The Yellow Duck Learns about Charity

Christmas was over. The ribbons had been put away, the toys had been admired and shown off and cookies and pies had been eaten to where only crumbs remained. While the Yellow Duck had a wonderful Christmas, he wished it didn't have to be over so soon.

"I love Christmas," the Yellow Duck said to his friends as they were playing with their new toys at the pond. Toad was playing with his new bug catapult, and Ms. Fish was admiring her new doll. The Yellow Duck was clutching his beloved binoculars on his chest.

"We all love Christmas," Toad said, not paying much attention.

"Yup, Christmas is the best time of year," Ms. Fish said. "You get tons of presents and eat cookies and cakes for weeks! You get to sing songs, watch movies- it's great!"

"But that's not why I like Christmas," the Yellow Duck said. "That seems kind of selfish."

"I'm not selfish," Ms. Fish scowled.

"I didn't say that," the Yellow Duck said, rolling his eyes. "All I said was that it wasn't why I liked Christmas."

"Fine," Ms. Fish said in a snotty tone. "Why do you like Christmas?"

"I like that everybody is happy," the Yellow Duck said. "I like that people look out for each other and give people things out of the goodness of their hearts."

"I don't," Ms. Fish said. "I only give people things so Santa will bring me presents."

"Now that's selfish," Toad said, shooting a dead fly at Ms. Fish's bowl. She squealed in agony as the dead bug floated in her water. She screeched loudly as she splashed about trying to get the fly out. Toad laughed.

"I wish we could have Christmas all year," the Yellow Duck said thoughtfully, ignoring the commotion. Suddenly, he had a brilliant idea.

"Hey guys!" the Yellow Duck squealed. Toad looked up from his catapult and Ms. Fish splashed the fly out of her bowl.

"I have a brilliant idea!" the Yellow Duck announced. "What if we volunteer at a charity this year?"

He was met with two unenthusiastic and confused faces.

"Ew," said Ms. Fish.

"Why?" asked Toad.

"Because then we can keep the spirit of Christmas!" the Yellow Duck said enthusiastically. "We can continue to give and help people out of the goodness of our hearts. Not just for Santa."

"It's always worked for me," Ms. Fish muttered under her breath.

"It sounds like a cool idea to me," Toad said. "I'll do it." They looked at Ms. Fish. She pouted, then sighed gustily. "Fiiiiinnnneee," she sighed. "Whatever."

"Wonderful!" the Yellow Duck cheered. "Now which charity do we want to work with?"

"Ghostbusters," said Toad.

"The Fashion Police," said Ms. Fish. The Yellow Duck rolled his eyes.

"No, a real charity," he sighed. "What about the animal rescue?"

"Yea!" Toad said. "That sounds fun! I could hang out with all the snakes and lizards!"

"I would tell stories to species of the aquatic nature," Ms. Fish said.

"And I could take all the puppies and kittens on walks!" the Yellow Duck said. "That sounds great!"

With that decided, the three friends planned on visiting the animal shelter next Saturday. Hopefully, the Christmas spirit would stay with them all year long.

The Yellow Duck meets Santa

Even though Christmas was only a week away, the Yellow Duck was bummed. While he had loved picking out a Christmas tree and had thoroughly enjoyed his Christmas party on Sunday, he was starting to realize not everyone liked Christmas as much as he did.

Sally the Salamander had gotten very angry with him when he didn't give her a "nicer" present, and had thrown his homemade cookies in the trash. Larry the Lizard had yelled at his mom in class for not buying him the video game system he wanted, and Priscilla the Poodle had announced that she was going to have a Christmas party for people who would buy her spa treatments. She wanted her nails painted, her coat fluffed and ribbons threaded through her curls.

"But that's not Christmas is about!" the Yellow Duck protested, holding up his homemade cookies and fudge.

"Really?" Larry the Lizard had sneered. "So what is it about? Stupid trees? Oversized socks?"

"No," the Yellow Duck said, his feelings hurt. "Christmas is about generosity. It's about being kind to one another, being happy about what you have. It doesn't have anything to do with presents or getting new toys. "

"What universe are you living in?" Priscilla the Poodle said snottily. "I bet you never get new presents. Otherwise, you'd know how great they are. So you can keep your oversized socks and your stupid cookies!" Priscilla threw her cookies away, and the class laughed. His head hung low, the Yellow Duck slowly waddled home.

After his mom had given him a hug and his favorite snack, he headed over to the pond. When he got there, Toad and Ms. Fish were each hunched over, working busily.

"Go away!" Ms. Fish snapped. "We're making you something."

"It's going to be really great," Toad promised. "You'll love it."

