Christmas Stocking Fillers # 4

HAPPY STRESSLESS

A good friend of mine
Does his Christmas shopping
In less than two hours
With decs for party popping
And Gifts for twenty five
Friends and family
All on Christmas Eve
Including a six foot tree

FESTIVE FACT # 01

In 1979 the Christingle Service was for the first time introduced into
Barbados at the St Ambrose Church.

THE SLAVA CANDLE

After the Krsna Slava ceremony In Serbia & Montenegro the Slava candle is never blown out.
It has to be extinguished with wine from a glass and then the glass is passed around for each member of the family to take a sip.
This symbolizes the constancy and unity of the family within the orthodox faith.

THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS

In many cities around the world On Christmas Day and Boxing Day the destitute and homeless served a festive meal by teams of volunteers who give up their time and sacrifice their own Christmas festivities to help those less fortunate than themselves.

KRAMPUS

In Austria, Krampus, a strange and frightening devil like creature accompanies St. Nicholas on his travels.
Krampus, the devil figure is in chains and is dressed in fur with a scary mask with a long red tongue.
He carries a wooden stick to threaten naughty children who misbehave but St. Nicholas never lets the creature hurt anyone.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER - ONE SPECIAL NIGHT

Made in 1999 One Special Night is the story of local builder Robert (James Garner) who after visiting his ailing wife in a nursing home becomes stranded when an intense snow storm hits the area.
Katherine (Julie Andrews) whose husband was a patient at the nursing home before his death and had also been visiting offered Robert a lift back to town in her sports car.
The journey was not the most congenial ever and got worse when they went off the road and got stuck.
As a result they end up walking until they come to an empty cabin in the woods where they talk shelter and after some food and conversation they begin to bond.
But on their return to civilization the relationship struggles to get off the ground.
But love will out.

CHRISTMAS ENTERTAINMENT

Since the advent of Cable and Satellite Every Christmas is the same. It used to be bad enough in the old days when there were only three channels to fill but now we allegedly have more choice the terrestrial channels don’t even try to offer anything that we might consider to be acceptable.
Take this Christmas just gone, it doesn’t have to be the latest every one is the same now, but we will stick with this latest offerings as they are freshest in the memory.
They really pulled the stops out and so packed was the schedule that they couldn’t even squeeze in the Great Escape.
Unfortunately all five channels were packed with a mixture of repeats and things which should never be seen again.
Tom Browns schooldays gave the impression it might brighten an otherwise dull selection only to disappoint.
However the choice plum of the holiday season has to be Uncle Adolph, what were they thinking, at one point good old incestuous Uncle Adolph was sat knocking out a tune on the piano to impress his niece when I thought he was going to burst into a chorus of “Springtime for Hitler” the play couldn’t have been anymore ludicrous if he had.
Thankfully the smug and inanely grinning Miss Marple has been returned to the asylum from whence she came (hopefully never to be released again) and the writers have returned to writing daytime soaps for the Outer Mongolia broadcasting corporation.
Still it won’t be long before we’re doing it all again so better get the sprouts on

ST LUCIA OF SYRACUSE

Lucia was born to a noble and prosperous family in Syracuse on the island of Sicily.
It was in the days of Diocletian and his persecution of Christian’s that Lucia carried food and drink to Christians hiding in dark underground tunnels.
In order To light her way she wore a wreath of candles on her head.
Lucia’s father was long dead and her ailing widowed mother, Eutychia, planned to marry the beautiful young Lucia to a pagan bachelor.
Lucia however had no interest in marriage and spurned the suggestion of marriage and told her mother she had no want of worldly goods and she had vowed to remain a virgin in the tradition of St. Agatha, at whose tomb she regularly prayed for help and for three years she managed to keep the marriage on hold.
To change her mother Eutychia's mind about the girl's new faith, Lucy prayed long at the tomb of St Agatha.
Miraculously her mother's long hemorrhagic illness was cured and to show her gratitude to her devout daughter the grateful mother was ready to exceed to Lucia’s wish to give herself to prayer and poverty and commit her life to god.
The young pagan suitor, Paschasius, was less understanding and was so angry that he denounced her as a Christian to the Roman authorities.
In keeping with the Emperor Diocletian’s edict to eradicate Christianity the Roman governor sentenced her to be taken to a brothel and forced into prostitution.
The Romans were thwarted in their efforts after divine intervention as Lucia became rooted to the spot and was thus immovable and the Romans could not carry her away even when they hitched her to a team of oxen.
Not to be diverted after they tortured her and tore her eyes out the Romans next condemned her to death by fire, she was surrounded by bundles of wood which were set afirebut after another divine intervention she proved impervious to the flames.
In the end a roman soldier pierced her neck with a sword and she died.
Miraculously her eyesight was restored before her death which is why she is the patron saint of the blind.

IT HAPPENED ON DECEMBER 6TH

963 Leo VIII elected Pope
1196 Northern Dutch coast flooded in the "Saint-Nicolaas Flood"
1240 The Mongols under Batu Khan occupied and destroy Kiev
1424 Don Alfonso V of Aragon grants Barcelona the right to exclude Jews
1491 King Charles VIII of France marries Anna of Bretagne
1492 the island of Haiti is discovered by Christopher Columbus
1648 Thomas Pride prevents 96 Presbyterians from sitting in the English parliament
1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army retreats to Scotland
1756 British troops under Robert Clive occupy Fulta India
1768 1st edition of "Encyclopedia Britannica" is published in Scotland
1820 US president James Monroe re-elected
1833 HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin aboard departs Rio de la Plata
1849 Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland
1862 President Lincoln orders the hanging of 39 Santee Sioux Indians
1865 13th Amendment is ratified, abolishing slavery
1873 1st international football game in the USA Yale 2, Eton 1
1876 1st crematorium in the USA begins operation, Washington, Penn
1877 1st sound recording made by Thomas Edison
1877 Washington Post publishes its 1st edition
1907 Coal mine explosions in Monongah, WV, kills 361
1912 China votes for universal human rights
1914 German troops over run Lodz
1917 Finland declares independence from Russia
1917 French munitions ship "Mont Blanc" explodes in Halifax killing 1,700
1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty signed giving Ireland dominion status and partition creates Northern Ireland
1940 Gestapo arrest German resistance fighter the poster artist Helen Ernst
1941 Dutch and British pilots see Japanese invasion fleet at Singapore
1956 Nelson Mandela and 156 others are arrested for political activities in South Africa
1963 Beatles begin a tradition of releasing a Christmas record for fans
1966 Polio vaccination becomes obligatory in Belgium
1973 Gerald Ford sworn-in as 1st unelected VP, succeeding Spiro T Agnew
1989 Worst Canadian mass murder when Marc Lepine kills 14 women at Montreal university
1990 Shoeless Joe Jackson's signature is sold for $23,100
1992 300,000 Hindus attack and destroy the mosque of Babri India, 4 die
1994 Maltese Falcon auctioned for $398,590

TRIVIAL TITBIT # 04

In England in 1644 the observance of Christmas was forbidden by an act of Parliament.

FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS SONG # 4

Despite the general awfulness of the Christmas song there are however always exceptions to the rule and I have a short list of personal favorites.
Without exception all my choices not only include the song but the best performer of that song and so in no particular order here is my fourth selection.

“SLEIGH RIDE” sung by THE RONNETTES

Just hear those sleigh bells jingle-ing
Ring ting tingle-ing too
Come on, it's lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you

Outside the snow is falling
And friends are calling "You Hoo"
Come on, it's lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you

Giddy-yap giddy-yap giddy-yap
let's go
Let's look at the snow
We're riding in a wonderland of snow

Giddy-yap giddy-yap giddy-yap it's grand
Just holding your hand
We're gliding along with the song
Of a wintry fairy land

Our cheeks are nice and rosy
And comfy cozy are we
We're snuggled up together like two
Birds of a feather would be

Let's take the road before us
And sing a chorus or two
Come on, it's lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you

There's a birthday party at the home of Farmer Gray
It'll be the perfect ending of a perfect day
We'll be singing the songs we love to sing without a single stop
At the fireplace while we watch the chestnuts pop
Pop! Pop! Pop!

There's a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy
When they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie
It'll nearly be like a picture print by Currier and Ives
These wonderful things are the things
We remember all through our lives

SEASONAL SNIPPET # 03

On St. Nicholas' Day, during the middle ages, a 'Boy Bishop' was elected, and he exercised a blasphemous Episcopal jurisdiction by parodying ecclesiastical functions and ceremonies.

TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS PUNCH RECIPE

Ingredients:
2 pints of water
8oz sugar
Half a bottle of rum
Half a bottle port
The juice and rind of 3 lemons
1 sliced apple
1 sliced orange
Grated nutmeg
Instructions:
Add the sugar and lemon rind to the water in a saucepan and boil. Remove from the heat and when cool strain before adding the rum, port and lemon juice.
Decant into large a pre-warmed punch bowl and float the sliced apple and orange on the top and finally sprinkle with nutmeg.

