Happy New Year

Your Christmas/Hanuakah/Holiday Treat ~Excerpt from Visions of Sugarplums and Christmas is Calling

The following are two excerpts from Christmas Is Calling 

and Visions of Sugarplums available at Amazon

if you'd like to purchase the book or books just click the title it will take you to a link to do so.

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Angels We Have Heard On High

It was unseasonably warm a week ago and winter’s chill had come in a fury. Now the snow came down in not small clumps, but like someone throwing snowballs. I was cold hungry and I needed shelter for the night.

“I’m sorry; if only you’d come sooner, the shelter is full.” the person at the shelter called the Inn of the shepherd said as I looked in to see a Christmas tree burning brightly.

I had myself a bitter laugh. Here it was Christmas Eve and there was no room at the Inn. I looked around, no stable to be found, but a cardboard box from some large appliance someone was getting for Christmas lay before me.

How I remembered those Christmases of excesses, when money was plenty. When my life was different, and I had the love of my life by my side, but all of that was gone in the blink of an eye. I lost my job and then chased away my love, with anger and bitter words. Mary had then withered and died. Then I had lost my home and dignity, as I now walked the streets, living day to day on handouts.

I lay down to sleep on the cold ground, wrapped inside my box. The wind was bitter and bitingly cold. I pulled my ragged coat tighter round me. And still the cold battered me. I was almost asleep when I heard the heavenly music, the choir singing ‘Angels We Have Heard On High’. Before I had even thought about it my lips were singing the song too and I started wishing for an angel to take me out of the cold on this chilly night.

Suddenly before me appeared a woman, at least at first I thought she was a woman. I somehow knew without a doubt this was an angel. Her hair was dark, her wings hidden close to her back, small and almost invisible; until that is she bent forward and then the wings unfurled to their full size. They were majestic wings that from wing to tip each were six feet long and dark black in colour like a crow’s wings. I questioned why had I been sent a dark angel? Was I so unredeemable?

“Contrary to popular belief, angels come in all shapes and sizes, with all kinds of wings,” she admonished, as if she read my mind. Then she continued, “Lionel, I thought you were different and showed no prejudice.”

“Sorry,” I apologized, ashamed and suddenly frightened.

“Lionel, my dear man, and yes you are a good man; fear not for I have watched over you all your life. You need not dread me.”

“You’ve watched over me? Then where were you when I needed you?”

“I have been beside you. I have seen your best and your worst, and so has the almighty. You’ve learned much in the last week, and the almighty has seen your kindness, when you had so little yourself. He saw you give your last dollar to that teenager who was hungry.”

“Is that why the almighty finally answered my prayer?”

“Lionel, my dear man. Who stood with you when you needed shelter? Who found a meal for your empty belly? Who lifted your feet and made them light, when you felt you could walk no more?”

“The almighty was with me?”

“Yes, he made the unseasonable mild weather. He made the lady see that you needed money for food. Remember how surprised you were that she gave you a twenty?

“Yes.”

“Come Lionel. Come with me to your reward. There will be no more pain, no more trial, no more sorrow, only his light,” she said taking me by the hand and pulling me into glorious light.

Light, all-encompassing peace and joy, everlasting enveloped me and there just in front of me, my dear wish, my wife.

“Hello Lionel. I’ve been waiting for you,” Mary said as she hugged me.

“Poor beggar, he died during the night.” I heard from far away.

But that life had no meaning for me anymore, I became light and felt nothing but peace and joy. So I had one request from the almighty. Let me share this love and joy at Christmas to all those deserving ones. And so God rewarded me. With Mary by my side, we are Christmas angels. We help the most deserving and see they get the Christmases they need. So if you feel that joy and that tug at your wallet this season, open it and share what you can. Make someone’s Christmas as special as mine.

©Sheilagh Lee December 6, 2012

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Home Invasion

He crept swiftly passed the sleeping girl, checking to make sure she didn’t hear his footsteps on the threadbare carpet. She stirred slightly and he paused for moment, taking a huge breath hoping she wouldn’t hear him. He slipped passed the boys room, as the cat almost tripped him. He worried that his large frame would make more noise and awakened the family before this job was done. He continued down the hall past the parent’s bedroom.

