A Curious George Christmas

If you are making a list and checking it twice, I think I may have found a children's movie that, in a very simple way, may help you fill your Christmas list.

“The Very Monkey Christmas” is a Christmastime story about a problem Curious George and The Man with the Yellow Hat were having. They must both find out what each other wants for Christmas.

Curious George is an American animated educational children’s television series based on the children’s book series of the same name that ran from 2006-2015.

In this story, George draws out his Christmas list with a simple picture,  but The Man with the Yellow Hat cannot seem to figure out what it is, and George can’t decide what he should get The Man with the Yellow Hat for Christmas.

Meanwhile, together they decorated a tree that was way too big for the house, visited their neighbors, participated in a Christmas play, prayed for snow, and had fun with friends.

Yet as Christmas got nearer, each became more desperate to figure out what the other wanted for Christmas. The Man with the Yellow Hat conferred with his most intelligent associates to decipher the shapes on Curious George's Christmas list, but no one could figure it out. The Man with the Yellow Hat was beginning to think that maybe he was not a good master to his monkey because he couldn't figure out what his friend wanted.

Curious, George knew his master loved snow, but there was no way he could make snow. And no other gift seemed good enough. Finally, standing in front of a toy store window they often visited together, The Man with the Yellow Hat realized the shapes George had drawn were the toys’ shapes in the window. He knew exactly what George wanted.

On Christmas day, The Man with the Yellow Hat gave George the presents in the shapes of the boxes he had drawn. George was so excited because his friend figured out his Christmas lists.

George gave his master a rolled-up piece of paper for his gift. When The Man with the Yellow Hat unrolled the paper, there were drawings of everything they had done together since the holidays began, such as picking out their Christmas tree, bending the top down with a chair so it would fit, going to church, and participating in the play, helping their friend write a song for her mother and making cookies.

The Man with the Yellow Hat was so touched because he realized that what he gave his monkey friend every day in life made him happy, and George was happy because The Man in the Yellow Hat knew him well enough to keep looking until he understood what his friend wanted. Oh, and suddenly there was snow outside.

As I snuggled with our grandchildren watching this adorable story with such an important message, I thought about our Christmas together. We brought lots of presents, but that was not what made them so happy. It was our time together, snuggling, telling stories, taking walks, riding their bikes, and spreading peanut butter and extra honey on their sandwiches. They counted the days while we were there and planned the moments we could be together; laughing, singing, and just talking together.

Christmas is so much more than the presents we put under the tree. The greatest gift we can give to those we love is to be present with them in moments we have together.

Deana Landers
Author for Morningcoffeebeans.com

I have had many roles in life
Pastor’s Wife , Mom/Nana , Nurse/Health Educator, Writer , Christian Speaker
I can't remember a time when I wasn't writing stories, either in my head or in my journal.

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