IT’S CHRISTMAS

People have been discovering
On a Christmas Morning
That the curse of Christmas
That’s causing the most fuss
Has been unanimously concluded
To be “Batteries not included”

CROMWELLIAN

The lord protector Oliver Cromwell
Killed thousands, the truth to tell
Beheaded the king and closed hostelries
And he cancelled the Christmas festivities

CHRISTMAS FARE

There has never been a good time to be poor
Certainly not Christmas
As Dickens wrote
“This time when want is keenly felt by the poor”
And there has never been a good place to be poor
Certainly not Victorian London
Now a wealthy Victorian family
Would dine upon a Christmas dinner
Of Vegetable soup
Oyster patties,
Roast turkey or goose,
Boiled leg of mutton with caper sauce
Followed by Port wine jelly,
Mince pies and plum pudding
Queen Victoria is known to have eaten roast swan
While in the country
A piece of Smoked bacon
Or rabbit pie was had
The poor in town or country
Dined upon whatever could be found

FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS CAROL # 4

JOY TO THE WORLD
Words by Isaac Watts and Music by Lowell Mason

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

IT HAPPENED ONE CHRISTMAS

Sometimes when you least expect it life can really slap you in the face and then it kicks you when you’re on the ground.
The slap came when Jackie Melville was taken ill in January last year and needed surgery.
Her husband Bob had a steady job and they even had limited medical insurance and although they had to pay the difference Bob knew he could cover it by putting in some overtime.
Then came the first kick, in February with two thousand dollars in medical bills unpaid, Bob lost his job.
In April Another kick, with the medical bills still unpaid and Bob unemployed and Jackie unable to work for several months because of the surgery and with mounting bills and no money for rent they lost the house.
Bob, Jackie, 9 year old son Sam and seven year old twins Ben and Josh moved into a mobile home in a trailer park.
Over The following seven months the Melville's worked hard to rebuild their lives.
In June Bob found another job and although not as well paid as the one he lost it seemed to be more secure and In July Jackie fully recovered was able to return to work herself.
The boys did their bit as well by washing cars, cleaning windows and doing odd jobs on the park.
By December they had managed to pay off their debts and even had a bit left over for Christmas.
They were doing so well that in another six months they would be able to move back into a house.
Then on the 20th December life kicked them again.
During the night the electric heater in the mobile home burst into flames and rapidly spread.
The alarm was raised by Clinton Avery, a shift worker and one of the other residents of the park who was returning home when he saw the burning trailer.
Thankfully everyone was rescued safely but the Melville's lost everything all that remained after fireman Billy Daly had doused the fire were a few scraps of melted toys half-burned books and scorched and tattered clothing.
They had lost everything to fire, smoke and water, including all the children’s clothes and the Christmas presents.
How cruel for a family who had worked so hard to get back on their feet to be dealt such a blow.
This would be bad enough at any time but just before Christmas compounded the cruelty.
But it is under the very circumstances experienced by the Melville's that brings the best out in people.
That night the family were boarded in various homes on the park and the next day they had a visit from a man called Howard Daly.
Howard was the brother Billy Daly, one of the firemen, and he gave Bob and Jackie the key to a mobile home on the park belonging to him which he wasn't using and he said that they were welcome to stay as long as it took to get back on their feet.
The Melville's were overcome with Howard's generosity but that was only the beginning in the space of a day-and-a-half, friends, family and strangers helped the family get back on track.
The pharmacist at the drugstore refused to accept Jackie's money for the twin's asthma medication.
In fact nobody would accept any money and people just kept on donating goods.
One man, he wouldn't give his name, pulled up at the trailer park in his pickup, unloaded some bunk beds and he said "I had these at home, and I heard you needed them more than me," got back in his truck and left.
Pat Phillips who was a teacher at the local School, and knew the family drove Jackie from place to place to collect medications, clothes, dishes and such like.
Come Christmas day the boys had some toys including a race track, a football and a baseball glove.
Due to The generosity of friends and strangers alike the Melville's were able to enjoy their Christmas and look forward to hopeful New Year just five days after they thought their Christmas dreams had burned away.
This story goes to prove without any shadow of doubt that the Christmas spirit truly dwells within the hearts of mankind.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1100

Boudouin I of Boulogne was crowned king of Jerusalem

SHOP EARLY FOR CHRISTMAS

It was Christmas Eve at the magistrate’s court
And the Magistrate was in charitable mood
And in keeping with the season
Was inclined to show a little latitude
"Now then, what is the charge against you?"
He asked the unfortunate prisoner
The man in the dock replied
"I was caught Christmas shopping very early sir"
"That doesn't seem like an offence to me.
What do you mean by “very early” man”?
"Well, your Honour." said the defendant,
"It was an hour before the shop was open."

A TIME TO REMEMBER

It was an unforgettable morning
After the winter sun reluctantly rose
And the new dawn broke gently
To light the frosted landscape
And heralding the holy morn
Bathing cosy homes with light
Awaking children from their repose
As grown-ups wipe sleep away
Or tiredly yield to a yawn
And so the day has begun
Joyful yells and screams ensue
As gifts are opened frantically
Wrappings scattered here and there
It was an unforgettable morning
Though soon enough it became forgot
And as the day progresses
The latest must haves cast aside
Attention turns to the Christmas feast
When eyes are bigger than bellies
And indigestion comes on all
How different to the first morn
When in a strange and distant land
Lit by a star of brightest hue
And sheltered in a humble stable
God lay in human baby form
Watched over by lowly beasts
And shepherds stood in reverent pose
Three travellers from the east
Offered gifts to God made man
So as you enjoy your seasonal repast
Take time and spare a thought
Raise your hearts and a grateful glass
And remember the saviour’s birth

SEASONAL GREETINGS FROM AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

Arabic
Idah Saidan WA Sanah Jadidah
Afrikaans
GeSëende Kersfees
Een Plesierige Kerfees
African (Eritrea, Tigrinja)
Rehus-Beal-Ledeats
African (Kwa, Yoruba)
E ku odun, e ku iye'dun
African (Chadic, Hausa)
Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara
Hebrew
Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova
Iran (Farsi)
Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad
Iraq
Idah Saidan WA Sanah Jadidah

CHRISTMAS VILLAGES

In North America there is a long standing tradition of placing little villages of little houses at the foot of the Christmas trees.
The origins of the practise are unclear although the general consensus appears to be that Christmas villages began as over-elaborate additions to a tradition Nativity scene.
This practice was probably taken to North America by the Moravians who emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1741, and established the town of Bethlehem in Pennsylvania.
The Moravian tradition involves adding to the Nativity dozens, sometimes more, of handmade figures, houses, waterfalls, bridges, churches creating a winter wonderland.
Then in the early 20th century Sets of small buildings began to be commercially produced.

TREE SKIRTS

Christmas tree skirts or Rugs for the base of the Christmas tree have become an indispensable addition to the 21st century festive decor but originally they had a much more practical use and were meant to protect floors or carpets against the dripping of candle wax.
The first commercial tree skirts or rugs depicted Santa Claus driving a sleigh drawn by his eight reindeer.

CHRISTINGLE

Christingle has its origins in Eastern Europe and The Christingle Service is a Service of candle lights where very many years ago people gathered in the street, sang carols and collected gifts to help the less fortunate in the community.
It is a beautiful candle light service of hymns, carols, recitations and bible readings, but Christingle goes beyond a candle light service and it tells a story.
A story is told with the symbolic use of the following items:
An orange representing the world.
A red ribbon tied around the orange to symbolize the blood of Jesus shed for
his people.
Tooth picks decorated with dried fruits and sweets are placed at the
four corners of the orange representing all the people of the world.
A lighted candle in the centre of the orange represents the light of
Christ to the world.

Christmas Stocking Fillers # 3

THE NOT SO GREAT WAR

“Your country needs you,” said Kitchener
You’re needed to fight them over there
“It will be over by Christmas,” they said
But it was just getting started instead
In the cold trenches on Christmas morn
The guns remained silent after the dawn
Soon forgetting the horrendous conditions
Men began emerging from their positions
The opposing soldiers met in no mans land
Then smiled and shook their enemies hand
Briefly at peace both sides felt regrets
Then they exchanged gifts of cigarettes
A day without a single shot fired at all
They even got to play a game of football
Sadly the men returned their own way
They began killing again on Boxing Day

FESTIVE FACT # 03

In Stuttgart, children dress up as Nikolaus and go from door to door asking for sweets similar to trick or treating at Halloween.

CHRISTMAS CACTUS # 2

The Christmas cactus
The winter-bloomer
Its jointed flat segments
Look like experiments
Made by a young boy
With a construction set toy
But the rose-purple flowers
Light up the winter hours

EGGNOG

Three Kings Day is celebrated on January 6th, twelve days after Christmas and is the last day of the Christmas season.
Three Kings Day or Dia de los Reyes is also known as The Epiphany, the Christian celebration commemorating the Biblical story of the three kings Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar who followed the star of Bethlehem to bring gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Christ child.
Traditionally in Spanish speaking countries, Three Kings Day is the time for gift-giving, rather than Christmas day.
In some regions it is customary for children to leave their shoes out on the night of January 5 hoping the Three Kings will be generous, the children's shoes will often be filled with hay for the Kings camels.
When the Spanish children wake on January 6 they find the hay has gone and their shoes are filled with toys and gifts.

THE KISSING BOUGH

The kissing bough was made out of mistletoe, holly, ivy, and any other available evergreens.
It was shaped into a double hoop and had bright streamers flowing from the top and was decorated with apples, pears, ribbons, and lighted candles.
Anyone found under the bough, as with mistletoe, was to be kissed without delay.
The kissing bough was very popular in England but its heyday was before the arrival of the Christmas tree.

20 PEOPLE WHO ARRIVED IN THE WORLD ON DECEMBER 6TH

1285 Ferdinand V, king of Castile and Leon
1421 Henry VI, king of England (1422-61, 1470-71)
1550 Orazio Tiberio Vecchi, composer
1608 George Monck, English general governor of Scotland
1768 Johann Baptist Henneberg, composer
1775 Nicolas Isouard, composer
1792 Willem II Frederik GL, King of Netherlands (1840-49)
1896 Ira Gershwin, lyricist
1906 actress Agnes Moorehead born Clinton Massachusetts
1920 Dave Brubeck, Concord California, jazz pianist and composer
1939 Tomas Svoboda, Paris, France, Czech composer (Etude)
1941 mass murderer Richard Speck, (killed 8 student nurses in 1966)
1943 Mike Smith, London England, pianist with the Dave Clark 5
1948 Jonathan King, London, singer songwriter and producer
1948 actress JoBeth Williams, Houston Texas
1949 cricketer Peter Willey, England batsman
1953 Gina Hecht, Houston Texas, actress
1955 Steven Wright, dry comedian
1962 Janine Turner, Lincoln Nebraska, actress
1965 actress Teri Hatcher, Sunnyvale California

TRIVIAL TITBIT # 03

In Massachusetts in 1659, a law was passed that stating
"Whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas, either by forbearing of labour, feasting, or in any other way, shall be fined 5 shillings."

