Advent Calendar 2012: Day 6 (Boxing Day) of The Christmas Adventures of The Purple Elephant and the little mouse!

On Day 6 of the Christmas adventures it was the birthday of the owner of the production house and as a result she invited a few of her guests over from the 'real' world to the production house. Of the persons invited was her nephew who always shared her birthday cake and was a fan of Wallace and Gromit so this is the cake they ate!

Image copyright of Meady's Musings Production House 2012

Every mice got a piece of cake and were thrilled that the theme of the cake was cheese as it depicted a scene from this episode of Wallace and Gromit:


The theme of the cake did re-ignite the argument between the little mouse's parents about the age of cheese but it quickly boiled over and all was well again!

But the cake ceremony was not all that happened that day...earlier in the morning the owner and her nephew sat down with the guys from the UCP desk and others interested to pray and it so happened the prayer they performed was the same prayer that was done on the opening of the UCP desk way back in 2008!

And so it was Day 6 of the Christmas adventures of the Purple Elephant and the little mouse! :)

Advent Calendar 2012: Day 5 (Christmas Day) of The Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the little mouse

And when all awoke on Christmas morning after falling asleep to the beautiful prayer said by the little mouse...they sang together in prayer and thanks and most of all Joy!

Advent Calendar 2012: Day 4 of The Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and little mouse (Christmas Eve)

So by Day 4 of the Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and little mouse it was already Christmas Eve and all the mouse's siblings had by then arrived and his parents had settled into the production house as well. The parents of the little mouse had gotten over their petty squabbling about cheese and was helping the little mouse to keep all his siblings at peace. However the little mouse was still counting on the owner of the production house to weave her magic or for some Christmas miracle to get all the mice now temporarily residing in the production house to agree and be at peace.

So the owner of the production house tried playing this from her favourite Christmas album: John Denver and the Mumpets- A Christmas Together:


And although it seemed to stir some place inside most of the mice...soon after the carol was done the bickering continued!

And it was only until several cheese plates were served and the mice sat down to watch this mouse in a starring role did peace seem to begin to kick in fully and the Christmas spirit seemed to be there as not a mouse stirred as they all were glued to the TV screen to look at this show!



Then when it ended one of the London mice (working to stop use of mice in laboratories) just spontaneously got up and sang Jingle Bells like so:



And when he was done the little mouse reminded everyone that it was almost midnight at the production house on Christmas Eve and so it was time for all to join in prayer...and this was the prayer that the little mouse said:

THE LITTLE MOUSE'S CHRISTMAS EVE PRAYER

"Dear Lord,
It's been a long year
One in which I almost faded away
Imagine I was almost not here
But thank goodness I was saved

It all made me realize
How much I still have to do
And to remember all those
To whom I must say a big thank you

The owner of the production house
For coming back to me
And for saying sorry for not being around

To the best friend ever to this mouse
We all know who he is and what's in a name
But today I must officially say
I thank you dear God
For that Purple Elephant
With whom I share this house

And thank you dear Lord
For all my mice family
Who this year for Christmas
Are all with me

And finally dear Father
But certainly not least
I thank you for giving to us
This night a star
A star which we all followed
That led us to thee!"


Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good night! :)

Advent Calendar 2012: Day 3 of The Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and little mouse.

On the Third Day of the Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the little mouse the little mouse's family started arriving...

First to get there were his parents...both arrived arguing about who was right or wrong about the age of the cheese they were eating and the little mouse's mother kept going on about since when the little mouse's father was an expert on cheese seeing as cheese wasn't Indian and this was not paneer!

Next through the door were the church mice from the US followed by the Canadian church mice and as they met in the foyer another big argument ensued about which version of the bible they should read from for the Christmas prayer!

The little mouse started to feel embarrassed as he overheard those monkeys still residing (unfortunately) in the game room squealing about how the little mouse's family was always arguing!

Now it really was unlike our little mouse...as you all must know by now...he is such a quiet, shy and peaceful mouse...and he started to get even more flustered than normal when soon after the North American mice siblings arrived the Indian temple mice came into the yard of the production house and went to the trees to pray and the North American church mice stood in the foyer claws in uproar as to what those Indian mice were doing?!

The little mouse went to the owner of the production house and The Purple Elephant and begged for help as he hang his little head in shame...he explained it was kinda why he had never asked his family to visit before as for this same reason and more...

However he had thought it only right to have them come as they were so worried about him after he almost disappeared! But some way to show their worry and care!

But then the Purple Elephant trumpeted and the owner of the production house went over to the little mouse and assured him that she would make things right...she for sure had a plan!


So the little mouse went over to the foyer and continued to welcome his many siblings...

And so ended the third day of the Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and little mouse!

Advent Calendar 2012: the Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the little mouse- Day 2

The little mouse's father came from a long line of Indian Temple mice!

Image burrowed from this site

After the world of the owner of the production house did not end and the little mouse had grown almost back to full size again the Christmas adventures of the Purple Elephant and the little mouse continued...

The owner of the production house had now moved fully into the house again and would be with the animals all Christmas long until the Epiphany.

The production house was all abuzz as for the first time ever the family of the little mouse would be visiting! Of course over the years monkeys had taken over the production house, bears from all over the world had visited and the Purple Elephant's herd had visited but never the little mouse's family. So everyone was excited to meet them and learn more!

Everyone kept asking the little mouse when and from where his family would be arriving and whether they would be mice, gerbil or hamster?!

The little mouse tediously explained that while by marriage and otherwise he was related to some gerbils and hamsters that he was of mice and mice alone! A little mouse he was and mice were mice...hamsters were hamsters and gerbils were gerbils!


