Here all in one place are all the entries for my #12daysofwriting2019 challenge! I fell just short of my goal, but it was still really fun and a great way to relax after the frantic pace of November when I wrote the first draft of Reap the Sun.
Day 1:
I've lived in this small house for nearly my whole life. The sky blue paint has faded, and the ivy is a little wilder than years ago, but it's my home.
I used to be able to keep it neat, and refresh the paint with a new color every few years. But that was when I still had another set of hands to help me trim the plants, or hold the ladder still for me. As I get older, my hands get too weak to hold a brush, and my eyesight has faded with the color in my hair. It seems like too much effort when I'm the only one here to see the paint crack.
But still, when it's snowy and cold, I love to sit in the front room and watch it fall. The ivy is covered, and I can't see the paint on the house very well. My chair faces the window next to my wife’s comfy rocker, and I sit and stare, paying no attention to the passing time.
The silence was disturbed by the sound of a car engine. I rarely leave anymore or send out any mail, so I was surprised to see the mailman stop by my box. His van made tracks in the fresh snow as he left, and marred the otherwise unmarked road.
Even with my curiosity peaked, I debated going to check what had been left for me. My son would be by to visit in a few days; he could get it for me then. It was difficult to get out to the mailbox on a good day, but with the snow piling up it was even more dangerous.
But I couldn't stop thinking about it. There was nothing else to do today anyway, and I just had to find out. I slowly donned my coat and a hat, hopeful it would protect me a little from the chill. Though once I stepped outside the air went right through me. It was a slow journey, but I managed to make it there and open the box.
There was a letter with a faded red paper inside. I couldn't make out what was written on it, so I stuck it in a pocket and headed back inside to find my glasses and a warm seat back by the window.
It was a welcome relief to settle down in my usual spot again with a blanket over my aching knees. I sat a moment and relaxed before digging the envelope out to inspect it. It was so old, the paper faded and curled at the corners. I couldn't make out who it was from, but there on the front, it was addressed to me. I was excited now to unravel this mystery, hands more sure than before as I carefully opened the letter. Inside was a simple Christmas card with a shining tree on the front. But tears sprang to my eyes as I read the short message inside.
Thinking of you this season. With all my love, Faye.
This letter lost in time carried with it the message I know she would have sent if she were still with me. Because I thought of her this season and every season. And she also had all my love. I placed the card on her chair, and we watched the snow fall outside together once more.
Day 2:
“I’d give it a three.” My partner groans as we come up to the door, but I just grin and continue my judgment of the gaudy wreath in front of us. “It’s made of plastic and covered in GLITTER. Glitter automatically detracts five points alone.” I knock on the door before he can say anything and we wait long enough to know that no one is going to answer. Not that we really expect them to this early in the morning. But we’re not getting paid to plan the best time to go door to door. I leave our business card and we move on to the next house.
I nudge him as we come up the front lawn of the next house. There’s a terrible neon-colored monstrosity ahead. “Go on then,” I try to encourage him. "You can have the first crack at this one!” The look he tosses me is withering, but I’ve gotten used to it. We’ve been partners a few weeks now, so I’m well aware of his tragic lack of humor. But half the fun for me is to keep trying to get him to join me in my little games. The other half is judging these horrible wreaths people put out. He doesn’t have anything to say about this one, so I take over.
“It’s plenty full and has an appropriate amount of baubles and decorations. However, if it just wasn’t bright pink, green, and yellow. Shame, it has the makings of a seven...maybe even an eight!”
And so it went for the rest of the day. I judged wreaths, we left cards, and my partner didn’t speak a single syllable that wasn’t a grumble or groans. It was almost time for most people to come home from work, so it was time for us to stop knocking on doors. As luck would have it the last door we came upon had a gigantic wreath, covered in tinsel and bells. I couldn’t smell it yet, but the full green body of the thing looked real.
I let out a low whistle at the sight. This was probably the prettiest wreath we’d seen all day.