GREETINGS TO THE WORLD

“Happy Christmas” is what I chose to say
But many greetings are used for the day
To one and all during the festive season
And different languages are the reason
Say "Frolyke Kerstfeest" or "Joyoo Noel"
"Felleeth Navidad" even "Glaydlig Yool"
"Kalla Kristoogenna", "Boo-on Natarlee"
"Boas Festas" or "Sheng Dan Kwhy Lee"
You could say "Frerlicker Vine-akten"
Or maybe "Roshdesrom Kristovim" then
So you can say it in very many ways
But please never say “Happy Holidays”

FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS SONG # 3

Despite the general awfulness of the Christmas song there are however always exceptions to the rule and I have a short list of personal favorites.
Without exception all my choices not only include the song but the best performer of that song and so in no particular order here is my third selection.

“Let it Snow” written by Sammy Cahn and sung by Dean Martin

Oh the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
And since we've no place to go
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

It doesn't show signs of stopping
And I've bought some corn for popping
The lights are turned way down low
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

When we finally kiss goodnight
How I'll hate going out in the storm!
But if you'll really hold me tight
All the way home I'll be warm

The fire is slowly dying
And, my dear, we're still goodbying
But as long as you love me so
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

THREE KINGS DAY

Three Kings Day is celebrated on January 6th, twelve days after Christmas and is the last day of the Christmas season.
Three Kings Day or Dia de los Reyes is also known as The Epiphany, the Christian celebration commemorating the Biblical story of the three kings Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar who followed the star of Bethlehem to bring gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Christ child.
Traditionally in Spanish speaking countries, Three Kings Day is the time for gift-giving, rather than Christmas day.
In some regions it is customary for children to leave their shoes out on the night of January 5 hoping the Three Kings will be generous, the children's shoes will often be filled with hay for the Kings camels.
When the Spanish children wake on January 6 they find the hay has gone and their shoes are filled with toys and gifts.

TRADITIONAL GLUHWEIN RECIPE

Ingredients:
1 bottle red wine
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 cloves
2 sticks of cinnamon
Orange and lemon peel

Instructions:
With the exception of the wine boil all ingredients together and reduce the volume by half.
Remove from the heat Strain and then add the Wine.
Return to the heat bringing the mixture to the boil but not boiling.
Remove from the heat and Serve hot.

A SAINT IS FOR LIFE NOT JUST FOR CHRISTMAS

Often the true meaning of Christmas passes us by
The night the holy star appeared bright in the sky
Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ the savior
But others are also remembered at this time of year
St Lucia’s day is on the thirteenth day of December
In fourth century Sicily Lucia was a virgin martyr
Lucia means “light” very apt for a Christmas saint
She is also called upon to cure any eye complaint
St Thomas’s day is on the twenty first of December
The shortest and darkest day in our modern calendar
Traditionally the poor would all go out “thomasing”
For wheat flour and other Christmas “goodening”
Not the first saint you’d associate with Christmas
He is perhaps better known as “doubting Thomas”
Because he at first questioned Christ’s resurrection
He is patron saint of the carpenter and stone mason
On the twenty-six of the month St Stephens’s day falls
Boxing Day or the feast of Stephen in hallowed halls
Chosen by the disciples to help spread Christianity
He was put to death by the zealots for his profanity
The most famous Christmas time saint of all must be
St Nicholas the Bishop of Myra now a part of Turkey
He was a very shy man and the kindest man to know
When he threw coins through a poor family’s window
They landed in a stocking hanging over the fire to dry
So that’s where it all began if you ever wondered why

SEASONAL SNIPPET # 02

During the winter solstice the druids gathered mistletoe and hung it in their homes while the Saxons favoured holly and ivy.

MEDIEVAL CHRISTMAS PIE

For the wealthy landowners
In medieval times
Food was plentiful
At Christmas time
And A few days before the holy day
The kitchen at the manor
Would begin their preparations
First a huge pasty case was made
For a special festive pie
Into the bottom of the huge pastry case
Went enormous amounts of forcemeat,
This was ground beef and lamb
Heavily seasoned with salt and pepper,
On this were placed boned and boiled hens,
Rabbits, Ducks and assorted game birds
Another layer of forcemeat was added
Then marrow, hard boiled egg yokes
Currants, prunes and dates
Spices such as cloves and saffron,
Mace and cinnamon
Finished off the ample filling
It was then covered
With the huge pastry lid and baked
And such a feast was had
The poor were less fortunate
Unless they had a goodly lord at the manor
But bad masters were
As plentiful as the feast
And so Christmas for the poor
Was often less than merry

FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS CAROL # 2

HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING
Music by Felix Mendelssohn, lyrics by Charles Wesley

Hark! The herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With the angelic host proclaim,
" Christ is born in Bethlehem!"

Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born King;

Christ, by highest heaven adored:
Christ, the ever-lasting Lord!
Late in time behold him come,
Off-spring of the virgin's womb.
Veiled in flesh the God-head see;
Hail the incarnate Deity;
Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born King;

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings,
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born King;

Come, Desire of nations, come,
Fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed,
Bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Now display Thy saving power,
Ruined nature now restore;
Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to Thine.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born King;

Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in Thy love.
Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the Life, the inner man:
O, to all Thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born King;

PANTOMIME # 2

Pantomime is a traditional Christmas and New Year entertainment unique and peculiar to the British theatre.
Pantomime origins can be traced back to the 16th and 17th century Italian improvised comic drama called the Commedia Dell'arte.
Punch and Judy, Harlequinade and the French tradition of mime also have their origins in the commedia Dell'arte.
With its roots deep in the harlequin tradition of the 18th century combined with the music hall burlesque of the 19th forged what we know today as pantomime where an actress always plays the part of principal boy and an actor always plays the dame.
The Pantomimes used traditional fairy tales like Mother Goose Puss in Boots, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Red Riding Hood in which they wove into the story political satire, parodies of popular figures and slapstick thus providing something for everyone.
The great thing about Panto is that it is the one part of British culture which refuses to embrace Political Correctness, thank god.
By the end of every Panto virtue is rewarded, love conquers all, good defeats evil and everyone lives happily ever after.

KUGELS

The first glass ornaments for the Christmas tree were a kind of glass ball called Kugels, and were believed to protect homes from evil spirits. These were first produced at Lauscha in Germany around 1830.

THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX SAINT

The Orthodox Church in Russia recognized St. Nicholas as a miracle worker and he was held in a position of great esteem.
It was in honour of St Nicholas because he helped children and the poor that Russia's oldest church was built.

CROATIAN CHRISTMAS

In northern and central Croatia Sveti Nikola brings gifts to children on December 6th. It has always been the main day for gift-giving. Even though under communist rule Christian holidays were frowned upon most families still celebrated in private.
On the eve of the saint's day, children polish their boots until they gleam and then place them on a windowsill to await the good Saint.
The next morning the good children's shoes are filled to over flowing with candy, fruit, and gifts.
A devil accompanies St Nicholas, leaves golden twigs for naughty children.
The naughtier the child the bigger the twig.
Actually all the children get a twig just as a warning but also each one gets sweets as well.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 597

England adopted the Julian calendar

ISLAND OF ST THOMAS

St. Thomas Island is part of the group that makes up the Virgin Islands.
It was first sighted by Columbus on his second westward voyage in 1493 and although he did not land it was Columbus who named them Las Virgenes.
It wasn’t until 150 years later that the Danish flag was planted on St. Thomas and it eventually became part of Danish West Indies.
The island was populated with Slaves imported from Africa to work on the large number of sugar plantations and the islands wealth grew.
But the prosperity of the island dwindled After Denmark abolished slavery in 1848.
The Danish West Indies came under threat of German expansion during World War I so America purchased the islands which became the American Virgins in March 1917 and in 1927 the islands residents were granted United States citizenship.
Even though the islands have their own Governor and a locally elected legislature residents cannot vote in the Presidential election despite being United States taxpayers.

FESTIVE FACT # 11

It is thought that the concoction we now know as eggnog started out as a mixture of Spanish Sherry and milk which The English used to call "Dry sack posset".

