**Reposted at special request, first posted Christmas 2005**

Christmas Day at the Rainbow Bridge was always a busy one. Ferrets
running here and running there taking little gifts to one another from
items they had tucked away to give as presents and everyone was taking
there turn at the edge of the rainbow peeking in on their familees.
Since there would be no greetings that day, Mully thought it was about
high time he, SaraFerret, and SandeeFerret got together just the three
of them for a day of fun and relaxation. (Actually when you stop to
think about it, ferrets are so skilled at having fun, any more talented
and you would need to call the bunko squad and if they got any more
relaxed, you would be putting a mirror under their noses to make sure
they were breathing)

The Boss being the Boss and knowing how much the three ferrets loved
the snow, He set aside a special section at the Rainbow Bridge, fixed
up a ski slope for them and told them to go and have fun. They had
worked hard all year long greeting the ferrets as they arrived and
they deserved a day without tears.

Muldoone, SandeeFerret and SaraFerret were rolling in the snow,
throwing snowballs at one another and just having fun in general.
SaraFerret had brought along her mousie angel friends and over the hill
she she would go flying with the mousies riding on her shoulders. Sara
wore a beautiful long woolen scarf around her neck and the mousies
would hang on to it for dear life as she went flying over the hill.
Mully was getting a little concerned about the mice putting their paws
over her eyes and once they did have a wipe-out and everyone went
flying. It took a bit to locate one of the mousie angels, he was
buried in a snow bank with just his little pink butt sticking out.

Following a morning of fun and games at the slopes, the three
ferrets were pretty tuckered out and they still had a good portion
of their special "day off" to fill. SaraFerret had heard of a new
beauty-and-make-over salon that had opened at the Rainbow Bridge and
she wanted the three of them to check it out. "Come on guys, we can
gets makes-obers. Mully, maybe dey can fixes dat hammy-head-hair of
yurs, Sandee maybe dey can fixes yur tail, and me, I wants new
furrrrrrrrrr" SarraFerret stated shivering in the cold. "I hates being
bald so wets go" and off they went in search of their new make-overs.

Arriving at the salon, the three ferrets were greeted by a beautiful
mink who told them if they could wait just a bit all three of them
could get make-overs, they were just finishing up on a couple of
appointments. "Sure we can waits a bit" SandeeFerret answered
excitedly. With her eyes sparkling bright she looked sadly at her
tail, "and then maybe I can get this fixed" she mumbled to herself.

At last the three ferrets were ushered in and directed to a chair.
SandeeFerret was first to explain what she needed, she and her tail had
been in a most unfortunate incident and she badly needed it fixed and
would like to have a delicate green bow on the tip of it when all was
finished.

SandeeFerret was next to explain what she needed which was not all that
hard to figure out, she was BALD, this ferret needed some fur and her
tootsies were still a bit frosty from the ski slopes.

"Pwease" Mully told the beautiful mink salon-operator, "I needs someone
to tame dis hammy-head-hair of mine."

"I tink we can dooes dat" the mink chattered away. "Our early shift
bees goin off for da day but we has our affernoons shift comin on and
dey be here any minute, dey be some hip characters, I be sure dey can
fixes da three of you right ups." I gets you set up in a chair and yous
can just lay back and get comfy, SandeeFewet, sworry but we needs you
tails up."

Muldoone thought he heard SandeeFerret say something about it being
embarrassing about being "tails up" but he figured they could endure
the indignity of it all if they could get a make-over and the three
of them walk away looking a bit more like normal ferrets.

"And Mz SaraFerret" the mink salon operator cooed at her, "because
your tootsies are still so cold, I want you to soak them in this warm
solution and we will throw in a pedicure for the three of you on the
house."

The salon was so warm and cozy, soft dooking and chattering music was
playing in the background, the three of them were tired from the ski
slope, and it just felt so relaxing to lay back and let someone else
take care of you. "I be walking away from here one handsome fewet"
Muldoone muttered to himself as he was drifting off to sleep.

Next thing the three ferrets knew, they were being jolted out of a
sound sleep to the sound of a ferret shrieking at the top of their
lungs. Muldoone opened his eyes to see Nanna standing there glaring
her best glare stare at all three of them. One glance at her expression
and the smoke trickling out both her ears told Muldoone something was
not just exactly right.

"Muldoone, I think you had better tell me what is going on here" Nanna
demanded of him. "I don't think I have ever seen such a sight in all
my life!!" she told him.