So upon further prodding the little mouse related the list of his relatives and so it went:

The little mouse's father had descended from a long line of temple mice in India. But one day he grew curious and left his abode of adoration and jumped on a ship! He was then rudely awakened when he arrived in London to find a set of caged mice in a pet shop meant to be fed to snakes....alive! So he hatched a plan and saved them and fell in love with one of the mice he saved...the little mouse's mother.

Together they helped save many a lab rat and mice and also gave birth to the mice that accounts for the little mouse and his siblings. Of the sixteen mice that they gave birth to here is where they each went:

1. Two became church mice in churches under the Church of England.
2. Three went back to India to be temple mice following in their father's lineage
3. Three went to Hollywood to audition for the role of the three blind mice in the
Shrek movies
4. Four became activist mice and are instrumental in laws passed to stop the use of
live mice for feeding other animals in the UK and Germany.
5. Four went to become church mice in various parts of North America but one of them
changed his mind and ended up in Trinidad as the little mouse himself!:) Living in the
production house with the Purple Elephant and practicing UCP-Universal Collective
Prayer!


And so the entire production house waited for the arrival of all these mice! As the Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the Little Mouse continued!

Advent Calendar 2012- Very Late Opening!

The little mouse has been going to the Purple Elephant every day for the past few weeks and climbing up to his big, purple ears to whisper into either of them to let him know...

"Where did all the blog posts at the Meady's Musings Production House go?!"


You see if the owner of the production house does not blog...well then eventually the production house and all its inhabitants will fade away...they will be no more...and the Purple Elephant being so large in size was not realising it as much...he thought his skin was just too dry and bits were flaking off...but when he finally looked through the corners of his left eye at the little mouse sitting upon his left ear what did the Purple Elephant behold?

Well my friends the little mouse was just but skin and bone!

The Purple Elephant upon this shocking revelation took to all fours and jumped over into the real world and landed outside the owner of the production house's office door! When she did not come out he stomped and when she still did not come out he stomped some more and then when she still did not emerge he stomped again but trumpeted with that!

Eventually the owner of the production house emerged with crude oil coming out of one ear, produced water out another and bits of paper stuck all over her body!

Regardless of her appearance the Purple Elephant scooped her up with his trunk and put her onto his back and jumped right into the imaginary world before the owner of the production house could even blink!

He dropped her right onto the middle of the floor and pointed with his trunk to the little mouse and then trumpeted!

OMG! When the owner of the production house saw her poor little mouse she immediately realized what she had done...she had rarely blogged all year long and...and...to top it off from the first time since she had built the production house in her imagination and created the blogs-Meady's Musings and UCP-Universal Collective Prayer...oh dear she had not opened...

THE ADVENT CALENDAR!

And Dec 20th was already here!

She immediately went to the imaginary fridge and got some cheese for the mouse...but when she brought it back for the poor little mouse in a weak, gasping breath the noble being explained that no cheese in this here imaginary world could save him! The owner had to go right away back with the Purple Elephant to the real world and grab keyboard, smart phone or tablet and type away...then to the internet connect and post!

For every word she posted online...the little mouse would heal and re-gain a fat cell for every byte put online!

So here you have it...the owner has typed and now all of us here at the Meady's Musings Production House declare the Advent calender 2012 open!

Given its late start we will stay with you until the epiphany this year...6 Jan 2013 is when we shall close!

It is important to also note that the owner of the production house made a trip to Chichen Itza this year which seems to be at the center of this whole world will end tomorrow business.

Photo copyright of Meady's Musings Production House 2012

And she was discussing it with the Purple Elephant and little mouse and since their world almost ended...they know how it feels and so the little mouse still frail but getting better went to his little prayer corner and decided to share this lovely little Christmas prayer with all beings in the Universe real and imaginary on the eve of the 21st December 2012 i.e. the start of the Winter Solstice and quite possibly (anything is possible you know) the end of the world!

"I'm just a little mouse
Some consider me imaginary
Others say it is contrary
And it is my world that is real
While the world of the Production House owner is unreal

To be honest this little mouse does not know
What is real or unreal
What is the truth or untruth
And it is with this knowledge I pray
This little mouse kneels in his corner
And surrenders onto the Divine
Let your will be done!

Some say there may not even be a Divine one.
But I say what is in a word.
You see whether it be or not...
It would not change my lot!

But I've learnt from the owner of the production house
To pray...as I feel at peace when I do...
So I recall how she in the past has surrendered onto the Divine in this blog:

I Surrender onto the Divine Mother!


And sing this song with her...


And I've also learnt from her that there is not only one way to pray...

So in the spirit of Universal Collective Prayer and in keeping with the time of Advent I also offer this form of prayer in this our first Christmas carol on our Advent calendar 2012!
May there be many more to come! :)



Let the Christmas fun begin! :)

Advent Calendar 2011: Christmas and Boxing Day of The Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the Little Mouse

copyright of The Meady's Musings Production House 2010.

Day 25-Christmas Day

It was already the wee hours of the morning by the time all the guests had settled in at the Meady's Musings Production House but really it was very hard to sleep with all the excitement and awe! But humans need to rest as do animals and all other living earthly beings.

The herd of elephants were the first ones up! And the Purple Elephant went outdoors to be with them. And they were the first ones to notice that by 6 AM there was a long line of people outside the production house who had come to see the babe in the manger. So when they showed this to the Purple Elephant he went inside to wake up the little mouse to the news and to begin preparations to first of all deal with the line of people and then to prepare for the Christmas day meal!