FIRST WORKING CHRISTMAS

In the early seventies I was living in an area of Stevenage called Marymead where my mother was the warden at a block of sheltered accommodation flats for the elderly.
I attended Shephallbury School nearby which I left in the May and I started my first job later that same month.
My job was working as a trainee groundsman with the Hertfordshire County Council grounds maintenance team and the depot was in the north of Stevenage old town paying the grand sum of £10.99 per week before stoppages.
Although the depot was some distance from where I lived it was never an issue as there was a very good bus service.
In the November of that same year my family moved house from Marymead on one side of town to the Hyde on the other, this point will become more significant later in the tale.
The house move didn’t effect my getting to and from work as Stevenage corporation as it was then known operated flat fare buses operating on circular routes so I still got the same bus but from a different stop and the price was the same this also will prove significant later on.
As I said this was my first year at work and I had my first Christmas party to look forward to.
It was on the last day before we broke for the Christmas holiday and we had a little party in the yard where a little Christmas cheer was imbibed and a drink or two were consumed.
Now I was only sixteen and I had only had very limited experience of alcohol and I got well and truly bladdered on whisky Mac, cider and something unpronounceable from Yugoslavia.
One of the guys gave me a lift into the town centre and from there I caught my usual bus.
In my drunken state I managed to climb the stairs to the top deck and the bus set off filled with heavily laden Christmas shoppers and a drunken trainee groundsman.
I must have drifted off on the journey and I suddenly came to and looking out the window recognized a familiar site and I got off the bus.
I headed off up the road in the direction of home wishing all and sundries a merry Christmas as I went.
I entered through the main doors to the flats and passed the Christmas tree in the foyer and headed straight for flat number one.
At the door I fumbled for my key and presented it to the lock, it wouldn’t fit.
I peered closely at it and it was definitely my door key so I tried to put it in the lock again, still it wouldn’t fit.
Suddenly the door opened and a stranger looked out at me “Can I help?” she asked.
“Ah my name is Paul and I don’t live here anymore do I?”
The lady, who was the new warden, agreed with me that I no longer lived there so I wished her a happy Christmas and made my way back to the foyer were there was a public telephone with a large Perspex dome over it.
My intention was to phone for a taxi but rummaging in my pockets I discovered I had no money for the taxi or indeed to make a phone call then as I tried to duck under the Perspex hood I tripped over my own feet and fell into the Christmas tree which ended up on top of me.
The lady who now lived at no 1 heard the commotion and came to investigate and to my surprise thought it very amusing to find a drunken teenager wearing the Christmas tree.
The new warden phoned for a taxi for me and even gave me the money for the fare.
That was real Christmas spirit and I have never forgotten her kindness and tolerance and try to keep that same spirit in my own heart at Christmas.

SEASONAL GREETINGS FROM SCANDINAVIA

Denmark
Glædelig Jul
Faroe Islands
Gledhilig jol og eydnurikt nyggjar
Finland
Hyvaa joulua
Iceland
Gledileg Jol
Lappland (Sami)
Buorrit Juovllat
Norway
God Jul, or Gledelig Jul
Sweden
God Jul
Ett Gott Nytt År

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER - A HOLIDAY ROMANCE

This is a lovely story set during the holiday season, when a stern school administrator Cal Peterson (Gerald McRaney) is sent to review Bethlehem School with a view to cutting costs by any means.
He is accompanied by his teenage niece Fern (Alison Pill) who is now in his care and who, unknown to Cal, is brought alive by the music program
Cal and Fern move in with Cal’s father Jake Peterson (Andy Griffith) which provides another sub plot.
Also Cal despite himself begins to fall for music teacher Lily Waite (Naomi Judd) and following a long review, Cal is forced to conclude that the only way to save the funds is to eliminate the music program.
It is only at the final concert, before Lily must leave her job, the music program is saved by generous donations, and Cal sees Fern perform.
Not a dry eye in the house, wonderful stuff.

The House Guest

Chestnut Cottage is a rather quaint Tudor thatched dwelling with its white walls and black oak timbers, its rose covered lych-gate and a wishing well in the garden.
It is very much the stereo typical “chocolate box” image of an English country cottage.
It’s a fairly remote cottage situated at the end of Vicarage Lane some half a mile from the church and about a mile from Appleby village itself.
My name is Harry Tyler and I lived in the cottage for more than twenty years and by the time summer came to an end I had been in residence another eight months after I died.
Not in a physical sense, my body did not lie undiscovered, decomposing in my armchair; I was found and dealt with in the proper manner.
At the time I was happy enough to die, though I took no hand in it I hasten to add I died of natural causes.
The last year of my life was a mere existence after the death of my dear wife Rose.
We had no children of our own and what other family that were left we were not close to.
Rose and I had been happily married for 47 years and we retired to Appleby village and we had such a nice life together.
She was my conduit to the world; she was the interface that connected me to people.
After she was gone it was like being stranded in a foreign land without a translator
To find myself alone in the world at the age of seventy four filled me with dread so I withdrew into the safety of the cottage and became very reclusive and only ventured out when I had to.
So when I died I thought I would be reunited with my Rose again. But I remained in the cottage and she was nowhere to be found.
I spent every day confined to the cottage and garden the same prison I confined myself to before I died.
In many ways it was no difference to when I was alive except I didn’t have to eat or drink.
Nor did I have to wash or comb my hair or trim my beard and of course I didn’t feel anything.
I was exactly as I was when I died, a fat, old man with white hair and a beard wearing the same clothes I had on when I breathed my last.
I hoped to God I didn’t have to spend eternity wearing that awful red jumper, I hated that jumper and the only reason I was wearing it at all was that my favourite one was still damp and I didn’t want to catch a chill.
If I had realised I was going to pop my clogs anyway I would have worn the other one.
So there I stood a fat white bearded old man wearing a red sweater that made me look like an off duty Santa Claus.
I didn’t understand why I was still there; I didn’t want to be there I wanted to be with Rose.
I thought there must be something I had to do in order that I could move on but at that time I had no idea what that something might have been.

On the first of September I thought today is not like any other day, today things are going to change.
I was standing in what used to be the bedroom Rose and I shared and I was looking out through the window at the unfolding scene below.
A removal truck had just come to a stop in the lane and a small blue car parked a suitable distance behind it.
The driver of the of the car slowly got out and walked towards the gate pausing briefly to speak to the removal men who were lowering the tail board, she walked through the gate and down the long winding path.
She was an attractive young woman late twenties or probably early thirties, petite with shoulder length black hair that shimmered with a hint of blue like a raven’s wing and she walked awkwardly with a stick in her right hand.
I recognised her at once as one of fifteen or so prospective buyers who viewed the cottage during the summer.
I thought to myself that it would be nice to have company even if there would be no conversation it would be a bit like watching a soap opera on TV.
I would have preferred it to be a man; after all spying on a young woman would make me feel a bit like a peeping Tom but beggars can’t be choosers.
Then as I watched her slow progress down the path something terrible occurred to me what if she was one of those awful naturist types who go about the house naked, where would I look?
Then I laughed at the stupid question I had asked myself it was obvious where I would look I might be dead but I was still a man.

So I watched her discreetly over the next week or so as she went about her unpacking and arranging her furniture.
Due to my gentlemanly disposition I declared her bedroom and the bathroom as off limits.
As I was in my ninth month of limbo I was desperate for knowledge of the wider world and I was bitterly disappointed that she didn’t have a television I really missed the TV and she didn’t listen to the radio either,
I had hoped she might at least take a daily paper but no the only paper to come through the door was the local freebie.
She did have a computer and I did look-over her shoulder while she was using it, very rude I know and under normal circumstance I would never have done such a thing but I thought to myself, needs must.
By the end of September the computer had taught me a lot, I had established that her name was Juliana Molesworth and she was a workaholic who lived on the computer, in fact the computer was her life, it was her work, she shopped on it, she banked on it, it was her library, it was her music collection and it was her only friend.
Apart from her visits for physiotherapy she never went out and her only visitors were delivery people, oh and a hairdresser.
This young woman was making the same mistake that I had she was cutting herself off from the world and making the cottage her prison.
Though I didn’t know why she was withdrawing from the world I now knew what I had to do to move on I had to save Juliana from my own fate.

I know that strictly speaking as I was dead I couldn’t actually live with her but after living with Juliana for five weeks it had become clear that she had gone to Chestnut Cottage to cut herself off from the world and I knew from bitter experience that course of action was pure folly.
My job was to show her the error of her ways but I had absolutely no idea how I would achieve that.
For a start I was dead and invisible although I could make myself visible without any difficulty the problem was not if I could make her see me but when and how would she take it.
If she didn’t freak out at having a resident ghost then she almost certainly would when she discovered she had been sharing the cottage with an old man who could make himself invisible.
I decided for the mean time to just maintain a watching brief just to keep an eye on her until I could figure out the best course of action.
I did allow her the odd glimpse, a reflection in a mirror, a shape in the corner of her eye just to test her nerve but she seemed un-phased by it or would dismiss it with a shrug.
She seemed at least on the surface anyway to be quite a strong character she was clearly in a lot of pain from her hip and she took strong pain killers for it.
She got around some of the day without her stick but towards the end of the day she couldn’t walk without it and she would rub her hip and you could see the pain etched into her face.
Juliana had a pretty face when it wasn’t screwed up in pain, with hypnotic green eyes and a sensual mouth.
There were some faint scars on her chin and some more on her forehead .but they did not detract from her beauty.
It was getting towards the end of the month and I was out in the garden, it had been a glorious late summer / early autumn day, the sun would have felt quite warm had I been able to feel it, and I was watching the sun set as I had so many times with Rose.
I missed her so much and I was feeling sorry for myself so I stayed until the sun disappeared behind the trees then I went back inside.
Juliana was sat perched on the edge of an armchair and in front of her on the coffee table was a large glass of wine and a pile of pain killers.
I feared the worse as I sat in the empty armchair opposite her, to my mind booze and pills meant only one thing.
Her hand was shaking as it moved towards the tablets.
“Don’t do it” I said
“What?”
She looked around the room.
“Who said that?”
“I did” I said as I appeared
She went stiff and white and said
“Where did you come from? How did you get in here?”
“Get out before I call the police”
Then she grabbed the empty pill bottle and through it at me.
It went through my chest hitting the back of the chair before bouncing back on to the floor ending up by her feet.
She had managed to pull herself to her feet and was wielding her cane
But when she saw the pill bottle come to a stop by her feet she flopped down into the chair and said.
“Damn I’ve taken too many and now I’m hallucinating”
“You’re not hallucinating” I said quietly “I’m really here”
“No, No, that’s not possible” She said and drained the wine glass then instantly refilled it.
“I’ve over dosed” She was trembling and she held out a hand in front of her and watched it shake.
“Oh God now I’ve got the tremors” She closed her eyes tight for half a minute then opened them and stared at me.
“And you’re still here”
“You’re really not hallucinating” I said quietly “I’m really here”
“Please don’t take your own life”
She took a double take and was suddenly calmer as she considered what I had said.
“Take my own life?” she said quizzically
Then she glanced down at the pile of pills and the glass of wine.
“I’m not going to kill myself”
I looked at her and nodded and said “good” but I didn’t believe her and she could tell.
“I tipped them out to count them because my leg is hurting so bad I thought I must have missed taking one, but I haven’t damn it and I can’t have another one for two hours” She said impatiently
That made sense to me, and then I felt foolish and I had exposed myself for nothing.
“I can see you believe me now” She said “So now tell me who you are or what you are?”
“My name is Harry Tyler”
“I know that name this was your house wasn’t it?”
“Yes”
“But you’re dead, you died here” She took a large gulp of wine “Are you a ghost or an angel?”
“I think I’m just a ghost, I haven’t been anywhere to become an angel”
“So why are you here? Why haven’t you gone to where dead people go?”
She drained her glass and filled it again quickly.
“I not really sure” I lied
There was silence for a few moments before she asked
“Is there a heaven?”
“I don’t know if there is a heaven or not, I’ve always believed that there was”
I paused for a moment
“My wife Rose died in this cottage and she has obviously gone somewhere”
“God how many people have died here? Is it cursed or something?”
She had another glug of wine.
Then a look of panic came over her face.
“Have you been here all the time, Ever since I moved in I mean?”
Then she flushed deep red.
“You haven’t been letching at me in the bath?”
I laughed and said.
“No it’s alright don’t worry, I haven’t been letching at you even though you are a very attractive young woman”
She looked doubtful. So I continued.
“I am painfully aware that this is not my home anymore and as such there are areas that I have made off limits; I am a very discreet ghost”
She sighed and looked reassured.
We sat in silence for a while then she fell asleep in the armchair.