Softly his feet patted on the carpet and then a little harder on the wooden stairs as he tiptoed down them.

He entered the family room and spotted some baked goods left on a plate. Tempted he took one off the plate and thought about eating it. He then looked down at his round belly and almost stopped but then he thought dieting for woosies. Besides he could diet in the New Year after this job. The baked good dry and appetizing almost made him not eat it. But he was hungry, or at least he thought he was, even as he felt it go to his stomach like a lead weight, he continued eating. When he finished the baked good, he walked around the living room. Where he looked was bare, hardly anything filled the room. A well-worn chair well-loved covered in duct tape to hold it together stood in the corner. A sofa long and looking saggy was there covered in a crochet blanket to hide its flaws.

In the corner of the dark room stood a Christmas tree; if you could call it a tree, calling it a tree would be kind. The tree looked like something out of Charlie Brown’s Christmas. He stared at it for a few moments, watching the twinkling lights. A single strand blinked at him. He then decided to get the job done before this family woke. He took out his bag looking for his tools. He found them and quickly completed the job. Placing the tools back in his bag, he packed up and snuck out of the house.

The girl woke first and as she went into the living room, she squealed waking the boy who came running in response. The parents came next, worried about the screaming from their child.

The parents stood their shocked and puzzled staring into the living room. The whole family gazed and looked in shock at their living room. Where once a duct taped chair stood;. its depilated state an eyesore in the room, a leather chair was now positioned.

And not just any chair, a La-Z-Boy chair that could recline. The sofa was leather too and matched perfectly. A rug, a beautiful tapestry of figures on horseback, and with golden threads, appeared under the furniture. And in the corner where their Charlie Brown Christmas tree had stood, a beautiful Douglas fir stood in its place. It fairly glowed with the five hundred lights strung around it. The ornaments they’d placed so lovingly on their tree were there, with many more new ones filling the branches. And underneath the tree a bounty of riches, many pretty packages layered beneath the tree.

“I don’t understand this,” retorted the father, shaking his head.

“Me either,” the mother claimed, covering her mouth in wonderment.

“It was Santa Claus,” insisted the children.

“It must have been,” mother agreed. “Thank you, whoever did this. Because of you, my children will have Christmas. God bless you ten-fold.”

“Yes, thank-you Santa and God bless you,” the girl child reiterated, opening a present and squealing to find a Justin Bieber doll.

The man who had crept into the house sat in his home, his feet in front of the fire warming them.

“Did they hear you?” asked his wife.

“No,” he replied.

“Did your brother, Paul help you with the furniture?” she enquired.

“Yes, we got it all in and I used my tools to make sure it was all put together right.”

“And the tree did it fit?” she wanted to know.

“Yes, and it was beautiful,” he commented “The presents are all under the tree?”

“Yes, dear, including the Justin Bieber doll, Ellen wanted,” he stated happily.

“They don’t know who did all this. Do they?”

“No, they’ll never know their neighbours got together and did this,” he answered.

“Good. I hope they believe Santa Claus did all this.”

“Of course after all it was Santa Claus,” he replied, with a wink and touched his nose.

“Santa needs to go on a diet,” his wife commented.

“Yes, a little treadmill and then his belly won’t be so jolly,” he laughed. “I need a couple of hours sleep then we can have our Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, come to bed Santa.”

“Merry Christmas, to you too honey, and to all a goodnight.”

~0~

©Sheilagh Lee December 6, 2012

Wonder

The wonder of Santa Claus

Seen through children’s eyes

Brings back treasured memories

Of Christmases long ago

The anticipation of Christmas morning

The family gathering too

Seen through rose-coloured glasses

The bittersweet remembrance

Siblings gone too soon

Of parents gone too

Forgotten for a moment

Lost in the anticipation

Of the celebration

So long ago.

©Sheilagh Lee December 5, 2017

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuakah,Happy Holiday whatever you celebrate I hope you have fun.

Tuesday's Writings #No 24- Christmas Spirit

Tuesday's Writings  #No 24- Christmas Spirit 

Prompts:Rouleau, Pervious, Orphic

“I have no Christmas spirit this year,” I commented, “The rouleau on the tree even bores me.”

