Leo’s Friendsgiving Gathering

Once upon a time in the lands of Whispering Pines, Leo the chipmunk was busy planning his annual Friendsgiving. As he was making his list of guest, he needed to decide who should bring what for the Friendsgiving dinner.

Wise Owl saw what Leo was doing and said, “Maybe you should ask what our friends would like to bring.”

“Why? It’s my Friendsgiving.” Leo said.

“Asking is politer instead of telling your guest what to bring,” said Wise Owl.

Leo looked surprised. He didn't mean to be rude. He always wanted to be kind.

“No, I am not trying to be rude” said Leo, “I’m just so excited about my Friendsgiving dinner!” said Leo.

Leo began to jumped up and down with excitement. The dried fallen leaves jumped in the air beneath his paw feet.

“How about when you invite your friends, ask what they would like to bring to the meal?” said Wise Owl.

“Okay, I will go do that, ” said Leo.

When Leo was about to leave he turned around and looked at Wise Owl saying “Thank you for helping me.”

Wise Owl was was proud of his little chipmunk friend. Leo was growing up to being one smart chipmunk.

Leo raced off into the woods to invite his friends. As he traveled, the aroma of nuts and spices filled the crisp, cold November air.

The chilly breeze rustled the last few leaves on the tree, making them appear to wave at him.

Leo loves this time of year. He really loved that Thanksgiving was a holiday based on bring grateful. Leo had much to be grateful for.

As Leo approached the home of Harper the rabbit and Tom turkey, he could see they were very busy with cooking.

The fresh scents of earthy lettuce, vegetables, and salty fishy welcomed him.

“Hello, friends! Happy Thanksgiving!“ said Leo.

Harper the rabbit hopped around and greeted her friend with a smile.

“Hi Leo, Happy Thanksgiving!” said Harper. "What's up?"

“Oh, Wise Owl and I would like to invite you and Tom Turkey to my Friendsgiving afternoon,” said Leo.

Harper looked at Tom, who was busy stirring his pumpkin pie ingredients in their large wood bowl.

He didn’t look up.

“Tom?” Harper said, “Did you hear Leo? He invited us for a Friendsgiving?”

Tom turned around with a little worried face. “I am not sure that I can go,” he said.

Harper and Leo looked at each other. They had a feeling they knew why Tom didn’t want to go.

“We are not planning to have turkey today. We’ll all eat a pescatarian diets. Nothing but fruits, vegetables, fish and grains.” Leo said.

Tom looked so relieved, “Well, in that case, I would love to join you for Thanksgiving. I mean Friendsgiving dinner.”

“That would be great!” Said Leo. “Do you both want to bring something for the meal?”

Harper said she would like to bring a kale salad with almonds and cranberry sauce. Tom said he would bring fish, pumpkin pie, and vanilla ice cream.

They all talked about the time to show up and Leo left in a hurry to invite his next group of friends.

The chilly winds began to pick up speed as Leo walked into the shadowy forest.

He could hear the creaking and whistling of the bare trees. The reminded him of tall soldiers protecting their lair. It also reminded him of his Halloween night with his friends. It was a little scary.

Leo could see the shadow of his friend, Scout by his fire pit.

Leo called out, “Hello! Happy Thanksgiving!”

"Hi Scout, what are you cooking? It sure smells wonderful!" said Leo

"I whipped up some sweet potatoes with roasted marshmallows for Thanksgiving" said Scout the fox.

"Well, I would like to invite you to my Friendsgiving. Would you like to bring your sweet potatoes to the meal?” Leo said.

Scout the fox was delighted to be invited and said yes immediately.

"I would love to bring my sweet potatoes with roasted marshmallow casserole for dinner," said Scout.

Leo’s mouth watered hearing that Scout would be bringing this tasty treat.

"By the way, where is Buck the deer and Stanley the raccoon, I want to invite them too," said Leo.

"They are out hunting for Thanksgiving. How about I invite them for you. I can even make sure they bring something to the meal," said Scout.

Leo was thankful for the idea and told Scout the time of the dinner. Leo had to get going, he need to do some preparing himself for the dinner party.

He just had one more stop to make first. He wanted to invite his two special guests to his Friendsgiving dinner.

Leo had a feeling that his woodland friends were going to be very surprised and his special guests arrival. He just hoped that they would welcome them into the gathering.

It was Thanksgiving after all.