As might be expected the little mouse did not take the news well and start to get very nervous again...went to the corner to pray for guidance and then told the Purple Elephant to convene a meeting of all the animals that were currently living inside the production house itself. That means that the meeting was to exclude the herd of elephants grazing outdoors and the animals in the manager and other living quarters outside the main production house. When the meeting was then convened it included the Purple Elephant, the little mouse, the bears, the monkeys and yes not to be forgotten the owner of the production house.

At the meeting a plan was hatched as to how to deal with the queue outdoors and how to prepare breakfast for all and the other Christmas meals! The duties were divided and plans devised as follows:

1. The Purple Elephant would go outside and rustle up the herd of elephants to inquire from the long queue of folks outside the house what exactly were their needs and wants.

(While doing this they would also collect and distribute water to all in the queue and one or two elephants would
go down to the orchard and also pick some fruit with their trunks to distribute to those in the long line
waiting to see the babe.)

2. A few monkeys were also assigned to work outside with the herd of elephants. One of the monkeys assigned was a very smart chimp called Chompy who would question each of the persons in the queue on their needs and wants and take notes. Some of them would be asked to step aside if decided by the monkeys. These persons would be taken into the production house for further questioning and evaluation if it was felt that they needed counseling as their need to see the babe was driven by some deep seethed unfulfilled desires instead of pure joy!

3. The rest of the animals would help with the Christmas meals. Which with the number of mouths to feed was no easy task indeed especially with mostly monkeys and bears involved! And with a much maligned mouse stirring the pot! Luckily the only human who would be eating was the owner of the production house who by now had known that the little mouse could do no harm! And after all he (the little mouse) was born out of her very own head!

By 10 AM everyone including the persons in the queue had been fed. But the production house was all abuzz as the number of persons who needed to be taken aside for counseling was proving to be the vast majority of persons in the line. Then the little mouse took the decision that was seconded and agreed to unanimously that the babe in the manger should be the one to decide who should be fit to see him or not and no one else. So all were allowed to visit him and lo and behold as more persons came time seemed to stand still! And by lunch everyone had seen the babe and were all content!

Then everyone sat down on tables indoors and outdoors and had the Christmas lunch! Before the meal was eaten the following prayer was said by the little mouse:

Oh Universal spirit from whom all things come
Animals, humans and all of us who are one
Bless our humble meal
Make it that we eat in peace
Let us know the unreal from the real
And let all the Universe's beings feel
The nourishment of body, mind and soul
That you infuse into this our Christmas meal!

With peace, love and light from all of us at the Meadys' Musings Production House!

And really that was the main events on the Christmas day as dinner also went by with not a thing to complain about!


Day 26-Boxing Day

Copyright of The Meady's Musings Production House 2011

On this day the owner of the production house entered the earthly plane and all the animals in the production house had planned and plotted to honour her on this day. The mouse was in charge and the Purple Elephant was running with her at her heels after every stride. By the end of the day the owner was very pleased with the animals who lived under her roof and all hers and their guests! Even the monkeys put in a sterling performance and there was really not much left to say but that indeed it was a very lovely Boxing Day and Happy Birthday for the owner of the production house and all her animal creations

Advent Calendar 2011: The Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the little mouse:Christmas Eve

By this time all the house guests had arrived safe and sound at the Meady's Musings Production House. In fact the season's plans had gone far more on schedule this year than last's. All the animals had basically arrived without major transportation problems and there was no honey bee strike like last year and so no resulting uprising of bears too. And the monkeys were better behaved since the whole cat wringing incident!

But there was a strange thing that not only the Purple Elephant and little mouse had realized this year but all the animals did too! The men who had appeared in the square last year in sports utility vehicles aka SUVs were no where to be seen this year although they had explained that they often come to town around Christmas time yearly. At first the Purple Elephant had come home from the square a day to tell the little mouse his fears...that he had not seen the men as yet and it was several days later than when they had appeared last year! But the little mouse had said to him that it was probably just that they were running later. Maybe they needed to repair their SUVs or get new ones all together and the Purple Elephant knew all too well how hard it was to buy a new SUV at times on the island! But now it was Christmas Eve and not only had they not seen the men with the SUVs but they had not seen the lovely couple return this year who gave birth to a baby boy in a manager that the animals had to quickly put together last year as by then the house was overflowing with animals and have fallen to the ground with all the mayhem! So in fact just in case this year the Purple Elephant had built an entirely separate duplex for the couple if they visited perhaps bringing the baby boy and the donkey that was oddly carrying them around...odd as the animals though why not an SUV? But the donkey had explained to them about his special bond with the couple.

Now it was almost two hours to the midnight hour and not a donkey or SUV was in sight!

Then Purple Elephant's sensitive ears and feet picked up a far away sound almost as far away as the square...and but surely he realised it was a drum! The sound got closer and closer and for all the good behaviour the animals showed till then...well that just vanished and they all got uneasy till basically all the animals were out in the maidan (field) with the herd of elephants! Then lo and behold coming around the curb they saw as the intensity of the sound was very strong now...well there you have it! A little drummer boy and with him he had a herd of sheep! So the animals let the sheep stay in the old manager that was built last year for the couple. Then were about to invite the little drummer boy to stay indoors but he said he never left the side of his sheep. So then all the animals stayed in the maidan as the little mouse went indoors and returned with a cup of cocoa for the little drummer boy who seemed to be cold. The little drummer boy blinked a while and eyed the little mouse from tail to whiskers but then took the cup of cocoa as he thought if he could so love his sheep why could he not take cocoa made by a mouse!

And then the little drummer boy played for them! Saying that he was just warming up his drums for now...

