Once upon a time, Monkey Joseph and his wife Millie Mary lived in Bethlehem –
Monkey Joseph liked making things with wood. He was a skilled carpenter which he thought was a funny name for his job as he didn’t make carpets or carpents what ever they were. Any way, he was particularly proud of a little wooden man he had made.
Monkey Joseph and Millie Mary lived a nice and simple life. One day an angel came to them and said that they were going to have a special baby. ‘It will be special baby monkey that everyone will worship’ said the angel. ‘Oh that sounds good,’ thought Monkey. ‘More admiration for the monkey family.’ The angel told them they should find somewhere safe to have the baby and suggested that they should travel by donkey but they were all booked up at such short notice so they found an unemployed reindeer and took him instead.

The reindeer had been left off the bench when Santa chose his team so he was looking for a job anyway
They travelled far and wide – monkey had forgotten to attach his sat nav to the reindeer’s ears so they got a bit lost.
Millie Mary soon got tired and needed a foot rub so Monkey Joseph obliged –

Monkey footrubs are the best in the business. He also gave one to the reindeer which took ages as the reindeer had four very hard feet.
Soon they arrived at a town and asked a lovely hare if he possibly knew where they could stay so Millie could have her baby. ‘Phew I’m a bit hot’ said Millie Mary. ‘I need to take my headscarf off’. ‘Me too’, said Monkey. ‘That reindeer goes so fast we don’t need them.’ Millie Mary was worried her hair would be all horrible but Monkey Joseph assured her that Hare seemed very nice so she wasn’t to worry.
The hare thought for a moment but didn’t know where they could stay. ‘ Lets ask Bear, he said. He’s got a big cave big enough for three more, I’m sure!’
But when they saw Bear, he had only just woken up from his slumber. Someone had put an alarm clock in his cave without him knowing and it gave him a bit of a fright. ‘Ooh well now,’ he said. ‘Let me think’
Tell you what though’ he said. Come on in and we’ll see what we can do’
So inside the cave they went. Monkey Joseph immediately liked what Bear had done with the place. And so with that, bear settled back down to sleep and Monkey Joseph and Millie Mary waited for the birth of their baby….
Hare thought the local wise animals should know about the story of the special monkey baby so off he hopped to find them……