Scream Street Bites - Fireside Favourite/Homesickness

[Luke, Resus, Cleo, Luella and Six and I are sitting around the fireplace eating chocolate bars and drinking hot cocoa.]

LUELLA: Thanks for the hot cocoa and the chocolate bar, Sybil.

ME: That's okay, I'll always warm your Winter. I'm glad we invited Shaun and Bitzer along for the ride too, ISN'T IT, GUYS?!

SHAUN: Baa!

BITZER: Ro-ro-ro-ro-ro-ro!

LUKE: Sybil, I....it's just that...

ME: So, do you defeat the Grumpus every year?

CLEO: Not exactly. With you, we can celebrate Christmas in your creative ways. We can see Hetty Feather with her Broadway style dance moves, or Hank Zipzer doing a Christmas Romeo & Juliet, or..er...erm...

SIX: Carol Singing & Her Friends?

[Everyone laughs]

ME: Good one, Six. Wait, you stole it from Almost Never, didn't you?

SIX: I watched it.

ME: It's repeated a. Lot.

[Luke sighs, and walks out of the house into the snowy garden outside.]

RESUS: At least you don't see Almost Never on iPlayer. You've got lots of things to do every Christmas, watch The Grumpus and Jody In Wonderland, check out your presents, read Horrid Henry's Christmas Cracker....

ME: Boy, such a lot. Luke? Luke?!

[Luke sits outside, shivering. Through the night, he gets covered in snow...and then collapses]

[The next morning, I sit on my bed, crying. Resus and the others attempt to comfort me.]

CLEO: I feel the same way as you do, Luke will be sure to come back in.

ME: I can't be complete without Luke. I...I love him, and nothing should ever come between us, not ever!

BITZER: Ro-ro-ro-ro!

ME: What is it, Bitzer?

BITZER: Ro-ro-ro-ro-ro!

ME: Come on everyone, out into the garden!

OUTSIDE....

ME: [gasps] LUKE! [crying] Oh my god...I'm so sorry, I've left you out of our conversation. You never said what you meant to say to me...I love you.

[My tears begin to melt away the ice and snow surrounding Luke]

LUELLA: Sybil, look!

ME: What is it!

LUELLA: Your tears, they're melting away the snow around Luke!

ME: Luke!

[The snow melts away around Luke, and he stirs. Both of us embrace joyfully]

ME: LUKE!

LUKE: Sybil!

RESUS/CLEO/LUELLA/SIX: Hooray!

DIG: Wuff-wuff!

LULU: Rrraaarrr!!

SHAUN: Baaa!

BITZER: Awwooooooo!!!

[Luke and I kiss]

RESUS: Hey! You forgot the mistletoe!

LUELLA: Never mind, my dark angel, we kiss under the mistletoe near the end of The Grumpus.

RESUS: Well! As if I thought I knew.

INSIDE...

LUKE: I'm so glad you treated me to hot chocolate, Sybil, my throat was turning into an ice rink outside.

ME: All the best to heal my one true love.

LUELLA: And if it weren't for her tears, she'd leave Luke out to die now.

LUKE: Oh! I seem to have a whipped cream moustache!

ME: Me too, Luke. Hey, how's about we share a hot chocolate-flavoured kiss?

LUKE: Come here, you little...!

[Both of us drink our cocoa and kiss.]

RESUS: Ooh...saucy....

Merry Christmas!

Watch Scream Street's The Grumpus and Shaun The Sheep's Fireside Favourite on iPlayer:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b087tf34/scream-street-series-1-31-the-grumpus

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00wsr7m/shaun-the-sheep-series-2-38-fireside-favourite

We Bare Bears Pop Up Cafe

I love those little pop-up cafes they put up in Japan. They're so colourful and fun and bright and make an eating experience twice the fun. Examples include My Little Pony, Mr. Men, Care Bears and this - We Bare Bears. It feels like you're eating with the bears, Chloe and Nom-Nom in Milkshake Heaven. Almost everything in this cafe has the bears on it, including the food! No wonder CBBC's recent stars were popular enough to get their own cafe. Eating with the bears is more fun than ordering from their food truck!

Find out more here:

https://www.littledayout.com/we-bare-bears-cafe-grizzly-panda-ice-bear-pop-up-at-kumoya/

We Bare Bears' Favourite Tasty Video

While seeing the We Bare Bears episode 'Food Truck' on CBBC for the first time, I happened upon this video from Tasty about recipes you can do with your kids, including pizza cookies and cheesy taco breadsticks. Give it a whirl! Just watch We Bare Bears first.