“Well!” My exclamation filled the air, and I stopped walking to really take it in. My partner sighed, but stopped and looked it over too. “I think we have a winner!” I rubbed my hands, ready to launch into a detailed report. But I was brought up short as an unexpected sound beat me to it. My stern partner laughed!
“A winner?” He scoffed and shook his head, “They didn’t even put in any holly or mistletoe. It’s nothing but pine boughs and some nice tinsel. No, this is a solid five.” He continued to the door to knock and then leave a card, all while I gaped after him on the sidewalk. There was the barest hint of a smirk as he turned back to join me, but it vanished quickly as he led the way back to the car.
I guess his reluctance to join in on my game had nothing to do with me or fun, but just that his wreath standards were too high!
Day 3:
Cinnamon and spices waft through the air, warming the house and making everyone within feel at home. In the front room, the crisp fresh scent of pine contrasts with the sharp smokey smell of a burning log. Sweet roasting apples and nuts add to the diverse aroma that fills the room. A breeze scented with roasting meats and glazed vegetables comes from the dining room, accompanied by the good stable smell of fresh bread.
Even the smell of too many bodies packed together brings to mind the winters of my childhood, as the comfort of family surrounds us all.
Day 4:
A hand to hold,
A cheek to kiss.
Small bellies full,
A life of bliss.
Kind words at home,
Gentle helping hands.
The support they need,
Friends who understand.
That is my Christmas wish;
The gift every child should have.
Day 5:
Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen.
“I can’t believe you dragged me out here with all you idiots.” Though he muttered it under his breath, it was still easy to hear under the singing. A few people glanced his way but made no comment. His wife cast him a brief scowl but didn’t reply as she continued singing with the other carolers. But the sharp look did quiet him enough that the other singers couldn’t hear. It was a cold and terrible night to be out like this, but she wouldn’t hear of missing it when he tried to convince her that their warm fire and dinner would be preferable. He loved her so he came with, but he wasn’t about to be singing! He knew he was being a bit of a grinch, but he couldn’t help sneering at the other families that were joining them caroling around the town. He was amazed that anyone else had even shown up, it wasn’t like people regularly went around caroling these days.
Hither, page, and stand by me
If thou know’st it, telling
In fact, he could name a few of the couples he could see that could use a night in, instead of wasting money and time wandering out here. He was pretty sure Mr. Jenkins was skipping a shift tonight to come, and everyone knew they needed the extra money for their daughter's surgery. But there he was, belting out this old song with all the rest. You’d think he didn’t have a care in the world. If anyone should be protesting this too, it would be him.
Page and monarch forth they went
Forth they went together
Through the rude wind’s wild lament
And the bitter weather
“Bitter weather is right,” he blew on his hands to warm them up and then shoved them deep within his pockets. The thick down in the garment kept the warm in and made him smile. At least it wasn’t snowing at the moment, even if they had to slog their way through what had been building up over the last month. But he seemed to be the only one to notice. There must be something about focusing on the song that made them forget about the unpleasant situation around them all.
Sire, the night is darker now
And the wind blows stronger
He jumped as a cold hand joined his warm one in the pocket and he looked down to find his wife smiling up at him with tears gathering in her eyes. He blinked, unsure what had made her emotional. At her signaling, he turned to look where she nodded to.
“Mark my footsteps, my good page
Tread thou in them boldly
The house ahead was one he didn’t recognize, and the man standing in the doorway wasn’t familiar either. He was much older than anyone in their group, stooped and wrinkled with age. But his eyes shone and he gestured for the group to stay put a moment as he quickly made his way back inside.
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly.”
He returned, struggling to push a wheelchair onto the porch where an old woman sat. She smiled brightly at them all as they continued to sing. It took a moment but to his surprise, he found that he recognized her! He’d grown up in this town, and though it had been years longer than he cared to admit, he would never forget the teacher he had for kindergarten. She’d taught himself, his siblings, and all his children. In truth, after his children had grown up he’d forgotten about her. From the state of her home, he had to wonder if her own family had done the same. But despite that, she looked overjoyed to have their motley group singing on her front lawn.
