\u00a0She sat down beside him and helped him a little bit with putting on the icing and candies.\u00a0\u00a0She let him do a few by himself.\u00a0\u00a0The lines of icing were a little crooked, and the eyes and mouths were a little lopsided.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Little Joe pointed at his brothers\u2019 cookies.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThey\u2019re not as nice as theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s quite all right, Little Joseph.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Mama smiled.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIt takes practice.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll get the hang of it, little brother,\u201d Hoss agreed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam added, \u201cMine looked pretty funny the first year I did them.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cSo did mine.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Little Joe felt a little better about his cookies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n All of the gingerbread men were for the children from the orphanage in Virginia City.\u00a0\u00a0Every year Papa held a Christmas party for them.\u00a0\u00a0There were various cookies and candy canes and wrapped presents for the children.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The great room was full of children laughing and talking.\u00a0\u00a0Papa, Mama and Adam lead everyone in singing Christmas carols.\u00a0\u00a0Then Papa handed out presents to the children, and everyone ate the cookies and candy canes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Little Joe noticed a boy his age sitting at the bottom of the stairs with a sad face.\u00a0\u00a0Why wasn\u2019t he happy?\u00a0\u00a0It was Christmas!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Little Joe walked over to him.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cHi.\u00a0\u00a0How come you\u2019re sad?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The boy replied, \u201cI miss my mama and papa. I want them back.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Little Joe couldn\u2019t imagine not having his own mama and papa here.\u00a0\u00a0That sounded scary.\u00a0\u00a0He wanted to do something to make the boy happy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m Little Joe.\u00a0\u00a0What\u2019s your name?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cSeth.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWait here.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Little Joe ran over to a table and grabbed one of the gingerbread man cookies that he had decorated and ran back to Seth.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHere.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0He held the cookie out.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI put the candies on myself.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cReally?\u00a0\u00a0Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Seth took the cookie and stared at it.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMy mama made these for Christmas.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0He sadly smiled.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Little Joe wished he could make Seth happier.\u00a0\u00a0Maybe they could be friends.\u00a0\u00a0They could go outside and build snowmen and have snowball fights.\u00a0\u00a0When the weather was nicer there would be fishing and exploring on the Ponderosa.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll be your friend.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Character: Joe<\/p>\n Item: Gingerbread Man<\/p>\n Second Character: None requested. During the development of the story idea one kind of appeared anyway. Seth. (“The Quality Of Mercy”)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\n~*~*~ Advent Calendar ~*~*~<\/strong><\/span>
\n* Day 17 *<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n