George and Amelia needed to find the owner of that sweet little hen that Ronnie had eloped with. So they got on their bike and started up the road. They had to at least try!
Their first few stops were fruitless–although they did get to introduce themselves to some of their neighbours. But then they saw a little rundown house with a little rundown chicken coop, and they stopped to say hello to the old man who was feeding the chickens.
“Excuse me, are you missing a hen?” George called.
“A little brown hen, very pretty and very plump?” the old man asked.
“Yes!” George said. “I’m afraid we have her at our place. We own the Froggy Amish B&B, and… well… there is no nice way to say this. Our rooster has stolen her.”
“It’s about time!” the old man said. “That rooster has been visiting for months, and I was starting to fear for Lucy’s reputation around here. It was high time that rooster committed!”
George and Amelia exchanged a surprised look.
“I’m Elmer Mast,” the old man went on. “And I have some strong opinions about proper courting, I can tell you that.”
“Oh, we agree!” Amelia said. “If it makes you feel any better the new couple has settled in together quite comfortably, and we want to pay you back.”
“With what?” Elmer asked.
“Money?” George asked feebly.
Elmer shook his head. “Nonsense. I won’t take a dime. But I will take a meal at that fancy B&B of yours.”
“Of course!” Amelia beamed. “Please come over tonight! I’ll make a big dinner, and we’d be so happy to have you join us!”
George and Amelia Frog settled into their Amish B&B home to celebrate Christmas. Christmas in Amish Country had two days–Christmas Day, and the day right after Christmas Day called Second Christmas, because there was too much Christmas to fit into just one day.
George and Amelia weren’t quite sure how to celebrate Second Christmas, but their neighbours, Mose and Mary Lapp, invited them over to celebrate with their family.
There was lots of savoury food, sticky desserts, riotous board games, and entertaining chatting. There was also a nicely stoked up wood stove that kept everybody cozy while hot chocolate simmered in a pot on the top of it.
Back in their own cozy home, George and Amelia curled up next to their fireplace with Brigette and their pets, and they felt tired, and full, and thankful. Amelia reread the Christmas card that had come just in time from Patricia Johns and her family, and she looked around their living room.
“Merry Christmas, Amelia,” George said to his wife.
“Merry Christmas, George,” she replied.
And Brigette just looked up at her parents with big, shining eyes. It was a Christmas they would never forget.
It had been a wonderful Christmas. George’s heart was full. When they had decided to run this bed-and-breakfast, he’d known it would be a challenge, and he sensed it would be satisfying, but he never knew how deeply happy he would be working with Amelia and being there for all of Brigette’s adventures.
When he tucked his little froglet into bed, he listened to the sound of Amelia washing dishes downstairs.
“Did you have a good Christmas, Brigette?” George asked softly. “Christmases are wonderful and they come once a year. You’ll have lots of Christmases.”
He bent down and kissed her plump cheek.
“Do you want to hear a poem I made up for you?” He tweaked Brigette’s little toes and she smiled up at him. “It goes like this…
“Hey diddle diddle
The frog and the fiddle
And the pigs ran away from the pen.
I never heard a froglet laugh so hard
As when Ronny ran away with the hen!”
George laughed at his own poetry, and he gave Brigette her bottle to fall asleep.
“I love you, Brigette,” he said, and he stood up, going to the bedroom door. He looked back at his froglet, her eyes shining in the dark room as she looked at him, her bottle in her mouth.
He shut the door behind him and went down the stairs toward the sound of tinkling silverware and clinking china. He’d help his wife clean up. One day, these were going to be “the good old days.” He could just feel it.
*rhyme based upon Mother Goose, tweaked by Papa Johns, Patricia Johns’s father
I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas! Much love from our home to yours!
❤
Patricia Johns 
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