Three Dreams At Grandma's

Three dreams over the past few days leading up to now!

The first dream I had before our stay at Grandma's happening right now, and saw Danger Mouse, Timon, Pumbaa and me welcoming Simon to both the neighbourhood and Tiny Pop. Mari made a selection of cakes to welcome Simon and his family, some featured Timon and Pumbaa's image on them, and I was getting used to playing with Simon and his little brother Gaspard. I think Simon might be a new favourite thing to see on Tiny Pop besides Esme & Roy....

In the dream I had last night, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and I challenged Strawberry Shortcake and Clifford The Big Red Dog to a race. It was a competition of big and small, of berries and dog treats, of red and pink, of girls and dogs. There is a legend that a tractor and a digger once challenged each other to a race, which was shown on TV across the globe, but now it's recreated with scented girls and big red dogs, with little fillies being referees. Watch 'Travis & Scoop's Race Day' on iPlayer:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p08pllk5/bob-the-builder-series-1-9-travis-and-scoops-race-day

The final dream was a lot darker in tone.

The dream's soundtrack was 'Putting The Dog To Sleep' and saw me swimming across a lazy river on a sunny day. Throughout some points in the dream, it switched drastically to Luke's torture and solitude in darkness, including his bloodied scar and his visions, and his fight with Issie, his right side changing into his werewolf form with the song's every sudden drumbeat. My visions based on 'Putting The Dog To Sleep' had turned into a dark, CBBC-based animatic about Scream Street's absence from the channel last November and the tragedy, blood and violence it secretly caused with Luke's exile.

I pray for you, Luke, stay alive....

Sally's Present

This is a present I got from Sally for Christmas yesterday - My Book Of Magical Stories. Hurrah! Now I get to write down my I.B.F.Fs & The Polar Bear story. I've currently written down about sliding down snowy slopes, eating fish, drinking from the cold Arctic ocean, playing with other cubs and learning to fish in a peaceful snowy glen with grass and flowers, playing with the polar bear family in the snow, journeying home on an ice floe and under the Northern Lights, resulting in the snuggliest bedtime ever back in the cave with me, Luke, Resus and Cleo snuggling near Mama for comfort and warmth, our baths in the snow and in the ocean, returning home swimming in the water and sharing a big, cuddly polar bear hug with Mama. You see, I was inspired by L'Enfant Qui Voulait Etre Un Ours' and various wildlife clips from the BBC to make this story, plus the sleep story I've made up where we were raised by polar bears, inspired by Cam's sleep story from The Dare Game.

Putting The Dog To Sleep

I have never heard of a band named The Antlers before. Now I have, with their song 'Putting The Dog To Sleep', and this song reminds me of what happened to Luke, Resus and Cleo last month, when CBBC cruelly abandoned them in favour of shows like Itch and She-Ra...

When Halloween weekend hit, all of CBBC cruelly exiled Luke, Resus, Cleo, Luella and Six for violating laws and including what I love doing in their lineup. Everyone screamed and shouted at my best friends as they left, but Issie, star of CBBC's drama Mystic, noticed Luke and, with a dagger in her hand, attacked Luke, viciously scratching him round the eye, drawing blood. Seeing her, all of CBBC attacked Luke's friends, scarring them round various body parts and nearly killing them. Even the Stupid Siblings and the Grape Jelly Duo were in on the action, teasing and jeering mockingly. Luke was in tears seeing this, and had no choice but to run for his life, exiling himself into darkness for one month to see into his actions.

The song in the video above is what Luke sings as he wanders his eternal prison, blood dripping from his scar and his werewolf side appearing on one side of his body with every sudden drumbeat. He is shown visions of everyone laughing and joking and having fun on CBBC, friends joking with friends, CBBC enjoying great success, etc., including every episode of every programme shown last month, including Dennis & Gnasher Unleashed. He is also shown various visions, including a fetus changing into a sleeping version of himself changing into his werewolf form, and a dead wolf changing into a version of himself lying dead and naked, with his body covered in blood. Eventually, Issie appears in Darkness and fights with Luke in his werewolf form, causing blood to appear everywhere with every scratch and cut, and for Luke to lie there in darkness, covered in blood, all weak like in his vision of the dead wolf. Still having a second chance, Luke scratches Issie round the eye, causing a severe bloody injury which causes her to limp out of the darkness back to CBBC. Just as Luke was about to become weak and die, Resus and Cleo, having fully recovered from their injuries along with Luella and Six, emerged from the darkness and told Luke that they're allowed to go back to CBBC now. After a month in solitude without food, water, love or friends, Luke agreed, and they emerged from the darkness to go back to CBBC.

