It has been so bitter at the North Pole lately that the North Polar Bear has spent most of the time asleep and has been less use than usual this Christmas. The North Pole became colder than any cold thing ever has been, and when the North Polar Bear put his nose against it, it took the skin off: that is why it is bandaged with red flannel in the picture (but the bandage has slipped). Why did he? I don't know, but he is always putting his nose where it oughtn't to be -into my cupboards, for instance.

Also it has been very dark here since winter began. We haven't seen the Sun, of course, for three months, and there are no Northern Lights this year - you remember the awful accident last year? There will be none again until the end of 1928. The North Polar Bear has got his cousin (and distant friend), the GREAT BEAR, to shine extra bright for us, and this week I have hired a comet to do my packing by, but it doesn't work as well - you can see that by my picture. The North Polar Bear has not really been any more sensible this year: yesterday he was snowballing the Snow-man in the garden and pushed him over the edge of the cliff so that he fell into my sleigh at the bottom and broke lots of things - one of them was himself. I used some of what was left of him to paint my white picture.