RUPERT AND THE CHRISTMAS THAT ALMOST NEVER HAPPENED

The most exciting time for Rupert each Christmas Day was when he received a Father Christmas letter hidden inside his sack of presents providing a summary of his year and mostly how good he'd been.

But for the first time in his young bear life he awoke one Christmas morning to find that there were no presents but even more importantly, no letter.

"Where's the letter, mum?"

But Rupert's mother had no idea and neither did his father.

"Maybe it got delayed with all the weather trouble," Mr Bear suggested but something didn't sit right with Rupert. He could feel it in his tummy.

"I hope he's alright. It's not like him not to write a letter at least."

For the rest of the day, Rupert couldn't settle, restlessly ruminating about Father Christmas and why for the first time in his life he had not left presents or a letter.

Heading out for a walk in the freshly arrived snow, Rupert needed to think through the situation more deeply.

In the whitened fields, Rupert bumped into Jack Frost who was skating on the frozen lake near Rupert's house.

"Hi Rupert! I didn't think I would see anyone out here this early on Christmas morning."

"I wasn't planning on coming out but Father Christmas never showed last night and so I have no presents to enjoy or letter to read. I'm really worried about him."

Jack Frost stopped in his icy tracks and gave some serious thought to what Rupert had just told him.

"Why don't we go to the North Pole and see if we can find out what the matter is?"

"How would we get there, though?" asked Rupert quite sensibly.

"I'll create an ice bridge that we can skate across. I've done it before."

And so Jack proved to do expertly as he'd shot entire pillars of ice from his fingers in front of them and then connected them with robust sheets of frost to skate across.

"We'll be there in no time."

Arriving at the North Pole, Jack Frost led Rupert to Father Christmas's house at the top of the world as he pulled the rusted cast iron doorbell and waited for the grand old man to appear.

But there was no answer.

"How strange! We'll have to find another way in."

Luckily there was a secret access point round the back of the house that Father Christmas had shown Jack Frost years before when he'd come to visit for New Year's Eve.

"Come on, Rupert. Follow me."

Arriving through a cave like entrance to the back of the vast cabin-like house, Jack Frost rememberered where Father Christmas kept his spare key. It was in his right welly outside the back door.

Entering the cosy, red carpeted space with warm, wooden interiors everywhere and the lingering smell of blown out mulled wine candles, the house didn't feel unlived in.

"Father Christmas!" they both called out, throughout his vast house.

It wasn't until they reached his bedroom that they heard a faint murmuring coming from behind the door.

"I'm in here!"

Walking into his bedroom, they found poor Father Christmas lying on his back unable to move.

"Rupert! Jack! Thank heavens you've arrived. I thought I'd not see anyone until next Christmas. I'd sent all the elves home after we'd stacked up all the presents on the back of the sleigh. I came back in quickly to clip some unruly nose hair and that's when I felt it go."

"Felt what go?"

"My back! I think it's a slipped disc."

Jack Frost thinking on his pointy feet shot an ice shaping mould around Father Christmas's prostate body which provided a support for him to get up off his back and stand again.

"My goodness. Thanks, Jack. What would I have done without you?"

Though not a perfect fix and certainly not enough to enable Father Christmas to deliver presents this year, it was enough to help him move gingerly around his bedroom until a doctor could make a better assessment of what was needed to be done regarding his back.

And then Rupert had an inspired idea that could save Christmas from ruination.

"How about Jack and I deliver all the presents this year? It'll be a bit late, probably while most people are recovering from their Christmas lunches, maybe late into Christmas night, even. But they'll get them and you can recover until we get back."

Smiling, Father Christmas couldn't help but gesture for the little bear to come and give him a cuddle.

"You really are the most thoughtful bear of them all."

And the two of them embraced tightly, as the spirit of Christmas was truly contained in this precious moment of selflessness.

"We better get moving" said Jack and with that they had a quick run through proceedings with Father Christmas before they set off.

So between Jack Frost and Rupert, they took over the reins of Father Christmas's festive duties and set about delivering presents and letters to all the children of the world.

It was quite an eye opener for Rupert, especially appreciating the enormity of the task Father Christmas faced each year.

And when they'd completed the epic ritual, Jack dropped Rupert back to his house.

"You saved Christmas for everyone, Rupert. You really should be very proud of yourself."

"So should you! We would never have made it to the North Pole had it not been for your icy magic."

And with that Jack drove the sleigh all the way back to Father Christmas and Rupert returned to his family.

After such a long day, Rupert was extraordinarily tired as he sat by the fire and listened to the carol serive on his father's battered old radio.

Yet not too tired to read the letter Father Christmas had penned for him.

It read ;

"Dear Rupert, you are the epitome of Christmas to my tired old eyes. Whenever faced with hardship or impossible situations you always believe you can overcome them with your optimism, bravery and kindess. Long may you continue to promote these noble values worthy of our festive season. With love from Father Christmas. X"

Rupert felt a warm glow as he thought back on how much him and Jack had done in one day and how happy all the children of the world would be that they acted on their instincts and sought out Father Christmas.

Dedicated to the memory of my dear father Peter Waller, the great writer of Father Christmas letters. X