Please meet Kris, a 2006 Steiff Limited Edition Father Christmas Teddy bear

Please meet Kris, a Limited Edition Steiff Father Christmas Teddy bear.  He was manufactured in 2006, and he is number 434 of 2006 produced worldwide.  He retains all his tags.  He has soft white alpaca fur and wears a hooded green velvet coat that is trimmed in white faux fur and closes with a stylish gold cord.  He has an unusual red nose with gold thread accents.   Kris also has a music box inside which plays, "We Wish you a Merry Christmas."  He has flat feet, and he can carefully stand on his own.  He is 10 inches tall and is in excellent, pristine condition.

There are a lot worse things in life for a Teddy bear than being part of the Steiff family.    You could be one of those bears that are packed away in a box when a child has lost interest, spending years collecting dust with moths eating away at your unmentionables, or you could be on an online auction block for a few pennies doing your best to keep smiling, hoping some sad sack, lonely person clicks on the Buy-It-Now option, or even worse,  end up in the dustbin headed for the crematorium.

Steiff has produced millions of Teddy bears and all sorts of woodland creatures and dolls  since Margarete Steiff sold her first toy elephant in the 1880s in Germany.  When you're an ordinary Steiff bear, there's always the possibility you will be deemed a valuable heirloom and handed down from generation to generation in a bear-centric family.   When you're a Steiff limited edition holiday Ted like Kris, you are definitely a very special Teddy bear.  Rank certainly has its privileges.

Kris loved his green velvet coat and took special care to ensure its longevity.   Other Teddy bears regularly commented on the quality of his bright white alpaca fur, and as part of his morning ablutions, those threads of gold on his nose were kept looking primped and polished.   His daily exercise regimen, which consisted of simply touching his toes ten times in the morning, kept his body nice and plump as a Teddy bear ought to be.   He set his standards very high.

Of course, Kris enjoyed his Father Christmas role, and when he cried "ho-ho-ho" with his booming voice, there was no greater feeling than to see a young bear cub's eyes light up with excitement.   But there were times throughout the year when he shed his festive attire and went into the world wearing a hat to cover his ear flag and button and a jacket that hid his chest tag from view.  He just wanted to be part of the regular Teddy bear crowd.   It gave him a sense of freedom when he wasn't constrained by any preconceived expectations.   

He remembers one day in particular when he observed a group of Teddy bears who were huddled together in the park.  They were trying to organize a pickup game of American flag football, but they needed one more player.   Before he realized it and against his better judgment, he was recruited.    He didn't pretend to know all the rules, and with those flat feet of his, he worried he couldn't run very well, but his fellow teammates encouraged him as they ran up and down the field, chasing the ball carrier, trying to remove the flag from his belt.    At the end of the day, he was an exhausted, slightly muddy and very, very happy Teddy bear.    He invited his new friends out to his favorite ice cream parlor, where they ordered everything on the menu, sundaes and banana splits and gelato and even frozen yogurt.   Afterwards, he bid them goodnight with a spirited "ho-ho-ho."   Rank does indeed have its privileges.