When Leo got back home, he found Wise Owl working on setting the tree table. Wise Owl had used maple leaves as napkins, sticks as utensils and dried up pine cones for cups.

“This looks great,” said Leo.

“Thank you!” said Wise Owl.

“I need to finish my mushroom and apple stuffing. Our friends could be arriving soon,” said Leo.

The pumpkin spice sky was slowing darkening the afternoon sun rays. Wise Owl and Leo stayed busy with finish up all the decorating and preparing of food for their Friendsgiving meal.

Scout the fox was the first to arrive with his yummy sweet potatoes with roasted marshmallows melted on top.

Buck the deer and Stanley the raccoon arrived with their buttery garlic mashed potatoes, string beans and butternut squash.

The sweet scent all the food floated around the Friendsgiving table. This was making Leo’s so hungry. He was also struggling with nerves in his stomach. His surprised guest would be showing any minute.

Harper the rabbit and Tom turkey arrived with dishes of fresh fish and kale salad. Tom had also his homemade French Vanilla Ice Cream for his pumpkin pie.

All the woodland friends began to sit down for their Friendsgiving dinner, when the all stoped suddenly.

The sounds of leaves being crunched, twigs being snapped could be heard echoing around them.

Each woodland friend, held their breath, who could it be?

Suddenly, two dogs came out from the darken woods. One very large dog with curly chocolate brown with white spots came to stop by their table. Behind him was an elegant smaller dog with long graceful ears that were the color of caramel, sun kissed with a touch of blond and white fur.

Leo, held his breath for a moment, and then began to relax.

“Everyone, this is Duke the Labradoodle and Sadie the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I have invited them as my guests for our Friendsgiving.”

All the woodland animals just stared in horror!

Then, an explosion on everyone talking happened all at once.

“What!” said Buck the deer.

“They can’t stay,” cried Harper the rabbit.

“They are not one of us!” yelled Stanley the raccoon.

“Are you crazy! Dogs chase after me all the time”, said Tom turkey

Scout the fox, and even Wise Owl were shocked. Duke and Sadie looked surprised and sad. They had thought maybe they could join. They were about to turn away when Leo spoke up.

"Quiet, quiet, everyone, listen to me." said Leo. "Duke and Sadie are friendly dogs. I have been to their home. Their parents put bird seed out all the time and I get to have some of the fallen seeds." said Leo.

“So!” said Harper the rabbit.

“Duke and Sadie are friendly dogs,” said Leo.

“But they are NOT one of us!” said Stanley the raccoon. “They are different!”

Leo saw his woodland friends’ faces, looks like this will not be easy.

“Duke and Sadie are dogs, yes, but they are sweet and are very similar to us,” Leo stated.

“Such as?” said Wise Owl.

“Well for starters, they have a great sense of smell, they love to walk outside, explore nature, and they even walk on all four legs” said Leo.

Duke said, “We even eat grass like you! But please don’t tell our parents. They don’t like it when we do that.”

Sadie said, “We even bark like some of you do.”

Leo could see that his friends needed more convincing.

“Keep going,” said Stanley the raccoon.

“We get territorial about our favorite things too,” said Sadie, “Especially Duke, he is not great at sharing.”

Duke looked at Sadie and said, “Just wait until we are alone! I am not that bad!”

Leo did not want Duke and Sadie to start fighting, so he said, "what I am trying to say is, yes they may look different, act different but at the end of the day, we are the same. We are animals that have hearts, lungs, legs, needs, family, friends and we need be loved. Why can’t we just get along?”

Around the Friendsgiving table, all was silent.

After a little time, Wise Owl said “You are right, Leo. We were wrong to act that way. We do look different, have different lifestyles, but we are all animals. We are the same."

Wise Owl looked at all his woodland friends “ Everyone, we should welcome to Duke and Sadie. It’s Friendsgiving, after all.”

The woodland animals surrounded Duke and Sadie with hugs and hellos. Leo was so happy that he got his doggie friends to be welcomed into his group. He loved making friends.

They all sat together, sharing their meal and what they were grateful for. A few of them said nuts and seeds, others said when lazy humans leave their trash outside. The one thing everyone was grateful for was being loved.

Leo was so happy and felt that this was the best Friendsgiving ever!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I hope you enjoyed my story with Leo the chipmunk and introducing two of my own dogs, Duke and Sadie into the cast of characters.

This was originally published on Medium.