“Rouleau you sound so pretnetious just call it trim.”

“The point it the orphic symbol of Christmas doesn't excite me.”

“ Using pervious words doesn't change the fact that, that makes two of us, Holly,” my brother Zach answered, “I miss them too.”

“I’m so selfish forgetting you lost them too.”

“I have an idea what will make us happy,” Zach answered.

“What have Christmas… just the two of us? You’re always full of ideas, but it’s the follow up that’s the problem. I’ll be cooking the dinner.”

“Come with me to the mall,” Zach begged.

“You’re crazy; the mall is zoo this time of year, a week before Christmas.”

“Just follow me Holly. Come with me and you won't be sorry.”

          Holly reluctantly followed her brother.  He took her to the toy department and she felt like a kid again as they laughed and played with some of the toys. Zach put some of the toys in a cart. Then he went to the toiletries department and bought things that Holly could use. But why was he buying all of these things in front of her she wondered? Zach laughed and whispered in her ear and Holly understood.

        Holly picked up toys and some men’s toiletries and put them in her cart. Then she and Zach split up Zach going to the women’s clothing her to the men’s department. When they were all done they met at the front of the store laughing and smiling they paid for the goods. Them they went into the mall and in the centre of the mall near Santa they placed all their gifts. They had found Christmas after all.

©Sheilagh Lee December 12, 2017

Naughty Kitten
Mesmerizing, electrifying, orphic in intent,

Lights twinkling and shimmering,

A rouleau of colour wrapped about the tree 

Pervious to the kitten's intentions

It's unravelling coming soon

                                                                                                   ©Sheilagh Lee December 12, 2017

Please read and give generously to children in need at Christmas~Sean the Leprechaun~ A Christmas Story

Re-post from December of 2015; see my mother's story below and see what a little kindness can do for children and how it makes their Christmas and please if you can donate toys for Christmas for children they are in need this year and every year to make some child's season bright.

I was going across some of my beloved mother's papers yesterday, (the first time since she died) and I found a surprising thing she too had written about the Christmas that stuck in my mind when I was young. I think it's my Christmas present from her and now you can read it. My version of the story is included in my paperback and e-book Visions of Sugarplums

http://amzn.to/1ROfgLL

     In her version of the story she wrote of my imaginative nature;  she also included details I forgot.  It  did happen as she wrote them (in true fact I love her story)so I am going to give you another Christmas treat and post my mother's story for you. The only change to her writing? The Three Word Wednesday words included. The twist? It begins with a leprechaun. Yes, you read that right. Read on and enjoy. 

 Sean the Leprechaun~ A Christmas Story

             Sean was leprechaun. Actually to be completely honest he was just a stuffed doll. He’d been in the family for years and the children had never been allowed to play with him. He was hung in the window by a safety pin through his hat. Because of the children’s love of fairy tales over the years many tales had been made about him consequently the children began to believe he was a real leprechaun. In appearance he was quite ugly; about twelve inches tall; had long spindly legs, a sharp pointed nose and a disfigured face that had aged and discoloured to an ugly mahogany.

         For some unknown reason every time something bad was going to happen we would find him turned inward. I always blamed it on air currents but the children insisted he was warning us and that the pin hurt. Sean had tried to warn us when we travelled out to British Columbia that something was wrong by turning around in the car window and then we’d blown a tire. After that he also turned around when the car almost went over a cliff. My oldest son joked that the leprechaun was vengeful and the younger kids believed him.

         My husband insisted that the leprechaun wasn’t warning us Sean wasn’t vengeful or a savage, but a doll. That the tire had just blown and he’d made a mistake in geography getting too close to a cliff; but my young daughter, Sheilagh as she said her prayers that night said ...”and please tell Sean will get him a new suit if the car doesn’t break anymore.”

          She then said to me. “We can, can’t we Mommy?” I reassured her we could; then realized he was faded. I promptly forgot about it.

               Over the next few months we settled in and Sean was installed in the front window with a beautiful view of the mountains but he insisted on facing in. nothing went right the job my husband was offered caused allergic reactions and asthmatic attacks and then the old injury that had caused us to relocate reared again and my husband was hospitalized.