For the next two days I didn’t show myself to her partly because I thought it might be better for her to digest the knowledge of my existence for a while before I spoke to her again and partly because I was angry at myself for misreading the situation the previous evening and alerting her to my presence unnecessarily.
I had acted on the spur of the moment but in truth it hadn’t upset my plans in anyway chiefly because I didn’t have a plan to upset.
Of course there was always the possibility she might think she had imagined the whole thing as a result of the wine and painkillers.
I looked in on her from time to time and apart from the obvious signs of a hangover and her limp she seemed ok.
Although she did tend to suddenly look over her shoulder for no apparent reason.

Three days after, for want of a better phrase, I exposed myself to Juliana was, it was one of those wonderful early autumn days that lifts your spirits but can also take you by surprise when you step out into it as the sun can deceive you into thinking the summer hasn’t quite surrendered and then the bitter October wind stings you.
I couldn’t tell which it might be as it looked like it might be quite warm but I couldn’t tell firstly as I was inside looking out and secondly because I was dead and couldn’t feel anything.
Juliana had been upstairs dressing as it was one of her physio days and she was just hobbling her way downstairs and I was beginning to think that she had indeed passed off our encounter as a hallucination but as she picked up her car keys and opened the front door she called back behind her without turning around.
“Bye Harry”
I didn’t reply because it caught me by surprise
But I don’t think she was looking for an answer though it was difficult to tell as there was no feeling behind the words.
Was it a “Bye Harry” see you later or “Bye Harry” I can’t live in a house with a ghost?
Or perhaps “Bye Harry” are you really there?
She was gone all day and I was beginning to think I had scared her away as it was unusual for her to be quite so late and it had been dark for some time when her car pulled up outside the cottage.
It was a little after seven when she came in through the door her face was tired and strained and she moved uncomfortably.
I had seen that pained look before in the weeks I had been observing her.
It was as a result of her physiotherapy sessions where they worked her hard and she suffered for it, but it was working she was getting better.
I had seen the change in her over the weeks and she was getting better becoming stronger and less reliant on her stick but her sessions left her exhausted and in a lot of pain.
She moved slowly over to the armchair and collapsed into it, after a few moments she rummaged in her bag and brought out a bottle of water then she reached onto the table and picked up her pills, her hand was shaking as she opened the bottle, she put one in her mouth and took a long drink of water then she leaned back and sighed.
She closed her eyes and was drifting off to sleep.
I sat in the chair opposite her and spoke to her.
“Juliana!”
She didn’t respond.
“Juliana!”
“What do you want?” she said without opening her eyes. “And don’t call me Juliana, only my Mother calls me Juliana”
“What should I call you then?”
She opened her eyes and looked straight at me.
“Julie is fine, but never Jules I hate that”
“Ok” I said
She closed her eyes again.
“Julie”
“What?” She responded impatiently.
“You need to go to bed”
“I can sleep here, its fine now leave me alone”
“Julie you need to go to bed”
“Leave me alone or I’ll call Ghostbusters and they’ll come and Hoover you up”
“They don’t exist” I said
“Nor do you” she replied
“But I’m here though, and I’m not going to shut up until you go to bed”
She opened one eye.
“That’s really unkind” she said with surprise.
“It’s for your own good” I said sagely
She looked unconvinced but struggled to her feet muttering under her breath.
Then she started slowly towards the stairs.
I felt guilty because it was clearly painful for her to walk but I knew it would be so much better for her to get a good rest in bed.
I wished I could help her but I was unable to, I hadn’t mastered any of the physical stuff when I was in the cottage on my own it didn’t seem worth training myself to open a door when it was easier to walk through it.
Since I had had a house guest or perhaps landlady would be more precise as I was actually the house guest I had been practising with some small success but propelling a person, even a small person, up a flight of stairs was beyond my capabilities.
“I can’t believe that I’m being haunted by Casper’s Granddad and he is making me do this” She said as she struggled up the stairs.
As she reached the top she paused briefly to catch her breath then she headed for her room.
“Tomorrow I’m calling an exorcist” she shouted.
A few minutes later all was silent and in an instant I left the sitting room and transported myself to her bedroom.
It was the first time I’d been upstairs since she moved in and she had made the room very nice.
She was lying on her back fully clothed and sleeping peacefully on her bed.
On the trunk at the foot of her bed was a throw which with a great deal of effort I managed to cover the lower half of her with it and I was just about to continue when her hand reached down and pulled it the rest of the way up and she turned onto her side with the throw wrapped round her shoulders.
That left me with the simple task of flicking the light switch something that I had mastered.

The next day was a dull and dreary early October day and it was raining hard, the rain beating against the window glass like someone was throwing handfuls of gravel.
Julie didn’t come downstairs until 11 o’clock, I had heard her moving about upstairs from about ten then I could hear the bath running so after more than twelve hours sleep and a hot bath she made her way down the stairs in a good deal less pain than her ascent the night before.
She was bright and breezy and had real vitality about her such as I had not seen in her before.
She was so alive, so vibrant, she was smiling!
“Harry?” she called as she headed for the kitchen.
I said nothing.
“Harry?” She called again as she entered the kitchen
“Where are you?”
I appeared suddenly in front of her.
“Oh” She exclaimed and jumped then she laughed.
“I’m here” I said “What’s all the noise about?”
“It’s enough to wake the dead” I said and smiled.
“Yes very funny” She was smiling too.
I studied her face it was a very pretty face when you removed the pain that was normally etched into it, what a difference from the night before.
It was nice to see the beauty of the person when the bitterness and pain were removed or at least masked temporarily.
The girl before me today was nothing like the one I had been observing for the past month.
It was clearly only a type of euphoria which would undoubtedly wear off.
“I hated you last night” She said looking straight into my eyes “Making me climb those stairs”
“But today I feel the best I’ve felt since before the accident”
She had not mentioned the accident before.
“I could kiss you” she continued.
“Well that would be lovely but there is nothing to kiss, you’d fall straight through me and head butt the cooker”
She blew me a kiss instead.
“I’m glad you are feeling better”
“I know that it won’t last all day but for now I feel terrific”
“You’ll be dancing by Christmas” I said
“Don’t spoil it by talking about Christmas I hate Christmas”
“Why?”
“I will tell you another time I don’t want anything to spoil my mood”

The pain did return later that day though not as severe and the next morning the bitterness was back and for the rest of the month she did battle with her demons,
Julie had good days and bad days but overall the demons won.
She still kept herself to herself only leaving the house for physio appointments, which were paying dividends, and her only visitors were delivering one thing or another.
The majority of her time was spent on the computer which she used for her work, something involving pages and pages of gobbledygook, and as her window on the world, a world in which she did not have to participate but could merely be a spectator.
Unless she called on me I chose my moments to appear trying to gauge the right time in between her black moods.
It was while Julie was on the computer, on one of her good days that I chose to show myself.
She was ordering her groceries online when I dropped in.
“Don’t forget the sweets for Halloween” I said
“Oh God not Halloween” She replied.
“Don’t tell me you hate Halloween as well”
“Of course I hate Halloween, why wouldn’t I, all those ghastly trick or treaters begging door to door”
She was bordering on rant mode and I was beginning to think I had picked the wrong time to call.
“Then there are the implied threats of violence and vandalism”
I looked at her and raised my eyebrows and she stopped and laughed
“You’re such a happy soul” I said
“Well why do you like it then?”
“I don’t really”
“So why do you want me to buy sweets? Did Rose like it is that why?”
Neither Rose nor I were fans of Halloween before we moved to Appleby but it was just part of living in the village.
The thing about Rose is that she was a community person and being part of the community was important to her.
We liked the way it was done, it was so different from our past experience, all the children would meet at the church hall and would go round in small groups each group being accompanied by adults then they would all go back to the village hall and have a party with all the traditional Halloween games and there were prizes for the best costumes.
“No not exactly” I didn’t elaborate.
“You’re so odd” She said and turned back towards her computer.
“I was mean to them last year” I blurted.
“Who?”
“The children, I wasn’t very nice to them” I looked down at the floor
“I think I made one little girl cry”
“Oh”
“I feel ashamed of my behaviour, Rose would have been so mad”
“Well there’s nothing you can do about it now” She said.
“Hopefully the kids will remember their bad experience and not come knocking this year, so no sweets required”
She punctuated the end of the sentence with an Oliver Hardy style nod, then she smiled and got up and headed towards the bathroom.
I moved over to the computer I looked at the screen and observed that she was at the checkout.
Due to much practise, after all, it’s not as if I have anything else to do, I had mastered moving and manipulating things over the preceding weeks.
So I sat down and took hold of the mouse, I quickly returned to where Julie had been shopping and found a large tub of Halloween sweets and clicked quantity required 2 and then add to basket, then returned her to the check out just as I heard the toilet flush.
Then I went and sat down again feeling rather pleased with myself.
I was not totally unfamiliar with computers but I had never shopped on line but I had watched Julie enough times to pick up what to do.
When she returned she completed her shopping transaction and was none the wiser.