In his master’s steps he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed
Guilt pricked at his heart as he saw the happiness they’d brought, despite his grumblings, and he found himself joining in. He started softly, but his voice soon swelled to help finish out the carol. His face was smarting, his hands were icy, and his socks were wet. But, maybe his wife had been right about making his carol with her. Even under duress.
Ye who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing
Day 6:
I made the list, and checked it twice! I don’t know how this could have happened. This office party was going to go down in infamy, and I would never be asked to plan another one! I told them they should have had Nancy be in charge of it. The sweet older receptionist was brilliant at party planning and had a knack for knowing just what people would enjoy. A screw up like this would never happen at one of her parties!
It was going pretty well in the beginning. We’d all finished our work for the day and headed to the breakroom, which I’d spent most of the afternoon setting up the decorations and food to make sure that everything looked perfect. There was plenty to drink and eat, and holiday music played softly in the background.
Things seemed to be going well for the first half an hour as my coworkers mingled and relaxed. But it all went downhill when we started the office Secret Santa gift exchange. First to open their gift was sweet Nancy.
“Oh, how exciting!” She tore off the bright paper of the present and opened the box. But her smile turned into a confused stare. From the box, she lifted out a set of men’s razors and shaving cream. To be fair it was a nice gift...if she had any facial hair to speak of. But she dutifully thanked her secret santa anyway and set the gift under her chair. But the next gift was just as odd. Roger from accounting opened his present to find a bar of chocolate and a new curling iron. He laughed it off a little since he had no hair, but I could see the disappointment in both his and Nancy’s eyes.
I wish I could say that was the end of it, but every single present was the same! No one got anything they liked or could even use! By the end of it, there were confused faces all around and I was mortified. It must have been something I’d done. I’d sent out a list of things each person would like, but maybe I put the wrong names next to the gifts! By the end, it was my turn to open my gift.
I unwrapped it without much hope for what was inside the small box. But when I opened it and saw just a folded note, my curiosity grew. I opened it and read, ‘The party is great, you did a wonderful job. P.S. Sorry for the prank.’
Chuckles sounded around the room and Nancy came over with another small wrapped gift in hand.
“Sam, we all knew you were going to put too much pressure on yourself. We let something fail so you could relax and enjoy the party with us! You’ve done fine.” She set the gift in my hands as all I could do was blink at my coworkers as they passed their gifts around to the correct recipient. “Now, open your real gift, then come have some cake with me.”
I ducked my head to hide the relieved smile I was sporting. As I tore open this second gift with more excitement I had to admit that I worked with some clever, devious, kind-hearted people.
Day 7:
There was nothing better than Christmas day. The presents and trees were nice, and the fancy dinner was always a hit. But more than anything else Jingle loved having the chance to simply sit around all day doing nothing. After 364 days of constantly painting, carving, programming, and sewing it was good to just be still. He sighed and leaned back in an elf-sized recliner as his eyes slid closed. All around the workshop in their various break rooms and homes the rest of Santa’s elves were doing the same. They’d gather to celebrate later tonight once the big guy had had a chance to sleep, but this was the favorite part of the holiday.
Tomorrow would be another day of rushing about as they got started prepping for next year's Christmas, but today the North Pole was nearly silent. Jingle was a content elf and was going to enjoy his day off to the fullest.
Day 8:
The box of toys sat in the middle of the living room enticingly. They’d all taken a chance to walk past the open door that morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was inside. But Mr. Kent had kept a close eye on them, sending them back to their chores with a stern look. The time until lunch, when they could pick something from the box of donations, dragged by.
But finally, it was time! Rachel bounced on her toes as they lined up to choose. There was only enough for each of them to pick one toy, so she wanted to be sure she chose carefully. The other children shouted in joy as they showed off their coloring books, dolls, or action figures. Nothing in the box was new, but it was new to them, and that was good enough.
