On Christmas morning, Mama Chipmunk, Rabbit, and Old Possum each awoke to a houseful of guests — cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and friends — who had all been invited to stay the night, whether they’d ventured over from the woods the day before for Old Possum’s party, or merely to keep them from being alone on Christmas morning.

And as everyone lingered over three different holiday-breakfast feasts — rich, herb-scented chestnut gravy on toast at Mama Chipmunk’s; fragrant carrot curry with hard-boiled eggs at Rabbit’s; and at Old Possum’s (where Raccoon and Mrs. Mouse had taken over the kitchen), mountains of cinnamon pancakes — the choir of robins, who had been rehearsing for weeks, launched into their first official round of holiday caroling.

(Late December 2023)

Story © Jennifer Singleton / Read+Purr

This is another vignette in my ongoing series of Tiny Garden Stories: peaceful 1-minute tales that let you read like a kid again. Click one of the first two buttons below to go to (or back to, if that’s where you fell down the rabbit hole) either the “Public Garden” archive page or (if you’re a Story Club member) to the members-only “Private Garden” page. Or click the third button to learn more about my Tiny Garden Stories. If you’re new to Tiny Garden Story-land and would like 10 days’ worth of stories from our first year, visit ReadPurrNewsletter.com.