"Guys, I appreciate it, I really do," the Yellow Duck said sadly. "But I had a bad day today. I would rather talk to you than get a present."

"Just let us finish real quick!" Ms. Fish begged, covering the project with her wide fins. "Please? We want to make you happy!"

"Real happy!" Toad said, eating a bug. At Ms. Fish's stare, he sighed. "Sorry. No more bugs."

The Yellow Duck strode away unhappily and sighed. While his friends were being kind, he just wanted to talk to someone. He felt like no one understood his feelings. Why did Christmas have to be about presents? Why did it have to be so selfish and cruel? Maybe Christmas wasn't the best holiday after all.

Suddenly, a pair of black boots stood behind him. The Yellow Duck looked up to see a large red suit and big white beard. When he saw a pair of twinkling eyes stare down at him, he gasped.

"Santa!" he cried. "But I turned in my letter! Is it not Christmas yet?"

"Ho Ho Ho!" Santa cheered, his belly shaking. "Don't worry Yellow Duck. You've been a good boy this year, so you have nothing to worry about. I just wanted to come and talk to you about Christmas. You seemed sad about it."

"Well, I just feel like no one understands," the Yellow Duck said sadly. "Everyone is obsessed with presents and buying things. They threw away my homemade cookies I spent hours on and laughed. It just makes me almost feel like Christmas isn't worth it. That everyone makes it out to be something it isn't. "

"Yellow Duck," Santa began. "Christmas is what you make of it. The people who are rude and snotty about it have horrible Christmases. Not only do I not see them, but they barely see each other. They don't like their families, and they don't really like themselves. So they bury themselves in presents, because then they can pretend they're happy."

"You love Christmas," Santa continued. "And you bring a lot of joy to people. You're doing nothing wrong! So keep living Christmas the way you see fit. Bake cookies, spread cheer and most of all, be merry. Maybe a few people will learn from you!"

"Wow!" the Yellow Duck said. "Thanks Santa. That's some good advice!"

"I'll see you on Christmas Eve!" Santa winked. Suddenly, he was whisked away by a curtain of snowflakes, with only a "Ho Ho Ho!" echoing in the distance.

The Yellow Duck ran as fast as he could to the Pond. Ms. Fish and Toad had finished working and were now impatiently waiting for him to return.

"You guys!" the Yellow Duck yelled. "Guess what! Guess what! I saw Santa!"

Their jaws dropped. "Seriously?" Ms. Fish asked. "Was he fat?" Toad asked.

"He was great!" the Yellow Duck said. He told them what Santa had said.

"Wow," Toad said. "I never thought of it that way."

"This is what we made you," Ms. Fish said. She handed him a homemade platter covered in seaweed and seashells. "It's for you to put your cookies on when you hand them out. We wanted you to see what you did was important."

The Yellow Duck smiled. "All I need for Christmas is you guys!" he said, giving them both a hug. "Thank you!"

"Merry Christmas!" Toad cried.

"Merry Christmas!" Ms. Fish said.

"And a happy New Year!" the Yellow Duck cried.

The Yellow Duck plans a Christmas Party

School would be out soon, and all the kids were anxious. The holidays were coming upon them quickly, causing them to wiggle more than they normally would in class. Instead of doing their homework, they made paper snowflakes out of their assignments and draped them in the window. Christmas vacation was coming!

The Yellow Duck was very excited. He couldn't wait to bake cookies, drive and look at lights and decorate his stocking. However, the thing he was most excited about was having a Christmas party.

The only problem the Yellow Duck was having was where to have the Christmas party. He wanted to have the Christmas party in front of the grandest tree he could find. This wouldn't be just any Christmas party, it would be the best Christmas party ever. But where could he find a grand tree?

The Yellow Duck decided to ask his friends. So Monday after school, he waddled as fast as he could to the Pond. At the Pond, he walked up to find Toad and Ms. Fish arguing, as usual.

"You can not have a green stocking!" Ms. Fish squealed, looking horrified. "That is not in style at all! Santa won't give you any toys because you committed a fashion crime!"

Toad just looked at her. "What do you mean fashionable? Who wouldn't want a green stocking covered in pretend flies? It's the coolest stocking ever."

Ms. Fish looked nauseated. "You are so dumb!" She pulled out her stocking, which was red and covered with tons of glitter. "Now this is a stocking," she purred. "Look at the nice bright red, the darling red rhinestones and the stunning display of glitter!"

"That looks like an art disaster," Toad laughed. Ms. Fish looked furious. Before she could open her mouth, the Yellow Duck jumped in.

"Let's have a Christmas party!" he said, jumping up and down excitedly. "I need your help to think of where to have it. We need to have it at a place with a really big tree."