The next day when the shopping arrived, the driver unloaded the bags onto the step and Julie signed for the delivery and the driver left.
It was only after she had carried the bags into the kitchen and began to unpack them that she noticed the 2 large tubs of Halloween candy.
“HARRY!” she shouted and thumped one of the tubs onto the counter.
“HARRY!”
“You bellowed milady”
“Was this you?” she said pointing at the sweets.
“You ordered them after all” I said acting surprised “That’s really sweet”
“No I did NOT” She corrected me.
“Well it wasn’t me” I said “I wouldn’t know how, you must have done it subconsciously”
“I am not the sort of person who would buy sweets for the little…..”
I interrupted her
“Well obviously subconsciously you’re a very nice person” And disappeared.

I stayed out of her way for the next couple of days and I spent my time practising.
I had mastered the fine manipulations such as flicking switches, unfolding a handkerchief and picking up a pen.
I could even write though my handwriting was still a bit shaky.
What I wasn’t very good at was moving large or heavy objects so I was in the back garden trying to move the wheelbarrow.
Unfortunately when I eventually succeeded in moving it I managed to frighten a passing dog walker who was startled by the sight of a wheelbarrow moving along the path under its own power.
So I went indoors, I found Julie was sat in her chair reading some documents, I was considering whether it was safe to appear when I noticed the tubs of sweets were stood on a chair next to the door in readiness for the evenings visitors.
I knew that beneath that thick veneer of bitterness and cynicism there resided a good human being.
I deduced that the fact the sweets were now sitting on a chair and not in the dustbin meant that she was in one of her brighter moods.
I decided I would appear but that I wouldn’t mention the sweets just to be on the safe side.
“Hello”
She looks up from her papers then set them on the table in front of her.
“So you’ve decided to show yourself”
“What do you mean? I’ve been busy” I said feigning an indignant attitude.
“Just because I’m dead doesn’t mean I don’t have demands on my time”
“Yes I saw you playing with wheelbarrow”
“So did Mary Rudd” I said sheepishly
“Who’s Mary Rudd?”
“Retired postmistress”
“And she saw you?” She asked smiling.
“No she saw a self-propelled wheelbarrow; she’s probably having a large gin to recover as we speak”
She was laughing now.
“Has anyone else seen you?” Julie asked.
“No and I only revealed myself to you because….”
“You thought I was going to top myself”
“Yes”
“I hope you think better of me now?”
I nodded.
“I do have low moments, and the world is a shitty place, but on the whole I prefer life”
“I wish you’d start living it then”
“What do you mean?”
“If you prefer life why don’t you go out into the world and live it”.
“You’re just jealous that I’m still alive and not dead like you” She said viciously
“No you’re not dead you’re alive but you’re not living”
“You live your life though a computer screen” I continued
“You never meet people; you never interact with other human beings, you have everything delivered to your door”
She was about to interrupt but I pressed on before she had the chance.
“And if you could cut your own hair you would never see anyone at all”
“I have physio” she corrected me
“And what happens when you don’t need that anymore?”
She snatched up her papers and scowled.
“I don’t need life tips from a ghost” she spat out the words like venom.
Then she turned her back on me.
“Please don’t do what I did, don’t imprison yourself in this cottage”
I pleaded but she ignored me, she was angry with me but not as angry as I was at myself. I blew it I pushed too hard and she pushed back.
I could have got my point across with more subtlety, I was making progress but now I’d gone backwards.

I was trapped in the cottage and its environs, I was earth bound because I shut myself away to wallow in self-pity after the death of my wife Rose.
I had come to the conclusion that I must help another person in order to “move on” and re-join my Rose.
It would have been easier if I had done it while I was still alive I could have gone off and sought out someone to help, but as I was dead I had to wait for someone to come to me.
But then if I had lived out my last months in the world in the same way as I lived the rest of my life I wouldn’t have been in the mess I was in.
Or maybe this was how it was meant to be, it was my destiny to help someone, Which is where Julie came in, she had come to the cottage to escape the world.
At that moment I didn’t know why and I would need to know that before I could help her and I was determined to help her whether she liked it or not.
But to find out what I needed to know I needed to be on good terms with her which was not helped by my clumsy handling of the situation.
So it was with some trepidation, after our angry exchange, that I went into the sitting room later in the day.
I feared she might take out the anger she felt towards me and channel it at the innocent revellers.
To be on the safe side I remained invisible until I had assessed the lay of the land.
I half expect to see Julie sitting in a rocking chair swigging from a whisky bottle and
Catapulting sweets at the trick or treaters heads.
But she was humming, I hadn’t witnessed her humming before, she did impatient tapping of her fingers, she did grinding her teeth but I had never witnessed humming.
Humming was a little unnerving however I took a gamble that it was safe so I materialized.
“You’re humming” I said
She jumped, I had startled her and she was clearly flustered, then her face went scarlet.
“No I’m not” she said indignantly.
“You were humming, I heard you”
“What you heard was me clearing my throat” Julie said without conviction so she changed the subject.
“Anyway where have you been, have you been keeping out of my way”
“I thought it advisable”
Before she had chance to comment she was alerted to approach of trick or treaters coming down the long winding path.
At this time of the day Julie would normally have to employ her stick to move with any kind of speed around the house but I noticed it was leant discretely against the wall behind the door out of sight of anyone who might be standing on the step if the door was open.
She pulled the curtain back a couple of inches and peered out.
“They’re coming, what do I do?” she asked urgently
“Well” I began.
“Oh come on, you got me into this mess”
“Calm down you’ll have a stroke” I said
Julie took a deep breath and waited for me to speak.
“All the children will have a bag for their sweets” I told her.
“Yes, yes” she said impatiently.
“Well you put a small handful of sweets into each bag but don’t be too generous to early or you won’t have enough to go round everyone”
“Ok” she said and nodded.
“But first you have to open the door” I said inclining my head towards the closed door.
“Oh God yes” she laughed nervously “that would help”
Julie opened the door and was met with a chorus of “TRICK OR TREAT” from a small group of excited witches, warlocks, ghosts and ghouls.
“Wow look at you all” she said “What brilliant costumes”
“Ok who’s first?” she asked as she picked up one of the sweet tubs and scooped up a handful.
At the back of the group keeping order was a tall dark haired man, wearing a flat cap and leather jacket, Julie caught his eye briefly and smiled and he smiled back, then carried on but she kept glancing in his direction, he was in his thirties she estimated.
Soon she had deposited a handful of sweets into every bag and the group moved back up the path.
“Goodbye Miss Molesworth” the tall man said and smiled.
She smiled back and then looked self-consciously in my direction.
Despite herself she was still smiling as she shut the door.
“You didn’t smile at the children did you” I asked
“You’ll scar them for life”
“Oh and which poor child was it that you made cry” she retorted
“Or was it someone else you were smiling at?”
Julie blushed deeply just as the doorbell rang.
“Saved by the bell” I said
Julie opened the door and repeated the exercise, and then another three times until the sweet tubs were empty and all the village children had had their share.
She closed the door and reached for her cane.
“I’m exhausted”
“You enjoyed it though?”
She gave me a stern sideways glance and I could see pain in her features.
“Ask me later after I’ve had a drink”
Then with a bottle of wine and a glass she hobbled towards her armchair.
“Will you join me? “ She asked smiling “Oh I forgot you can’t”
“Oh that’s cruel”
After her first glass of wine she began to relax and after the second she had lowered her guard.
“You had a good time didn’t you?” I ventured.
“Ok yes I enjoyed it though I’ll deny it tomorrow”
“And the smile?”
“I admit he was very handsome, for a yokel”
“His name is Paul Warwick and he’s not so much a yokel more a country squire”
“Really” She said with disinterest
“So which of the little darlings were his children?”
“None of them” I answered “He’s not married”
“OH!” she exclaimed then replaced it with a rather muted “oh”
After another glass I thought it was safe to raise the subject of this afternoon’s exchange of views.
“Am I forgiven?” I asked.
“What for?” She slurred
It became apparent I had left it one glass too late for a sensible conversation I had forgotten to take into account that she hadn’t eaten since lunch.
“This afternoon”
“Of course, you spoke very wisdomous words”
“Widomous?”
“Yes you are very wisdomly” she said as she leant forward to raise her glass to me and slopping half of it on the table
“I think you mean wise”
“Well I was close” she almost said slopping more wine this time down her blouse.
“Time to get you to bed I think”
“You cheeky old ghost you” She said trying to get out of the chair.
Once she managed to get vertical her bad leg gave way and I had to catch her before she hit the floor.
It was a good job I had been practising otherwise I would never have been able to help her it would have appeared as a very comical scene as I had a firm hold on Julie yet when she tried to hold onto me her hands kept going through me.
“You’re a difficult man to get to grips with Harry” she remarked with a puzzled expression on her face.
“Well you concentrate on staying upright and I will propel you upstairs to bed”
“Ok”
So with her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth and one eye closed tight shut she managed to adopt a stance which kept her more or less upright.
I then gave her instructions “Left, Right, Left Right” until we had made the journey up to her room then I guided her onto her bed.
“I hope you’re going to behave like a gentleman” she said and smiled still with one eye shut tight.
“You’re quite safe, I’m dead remember” I replied as I covered her.
“That’s the story of my life” She said
“What is?”
“Trying to raise the dead in the bedroom” this caused her to explode with a laugh so dirty it wouldn’t have been out of place in a Carry On film.
She was still chuckling when I turned out the light.
“Good night Julie”
“Night Harry”

The next morning I was sat in the kitchen reading the local newspaper, when she walked in, surprisingly bright though she was walking quite stiffly and she was a little shamefaced.
“Good morning Julie and how are we this morning?”
“I’m fine” she said shortly then she added.
“Was I very embarrassing last night?”
“Not very” I replied.
“Oh God, I was embarrassing though?”
“You were very funny it was nice to see you happy”
“Thanks to you” She said quietly.
.“I beg your pardon?” I looked up from the paper quiet shocked.
But she was already on her way out the door for her physio appointment.

