Bright Christmas by Alicia Best

Author:Alicia Best [Best, Alicia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mellow Publications
Published: 2018-11-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Hannah

As I expected, the night was a long and restless one.

The small hotel room was cozy enough, but I just couldn’t seem to get comfortable. I’d lain on my side, gazing out the window and watching the lights on the street twinkle against my closed blinds. Thank goodness there was a little heater in the room, so I could control just how warm I wanted it to be. I’d been able to peel off my parka and rub some feeling into my hands again. I’d even taken a nice long bath, hoping that would relax me and give me time for a sudden epiphany on just how to solve the Christmas crisis of Shady Piers.

But a solution still evaded me.

No matter how hard I tried to focus on figuring out the Christmas festival, Jackson’s words kept ringing in my head. Even now that the sun has risen, glinting off the new fall of snow, I still keep hearing his voice between my ears.

What am I sharing? What am I giving?

If Christmas is about compassion and generosity, then what is it that I am doing by focusing on just my article? Is it enough to do something kind even though it’s a solution to my own problem? That can’t be what Christmas is about. Isn’t it about giving and expecting nothing in return?

All my life I’d loved the holidays, even without snow or even the slightest chance of a white Christmas.

Even after my parents split up, some years we’d used a small artificial tree because we either couldn’t afford a real one or because we didn't have space, and still we made the best of it. As long as I had at least some family, it didn't matter to me what gifts we had or how many ornaments we’d been able to put on the tree.

As we all eventually collapsed into our beds with bellies full of turkey and stuffing and cranberries, it was the fondness of friends and families that lingered in our minds.

Christmas hadn't stayed that way forever. As I got older, the importance of the day began to shift. I spent less and less time with my family and more time at work.

Despite all that, I never lost the true meaning of Christmas.

There’s a special way that children look at the holiday: with wide eyes and open hearts. Jamie has but a handful of Christmases under his belt, most of which he won’t even remember later, so every year, it is still so fresh and meaningful to him.

How can we give him another perfect Christmas to remember?

While deep in thought, I climb out from beneath the thick blankets of my bed and tug open the curtains to gaze out onto the street. The morning sunlight is a delicate yellow, a few fluffy clouds drifting overhead in the crystal-blue sky. People wander back and forth, wrapped up in scarves and fleece coats and sipping from paper cups or nibbling on chocolate peppermint bark. I tug open the window and suck in a breath of cold air, hoping that it will reinvigorate me.

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