Rachel stepped up to the box and looked down inside. Her breath caught at the treasures she saw within, and her hands went immediately to the stuffed cat she saw smiling up at her. But as she lifted it up something sparkled, catching her eye. The stuffed toy dropped from tiny hands, and she picked up the snow glove that had called to her. With a little urging, Mr. Kent moved her so another child could pick something, and she took a seat by the window.
She was utterly enchanted. The snow globe was just big enough to need both her hands and she gripped it tightly, scared she would drop it. Inside was a winter wonderland, with a small workshop. Looking closely she was excited to see tiny elves inside the building. It was a scene of the north pole!
Rachel stared at the scene, and an idea formed. With a breath to steady herself, she shook the snow globe, eyes tightly shut as she wished to be taken to the cozy workshop within. Hardly daring to peek, the young girl waited a moment.
A cool breeze ruffled her hair and made her gasp. She blinked open her eyes and looked around in wonder. It was everything she had imagined. Fresh snow covered the ground where she stood, and over the shingles of the workshop. The smell of gingerbread and cocoa drifted from inside, and the murmur of the elves hammering away at toys filled her ears. It was a truly magical sight. She wasn't sure what to go explore first, so she stood and just took it all in. Rachel was about to step towards the toyshop when a voice called out to her.
"Rachel, what did you get?" She opened her eyes, leaving the magical north pole behind, and turned away from the iced-over window she'd been sitting by. Brianna, the youngest girl in their shared room, was holding a new doll and trying to get a better look at the globe in her friend's hands.
The illusion was shattered, but Rachel was still smiling. "Come, have a seat, I found something amazing!" Soon she was directing the young girl to close her eyes, and with whispered words took her far away, to a cozy workshop and snow-covered eaves.
Day 9:
“Who are you!”
I chuckled to myself quietly, from my hiding place behind the fence next door. The screaming man was going up and down the street, looking behind cars and trash cans for his mysterious ‘gift’ giver. I could hear as he became more desperate and angry as his curses and shouted questions filled the quiet street.
“Do you think maybe we’ve gone too far?” I turned to my accomplice and whispered back while shaking my head.
“Not yet. He deserves a lot more of this than just a week.” She nodded in agreement and we went back to listening to him curse until he gave up and went back to his own house. Before his door slammed we heard a crash of something and I peeked over the fence to see what he’d done. I could barely contain my laughter as I saw the big box of coal we’d wrapped and left on his porch scattered all over his front yard. He was going to regret kicking that over when he had to go clean it up later.
But I stood by what I’d said to my friend earlier; he deserved every inconvenience we gave him. Being a waiter or waitress during the holidays can be a demanding and thankless job. For whatever reason people feel like it’s the best time of year to demand extra service, but refuse to pay even minimal tips. It gets us all a little irritated, even if we expect it to happen.
What we don’t stand for are entitled jerks making our newest waitress cry. He had made her run around all evening a week ago. He was demanding refills, sending every dish back for minor or nonexistent issues, and verbally harassing her in front of his friends. He made her cry, and that was unforgivable. The icing on the cake though, was that he had the gall to leave her his number instead of a tip.
We all love her like a sister, so when I realized that I actually knew where this guy lived our plan to Scrooge him was hatched.
What meager tips we’d gotten over the last few weeks we all pooled together and bought as much coal as we could. We portioned it out in over thirty boxes and wrapped them in colorful paper. One devious cook rigged the boxes to fall apart if they weren’t picked up just right. We knew that after a few days he’d probably stop opening them, but we needed to be sure he got the message.
So every day, a gift box appeared on his porch. We left no return address or note, but just hid in my backyard and enjoyed the show, and what a show it was. Hopefully, this made him reflect on his ways, and become a better person. But even if it didn’t, the revenge was satisfying enough for all of us.
Day 10:
Something was in my yard.
I was minding my own business, just walking out the back door to take a turn around the garden, maybe roll in some snow, when I realized I wasn’t alone. I froze, one foot on the steps, as I turned my head back and forth, trying to pinpoint what I was hearing.
