That morning, snow fell all over the country hills like a blanket on a sleeping child. Pine Siskins sang from the tall trees, and the sun cast warm light over the lanes. Noel and I tramped through the snow in our tall boots and thick woolen coats.
“What a beautiful winter day,” she exclaimed. I agreed. The scene felt like something out of a picture book… So why did I feel so unhappy?
“Do you ever feel like the holidays have lost their spark?” I asked.
“No, why?”
“I don’t know. When I was younger, Christmas seemed so magical. Now, I’ve lost the excitement and enthusiasm.” I turned to Noel, who was deep in thought. “There’s something missing, and I can’t figure out what it is.” Suddenly a Cheshire Cat grin spread across her face.
“Well, today is the perfect day to find it!”
We reached the front door of my little cottage. All of my family was out of town or too busy to see me. Luckily, Noel hadn’t had any plans for the winter either and traveled up North to spend it with me. Just as I turned the doorknob to let myself in, an icy mound of snow hit the back of my neck. I whirled around just as Noel aimed another snowball at my stomach.
“Noel! What are you doing?” I yelped, dodging her next toss by an inch.
“Finding your Christmas spirit!”
I dove behind a bush and made five crumbly snowballs. Noel stood in the center of the yard, in front of the gate. I grabbed a snowball, took aim, and fired. It hit her square in the chest, and she fell to the ground. “Nooo…” she groaned. I inched over to inspect the damage, but just as I neared her, she shot up with a cackle and pelted her last snowball right into my nose. Noel - 1, Me - 0.
Once I had successfully gotten all the snow out of my nose and got over my wicked brain freeze, we built a snowman by the front door. He was a little bit raggedy and looked almost like a clown. Nevertheless, I was proud of our creation and went inside the house to grab my Polaroid to take a picture. When I returned with my camera, all that was left of our snowman was a few rocks and a carrot. Noel looked sheepish. “When I put on the carrot nose, he collapsed. I guess he couldn’t handle it.” I burst out laughing and snapped a photo of his remains before we retreated inside for the rest of the day. Noel and I baked chocolate chip cookies from scratch and poured ourselves steaming mugs of hot chocolate topped with frosting and sprinkles. The sun began to set beneath the hills, and after an hour, the only light in the countryside came from the candles we set out on the windowsills and the moon and stars shining miles away. I lit a match and tossed it in the fireplace. Before long, Noel and I lay on the couch talking about nothing and watching the flames dance until they burned down to ash. It finally hit me at that moment that the magic of the holidays isn’t in what you do or how you celebrate, it's in spending time making precious memories with the people you love.
The Inspiration for this story:
Winter Wonderland
Sleigh bells ring, are you listening?
In the lane, snow is glistening
A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight
Walking in a winter wonderland
Gone away is the bluebird
Here to stay is a new bird
He sings a love song as we go along
Walking in a winter wonderland
In the meadow, we can build a snowman
And pretend that he's a circus clown
We'll have lots of fun with Mr. Snowman
Yes, until the other kiddies knock him down
Later on, we'll conspire
As we dream by the fire
To face unafraid all the plans that we've made
Walking in a winter wonderland
Walking in a winter wonderland
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