And lo and behold...as the song ended rounding the curb was an SUV and then another and then another and out of the third SUV alighted the donkey and from second one the couple with a just born baby boy! And then the three drivers of the SUVs and the couple, the donkey and the baby all joined the little drummer boy in the manger with his sheep. When asked what happened to that baby from last year...the couple looked up and blinked at animals without saying a word and with a nod of the donkey's snout...all the animals knew what it was...

And then the little drummer boy played his song!



Merry Christmas from the Meady's Musings Production House!

Advent Calendar 2011:Day 2 & 3 of The Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the little mouse

This picture is not owned by us but was burrowed from this site. Please notify us if we have infringed any rights and we will immediately remove. We thought it fair to say too that in the real life story to this pic the cat and orangutan are best of buddies! No Purple Elephant intervention necessary! :)

DAY 2

On Day 2 of the Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the little mouse the day opened with the little mouse quietly in a corner deep in prayer. The guys from the UCP desk couldn't help but notice him and just stood afar quietly themselves observing him and taking notes for their own blog posts! This was the prayer that the little mouse did say:

"Dear Lord although I may but a little mouse be
You well know that I let little scare me
Apart from those cats of course
And even then I just surrender to your as the divine source
And although the start of this Advent calendar maybe late
It won't affect what will be on any of my guest's Christmas Eve dinner plate

You know better than I great spirit that in the Universal sense of things we are all one
And so please don't let my Christmas plans be undone
You see the owner of the house was late to open the Advent calendar
But she must not be blamed for such a blunder
As her world I'm told was a bit asunder

So let's now work together
To make this Christmas the best one ever
Keep the cats at bay
And let all our house guests enjoy their stay
This dear Lord is my Advent calender opening prayer!"

The little mouse thus ended his prayer. And the UCP guys scuttled off to their desks to share it on that blog!

The little mouse got up from his kneeling position and went off to look for the Purple Elephant. He found the Purple Elephant outdoors clearing soil and planting grass in preparation for his elephant herd that had sent trumpeting signals from place to place until it got to the Purple Elephant this morning via the airwaves outside the house that indeed they would be trekking towards the Meady's Musings Production House this year and in fact given the time it would take for them to get there as a herd they were already on their way!

And there you had it by the 2nd day of the Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the little mouse two house guests had now confirmed! Well two if you count the herd as one and Fynn the bear as another. But in reality that herd ranged between 40 to 50 odd elephants or so and of every colour you could imagine (if you recall from previous years). They were yellow, brown, blue, grey, white, rainbow mixed and of course many other purple ones too! But you shall hear more about them as the days go because for now that brings Day 2 of the Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the little mouse to a close.


DAY 3

On Day 3 of the Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and little mouse the Purple Elephant was still busy at it in the yard planting grass for his relatives to eat when they arrived. It was then he heard a strange sound only to turn around to see one of the monkey's wringing a cat in his hands! The Purple Elephant got so startled at the sight and sound that he jumped all fours up about a half of a metre or so into the air and trumpeted as he fell to the ground. The fall then caused a loud sound no doubt that made the little mouse and the other monkeys in the house run to the doors. When they saw what was going on outside they ducked backed indoors and peeped instead out of windows to see what was about to unfold. Not the little mouse tough...poor thing was so scared he ran to his bedroom and closed all the windows and again went to a corner to in this case nervously pray. With the knowledge that if his end really came he would then just surrender on to the divine this he had learnt well from the UCP guy's blog posts!

However the monkeys inside the house piled all on top of each other to see what the one monkey outside was about to do as the Purple Elephant glared at him. And this is what happened...

After the Purple Elephant hit the ground he again trumpeted and then addressed the monkey in a high yet loud shrill!

"What are you doing monkey>? Is that a cat in your hand I see? If so you should certainly un-wring him! Don't you know that although the cats may not be my friends as they hunt my best friend and co-inhabitant of the house the little mouse. Both of us do not agree that we should subject the cats to such cruelty. No animal should be that cruel to another...even if you cannot live like brothers you should still respect the life in others! Now don't release him as he may try to get at the little mouse but un-wring him and give him to me so I can wrap him in my trunk and take him back to the cats!"

Strangely the monkey just looked at the Purple Elephant in a puzzled manner twisted his head from side to side a bit and then made a monkey noise un-wrang the cat and put it into the trunk of the Purple Elephant. When he was done with this he scratched one armpit and then the other...made a monkey noise and jumped into a nearby tree for after all he was an orangutan you see!

At the end of this stint all the monkeys in the window started to make monkey noises and jump up and down and all over each other's heads! But they immediately froze in silence when the Purple Elephant turned their way and with one glare he was on his way to drop the un-wrung cat back to the other cats!

And folks for day 3 of the Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the little mouse that was that!

Advent Calendar 2011:Day 1 of The Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the little mouse

Fynn the Steiff bear who was the first guest to confirm this year!

The Purple Elephant and the little mouse had really hoped to start things early this year they really had! But you see it was the owner of the production house that caused everything to go all awry. As you would recall yesterday at the opening of the Advent calendar exactly six days late this year they had to go and bring her into the virtual reality of the blogosphere back into the imaginary house in which they live! To do so they had to cross the lines between virtual and real...cartoon and flesh...driving many a human to the psychiatric chair when they had beheld the glowing cartoony forms of the Purple Elephant and little mouse. But they really had no choice...and now although the Purple Elephant and the little mouse had in their virtual world started planning for the Holidays well in advance in fact as early as November during nanowrimo! There was no owner present in the production house to write about their adventures and so really all their work just went up in cyberspace without enough HTML to keep it grounded for you readers to see on your computer screen!

