One Family Christmas: The perfect, cosy, heart-warming read to curl up with this winter by Bella Osborne

Author:Bella Osborne [Osborne, Bella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008331344
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2020-10-14T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Lottie rubbed her cold hands together when she came indoors. A high-speed Duchess shot past her into the relative warmth of the hall. The cat wrapped her fluffy tail around herself and Lottie wished she had one of her own, as the cat looked at her from behind it like a belly dancer behind a veil. ‘I know, it’s cold,’ said Lottie, interpreting the cat’s glare. The new owners would have to sort out the hallway’s dodgy radiator and the poorly fitting windows, thought Lottie with a shiver.

She was hanging up her coat when Zach came through from the back of the house with Dave at his heels. ‘Has he been?’ asked Lottie.

‘Nope, I swear he’s holding on to it on purpose,’ said Zach. Dave trotted off, happily wagging his tail.

Lottie commiserated with her brother. ‘Hopefully not much longer to wait.’

‘What for?’ asked Emily, appearing at the top of the stairs.

‘Star presents! Come on,’ said Lottie, beckoning Emily down.

‘Okay,’ said Emily, looking a little brighter. ‘What’s a star present? Is it like a prize for the best present? Because I think whoever bought Bernard the tuna wins that one.’

‘Nope, you’ll see.’ Lottie ushered her through to the drawing room, where Jessie was playing with her unicorn, Joe was chatting to Scott and Bernard was snoozing in his favourite armchair.

‘I found this,’ said Jessie, holding up a neatly wrapped present. ‘It was under the sofa.’

‘Ooh, is it mine?’ Emily asked Zach hopefully. Zach shook his head.

‘And there’s this label for … The Duch-ess,’ said Jessie, reading it slowly. ‘I don’t know if they go together.’

‘Open it and see,’ said Lottie, coming to kneel by the tree.

Jessie ripped off the paper, pulled out a CD and scrunched up her features in disappointment.

‘Alfie Boe. The Duchess will love this,’ said Lottie, trying to keep a straight face.

‘Will she?’ asked Scott, looking amazed.

‘No,’ said Lottie with a chuckle. ‘This must be Uncle Bernie’s and he’s got the cat’s tuna.’

‘Ahhh,’ said Emily, taking a seat nearby.

‘Star present time,’ chimed Lottie. Jessie gasped and dropped her unicorn. Emily and Scott exchanged confused looks as the rest of family became animated. ‘Right,’ said Lottie. ‘I know this may be something only the Collins family do so I’ll explain. This is a present from the star on the Christmas tree to the whole family.’

‘Ri-ight,’ said Scott, not sounding convinced.

‘But it’s a fairy,’ said Emily, looking at the tree as if to check.

‘But usually it’s the fancy star thing,’ said Bernard.

‘Nana used to do it. It’s a special present that brings us all together,’ explained Zach. ‘Like last year it was tiddlywinks. We had a real laugh playing with them.’ He seemed to ponder this. ‘I guess it was Nana’s way of getting us to stop fighting and enjoy each other’s company.’

‘The year it was marbles, I nearly broke my bloomin’ neck on the blessed things,’ said Bernard.

‘Was that 2008?’ asked Angie.

‘Noooo,’ said Zach. ‘2008 was Crappy Shitmas – the year we all got diarrhoea.’

‘That’s not a nice present.

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