Sally sat on the bus looking out into the darkness watching the snow fall ,
In the light of the street lamps it made everything look sparkling and magical .
She was on her way into town to the Christmas market , she loved this time of the year ,
Her favourite thing was wandering around all the brightly lit Cabins looking at all the crafts and wares for sale ,
The hot mulled wine and food stalls ,
First stop will be the Christmas bauble Cabin , each year she tried to buy at least one unusual bauble to remind her of someone or something , this year would be a special one .
After looking around for awhile Sally bought a mulled wine and sitting at a table by the outdoor skating rink ,
she wrapped both hands around the cup enjoying the heat and watched people skating or trying to skate ,
She smiled at the little ones holding onto Penguin skating aids , a group of teenagers trying to impress each other with their skating skills and laughing at each other falling over , in the middle a older couple holding onto each other to keep up having as much fun as the youngsters ,
Her mind drifted back to when her children were small , There wasn’t all this then but they did enjoy coming into town to see the lights , the shop windows and a fish and chips tea at the local cafe .
Money was tight , Larry her husband had left her when the children were only tots never to be seen again .
Sally worked part time and once the children were in bed did piece work to provide for them .
She made sure Christmas was always special for them.
Now they were grown ,
Her son Daniel was 34 lived in Spain with a lovely young Man called Greg ,they owned a bar and holiday flats,
She stayed with them every summer for a few weeks
Her Daughter Chrissy was 37 she lived on the other side of the world in Canada with her husband and Sallys 3 Grandchildren ,
Molly 16 , Rosie 13 and 10 year old Toby
Sally tried to visit when she could she adored her grandchildren and they had been to England a couple of times but it wasn’t enough Sally wanted to see more of them .
Till This year Christmas had never been lonely ,
When her Daughter and her family had emigrated for work 9 years ago Sally was heartbroken but would never have told them that , they had to do what was right for them .
Thats when the Christmas tradition with her best friend began ,
Freda was unmarried and had devoted her life to looking after her elderly parents , so each year Sally stayed with them from Christmas Eve till the day after Boxing Day and always had a wonderful time .
Freda’s parents sadly passed a few years ago but they kept up the tradition
Each year Freda and Sally would shop for Christmas and Decorate the tree ,
Freda had impeccable taste and the tree was a sight to behold except for the Angel on the top ,
Freda had made it when she was a child from a cheap plastic doll, sticking lace and hair ribbons on it and tinsel around its sparse hair ,it was the ugliest tattiest Angel ever ,
No matter how they tried it wouldn’t stand straight and always looked lop sided and drunk .
They would sit drinking wine laughing at it every year but Freda loved it .
Sadly in January Freda passed away suddenly leaving Sally distraught and lost
After the funeral Sally discovered Freda had left her bungalow and everything she owned to her , including ugly Angel with strict instructions that ugly Angel must goontop of Sallys tree .
In the darkness of grief it made Sally laugh .
Sally intended putting up her tree the next day ,
She was dreading being alone on Christmas Day but there wasn’t much she could do about it so was determined to make the best of it .
The next morning Sally dragged the tree from the loft and started to decorate it taking out all her special baubles ,
The last one to go on was the special bauble she had bought the night before to remind her of Freda.
It was The day before Christmas Eve ,
Sitting reading the paper at the kitchen table having her morning coffee a tear ran down Sallys face ,
Oh this is going to be difficult thought Sally .
The door bell rang puzzled who it could be Sally opened the door to a young man with a large Hamperof food
I haven’t ordered this Sally told him , No madam it’s a gift the card is attached.
He carried it into the kitchen wished her a Happy Christmas and left .
Sally opened it and it was full of goodies with a note from her Daughter it said just incase of visitors ,
Sally smiled and thought well that’s not going to happen but what a nice thought .
The door bell rang again , what now thought Sally as she opened the door .
There on the doorstep stood Her Daughter Son in law and all the children ,
Hello Mum said Chrissy were home to stay
Sally stood stunned looking around at all their grinning faces ,
Hello Gran said Toby can we come in
Laughing and crying Sally hugged them all not believing they were all here and not going back .
Later that day she found out they had been planning it for a year but didn’t say anything to surprise her
That night they switched the tree lights on and Sally brought Ugly Angel out and placed her pride of place on the tree and everyone laughed
Quietly Sally thanked Freda for bringing her family home , she knew Sally would be lonely and Sally was convinced Freda was the one that made this happen ,
I hope the Angels are not as ugly Up there Freda she said , she was sure she heard Freda laughing .
