Jingle, Jingle, Here come the Christmas Hedgehogs!

  The other day when my sweet sister-in-law, Cynthia, helped me decorate my Christmas Tree, she was amazed (or maybe amused) at some of the ornaments.  Everything on the tree has a story..some good, some funny, some just heartwarming.  As we hung the ornaments, the conversation lingered on the stories behind the ornaments. I suppose anyone within hearing range might have thought we had both lost all of our marbles since our chatter bounced from topic to topic.  The tales ranged from how Mom bought the wooden Jumping Jacks for a mere nineteen cents a piece and now those are growing in value..to the plastic Santas that Grandmother had and are now worth a small fortune.  Then there was the story of the Christmas Hedgehogs....that are priceless to me albeit worthless otherwise.  

  The hedgehogs in question were given to me by my sister, Susan. She and I always exchange some quirky gifts for Christmas and are supposed to keep the price below one dollar.  Now to a lot of folks this would be virtually impossible but to us, it is part of the fun.  We scrounge thrift stores, garage sales, neighbor's barns any place that we can find the "perfect" gift.  Years ago, she brought me the two hedgehog ornaments.  The little guys are so...ummm...unusual (yeah..unusual!) that they are downright cute.  They always bring a smile when I see them which is about the only good thing about a hedgehog hanging in the Christmas Tree.  I cannot imagine the havoc a live one would create if it got hung up in the tree!  

  All this talk of hedgehogs got me to thinking about the critter.  I pondered why I have never seen one around the Bayou.  Duh...I felt really dumb when I read up on the animal.  It would be extremely rare sight if I ever did see one roaming about the hillside since there are no hedgehogs living in the wild in the whole United States.  This makes me sort of sad since they are evidently rather nice to have in the garden. Why, we do not even have porcupines! Man, I do believe we are missing out on a good thing.  It seems they eat a ton of garden pests which makes me wish the two ornaments would suddenly come to life and make their home on the Bayou.  Susan, I want a hedgehog....a real one...or two!  Also, maybe a porcupine just for good measure!