So forgive the Purple Elephant and little mouse this year if they are a bit more scattered and stressed as the Purple Elephant runs about making lots of noise while the little mouse scampers even faster to get things in place for the many house guests that no doubt will again be arriving this year! It really wasn't their fault that things didn't get started earlier it was just that there was simply no writer there! And if anything goes wrong just blame those monkeys!

So speaking of house guests the Purple Elephant and little mouse have heard the news that has been confirmed early on that the bears will be visiting again this year. In fact a new bear from London will also be arriving this year. They got that news since October really when the owner of the production house was over that way. Now what they understand is that the bear is not really an English bear exactly although he lives in London. In fact he is really German in origin with 'knopf im ohr' translated into English as 'button in ear'. He is indeed a Steiff bear...not the fancy limited edition type nope Fynn lives in his box with a yellow tag pinned down by the button in his ear so he is an unlimited edition bear. Which basically means Fynn has many other Fynn brothers and they sure do get around in their boxes traveling to all parts of the globe! However those Fynn bears seem to be very early birds as yes folks Fynn the Steiff bear was the first confirmed guest to be visiting the Meady's Musings production house this year! He had RSVP-ed to the Purple Elephant since October and had asked that the little mouse try as much as possible to be the one to pick him up at the airport as he had a very special surprise that couldn't wait!

So this has just been adding to the anxiety of the little mouse as he has been scampering about the house and occasionally going into corners to take perhaps a break and from what his body posture at least looks like...to pray?

But as we end the story for today on The Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant with the little mouse we all have to pray and hope that even though the start is indeed late all will be well that ends well and it will still be a grand holiday!

Advent Calendar 2011: The Opening and Happy St. Nicholas Day!

We at the Meady's Musings Production House have left many a story untold this year and many a blog post unfinished and unposted! You our readers must realize it really was never our intent! However we were just too taken up with travelling to different lands and putting on real live blog displays on UCP this year but mostly too involved in our day job! Yes as you know we must pay the bills and we have just been putting our shoulder to the wheel all year long this year!

But we really have just gone and done it now! As we've started our Advent calendar late now too! The Purple Elephant and Little Mouse were just very cross indeed and so they had to make it out of their imaginary house over into our real world to let us know just how they felt! And it wasn't a good sight I will tell you for many a passerby to see a cartoony looking elephant purple at that with a cartoony looking mouse on this back scolding a real life lady on the street! In fact many of the passersby ended up on the psychiatric chair! And for that we at the production house all yell out an 'Oh dear!' But it must have been worth it for here we are to declare the Advent Calendar 2011 open!

The rules again this year will be that on Meady's Musings we will be telling the story of 'The Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant with the little mouse' of course at times we may pause for a little this and that.

And on UCP-Universal Collective Prayer we will be keeping to the reverence and prayer of the season.

However there will be days that the two blogs will collide like today as we join to launch the calendar and celebrate St. Nicholas Day! Yes Happy St. Nicholas Day 2011 folks! So although the Advent calendar is declared open late this year it is not that bad as it is on this very special day that celebrates that old saint of giving whom has forever been Americanised as a fat man in a red and white suit!

As we celebrate the day this year we look back at these times when we asked:

Do you believe in Santa Claus?

and when we said:

Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus!

And remind you again this year that if you need to learn more about St. Nicholas the St. Nicholas Center is a pretty good place to start!

And remind you that we do believe in Santa Claus as we also recall the gift giving that was done for the baby Jesus!

Advent Calendar 2010: The Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the Little Mouse-Days 10 to 11

In loving memory of Tessa and taken from this CBC article.

ADVENT CALENDAR DAY 10:10 DEC 2010

As we come to Day 10 of the Advent calendar and the Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the Little Mouse we find the animals busy fixing up the house for the arrival of the Purple Elephant's herd. As the Purple Elephant explained again this year although most of us were at the Production House last year and had seen them and heard this explanation already...not all the elephants in the Purple Elephant's herd were purple! Well some were blue...some grey like your typical elephant known to man and some were even red...others brown and yes the elephants explained to us...some were even white! And no not just albinos but actually white for you see it was not just a fable...indeed the legend of the Maharaja's white Indian elephant was true! The Purple Elephant's herd also transcended geographical borders and species and so the herd consisted of Asian elephants as well as African ones and they both learned traits from each other! However the greatest kept secret of the herd that we are about to reveal only on this year's Advent calendar since he did not visit the Production House last year...is this!:

One of the members of the Purple Elephant's herd is not even an elephant at all! He is actually a wooly mammoth! Yes indeed! And no your ears aren't playing tricks on ya! The elephant herd found him one day when he had wandered down from Alaska where he had remained frozen but then thawed due to global warming in 2008 and had roamed down to Canada where the elephant herd had gone to the Toronto zoo to visit a relative there. The wooly mammoth then asked since he had learnt from the other elephants that he was the last of his kind...if he could join their herd? The leader of the herd a blue elephant called Akash said then that yes indeed he could join them and the wooly mammoth was very excited and grateful and has been with the herd since then! He was particularly aggrieved when he learnt of the passing of Tessa at the Toronto zoo the following year! As she was the first elephant he had spoken to when he had gotten to the Toronto zoo! We at the Production House had heard of her passing through the Purple Elephant who had left for Toronto when he heard the news together with the Little Mouse! And we had sent our condolences to all at the zoo but in particular to the relative of the Purple Elephant's herd who lived there.

So anyway as the Purple Elephant continued to talk about his relatives and the elephant herd approached all the animals (Purple Elephant included since he talked but also worked)scrubbed and cleaned and casted reinforcements to the Production Houses' foundation.

