Bare necessities: Family exchange Christmas presents with the help of a huge bear
THESE sweet pictures of a family exchanging Christmas presents with a BEAR will make you feel festive.
The cute scene was set up by married couple Alexander and Darya Vardo, from Moscow, Russia, who wanted to create a series of Christmassy shots of their two daughters Alice, eight, and four-year-old Eve.
The couple enlisted the help of photographer Olga Barantseva to capture the wintry pictures, and hired famously tame grizzly bear Stepan to pose with them - the bear is known for his acting abilities, after taking part in wedding and tea party shoots.
Mrs Varda said: "Alexander and Darya first saw Stepan in the papers, and since then had been watching his success closely.
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Stepan is very tender and kind, just like a big dog
"The only difficulty was to agree everything with the bear's owners, since he is a very popular actor nowadays.
"Alexander and Darya wanted a Christmas photo set, with the bear as a Russian variant of Santa Claus - or Grandfather Frost - who would present the kids with Christmas gifts.
"Not everything went smoothly - at first Darya and the little girls were afraid of the bear.
"But Stepan is very tender and kind, just like a big dog - and in half an hour everyone started having fun.
"The kids were really happy - Darya told me after that the girls talk about Stepan every day, and ask if it's possible to play with him again.
"They both liked riding him and feeding him from their hands."
