Noël

Endless decorations lined the woman’s small and old home, many of which she could recall from her early childhood. She was glad that her mother left her the house while she went off to buy herself a new one in a different town. She never wanted to leave the tiny town so she stayed while her family went off in search of a better, nicer place. Generally, it was the opposite—the child wanting to leave for a better future and the parents staying in a place they knew and recognized rather well, but it rarely occurred and quite an oddity, but seeing as she was a single mother, it wasn’t as if she could afford a new place to start out.

She was thankful that her family had sent her such wonderful things to decorate her house and much cash to fund the gift-shopping for her child, in addition to their gifts for the child as well. Whatever money she had before, she’d used to send her parents the best gifts she could muster with the little cash she had left. Most of it was spent on paying her bills. Her job didn’t bring in much money, but it was enough to survive. Besides, she would do a number of extra odd jobs around this time of the year just to pocket enough extra change in case she needed it.

Christmas morning had arrived fast and it even seemed as if it was unexpected. Every Christmas morning, it seemed as if she’d walked into a foreign place while foreign feelings washed over her. This wasn’t to say that she hated it, quite the contrary actually, but it was only once a year did she ever experience the mixture between elation and gratitude at this height. Her eyes dawdled for a while until they spotted the little boy sitting and waiting for her to come help him unwrap his presents, seeing as he was too young to do it on his own. Smiling, she helped him open the gift. Her heart swelled profusely as she saw the familiar childish spark that lit his eyes as he stared down at the gifts. Slowly, she bent down and delicately wrapped her arms around the small boy, placing a light kiss on his head.

“Merry Christmas, Noah.”