It was late afternoon when she returned and she was moving only a little more stiffly than she had been when she left that morning.
“Didn’t you go to physio?” I asked
“Yes I did and it was the best session I’ve had” She replied “I think I’m turning the corner at last”
“Excellent”
“Good news and bad news from the doctor though”
“Oh?”
“The good news is he’s changed my medication which is stronger but I only need to take as and when needed”
“And the bad news?”
“Strictly no alcohol with these ones” She said holding up an innocuous looking brown bottle.
“A small price to pay though” I said encouragingly
“That’s easily said by someone who can’t hold their drink” she said then laughed like a drain.
Her mirth was interrupted by a knock at the door.
“Quick hide” She said
“Ok” I said jumping up.
“Wait a minute I don’t have to hide I’m a ghost, I’m invisible”
Julie looked at me and put one finger up to her lips indicating I should shut up even though she was the only one who could hear me, then she open the door.
When the door opened it revealed a very wet Paul Warwick.
“Oh look it’s the yokel” I said
“Hello Miss Molesworth” the yokel said
“Please call me Julie and do come in out of the rain””
“Thank you”
He stepped in and Julie closed the door.
“He’s dripping on your carpet”
“I hope I’m not disturbing you” Paul said.
“No not at all” She replied
“Good, it’s just I thought I could hear voices before”
“That was probably the radio” She lied
“Good” he said unconvinced.
“Quick change the subject” I suggested.
“Can I offer you a hot drink?”
“No thank you I can’t stop I’m afraid, I just called to see if you were aware of the November 5th bonfire party?”
“No I wasn’t” Julie answered
“Well we run a coach from the church hall over to Little Trotwood every year; they have an organised display, would you be interested?”
“That’s very kind of you but…”
“Go on say yes” I urged
“…my leg isn’t really up to it…”
“Liar”
“…. It’s not good in the damp weather”
“That’s a shame” Paul said sincerely “It’s always a very good display and they have the best hog roast in the county”
“Thank you anyway” Julie added
“If you change your mind just give me a call” He said reaching into his coat and bringing out a card which he handed to her.
“I will”
She opened the door again and Paul stepped out into the rain again.
“No problem, bye”
“Good bye and thanks again” Julie said closing the door.
“Coward” I said after she had shut the door.
“I don’t like fireworks that’s all” she said pulling a face.
“Coward”
“I’m not a coward” She replied indignantly.
.”What else do you call it? He’s attracted to you and you to him”
“Nonsense” Julie said clearly flustered
“And even if there were any attraction I don’t need anyone in my life”
“Everyone needs someone”
“Rubbish, in the end people always let you down”
“You can’t tar everyone with the same brush” I said
“I don’t need anyone Harry, I’m perfectly happy on my own”
“Pauls a good man”
“It doesn’t matter how they start out in the end they always let you down, trust me”
I started to speak
“Harry let’s just agree to disagree shall we?”
I knew I was fighting a losing battle so meekly I said “Ok”
“Good now I’m off to have a bath”

Despite my losing the “battle of the bonfire night party” I knew that the war was far from lost and that I had made great progress and what was now more important than anything else was to pick very carefully the battles I chose to fight.
A victory however small was still a victory and therefore was invaluable.
So during the month I chipped away at the immovable object that was Julie in small subtle ways and I felt I was making some progress but as well as I felt I was doing I couldn’t quantify it.
I couldn’t measure my success unless I could get Julie and Paul in the same place at the same time.
I had absolutely no idea how I could manufacture a circumstance that would bring the two of them together and I was left with the feeling that it would take divine intervention to get them together and as it turned out I was right.

We were almost at the end of November and Julie had made so much progress she was hardly using the stick in the house even to get upstairs although she still took it with her whenever she went out but it was extremely unlikely that she would ever be free of it entirely.
She had made progress in other ways as well, she seemed less frightened of the outside world and had started to take a daily newspaper again and one morning a radio appeared in the kitchen.
We had taken to spending every evening together where we spent the time playing chess or cards and we would chat casually on a variety of subjects though I would often try and steer the conversation into areas I wanted to explore as part of my long term strategy but quite often we would just listen to the radio.
It was during one of these very pleasant evenings that I came to enjoy greatly that events took a change of direction.
There had been a ferocious autumn storm battering the cottage all day, the storm was so bad we had to switch the radio off because the reception was so poor and it was as we were sitting playing chess when there was an almighty rumble and crash outside.
“What the hell was that?” Julie said gripping the arm of the chair until her knuckles went white.
“I’m not sure” I said standing up. “I’ll go and investigate”
“Well be careful Harry”
“Unless it’s the Ghostbusters I think I’m probably safe” I said giving her a bemused look.
I transported myself outside and for the first time since my death I was not sorry to be dead the weather was just awful with a fearsome storm was blowing the rain horizontally and I was grateful not to have to feel it
It didn’t take long to find the source of the almighty crash; the gale had uprooted an old horse chestnut tree and dumped it into Julie’s garden missing the cottage by a few feet.
I walked the full length of the tree to find the root end and which sprang up out of the darkness about ten feet the other side of the crushed wooden fence that marked the boundary between Julies garden and the land owner responsible for the removal of the fallen tree, Paul Warwick.
I smiled to myself and then looked up to the heavens and nodded in admiration.
When I reappeared in the cottage the room seemed to be empty.
“Is it safe?” Julie asked.
I couldn’t see where the voice was coming from at first then I found Julie hiding behind her armchair wielding her cane like a weapon.
“What are you doing behind there?” I asked incredulously “Of course it’s safe”
Then she came out from her hiding place suddenly feeling rather foolish.
“I was scared” she added meekly.
“Well there’s no need to be” I reassured her
“What was that noise then?” She asked urgently
“The storm has brought a tree down and the good news is it missed the cottage but your shed is only good for firewood”
“Is that all? I knew it would be something simple like that” Suddenly confident again.
“What should I do now?”
“Well have a mug of cocoa and go to bed” I said.
“No about the tree I mean”
“There’s nothing much you can do about it tonight, just have a good night’s sleep and phone Paul in the morning”
“Paul?” She asked coyly.
“Yes Paul Warwick, it’s his tree, he’ll arrange everything”
“Oh” she said disinterestedly
“But don’t worry you won’t have to see him he’ll do everything by phone”
“Oh” She said trying to hide her disappointment but failing.

The next morning Julie and I went out to inspect the damage in daylight, Julie in her dressing gown and wellies and me in my revolting red jumper, though Julie couldn’t get very far due to the tangle of branches so she went back inside.
When I had finished my inspection I went back inside myself and found Julie standing in the kitchen, her mobile phone in front of her, tapping the counter with the edge of a business card.
“He won’t bite you know” I offered “Unless you want him to”
I laughed to myself but she apparently didn’t hear my little joke.
“I said he won’t bite you know”
“What? I’m not worried about talking to him that’s a preposterous suggestion”
“So what’s the problem?”
“There isn’t a problem; I was just thinking that’s all”
Then she picked up her mobile and keyed in the number.
“Hello Its Julie Molesworth here is that Mr Warwick?”
“Ok Paul”
All the time she was talking she was fiddling with her hair with her spare hand which amused me greatly.
“I’m fine but I have a bit of a problem I have a rather large tree laying in my garden”
She noticed me watching her, scowled and turned her back to me.
“No the house is fine”
“Yes”
“No”
“Oh Yes that would be fine”
“Ok thank you bye”
She switched off the phone and put it down.
“Well that sounded quite amicable, not scary at all” I said.
”I wasn’t scared to talk to him” she retorted.
“So what was the outcome?”
“He’s coming round this morning” She said matter of factly “in about an hour”
“Excellent” I said. “That is good news”
Julie nodded her agreement.
“And I think he’s just going to love your outfit”
She gave me a puzzled look, then glanced at her dressing gown and muddy wellies, and looked back at me again though the puzzled expression had been replaced by panic.
“Oh God” She exclaimed then kicked off left boot so it flew across the kitchen, a technique she was unable to employ with the other boot due to the bad leg.
So she sat down and lifted her foot off the floor and shouted.
“BOOT! QUICK!”
“Alright calm down” I said as I removed her boot.
“Yes calm” she took a deep breath “Calm is good”
Then she jumped up and rushed out of the kitchen, she was still unable to run despite the progress she had made but she covered the ground quite swiftly anyway.

