Christmas day dawned cold and white on the Wintersmith Mansion.

It had been snowing heavily for days. Christmas morning found Vyn and Kendra sat in the dining room looking out at Harry and Lucy making a snowman, whilst Timothy and Anne worked on the Christmas meal.

 

Since Anne had started dating Harry, she had taken more of an interest in cooking. She had made him a few meals and his encouraging remarks on the quality of her cooking, had given her the confidence to experiment and try new things. What to do after University had perplexed Anne, but with this new found love of cooking she felt that maybe she had found something she was good at and enjoyed.

The Christmas dinner was delicious and afterwards everyone retired to the living room where they watched the Queen’s speech. Once Her Majesty had finished her address and Timothy had got the kettle on, the family looked about for a source of entertainment. With Christmas dinner still heavily on their stomach’s, no one felt inclined to stir from the chairs they had sunk into after dinner.

Lucy broke the silence and asked Kendra “You must have some stories of when Timothy was younger, I would love to hear them.”
Kendra was pleased and casting round in her memory for a suitable story, she quickly found just the one. She began, “I remember one year vividly. It was a white Christmas just like this one. The boys were quite young, five and seven I think and they were ever so excited.

 

They had both written their lists for Santa and it was a hard job getting them to bed. Finally we managed it however and Ernest and I were sharing a quiet moment in the front room.” Kendra paused, a smile spreading across her face at the recollection.

 

“After getting all the presents wrapped, it was late and Ernest used to put stockings on the end of each of the boy’s beds. He had his own Santa suit he used to wear,”

 

“It looked ever so well on him , I rather liked him in it.”

 

“Well this year he dressed up as usual to put the stockings on the bed and I waited in our room. I heard him enter Harry’s room and creep out again, but when he went into Timothy’s room I heard a muffled sound. When he came back he looked rather disgruntled. It seems he stood on one of Timothy’s toys on his way to the bed.

Kendra paused and took a sip of her tea before continuing. “Well I thought no more about it. The next morning the boys woke up early of course with it being Christmas and we got up and opened the presents.

 

Timothy seemed a bit quiet and I couldn’t figure out why, so I asked him “Don’t you like the pressies Santa has left for you?” Timothy came up to me close where Harry couldn’t hear and said, “It wasn’t Santa, unless Santa swears like Daddy.” Kendra laughed at the recollection and continued “Poor mite, at the time he was heart-broken, but we laughed long and hard over it once the boys were in bed.”

After the story finished, Harry who had offered to tackle the dishes, rose unwillingly to complete the task. Anne followed him into the kitchen and sliding her arms round him she said “Your parents seemed so happy together, do you think we will be like that?”

 

Harry drew her close, looked deeply into her eyes and replied “I have no doubt we will be very happy together.” They looked out into the darkening evening as fresh snow fell, feeling that their future together held so much for them.

http://wintersmith.wordpress.com/2009/01/11/chapter-53-graduation/