Once upon a time a family from a town not so far away left that town to celebrate Christmas with their far-away relatives. Just before they left, they threw a festive gala where lovely people brought many delicacies to the family. The family had no trouble eating the leftover delicacies, except for one bag of chocolate.

Upon their return to their cozy home, the family wondered what became of the bag of chocolate, for they had a taste for it’s rich, cocoa goodness. They searched high and low for the bag of chocolate the night they returned, but it was nowhere to be found.

The next morning, when the mother was up bright and early, she noticed a golden bag on the back porch. What can that be? she wondered. On further investigation, she realized it was the bag that the chocolate had been stored in — and the bottom was chewed up.  But where were the chocolates?

Then the ever-vigilant mother noticed some clear plastic wrappers leading in a line away from the bag of chocolate towards the door. More of the wrappers littered the floor of the porch, near the door.

Now, how could that have happened? the mother asked herself as she looked more closely at the screened door.

A HA! She cried. The screen has been damaged!

A hungry woodland creature must have chewed through the screen, leaped up and stolen the bag off the table (where it had been left). Then this creature must have gnawed off the bottom of the bag, and tried to carry the chocolates out the hole in the screen door. Something must have gone wrong, and the poor creature ate the chocolates instead of taking them back to its nest as a Christmas treat for its family.

But what woodland creature could it have been? I suspect a squirrel. Once one gnawed through the screen door to get to our nephew’s pie. (Smart squirrel — that pie was really good.)