"Uh, uh, hi Nanna" Mully stammered, we be getting a makes-over;
SandeeFerret getting her tail fixted, SaraFerret getting some fur,
and me, I no longer has hammy-head-hair" Muldoone told his boss.

"Oh you are right about that Muldoone, you no longer have
hammy-head-hair" Nanna hissed at him. "What I want to know is,
who is responsible for this mess" Nanna demanded to know.

The lights in the salon had been dimmed a bit and it made it a little
difficult to see but on the other side of the large room stood a huge
Christmas tree complete with decorations of every kind BUT dancing
around the tree were what appeared to be three heavily intoxicated
reindeer. They were dancing, laughing, hooting, giving one another
high-twos... reindeer don't have enough digits to give one another
high-fives.

Nanna went stomping over to the reindeer demanding to know who was
responsible for the "make-overs" done on Muldoone, SaraFerret, and
SandeeFerret.

One of the reindeer introduced himself as Morris and he must have not
been the brightest chap in Santa's stable. He bent down to be more on
Nanna's level and he smiled and asked her if she was there for her
make-over as the other two reindeer snickered and giggled. Poor Morris
never saw it coming, Nanna stretched that reindeer out in the floor
with one punch right between his little reindeer eyes.

Whirling back around to confront Muldoone SandeeFerret, and SaraFerret,
Nanna shrieked at the three of them, "Have you seen yourselves?"

"Uh no Nanna, dey not let us look, dey say dey wants it to be a
surprise" Muldoone explained to his boss.

"Well then I suggest the three of you get a look at yourselves and you
will see why they didn't want you to see what they were doing" Nanna
told them.

About that time one of the other reindeer came prancing over and
introduced himself as Slim. "I don't see what you are getting so huffy
about Mz Nanna, I think they look fine and it just so happens the
make-overs we gave them is all the rage at the North Pole."

Nanna whirled back around on the reindeer Slim and he immediately began
backing up while glancing over at his buddy Morris still stretched out
in the floor and their other friend Charlie trying to bring him around.
"I don't care what you do at the North Pole, this is the Rainbow Bridge
and this is not going to work."

"SandeeFerret, SaraFerret, Muldoone, front and center, let me get a
look at the three of you so I can see what we will have to do to fix
this."

Sandee and Sara both scrambled to their feet pronto but when Mully
tried to get up he found he was tied to something. It felt as his head
was attached to some object and he couldn't get out of the chair. When
he reached up with a paw to feel, he felt a cord of some sort running
from his head. "Nanna, I needs help, I no can gets up" Muldoone told
his boss.

"Muldoone, you need help alright but with more than just getting up"
Nanna scolded him.

SaraFerret and SandeeFerret couldn't bring themselves to look at one
another, they just stood staring at the floor, something told them they
were in big trouble and when Mully looked at them he could not believe
his eyes. No wonder the reindeer were giggling! While standing at
attention for Nanna's inspection SaraFerret realized she felt toasty
warm for the first time in a long time and wondered how that was
possible. She dared to glance down at her feet and she saw red and
white fur on her feet, L O N G fluffy red and white fur on her feet and
she had to wonder where the heck that came from. Sandee felt something
very different about her tail, she was not sure but she knew something
was different about it but had not been brave enough to look and see.
Sneaking glances around the room, she was very puzzled to see bird
feathers scattered about... But worst of all was when they got a look
at Muldoone; neither ferret was sure whether to laugh or cry for their
friend. Those punch-drunk reindeer had done one wicked make-over on
Muldoone!!

Seeing his two friends Sara and Sandee looking at him with their eyes
big and round he had to ask, "well how dooes I wook?"

At that moment from somewhere inside the shop one of the reindeer
flipped a switch and then all that could be heard in the salon was
howls of laughter coming from the three of them as they danced around
the Christmas tree.

The sight of the punch-drunk renegade reindeer was too much for Nanna
not to mention what they had done to her junior Bridge greeter. She let
out a blood curdling shriek rushing at them. Nanna was screaming at
them, lunging, and biting and when you stop to think about it must have
looked pretty funny, how high up can a ferret bite a reindeer? Chew em
off at the ankles?

SaraFerret and SandeeFerret rushed to Muldoone's chair, scrambled up
into his lap, leaped onto the counter and each grabbed a corner of the
black cloth that covered the mirror, then whirled him around in the
chair so he could see himself. Poor Mully didn't know what to say, all
he could do was sit there staring with his mouth hanging open. In the
meanwhile, Sandee and Sara got a good look at themselves and what the
reindeer had done.

