Happy New Year!

Walt Disney's Morris, the Midget Moose

Hi, I am Bull Little, and this is one of my favorite cartoons.  I am sure when you watch it, you will see why.  I hope it will become one of your favorites too!

Can Moose Really Sing and Dance? You Betcha! Merry ChrisMOOSE! You won't want to miss this!

Hi, I'm Mark the Moose (the one on the left) and this is my very talented brother Vic Da Moose!  Production of our Moos's book, The Moose at the Manger will continue in January, but we didn't want to stay away that long.

We love the Christmas season and decided that this is a wonderful time to show off our many talents.  We may be just what you need to unwind after the stress of cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc.  Grab your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews for some family-friendly entertainment!  Oh yeah...the most important thing -

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!   

Galena Moose dancin' to his Christmas beat!

Vic Da Moose's special Christmas message!

Mark the Moose is on the loose!

Even I know that grandma really did get run over by a reindeer!

Did you know that for every 5 million turkeys you encounter only 2 of them can sing!

What happens when we all get together and sing? 

You won't want to miss this show!

(Our audience seems to enjoy it too!)

We hope this brought a smile to your face.

From our moose family to yours-

Merry ChrisMOOSE!

My First Birthday

As Christmas approaches each year and we celebrate the birth of Jesus, I am reminded of my very first birthday!  I was also born in December, though the exact date is unknown.  When I was with my new Poppy and Moo for one whole year, we had a big celebration!

I didn't have many moose brothers or sisters yet, but I was surrounded by friends!

We had punch and cake and I opened a few gifts too!

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Now that our family has gotten sooooo big and we have a special visit each year from our Christmas friends,  we wait until December and have a month-long celebration leading up to the biggest celebration of all...Jesus' Birthday! 

This is our most favorite time of year!

(And not just because I smell meatballs cooking in the oven right now either...Mmmmm)



Welcome Benjamin!



Chris

I am Chris, the main moose, and I just had to take a moment to welcome the newest member of our family.  I'd like you to meet Benjamin!

Benjamin

Hi! I'm Benjamin and I am soooooo happy to be here in this family!  I spotted the lady called "Moo" while she was walking through a store. Right away my antlers started to twitch.  I was getting a message that I should call attention to myself, so Moo would take me home.  So...when she passed me by on the shelf, all she heard was, "Psssssstttttt!"  She looked around and I waved at her with my big front paw.  After that it was moose at first sight. 

The lady that I now lovingly call Moo looked me over to make sure I was a true "family member" and then off we went.  After paying for my "birth certificate" at the check-out counter, she buckled me in the car and we headed to my new home...Chris' house.

I've only been here a few days, but I already LOVE it here.

Tonight, it's my turn to read before bed...I am reading our Moo's very first book,

My Hero, My Ding.

I heard great things about it and I can't wait to read the fun stories about her and her grandpa!

Benjamin getting ready to read
to some of his new brothers and sisters!

It's good to be a moose!

An interview with our military moose!

I'm sitting here today interviewing the two winners of our costume constest!

Military Moose aka Hunter and GI Moose

Old Reliable:  Welcome boys!  Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to answer a few questions for our readers!

Hunter Moose:  It's our pleasure!  We love to talk (especially about ourselves).

Old Reliable:  First question, "What are your real names and where are you originally from?"

Hunter:  That's an easy one. Thanks for asking.  My real name is Hunter Moose and I help my brother here with some of his daily duties.  I am originally from Michigan.

GI Moose:  My name is GI moose, and I actually did not dress up in a military costume; I am a military moose.

Old Reliable: This next question is for GI Moose.  What is your military experience?

GI:  Well, I retired from the military as a 4- Antler General!   I proudly served with many great men and women in the military. I did tours in many different places, most of which I can't disclose because of their top secret status. 

Ol' Reliable:  What types of things do you do now?

Hunter:  GI is one of the moose in charge of protection duty for Chris' house.  I am there to assist him.

Ol' Reliable:  A viewer would like to know how it feels to have a book written about you?