There! It was by the far back corner of the fence, behind the pine tree. I couldn’t see what it was, and a low growl rumbled in my chest. It sounded big, whatever it was, crashing around in the branches. I’ll admit, I was pretty scared. But it’s my duty to protect the house and my family, so I had to go check it out.
I walked stiffly across the yard, ears perked for any sign that it was on the move. But it was just making the branches shake a few feet off the ground. Was it a bear? We hadn’t had any of those for a long time, but I knew they liked to climb trees. I barked once, hoping to startle it and make it run away.
The branches stopped shaking, but I could tell it was still there. My head was low to the ground, and every step I took was carefully chosen. If I needed to, I could make a strategic retreat to the house to call for reinforcements. I know normally the cat couldn’t care less about intruders unless they were birds, but surely he’d give me a hand if I needed it?
Finally, I went to the tree and I sniffed before going under where I’d heard the noise. But I didn’t know this smell, it was like nothing I’d had in my yard before. I growled again; after all new things were dangerous. But then it made a strange sound! It was a sort of low honking noise, like a giant goose. The scruff on my neck rose; I’d take on a bear, but geese were scary!
But before I could back up something brown fell out of the branches in front of me. I jumped and rolled, elegantly of course, and got ready to run. But the thing got onto spindly little legs and stood up. It stared at me with big brown eyes and I stared at it in confusion. It was a baby deer, but how had it gotten up into the tree? I crept closer to sniff at it, and the young thing returned the favor.
Then from above me, I heard another honking call, this time from a much bigger deer. I flattened myself to the ground and looked all around above me, worried another deer was about to come crashing down from the tree. But instead, I saw something amazing. There was the baby deer's mother, calling for it to come to her. But she was floating in the air far above my head. The baby deer sniffed my head one more time, then jumped up and clumsily rose into the air to join its mom. I stayed still as they flew off together, not sure what to think. How was I supposed to keep deer out of my yard if they could just fly right over the fence?
Still shaking, I made my way back inside. I didn’t feel much like exploring the snowy garden today. The cat was never going to believe this!
Day 12:
Tiny breaths warm my neck, and I lean down to breathe in deeply the one of a kind smell of a newborn. It’s intoxicating, and I can’t get enough of it. I still can’t believe that this tiny thing was created by me. He’s so much more perfect than I should have been able to design, as imperfect as I am. But he’s here, and so I just soak it all in.
I run my fingers softly, reverently, over thin wisps of dark hair, and marvel at this gift I’ve been given. Tiny hands, and perfect feet, and when he’s awake he looks around with wise dark eyes. What a strange place the world must be to him, colder than he’s known, and louder than he’d like. But here in my arms is a small taste of the home he’s known these short nine months, warm and dark, and they help muffle this new bright place he calls home.
He sighs in his sleep, and I feel my heart swell. My throat is tight with emotion, and I want to cry. It doesn’t feel possible to love another person this much, but this emotion is so powerful and raw; it completely overwhelms me. It feels like I’m drowning, but I never want it to stop.
Months ago, after loss and pain that tore my heart, I found out that my wish had been granted. It wasn’t when I’d hoped, and sooner than I’d wanted to plan. I was tired and still heartsick, and the joy I wanted to feel wasn’t really there. But over the months as he grew, my heart started to mend. The scars might never leave, but they don’t tug at my soul like they used to. Each time I felt him kick, I forgot that pain a little more.
There is something humbling about finishing a pregnancy during Christmas. It brings with it a feeling of connection to another young mother, who was likely as scared of labor, and worried for her new baby, as I was. That kinship gave me a better understanding of how she must have felt. One day you are shocked to learn that your life is about to change. You have some time to come to terms with it, but nothing really prepares you for the intensity of that day. Then it’s over and all that pain and fear fades, replaced with wonder and peace as this tiny thing is placed in your arms for the first time.
From the beginning to the end there are a series of surprises. But once they’re here and you can hold them, kiss them, and just breathe it all in, you realize something.
Sometimes miracles happen when you least expect them.
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