SaraFerret had new fur alright but what the renegade reindeer didn't
tell her was exactly where they were going to get the fur for her
make-over. A red and white long-haired guinea pig had been there
earlier for a cut and style. The punch-drunk trio had glued the guinea
pig fur on to poor SaraFerret covering her baldness. In theory, the
idea was great but NO ONE had ever seen a ferret with long, wavy red
and white hair!!

And SandeeFerret; she now had covering on her tail, her tail was
nolonger sparse from the nasty tail braiding incident that went
horribly wrong. Oh no!! Her tail was covered.... IN BIRD FEATHERS!!!

But the worst was Muldoone. He had come for a make-over to fix his
hammy-head-hair and true he no longer had hammy-head-hair, he looked
more like he had a Christmas tree growing out of the top of his head.
The make-over artists had collected hair from who knows where and gave
him a hair weave. He now had hair that stood up about 12 inches and
they had spray-painted it half red and half green and then they had
woven twinkling Christmas tree lights all through his fur. No wonder
they had howled with laughter when they flipped the switch; it was
to turn on the twinkling lights.

Mully was starting to get worried, he had never seen Nanna so mad. She
was madder than the time the tractor got stuck on the Rainbow Bridge.
Whirling around to give the reindeer another go at it, they were
nowhere to be found, they have ran for their lives with good cause.
Nanna decided right then and there she would be having a talk with
Santa and realizing it was a busy time at the North Pole, he must keep
closer check on his renegades and make sure they didn't get a chance
to pull another stunt like this ever again.

"Sandee, Sara, help me" Nanna told them, "we will get the lights out
of Muldoone's fur and then we will deal with your make-overs."

What seemed like hours later, they finally got the last of the
twinkling light out of Mully's fur, Nanna found scissors and she
trimmed all the hair extensions back to a reasonable length and then
instructed her junior Bridge greeter to wear his cap at all times and
not to take it off for any reason.

Next was to remove the feathers from Sandee's tail which was not easy,
they were not only woven together but they were glued on so Nanna,
Muldoone, and Sara quickly began the process of "de-feathering
SandeeFerret's tail.

Next came SaraFerret and trying to figure out how to best tackle her
"unique" make-over. Nanna managed to figure out how to work the
clippers and while Sara endured the indignity of it all, she allowed
herself to be buzzed off. Even though the color was all wrong, she had
enjoyed having fur again even for a little while.

Nanna lined the three ferrets up and was giving them another "what for"
asking for the one hundredth time "how could you let this happen, don't
you know not to trust renegade reindeer at Christmas time?"

"Nanna" began Muldoone, "we not knos, we onliest want to fixes
ourselves."

Glaring at the three of them, Nanna drew in a long breath. Mully knew
it would be a long time before his boss forgot this one.

"Sara, Sandee, Muldoone, I want you to listen to me. The three of you
look the way you do because that is how the Boss wants you to look.
Sara, for whatever reason, the Boss has decided you don't need fur,
thatis why you were not given new fur when you arrived at the Rainbow
Bridge. Sandee, there was nothing wrong with your tail so when you went
for the tail make-over and it all went bad, you have no one to blame
but yourself. You were just as the Boss wanted you to be BEFORE you
got the idea to spruce it up. And Muldoone...... no one knows what the
reason is for your hammy-head-hair. I have talked to the Boss about
it and when I ask Him when He is going to fix it, He only smiles.
Apparently you are suppose to have hammy-head-hair. The three of you
are very special ferrets and you look just as you are suppose to look.
Outward appearances are not important, the Boss looked into each of
your hearts and He saw what was there and that is what makes you
special and that is why you were given the jobs you have.

A long long time ago an event took place and we continue to celebrate
every year at this time. That event resulted in the greatest gift that
could be given to the world yet the gift came with no fan fair, no
fancy coverings or bows, it was what was on the inside that made it
special. Stop trying to change yourselves to what everyone else sees,
let them see what in on the inside, let them see what is pure and true
and that is what is in each of your hearts. That is your gift to the
rest of all that reside at the Rainbow Bridge."

At the close of the day and the ferrets had broken up into their own
little groups talking among themselves as they each reflected on the
meaning of the day. Each ferret looked at the picture they had of their
loved ones tucked away in their hearts and they whispered their love to
their familiees on earth.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!

~~MuldooneFerret~~
(Rainbow Bridge Resident)

[Posted in FML 5831]