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National Winnie the Pooh Day is celebrated every year on January 18, the birthday of A. A. Milne, who authored the famous books.
We know, "Oh, bother," is one of Pooh's favorite exclamations, but one of our favorite things he ever said was, "Sometimes, the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."
(We think about our wee, little preemies and how especially small they were but how much they filled our hearts when they came into this world.)
Let's all raise a pawful of hunny and celebrate this willy nilly, silly old bear, who even has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! If you ever want to go check it out, it's located at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard.
A bear named Winnie
First published in October 1926 by Methuen & Co. in England and E. P. Dutton in the United States, Winnie the Pooh is a children's book that was written by A. A. Milne.
The stories about a silly teddy bear who finds himself stuck in sticky situations as a result of his love of honey were inspired by a real bear named Winnie.
She was owned by a Canadian veterinarian and soldier named Harry Colebourn, who was born in Birmingham, United Kingdom and emigrated to Canada, where he went to veterinary college and then later served in the Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps during the First World War.
After he enlisted to join the Canadian troops in 1914, he bought the female black bear cub in White River, Ontario and named her Winnie, after Winnipeg, his hometown.
The "Pooh" portion of this famous bear's moniker comes from the nickname for a swan that a little boy named Christopher Robin Milne (A. A. Milne's son) used to feed while on vacation.
Winnie the cub, who became the unofficial mascot of Colebourn's regiment, the Fort Garry Hose, was left in good hands at the London Zoo in Ontario while Colebourn was serving overseas in France.
While he had intentions of bringing the bear home to Winnipeg upon his return, the bear had become a fixture at the zoo, with many people coming to visit her, including A. A. Milne and his son, Christopher Robin.
When the war was over, Winnie was donated to the zoo.
Celebrate the bear we all love
However you see fit, today's the day (and really, so is ANY day) to celebrate your love for Winnie the Pooh!
Whether you dress up in your go-to costumes, have a teddy bear's picnic of your own in the comfort of your home, snuggle up with a classic Pooh Bear story or episode, or settle in with your coziest stuffies , you can't go wrong.
And speaking of stuffies, some of the original Winnie the Pooh plush toys are even on display at the New York Public Library. How cool is that?!
Do you read Winnie the Pooh stories with your kids, or did your parents read them to you? Is this loveable, little cubby all stuffed with fluff a staple in your home? How come? Let us know in the Comments section below.
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