Wake Up, Bear, It's Christmas, by Stephen Gammell

Bear is smiling in the first illustration - and everything that he says comes out in rhyme. (Though he falls asleep in mid-sentence when it's time to start hibernating...) He wants to wake up and see Christmas,but "The weeks went by. The forest was still and silent. The only sound was the wind as it blew softly during the day, and harder at night..."It was Stephen Gammell's first full-color children's book, though he'd been illustrating them since 1973. Seven years later he'd win a Caldecott Honor for "Song and Dance Man," but the illustrations in this book are even more special. Gammell lives in Minneapolis, and he's a lifelong midwesterner, according to the book's jacket. In fact, the book's story was inspired by "an enjoyment of winter...and Christmas...and bears...and sleeping." The book's jacket uses white blotches for snow over a pretty mottled blue background, but when the bear first arrives, the story feels a little generic. ("I'm so glad I'm wide awake tonight on Christmas Eve...," the bear sings to himself.) He puts on a scarf and mittens, and brings home a nice pine tree to decorate. But the story gets more interesting with a visitor who's sporting a red jacket and a big white beard."Hello, Bear. I saw your light.I'll warm myself, if that's all right?"Bear finally has someone to talk to, and invites in the stranger to pass time in his cozy den. Bear plays songs on his guitar, while the man in the red suit talks about snow and the wind. They enjoy Chrismas Eve together, until it's time for the stranger to go. As he cracks open the door into the snowy night, he shares one last rhyme."I thank you, Bear, for all you've done.This really has been lots of fun."But wait, ther'es more! The stranger invites bear for a ride in his reindeer-drawn sleigh, in the book's delightful surprise. It's a beautiful watercolor illustration - there's blue footprints across a white hill of snow, and it's lit by a shiny yellow moon that lights the back of Santa's sleigh. At the top of the hill is the bear - seen from behind - as he runs after Santa, his red scarf trailing behind him.Yes, Santa. (Who else has a reindeer-drawn sled?) Gammell drew the stranger so it was hard to recognize ol' St. Nicholas. But the stranger and the bear agree they'll ride together in the sleigh every Christmas.And then the stranger says "Ho Ho Ho!"