               During a family conference I explained how there wouldn’t be expensive presents and my oldest daughter blurted out to the younger ones there was no Santa and I had to admit that was true. My youngest daughter insisted with the surety of youth a child there was a Santa. That in fact she believed Daddy was sick because I hadn’t made Sean the suit I promised him and then of course she started crying about not getting a Chatty Cathy. She finished all of this with tears flowing down her face.

           The next day I took Sean down from the window and searching throw my scrap cloth and wool box. I found enough to make a new suit.

When the children came home from school they noticed right away that Sean was missing. Wanting to surprise them I told them Santa’s elves had the flu and Sean had gone to help him in return for a new Christmas suit. This made them happy and reaffirmed their belief in Santa. Even though they somehow understood even Santa didn’t have a lot of money either. They not only accept this idea but demanded bedtime stories of Sean and Santa.

         That Saturday I turned on a Santa television program for them and imagine my surprise when I heard Santa say,” All my elves are down with the flu and my friend Sean has come to help me.”

The camera panned to a doll that was the spitting imagine of Sean.

Muttering “I don’t believe it I went upstairs to look for Sean in my scrap basket. I took everything out piece by piece but I couldn’t find Sean. Following a sleepless night after sending the children to school I wondered where I could have lost him. I searched again and found Sean under a sock that needed darning. How I missed him the first second and gazillion time I don’t know.

         The next day my husband was released from the hospital came home and getting a licence shot a deer for Christmas dinner even though it hurt him to kill such a magnificent animal. We were happier. there was food for Christmas dinner.

Christmas morning Sean was back where he belonged in the window facing out, in his brand new suit. The doorbell rang at five a.m. and I found gaily wrapped presents outside the front door with the children’s names on them.  There had been a light snowfall overnight but the only tracks were hoof prints and two straight lines like those of a sleigh.

         We all stammered “What? Where? Why? How?”, as we looked  at each other in wonderment at the lack of human footprints and the two long lines where something big had rested.

The parcels were opened and to sounds of delight as it revealed a Chatty Cathy doll cuddled tightly, a pair of figure skates, a Bowie knife and a make-up mirror, a large toy crane and a model airplane.

         I found out later that the toys were supplied by an elderly lady who befriended the neighbourhood children and who had given all the children a Christmas party’ but neither she, nor anyone else could explain the lack of human footprints. Sheilagh was sure that she was Mrs. Santa Claus and had brought Sean back with her and the presents.

        Was Sean really a magical leprechaun? I am no longer sure. some things maybe coincidence but others have no explanation . The only thing I’m sure of its that it was the best Christmas ever.

THE END
By Shirley.W.

I hope you enjoyed my mother's story.  My daughter now has Sean and has promised him another new suit not bad since his last one was so long ago.

Merry Christmas!! Happy Holidays and please if you can help children in need at Christmas and throughout the year.

My #ThursThreads winning tale -More than a lifetime

WINNER

More than a Lifetime

       

        I have lived many lifetimes; I am aware that each lifetime I’ve missed the mark of my reason for being here. I have been difficult, cranky and generally hard to be around.Why was I like that you ask? Each life I would meet her fall in love and then lose her…the woman who made me a better man; to disease or disaster, or to another man. No matter what I seemed to do it was inevitable. I decided this lifetime I would enjoy all my time with her and not be a sour man afterwards.  Maybe then instead of living life over and over again we could be together in the afterlife.

Tonight I found her again she was in the process of committing suicide.

“You’re better off here with me,” I told her.

“But you don’t even know me,” she cried.

“Maybe, but I will if you give me a chance,” I insisted.

She gave me the chance. We’ve been together for twenty years now the longest of any lifetime. She’s started to remember us now so I know our time is short. I went to the doctor’s this morning and it’s me that will be pulled away this time; but I hope and pray that all the good we’ve done in the last twenty years together will be rewarded. I wish for another lifetime together again. For it’s not a curse as I thought but a gift and I know I will always love her and she me.

©Sheilagh Lee December 7, 2017