GI:  Though neither Hunter nor I are the main characters in our Moo's new book, we are very excited to have a fellow moose as a main character.  The moose in The Moose at the Manger is a very special moose who brings another dimension to the Christmas story and to the importance of family.  I could go on and on, but I don't want to give too much of the plot away just yet!  (But, if you want to know a secret, I heard in a few weeks, we finally get to reveal the moose's name!)

Ol' Reliable:  Another viewer question...When did a moose repalce frogs in the author's life? 

Kermit the Frog (as himself):  Hi Ho, Kermit the Frog here!  I thought you'd never ask this question.  Believe it or not, the author, Lisa, still has ALL of her Kermit the Frog collection.  It's basically like having pictures and toys from way back when I was just a little tadpole.  Now that I'm grown, we put my picture and toys aside and made room for the moose.  Chris, the main moose, came in 1993.  Since then, my friend Ragmop (pictured here with me) and I hang out with the moose all of the time.  They are some very cool Alces alces (which is the high class name for moose)!

Ol Reliable: Thanks so much Kermit for stoppin' by! 

Kermit the Frog:  No problem.  I hear something going on in the kitchen. I think I'll go investigate! 

Ol Reliable: I have one final question from a reader and I know you'll enjoy answering this one.  How do you, as a moose, support our military and military families?

Hunter: Oh please, let me answer first!  Not just GI and I, but all of us moose have the utmost respect for all the men and women in uniform- those currently in the military as well as veterans.  Throughout the year we donate to the military and military-related causes.  Most recently...

GI: I'll pick it up here Hunter...Most recently, we have gotten involved in the Honor Flight program and have made cards for many WWII Veteran's who have gone to Washington DC.  For Christmas this year we are giving donatations of non-perishable goods to help send baskets to 12 WWII Veterans who live in the Chicagoland area.  We just went shopping the other day. We brought along some extra help along to carry the packages and we had a great time!

Ol' Reliable:  Wow!  You guys are great!  What a nice way to show your appreciation to our veterans.

                      Thanks for the entertaining and informative interview.  Special thanks to our guest frog, Kermit! 



And the WINNER is...



Ol' Reliable

I am Ol' Reliable, and I am the moose that picked the lucky winner!  I am one of the oldest moose in the family and as my name states, I am very reliable.  Now you know why my brothers and sisters put me in charge of this contest.

Unfortunately, I am not a good typist, so please read this slowly so I'll be able to keep up with you!

I first worked on putting all of the names in our special contest hat?

Then I asked for the traditional "drum roll" that is played before any big event!  

Finally, the person who will receive the first autographed copy of

The Moose at the Manger when it's released was revealed -

And that lucky WINNER is NANCY G. !!!!!!

On behalf of our Moo and all of our moose family we want to thank all those who participated.  Stay tuned for future contests.  Oh, I almost forgot...we had two contests going!  Let's see who won the moose costume contest...

It was a very close race, but the winners of our costume contest are...

The Mighty Hunters

Taking second place is 007 Moose - James Moose

The Mighty Hunters are now gathering their questions and working on their responses.  They are very excited about winning and being able to talk to you soon!

Some Special Christmas Friends!

Winkles

I am Winkles (aka Winky Butt) and I spend a lot of time helping out my Pop in the kitchen!  We had a food-filled Thanksgiving eating the meal the pilgrims wished they had, and it was DELICIOUS!

The next  best part of Thanksgiving weekend isn't the hustle and bustle of shopping, but the long-awaited arrival of our Christmas friends.  This year their arrival was later than expected due to a layover in Walla, Walla Washington where they ate walleye and wings while they waited. 

Here at Chris' house, while we anxiously waited for them, our Moo was back at work doing one more round of edits.  First she got into her creative writing mode...

Then she went to work!

After many hours, our antlers started to twitch (Moo's too) and we knew our Christmas friends were almost here.  Before we knew it, the doorbell rang and we had a special delivery!

Christmas Friends

After such a long journey, the Christmas friends unwound in the living room telling us all about their trip!