In the light of the street lamps it made everything look sparkling and magical .
She was on her way into town to the Christmas market , she loved this time of the year ,
Her favourite thing was wandering around all the brightly lit Cabins looking at all the crafts and wares for sale ,
The hot mulled wine and food stalls ,
First stop will be the Christmas bauble Cabin , each year she tried to buy at least one unusual bauble to remind her of someone or something , this year would be a special one .
After looking around for awhile Sally bought a mulled wine and sitting at a table by the outdoor skating rink ,
she wrapped both hands around the cup enjoying the heat and watched people skating or trying to skate ,
She smiled at the little ones holding onto Penguin skating aids , a group of teenagers trying to impress each other with their skating skills and laughing at each other falling over , in the middle a older couple holding onto each other to keep up having as much fun as the youngsters ,
Her mind drifted back to when her children were small , There wasn’t all this then but they did enjoy coming into town to see the lights , the shop windows and a fish and chips tea at the local cafe .
Money was tight , Larry her husband had left her when the children were only tots never to be seen again .
Sally worked part time and once the children were in bed did piece work to provide for them .
She made sure Christmas was always special for them.
Now they were grown ,
Her son Daniel was 34 lived in Spain with a lovely young Man called Greg ,they owned a bar and holiday flats,
She stayed with them every summer for a few weeks
Her Daughter Chrissy was 37 she lived on the other side of the world in Canada with her husband and Sallys 3 Grandchildren ,
Molly 16 , Rosie 13 and 10 year old Toby
Sally tried to visit when she could she adored her grandchildren and they had been to England a couple of times but it wasn’t enough Sally wanted to see more of them .
Till This year Christmas had never been lonely ,
When her Daughter and her family had emigrated for work 9 years ago Sally was heartbroken but would never have told them that , they had to do what was right for them .
Thats when the Christmas tradition with her best friend began ,
Freda was unmarried and had devoted her life to looking after her elderly parents , so each year Sally stayed with them from Christmas Eve till the day after Boxing Day and always had a wonderful time .
Freda’s parents sadly passed a few years ago but they kept up the tradition
Each year Freda and Sally would shop for Christmas and Decorate the tree ,
Freda had impeccable taste and the tree was a sight to behold except for the Angel on the top ,
Freda had made it when she was a child from a cheap plastic doll, sticking lace and hair ribbons on it and tinsel around its sparse hair ,it was the ugliest tattiest Angel ever ,
No matter how they tried it wouldn’t stand straight and always looked lop sided and drunk .
They would sit drinking wine laughing at it every year but Freda loved it .
Sadly in January Freda passed away suddenly leaving Sally distraught and lost
After the funeral Sally discovered Freda had left her bungalow and everything she owned to her , including ugly Angel with strict instructions that ugly Angel must goontop of Sallys tree .
In the darkness of grief it made Sally laugh .
Sally intended putting up her tree the next day ,
She was dreading being alone on Christmas Day but there wasn’t much she could do about it so was determined to make the best of it .
The next morning Sally dragged the tree from the loft and started to decorate it taking out all her special baubles ,
The last one to go on was the special bauble she had bought the night before to remind her of Freda.
It was The day before Christmas Eve ,
Sitting reading the paper at the kitchen table having her morning coffee a tear ran down Sallys face ,
Oh this is going to be difficult thought Sally .
The door bell rang puzzled who it could be Sally opened the door to a young man with a large Hamperof food
I haven’t ordered this Sally told him , No madam it’s a gift the card is attached.
He carried it into the kitchen wished her a Happy Christmas and left .
Sally opened it and it was full of goodies with a note from her Daughter it said just incase of visitors ,
Sally smiled and thought well that’s not going to happen but what a nice thought .
The door bell rang again , what now thought Sally as she opened the door .
There on the doorstep stood Her Daughter Son in law and all the children ,
Hello Mum said Chrissy were home to stay
Sally stood stunned looking around at all their grinning faces ,
Hello Gran said Toby can we come in
Laughing and crying Sally hugged them all not believing they were all here and not going back .
Later that day she found out they had been planning it for a year but didn’t say anything to surprise her
That night they switched the tree lights on and Sally brought Ugly Angel out and placed her pride of place on the tree and everyone laughed
Quietly Sally thanked Freda for bringing her family home , she knew Sally would be lonely and Sally was convinced Freda was the one that made this happen ,
I hope the Angels are not as ugly Up there Freda she said , she was sure she heard Freda laughing .
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