Upset? You should feel proud of Luke. Through all this bravery, he kept a straight face through his time in Darkness, and this week, he's back. If this story were an animatic, this would be the perfect subject. He'll be back in two weeks with normal Scream Street adventures, but until then, watch Scream Street on iPlayer:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000nw0v/scream-street

Countdown To Christmas Day 24 - Writing Letters To Any Kind Of Friend

Just one more sleep to go!

Now that it's Christmas Eve, you may be missing your friends right now as much as I'm going to miss Luke, Resus and Cleo next week. Why don't you write them a heartwarming letter telling them how much you love them and wishing them a merry Christmas? That should raise spirits high. Or you can write letters to members of your family saying how much you miss them? Have a merry Christmas!

My Head Is Full Of Dreams....

Fishing, playing and sleeping with polar bears, all the while stark naked and adjusting to cold Arctic weather. Can you imagine that? I can, and I'm doing it as part of my new story, I.B.F.Fs & The Polar Bear.

Who's That Rabbit?

Someone very unexpected popped up on Tiny Pop whilst I was watching Once Upon A Sesame Street Christmas. He's small, white, has big ears and eyes, an excited smile, a red shirt and blue shorts. Who is that long-eared new kid?

That's right - SIMON! I first saw him on the Tiny Pop website, and having him appeared in between the first and second half of Once Upon A Sesame Street Christmas is a hint he'll come back to TV soon. What's better, I'll have him as a new friend! If he doesn't impersonate Peppa Pig in most cases, which it probably won't. I'll find out soon enough.

Videos I Saw At Grandma's Today

Polar Bear

It seems my sleep story has inspired the most fascinating dream I've ever had, very fascinating indeed...

Luke, Resus, Cleo and I were raised by a mother polar bear, who took care of us just like we were one of her two little cubs and was very kind to us too. The cubs who stayed by her side thought of us as their brothers and sisters. We'd slide down a snowy slope each day with Mama and her cubs by our side, then we'd go hunting for fish near the Arctic ocean, sharing our catch with our family. There's still plenty of time to relax and play in the snow, sometimes we'd tumble about with Mama and the cubs and chase each other in a game of Tag, or I'd play Hide & Seek with Luke, Resus, Cleo and the cubs. We'd play two very favourite Winter games, too - making snow angels and having joyous snowball fights, often getting Mama involved. We'd go for a swim in the Arctic seas, but in this particular dream, we were forced off our white clothes to feel nothing come between our skin (and bandages) and that water. Even though Luke, Resus and I are naked, we are able to withstand the cold, frigid temperature. 

In fact, this happens in a story I've thought based on that dream, I.B.F.Fs & The Polar Bear, which sees us stripped off our clothes for the entire story - Luke, Resus and I withstand the cold naked, but Cleo feels warm under her bandages. We rely on our mother to keep us warm and protected. She is a kind and loving mother who cares for her children. I'll do the story when the Scream Street episodes 'The Brown Lagoon' and 'The Beast Within' air, so I'll give you an update on what antics me and my friends/siblings get up to being raised by polar bears in the Arctic.

Does This Rhyme Seem Familiar To You As Any, Piglet?

I remember going to the chemist's back in South Woodham Ferrers and seeing a blue bottle of body lotion, or wash or whatever, with Winnie The Pooh and his little friend Piglet on it. On the back, there's this soft little rhyme I know by heart, accompanied by a picture of Piglet lying next to it. And that began my love of softness. Let me tell the rhyme to you:

"Floating in the big blue sky,

Bumping into clouds - oh my!

Lots of clouds that float aloft,

They touch my skin - they feel so soft!"

This is what everyone should recite to unleash their inner softness.

Countdown To Christmas Day 22 - Homemade Mac 'N' Cheese & Cocoa

In celebration of The Snowy Day airing on Disney Channel and Disney Junior in the USA, I bring you this recipe for Mac 'N' Cheese and cocoa to eat whilst you enjoy the special on Amazon Prime Video!

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/homemade-hot-cocoa/

https://www.netmums.com/recipes/macaroni-cheese-for-kids