“What’s a Christmas squirrel, Mommy?” Sara’s eyes grew wide with curiosity.
“What? You’ve never heard of Christmas squirrels?” Her mother gasped, acting surprised.
“Uh, uh,” Sara’s twin brother, Reid, chimed in.
“Well, you two are in for a treat.” She bonked her daughter on her nose. “Hop on up!” The twins scrambled onto the sofa and pulled a soft blanket to their chins.
Festive music filled the room as a gray squirrel donning a Santa suit flew a red sleigh across their TV. “Ho! Ho! Ho!”
“Did you see the Christmas squirrel?” She gave her twins a squeeze, remembering the first time she saw the Christmas squirrel as a child.
“Yes! We did!” they chanted in unison, jumping up and down on the sofa.
Meanwhile, outside their living room window, a squirrel sniffed a nut. “Hmm…” Shana picked it up. “Maybe I’ll take this one.” Then, she heard a girl say, “what’s a Christmas squirrel, Mommy?”
“Wait–what? A squirrel? ME?” Shana’s ears perked up. “I’m a squirrel! ME! ME! ME!” She pressed her nose against the windowpane, staring at the family inside. “Are they calling ME?”
Behind the family, Shana spotted freshly baked hazelnut cupcakes decorated red and green for Christmas. “Mmm, hazelnuts,” Shana inhaled, her mouth watering. “They smell sooo good. Maybe, this year, I’ll get one.” She spun around in a circle, imagining the tasty treat.
“I bet you get all the cupcakes you want, Christmas squirrel,” she whispered, her tummy rumbling as she bit into her nut.
Inside, the mother continued, “this Christmas squirrel is from the Big Apple. Do you know where the Big Apple is?” Her kids shook their heads. “It’s in New York City, way up on the mainland.”
“Ooo! Are there big apples there?” Sara asked.
“No, my dear, but that would be so yummy, huh?” her mother laughed, loving her daughter’s inquisitive mind.
“Why does the Christmas squirrel live there if there aren’t any apples?” Reid asked.
“As the story goes, New York City is where the hazelnut cupcake tradition began. The families gift them at Christmas, and you know, squirrels love hazelnut cupcakes!”
“Wait–what? Christmas squirrels? With hazelnut cupcakes?” Shana froze and turned her gaze back inside. Her eyes popped out of her head as she imagined devouring a sea of hazelnut cupcakes.
“Can we go see the Christmas squirrels, Mommy?” Reid jumped up again.
“Can we please?” Sara turned her cherub face toward her mother’s.
“Yes, Mommy, can WE go?” Shana screamed inside her head, smushing her face against the windowpane.
“It’s very far away. We live all the way down here in Puerto Rico, and New York City is all the way up here.” She used her hands to show the immense distance.
“I still wanna go.” Sara pouted.
“Me too! Take ME!” Shana implored. “I want those cupcakes.”
“Well, to get to New York City from here, we would have to take a boat for several days to Florida, and from there, a bus for over 24 hours to New York.” Their mother yawned. “It’s quite a long trip.”
Then, as if on cue, “look, here comes the squirrel again.” Easily distracted, the twins turned back to the movie.
The squirrel perched outside was not so easily distracted, however. She already hatched a plan.
“Boat, Bus, New York, Cupcakes! Boat, Bus, New York, Cupcakes! I’ve got this!” Shana could almost taste the cupcakes’ smooth hazelnutty goodness. She gathered the remaining nuts on the ledge, took one last, longing look at the cupcakes inside, and scampered to the sea in search of a boat.