"We could have it at my house," Toad said.

"He wants a big tree, not to have it in a tree!" Ms. Fish glared. "We could have it at the zoo," Ms. Fish said primly. "The zoo can be really elegant at night."

"Is there a big tree?" the Yellow Duck asked.

"I don't know," Ms. Fish said. "Well, I want a big tree," the Yellow Duck said. The three sat around the pond, thinking to themselves.

"Hey!" Toad shouted, standing up excitedly. "I have an idea!"

"What is it?" the Yellow Duck asked happily.

"The Alamo has a big tree," Toad said triumphantly. "What if we have it there?"

"That's a great idea!" the Yellow Duck cried. "We could go to the Alamo for awhile, take some pictures in front of the big tree, then go to Toad's house to make cookies!"

"Yea!" the three squealed together.

For the rest of the afternoon, the three friends planned their party. They decided what cookies they would buy, what crafts they would do and what they would wear. When they left that evening, they were all very excited.

"This is going to be the best party ever!" the Yellow Duck declared. "I'm so excited I can hardly wait!"

The Yellow Duck gets a Christmas Tree

When the cold front blew into San Antonio, the Yellow Duck was excited. If it was this cold, it might snow, he thought to himself. And if it snows, then I need a Christmas tree.

"That is precisely what I'm going to do today!" the Yellow Duck said aloud to himself. "I'm going to go get a Christmas tree!"

With that, the Yellow Duck set out to find Toad and Ms. Fish. He decided that getting a tree required several opinions and more than one set of eyes. When he got to the pond, he started to laugh. Ms. Fish had decorated her bowl. She had lined her bowl with tinsel garlands and had placed a small Christmas tree inside. She had also strung lights inside of her bowl so it glowed.

"That's a very festive bowl," the Yellow Duck laughed.

"Isn't it marvelous?" Ms. Fish twirled in the water. "I think it is just grand!"

"I think it looks like Wal-Mart puked in your bowl," Toad said.

Ms. Fish sighed. "You just don't understand Toad. You never will."

"Hey, come and get a Christmas tree with me!" the Yellow Duck said cheerfully. "It'll be a lot of fun. I'll get my mom to take us!"

"OOOOOHH! I'm going to get the coolest Christmas tree ever!" Toad said, leaping off his log. "I'm going to find one that is so sharp it's like ninja spikes on it's branches. It'll be an awesome tree! No one will try to touch it!"

"You're so dumb," Ms. Fish scowled. "I'm going to get the prettiest tree there. It's going to be full and pretty and have thick branches. If I'm lucky, it'll have a bird in it's branches and then I'll have a pet!"

"And I'm the dumb one?" Toad said scornfully.

"Guys, come on," the Yellow Duck pleaded. "It's Christmas! Now, quit fighting so we can go get a Christmas tree. Santa won't like you if you keep fighting."

"Fine," Ms. Fish sniffed. "Let's go get your Mom so we can go down there."

The three friends loaded up in the Yellow Duck's dad's truck and headed down to the Alamo Heights Christmas tree lot that was run by the Optimist Club. The Yellow Duck was excited to so many trees.

"Look, it's like our own private lot!" the Yellow Duck squealed. "There's hardly anyone here."

"That's because it's in the middle of the day, and most people are in school or work," the Yellow Duck's mom said. "Now run along, pick out the tree you like."

The Yellow Duck waddled through the rows, Toad hopping along behind him as he pulled Ms. Fish.

"My bowl's prettier than any of these trees," she bragged.

"Whatever," Toad said.

"I like this tree!" the Yellow Duck said, stopping in front of a full Noble Fir. "This is such a nice tree. What do you think of it Mom?"

"I like it a lot," his mom said, smiling down at him as she stroked his feathers. "What do you think?"

"It's not as cool as the ninja tree," Toad sighed, depressed there were no ninja trees on the lot. "But I guess it's all right."

"It's not as pretty as my tree," Ms. Fish said, swirling around her bowl. "But I guess it's all right."

"Let's get it then!" the Yellow Duck said excitedly. The tree was paid for and loaded into the truck and taken back to the Yellow Duck's house. The Yellow Duck and his mom happily decorated the tree while Toad created a tree out of ornament wire and Ms. Fish colored her tree with sparkly pink paint.

"It's so beautiful, Mom," the Yellow Duck said, looking in awe at his tree. "It's the most beautiful tree in the world."

"It sure is," Toad and Ms. Fish agreed, while they each looked at their own trees. The Yellow Duck's mom just smiled.

"Yes it is," she said. "It's a beautiful tree."