And so Day 10 of the Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the Little Mouse came to an end with the animals scrubbing and cementing well into dusk...

ADVENT CALENDAR DAY 11:11 DEC 2010

The elephant herd was almost upon the Production House oh dear me! Loud and large orchestras of animal trumpeting could be heard in the nearby with the accompaniment of heavy 'footsteps' thumping forward! The owner of the Production House looked at bit nervous but the Little Mouse reassured her that the foundations were strong this year....the monkeys had really given their all in that respect and she needn't worry! :) And the noises got closer and closer until finally!...

The elephants arrived!

A bigger portion of the herd had come to visit the Purple Elephant this year but you could see the owner of the Production House relax as the foundations seem to hold up! In fact after she relaxed a bit more she grabbed one of the monkeys and kissed them on the head! For really it couldn't have been done without the full corporation of the monkeys!

But enough of the monkeys everyone wanted to hear about the elephants! There were really in all the different colours, shapes and sizes! The wooly mammoth was indeed with them but was very, very hard to recognise as he stood there next to Akash at the head of the herd...you see they had shaved his fur off because he was coming to the tropics and so my friends the wooly mammoth had succeeded where the Canadian bears had failed! In fact you could see the Canadian bears mumbling and whispering under their breaths about you see how they had wanted to do the same thing and they were stopped by the Winnie the Pooh related bears! But then the Purple Elephant explained to the Canadian bears that it was a different case. You see elephants have non-hairy skins...and so because the wooly mammoth is suppose to be officially extinct he had to adapt significantly to continue to remain alive now that he thawed. So he had to try to be like the other elephants in this case. Also his wooly fur was much thicker and longer originally than their bear coats were!

So in the end all were happy...humans, monkeys, bears, elephants and well the little mouse but of course there still remained the matter of the cats...but at least for a while as Day 11 of the Christmas tales of the Purple Elephant and Little Mouse came to an end all of the Production House was at peace for a while as they gathered around and sang along to this john denver song...that they felt suited them all!:)

Advent Calendar 2010: The Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the Little Mouse- Days 8 &9

Darn...we really need to get those monkeys off our backs! LOL! As much as we promised to keep updating here daily we keep slip sliding away! But today you are indeed in for a special treat as we will have two blog posts! One will cover day 8 and day 9 in terms of the Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the Little Mouse. And there will be an entirely separate one talking about a special Trini Christmas treat!:)
THE CHRISTMAS ADVENTURES OF THE PURPLE ELEPHANT AND THE LITTLE MOUSE

ADVENT CALENDAR DAY 8:8 DEC 2010

Now as our story left off on Day 7 we were telling you about the intention of the animals and humans at the Production House to use Satyagraha on the cats who were after the little mouse...

Now the Purple Elephant had pulled down books from the top shelves with his trunk while the little mouse scurried below trying to catch them all. And the owner of the Production House went online pulling down and saving to file relevant documents on Satyagraha. Until some of the books before the animals and humans were as follows :

-The Bhagavad Gita
-The Holy Ramayan
-The Holy Bible: Old and New Testaments
-Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet
-The Upanishads
-The Kalpa Sutras of the Jains

And among some of the websites the owner of the Production House had bookmarked were these:

o http://www.quietspaces.com/satyagraha.html
o http://www.satyagraha.org.za/current/

However the animals and humans refrained from using Wikipedia in their research because they got fed up of seeing the image of its founder Jimmy Wales begging for donations and really no one in the house earned cash except for the owner of the Production House and the guy who worked the UCP desk but then he was paid by the owner. So really only one bread winner and so many mouths to feed and they felt it wrong to just go to the site too you know especially when researching such a topic like satyagraha as it made them feel so guilty somehow…and Jimmy Wales looked even cuter in a begging sort of way than the Winnie the Pooh related bears when begging for his pennies so…they refrained.

Now as the animals explored Satyagraha and how to use it on the cats they realised it was indeed going to be a lot of work and for sure they would need all the animals in the house to pull together...so they first needed to contrive how to enlist the help and support of the twenty odd monkeys of the house! They knew they'd be unruly and perhaps they'd even have to use Satyagraha on the monkeys first to get them to cooperate let alone use it on the cats!

So they called in the monkeys one by one or in pairs if they had coupled monkeys...and asked them if they were willing to cooperate and be part of the Satyagraha on the cats...they explained how the Satyagrahi should behave...and really it all went something like this...as the Purple Elephant and other animals and humans in the room took turns talking to each monkey or pair of monkeys:

"As a satyagrahi monkey/s we will expect you to stand for the truth...infact follow your famous Buddhist monkey friends and say no evil, see no evil and speak no evil! Then monkeys you must commit to the satyagraha such that if you are not happy with the Purple Elephant, the little mouse or any of the animals or humans here whose mission you follow you will bring it to this sangam (confluence/meeting) and it should be honestly and openly addressed here. We must our monkey friends commit to the same cause. We must first be satyagrahi(s) onto ourselves before we try to apply the principles of satyagraha with the cats..." And so the speeches went on and on...till one or two monkeys fell asleep but they quickly pulled themselves out of it and apologised for their nodding off with immediate effect!

And stories aside on this Day 8 of our calendar of stories we recall this famous speech given by the apostle and inventor of Satyagraha himself...Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi aka Gandhi Ji aka the Mahatma or simply the Great One!



ADVENT CALENDAR DAY 9:9 DEC 2010

The speeches and briefing of the monkeys continued for two days such that on Day 9 of the Advent Calendar it was still going on. Then finally the Purple Elephant got up from his desk and said:

"Hey guys it's almost been two days enough of these peanuts I need some fresh grass and air! Besides I think I hear steps of an elephant herd on the move and so I suspect some of my elephant relatives must again be visiting us this year!"