Finally, they settled in and relaxed.

Moo read them the The Moose at the Manger and they just LOVED it!

It's going to be a great month with our special friends!

From all of us to all of you...

Chilly on the Outside...Chili on the Inside!

This is Pricilla checking in and giving you an important Moose at the Manger update! Our Moo heard back from her conceptual editor and now she has some work to do on her story to get it ready for the next step in production.  Since we moose work so well together, a group of us volunteered to help.

Here's an overview of the story!

Pencil Moose (from Pennsylvania) volunteered to take notes!

While the editing gang started to brainstorm some ideas there was a delicious smell wafting through Chris's house.  They took a peak in the kitchen to see what they could see...

Wow!  A huge pot of chili simmering on the stove...what a great incentive to get their creative juices flowing. It also brought back some special memories for ChrisMasMoose...so he dug out an old picture to share with you.

This was taken many moose years ago when Poppy was making chili and I helped in the kitchen for the very first time.

As you can see I loved the chili and ate every last morsel. I've been hooked on people food ever since!

 Well enough reminiscing for one day...

It's time to get back to work!

After a hard day of editing and feeling the chill of the wind while seeing leaves pass by the window, tonight's chili will be even better!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reminder! 10 days left to enter to win...

Don't forget there is still time to vote for your favorite costume in our "Moose Costume Contest" and you will be entered in a drawing for a FREE AUTOGRAPHED copy of The Moose at the Manger when it comes out in 2012. Just click HERE 

Winner will be picked December 1, 2011!

Conceptual Editing...Moose-style



Duffles and Ruffles



As you can see by our picture we are Duffles and Ruffles. I am Duffles, the taller moose, and Ruffles is my little brother.  We have lived here in Chris's house now for almost 15 years. We  never imagined becoming a civilized moose would be so much fun, but my brother and I love it!  One of the best parts is being able to sleep in a bed.  What a concept that is!

Our book, The Moose at the Manger, is progressing nicely.  This month we are in the conceptual editing phase.  Grammar and spelling and that kind of editing is important but certainly not as interesting as conceptual editing.   We have spent the last week helping our Moo organize some thoughts as to certain images and feelings she wants to make sure come through in the story.

Here we are proofreading Moo's notes to make sure they make sense before she sends them to her editor.  We figure, if we moose can understand them, then everyone else should be able to also.

We don't mind saying ourselves that we think this is going to be quite a book when it is finished!

Don't forget there is still time to vote for your favorite costume in our "Moose Costume Contest" and you will be entered in a drawing for a FREE AUTOGRAPHED copy of The Moose at the Manger when it comes out in 2012.  Just click HERE

Festive Pictures, Great Costumes, and a Chance to VOTE (and win)!

We can't begin to tell you what a wonderful time we had on Halloween!  We went out in groups to be safe.  We made sure to come in before dark too. Once we were home we shared all of our goodies with the rest of our moose family (and there's over 200 of them)! 

We should be working on some edits now for our new book The Moose at the Manger, but a promise is a promise...Halloween pictures first for all of our readers to enjoy and then we'll help our Moo with the edits. 

First a few pictures -  up close and personal...

The Mighty Hunters

Aarrrbbeeee Matie!  The Pirate

Moose McBRIDE

BULL Moose

Rip Van Mooskles...Yawn!

Who wouldn't want to be a moose?!

007 Moose - James Moose

 Leaving the house to go Trick-or-Treating...

The Moose Menagerie... Elephant moose, Pig moose, Dolphin moose and Frog moose

Vacation moose!

007 Moose, "Bear"ly moose, Dr. ChrisMoose, Ohio State moose

When we got back to the house all of us Moose Trick-or-Treaters took a group photo...

We can't wait to do this all over again next year, but in the meantime you can vote for your favorite Halloween moose while we pack up our costumes! Include your name and email address and you will be entered in a drawing to win a free copy of our upcoming book THE MOOSE AT THE MANGER which will be released in 2012!

Come join the fun and send this on to someone else so they can too!

The winner will be picked on December 1st!

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