The little mouse looked a bit scared and the owner of the Production House started to pull a bit on her head of hair...because they both recalled what happened last year to the house when the elephants came! OMG!

The Purple Elephant seemed to sense this and gave the little mouse a glaring look and then rushed outside to graze in the cool tropical December fresh air. He always likes it this time of year as it's not cold but not hot...just cool...

Whilst the Purple Elephant was out ....the others in the room quickly convened and whispered to themselves that the plan of using satyagraha on the cats would have to be on a hold for a while. Since if the elephants were coming there would be much work to do...much! As last year the house's foundation started to crack when they neared...never mind they stayed outside the house and grazed as the house is only retrofitted enough to allow for one Purple Elephant and not a herd of elephants! But all the same their stampeding still rocked the house...literally!

So they quickly hatched a plan of how to:

1. Prepare for the arrival of the elephant herd.
2. Tell the Purple Elephant what they were up to without hurting his feelings whilst at the same time not being bad satyagrahi(s) themselves...i.e. they could not violate the rule of 'sat' truth!

Anyway the little mouse said he'd handle the Purple Elephant's feelings...and so it was planned that for the next two days while the elephant herd was on the move and nearing the Production House everyone would help plaster additional building blocks and erect certain strategic props such that the house would not shake on their arrival!

And so it was the ninth day of the Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the Little Mouse ended...

Advent Calendar 2010: 2,3,4,5,6 and 7 Dec 2010

We're sorry for not updating our Advent Calendar on time after unveiling it but we plan to keep it daily from here on in and to make up for the lost days today by doing a post today that has six stories one for each day!

As we promised at the unveiling...yes from time to time we will talk about something we like to eat or some extra special treat...but generally inspired by our nanowrimo experience and the fun we had at the Production House last year with all the animals staying over and the three wise men and the birth of a baby boy...this year we will mostly post stories about the Christmas adventures of the Purple Elephant and the little mouse as daily installations on our Advent Calendar 2010! So let's begin our six stories for today-one for today and one for each day we've missed!


THE CHRISTMAS ADVENTURES OF THE PURPLE ELEPHANT AND THE LITTLE MOUSE!

ADVENT CALENDAR DAY 2: 2 DEC 2010

The Purple Elephant was a bit anxious today as he hadn't a clue where the little mouse had disappeared to and he was for some reason worried. You see this Christmas there seems to be quite a proliferation of cats in town...some say they were caught and let loose from another town. So the Purple Elephant has been warning the little mouse not to go out to town alone because in addition to all the people who get scared when they see the little mouse in the market so much so that he has to hide behind the Purple Elephant's big ears well now there are cats! But does the little mouse ever listen to his big purple friend? Well if he does it's less times than more! And so the Purple Elephant had been searching far and wide for the little mouse. He even went in to ask the monkeys who same as last Christmas were watching DVDs in the entertainment room all piled in a hoard of them...twenty odd or so...and guess what DVD they had on? Well no wonder the Purple Elephant's big ears began to flap and his little tail twitch because it was 'Tom and Jerry Special-The Night Before Christmas'! OMG! The Purple Elephant just ran out of there making the whole house shake until he got to the front door and was about to trumpet when he saw the little mouse walking with a bunch of bananas for the monkeys followed by the owner of the Production House with two bags of things from the market in her hands!

The Purple Elephant was never happier to see his little friend than then! He didn't scold him as after all he didn't go out alone but with the owner and lady of the house and he couldn't meddle there! But he was so glad to see him, he started to tickle him with his trunk and the little mouse then slid up his trunk and perched where he normally is… behind his ears.

Then the Purple Elephant complained about those monkeys for being so riot filled in the house...piled up in there all day watching DVDs...but then the little mouse slid down from his ears down his trunk on to the floor before him and gave a long soliloquy about the spirit of Christmas that made him sound a bit like Linus out of the Charlie Brown Christmas special. The speech went something like this:

"My Purple Elephant listen to this message from the little mouse. It is the spirit of Christmas to be giving to all. The monkeys are our friends and part of the animal kingdom. Monkeys will monkeys be and you see as part of the Christmas spirit of giving and sharing we've even gone out to the market to buy them bananas you see. But my purple elephantine friend we've not forgotten you either! For here a bag of peanuts for thee!" the little mouse tossed the peanuts up for the Purple Elephant to catch in his trunk and then he curtsied!

And the owner of the Production House applauded and to that the Purple Elephant then trumpeted and the monkeys actually lo and behold came out to see! They apologized for scaring the Purple Elephant by putting 'The Tom and Jerry Christmas Special-The Night Before Christmas' into the DVD player when he came in. And all forgave them for they said monkeys will be monkeys you see!

ADVENT CALENDAR DAY 3: 3 DEC 2010

The cats continued to be in town and the Purple Elephant continued to be worry about the little mouse. So much so that he took to dialing up a dog security firm to protect the little mouse. The monkeys couldn't help but be cheeky and although they had promised not to taunt and tease the Purple Elephant again they went and cue up this Tom and Jerry episode where Jerry gets a dog to protect him from Tom if only for a little while! :)

It was then and there that the Purple Elephant said Christmas or not the monkeys needed to earn their keep around the house and so it would from now on be up to them to protect the little mouse...no dog security firm necessary! Also he reminded the monkeys of how they had reformed for Christmas last year and should recall this and try to again be on best behaviour. Additionally as it was quite a hoard of them not all were needed to guard the little mouse and the others should start building extensions to the production house. After all going from last year's expectancy three not so wise men might show up and that lady could very well be back with her male companion to a baby make. But for sure the bears would be coming they had already sent word via e-mail!

So ten monkeys were put to work on construction and ten were put to take shifts guarding the little mouse. The remaining odd few were to help with odds and ends around the house like cleaning up after all the monkeys and buying bananas for them. Now monkeys… the Purple Elephant explained to them are said to be very smart among the animals in the animal kingdom and if they were to hone their talents and try not to engage in delinquent ways they could for sure devise brilliant ways to protect the little mouse even if the monkeys could not physically fight off the cats. Also they could develop monitoring and tracking devices to keep up with where the little mouse was. After all monkeys were smarter than the average bear!

So the monkeys all lined up with bent heads and listened and amazingly went to work right away obeying the Purple Elephant...well at least for now...

ADVENT CALENDAR DAY 4: 4 DEC 2010

As we said yesterday the monkeys were listening to the Purple Elephant but...yep as you might expect the monkeys being monkeys by nature started a set of mayhem as soon as the Purple Elephant had gone to the airport to pick up two bears from the Ashdown Forest in Sussex, England. These bears were distant relatives of the famous Winnie the Pooh and often like Pooh did not know what to do. So the Purple Elephant had a hard time tracking them down in the airport but finally got them on his back and brought them to the Production House. But when the poor Purple Elephant thought he was about to see the new extension completed for the two bears to sleep well... oh bother! What you think? The ten monkeys working on construction for the extension to the house had all gotten into a big gigantic pillow fight with each other! There were down feathers everywhere! And where were the one or two odd monkeys who were there to clean up after all the monkeys? Well oh well...what again do you think? They had felt that there wasn't enough work for them earlier (when all the monkeys were on best behaviour) and so had made some banana splits for themselves and had locked themselves back up in the entertainment room and were looking at this DVD of one of the classic and favourite Christmas movies of all times where a house was being up heaved as well but for other reasons...‘Home Alone’:



And having seen that DVD on the Purple Elephant realized it was best he from now on never leave the monkeys home alone!

ADVENT CALENDAR DAY 5:5 DEC 2010

Now the Purple Elephant made the monkeys clean up things and get back to work...he even had the other ten who were in charge of guarding the little mouse come and help since the little mouse was safe at home. This way the extensions were eventually completed such that the two bears could have their own room. However it left another dilemma...none of the pillows in the Production House had any down in them now! So the poor Purple Elephant had to set off to get some from the birds. The birds gave them some but not enough for all the pillows and when the Purple Elephant inquired as to why this was the case he was told because the ducks were on strike and so the volume of down being produced was reduced. From there he went to the bees to get some honey for the bears and luckily so far this year they weren't on strike!

When the Purple Elephant came back to the house the monkeys again had a dawning of enlightenment and were heads bent low. They came up to the Purple Elephant fidgeting and said that they had heard of the duck strike and figured as much… that the Purple Elephant would not get enough down for all the pillows so that the monkeys would be willing to first of all re-stuff all the pillows...well as much as they could with the down that was got. And they would then forfeit sleeping with pillows since monkeys didn't need them as such anyway as they slept in all sorts of contortionist's positions hanging from a tail here and there!

The Purple Elephant was very proud of the monkeys of the house and for their regret, gratitude, seva (service to fellow man or animal as you have it) well he just trumpeted and he and the little mouse made every monkey in the house a banana split while the bears had some honey and said cheerio!

ADVENT CALENDAR DAY 6: 6 DEC 2010

The monkeys were really earning their keep now and the house extensions were all complete. And they had moved on to building a crèche outside in case the lady were to show up again this year although really if she did there would be plenty of room inside but then if she came with a donkey he might wish to stay out in the crèche and feed on some hay. Two other bears had also arrived …Canadian Black Bears. They kept complaining about the tropical heat and one started to wonder if they were about to replace the monkeys with mischievous behaviour when they tried to shave all their fur off to beat the heat! The Winnie the Pooh related bears had to stop them and said that they too were from a place not this warm and they weren't complaining or looking to shave off all their fur! Luckily after that talking to between all four bears…good sense prevailed and the Canadian Black Bears began to acclimatize.

But as is known the Production House always has some drama or the other and it normally peaks at Christmas time so if it's not one thing it's the other! The monkeys set up to guard the little mouse had invented a contraption that would send off an alarm if the cats had come within a two metres perimeter of the little mouse however it blew up! And sadly two of the monkeys got injured! Now all the animals were very, very sad and as such they all took turns taking care of these little two injured monkeys. It was surprising here to see how caring the Canadian Black Bears turned out as neither left the side of the monkeys and they used their Canadian health care plan to have medicines shipped to administer to the monkeys.

Luckily the monkeys were on the mend...

ADVENT CALENDAR DAY 7: 7 DEC 2010

After the incident with the two monkeys being injured the Purple Elephant, the little mouse, the owner of the Production House and a few of the guys in the Production House who write from the desk of UCP…Meady's Musings sister blog agreed and hatched a plan that instead of trying to ward off or combat the cats from attacking the little mouse...i.e. fighting violence with violence or counter violence...they'd try out the Gandhian principle of satyagraha on the cats!

So off they went to the library to study and research the principles and then the ten monkeys were called in to see how this satyagraha business could be strategized and implemented in the battle of the cats against the little mouse!

Stay tuned for Day 8 of the Advent calendar...tomorrow Wed 8 Dec 2010 when you will find out how this plan of satyagraha fared!