She reappeared forty five minutes later looking much more presentable in a smart skirt and blouse and I noticed she was wearing makeup.
“Is that better?” she asked.
“Very smart but you really didn’t need to go to all that trouble for me”
“I didn’t” she replied shortly.
“I did it for….” She tailed off
“For Paul Warwick? Is that what you were going to say? Why on earth would you care what he thinks?”
“Shut up” she said and tried to punch my arm playfully but not for the first time her hand went right through me and she nearly fell over.
“That’s really annoying Harry” She said when she had straightened herself up “I hate it when that happens”

A little over ten minutes later Paul Warwick’s Landrover pulled up in the lane outside the cottage.
Julie was looking out the window as he got out of the vehicle and opened the gate but instead of coming to the front door he went straight to the site of the damage and out of her line of sight so she went into the other room which afforded her a better look and she watched on as he clambered up onto the fallen tree and then he disappeared down the other side.
“I don’t think he’s going to come in” she said still trying to catch site of him amongst the branches.
“Oh he’ll be in when he’s done” I said
It was obvious, if only to me, that he hadn’t rushed round to the cottage on a job he could quite easily have delegated only to go off again without fulfilling the real purpose for his visit which was clearly to see Julie..
Julie spent the next five minutes craning her next to get a better view then she moved away from the window and headed back to the kitchen just in time to see him heading back up the path to the gate.
“He’s off now” She said unable to hide her disappointment.
“What?”
She went back into the sitting room and sat down in her chair and I just didn’t know what to say I couldn’t believe I’d got it so wrong I would have put money on it.
I sat down in the chair opposite her and tried to think of something clever to say.
“Well it’s probably for the best; it was bound to end in tears”
“That’s not helping” she said flatly
I was just about to say something full of wisdom when there was a knock at the door.
Julie opened the door to find a rather dishevelled Paul Warwick the other side of it.
After a brief exchange of polite greetings Julie invited Paul into the kitchen with the promise of coffee and then she turned to look in my direction and mouthed “Not you”
So I sat alone in the sitting room for the next twenty minutes trying to decipher words from the low rumble of conversation interspersed with small bursts of girlish laughter.
I had just come to the conclusion that as I was a ghost I could have been in the room with them all along and she would never have known when the kitchen door opened and Paul walked through.
“So the guys will be here first thing tomorrow” He said as he opened the front door.
“And I will see you later in the week”
“Ok thanks Paul bye” Julie said then closed the door.
“Well?” I said
“Like you weren’t in the room eavesdropping all the time” She implied
“No I was not” I said suitably indignant even though I would have been if I’d thought about it sooner.
“Oh sorry Harry”
She went on to fill me in on the bones of the conversation doubtless leaving out any of the flirtyness.
Paul was sending a crew round to cut and clear the timber which due to the size of the tree would take two or three days.
Then he would return and assess the rest of the damage to the garden, something else that could easily be delegated.

The next day was the 1st of December and the men were hard at work cutting up the fallen tree.
I thought to myself as Julie came down the stairs that she looked like a different person, her body had been getting stronger day by day for weeks but now there appeared to be a new spark within her, a new hope.
I just hoped I was right about her and Paul because I feared if that spark were to be extinguished again it would never relight.
I had just returned to my reading when she said “Hi Harry they’re a bit noisy aren’t they?”
“Harry!
“HARRY?”
When I didn’t answer she picked up her cane and poked the book I was reading.
“Oh Hello” I said.
“I’ve been talking to you, are you deaf?”
“Not exactly I turned the sound off so I didn’t have to listen to the racket outside”
“You can do that?”
I nodded.
“Cool” She said “Unfortunately I can’t do that so I’m going shopping for the day”
“Great don’t forget the decorations”
“Decorations for what?”
“Christmas” I said “It’s the 1st of December the advent calendars go up today”
“No, no, no” She said firmly “I don’t do Christmas”
“Why not?” I said shocked
“Why don’t you like Christmas?”
“Well let me see, it’s a waste of money for one thing”
“And?”
“The whole thing is just a sham, people don’t even believe in what they’re celebrating and if you believe what the papers say half the country don’t even believe Christ existed” She stated angrily though at the time I was unsure quite what she was angry about whether it was the season itself or peoples ignorance.
“Well that’s just nonsense we know from the Romans that Christ existed, they were great record keepers the Romans, people might argue that he isn’t the son of God or that God himself doesn’t exist but they can’t deny Christ’s existence” I said but I don’t think she was really listening, it would not be the first time I’d lost the attention of the person I was conversing with, boring conversation was a bad habit of mine throughout my life and apparently after my death as well.
“And what do you believe?” She asked more calmly.
“I believe in the whole nine yards, Father Son and holy ghost” I said trying to lighten the mood without success.
“What about you?”
“I must believe in him because I hate him so much”
With that she slipped on her coat and picked up her bag.
“I’ll see you later” she said and left.
I knew from the start of this exercise that she had some serious issues in her life but what I didn’t know was that Christmas was one of them if in fact it was.
Perhaps her dislike of Christmas was actually masking something deeper, only time would tell unless I were to push the right buttons.

Two days later the last of the timber was removed revealing the full extent of the damage to the boundary fence, the garden shed and what used to be the lawn, miraculously the wishing well sustained only minor damage.
Paul was on site and talking on his mobile organising the next phase which would be to remove all the debris and replace the fencing erecting a new shed and generally tidying up. The new lawn would have to wait until spring and the replacement shrubs and plants would be replaced at the same time.
Julie went out into the garden just as he was finishing his phone call.
I was standing by the remains of what used to be the shed, the shed erected by my own two hands, I was amazed it had lasted twenty years I never did master DIY.
I was too far away to hear what Paul and Julie were saying but they were headed back inside the house.
I was already in the kitchen when they arrived.
“We’re cutting Christmas trees on the estate at the moment I will have them cut you one by way of an apology, what size would you like?”
“I don’t really do Christmas” She said “It’s just an empty commercial festival”
“But thanks anyway” She added.
“Oh and when did you become so cynical?”
“From the moment I discovered Father Christmas doesn’t exist”
“Who says he doesn’t?”
“Ho, ho, ho” she said sarcastically
“I think everybody has a little bit of Christmas in their heart” Said Paul
“That would be tiny in my case”
Paul looked a bit deflated after she said that but perked up when she added.
“A meal would be a perfectly acceptable apology though”

It was a week later when Paul picked Julie up and drove her over to Abbotsford for their meal I would say their date but Julie kept insisting it was not a date.
It was quite late when he brought her home and I was a little disappointed when the evening ended on the doorstep with a peck on the cheek.
I had high hopes but Julie was holding back for some reason.
“Good night” Julie came in and closed the door.
“Nice evening?” I asked
“Yes very nice”
“Good meal? Good company?”
“Yes to both questions”
“But?”
“I really like him but I don’t know if I want to go through it all again”
“Nothing ventured nothing gained” I said
“I’ve done my share of venturing in the past and I haven’t yet gained”
“I’ll probably just screw it up again Harry so it’s probably best if I stop it before it starts”
She waved away any protest from me and went up to bed.
“Night Harry”
“Night Julie”
“That won’t do at all” I said myself.

The next day before Julie was up and about I sent a text to Paul from Julies mobile.
It was quite exciting I’d never done one before even while I was alive.
I was quite surprised that it was more difficult than it looked and really rather complicated to get the letter you wanted and then it kept changing the word.
I came very close a number of times to throwing the damn thing across the room.
Eventually I managed to write:
“Thank you Paul I had a wonderful time last night I really would love to do it again. Julie x PS Just ignore me if I play hard to get lol”
Within a couple of minutes I got a reply.
“I had a wonderful time too I will call you soon. Paul”
Then I quickly deleted my text to him and his reply and then put the phone back in Julie’s handbag with minutes to spare before I heard Julie coming down the stairs.

I felt very pleased with myself and my subterfuge and I thought it was just a matter of time before the two of them got together again, however when a week had passed and nothing had happened I was not so confident.
There had been a couple of texts which I didn’t get to see before she deleted them and there had been a phone call but it didn’t last long.
So it was to be another evening of chess and conversation.
I set up the board as Julie entered the room from the kitchen carrying a glass and bottle she opened a bottle of wine the first she’d had for several weeks.
I frowned at her and nodded in the direction of the wine.
“It’s ok I haven’t taken any pain killers for three days so this is by way of celebration”
“Excellent” I said “I wish I could join you”
“Bad luck” she said taking a long sip
“I would prefer Christmas ale”
“Oh don’t start on Christmas again”
“Why do you hate Christmas so much?” I asked
“How long do you have?” She replied without humour.
“I have as long as it takes I’m dead remember” I said trying to inject a little humour as I sat down opposite her.
“Where should I start” she looked around the room as if seeking inspiration.
“Christmas has been a disappointment all my life”
“I grew up with the constant disappointment of not getting the presents that I asked for” she said with a wry smile “Which I blamed Santa for”
I started to speak but Julie interrupted me.
“I know that’s very childish and pathetic” she even laughed a little.
“When did you stop believing?”
“I believed right up until I was seven, that was the year I discovered Santa Claus was actually my drunken father” She took a long drink
“So with a drunk for a father and a violent bully for a mother my childhood was just full of Christmas joy”
“Not brilliant then” I added
“Then three Christmas’s ago at one of our merry Christmas gatherings my own sister stole my husband and my mother took my sisters side” she paused thin lipped remembering the pain of it fresh as if for the first time she gathered herself then continued.
“My dear mother said if I’d kept him satisfied in the bedroom he wouldn’t have strayed”
“Not that he had to stray too far with my slutty sister sniffing round him like a bitch on heat”
“What did you say to your mother?” I asked
“I said that if she’d kept my father satisfied in the bedroom he wouldn’t have turned to drink”
“Oooh”
“I haven’t spoken to her or my sister since”
She took another drink.
“Then last year two weeks before Christmas a drunk driver ran a red light and broadsided me shattering my hip and putting me in hospital for months”
She reached out and grabbed her cane.
“And now I still have my trusty stick as a constant reminder of what Christmas means to me”
I wished I could have given her a fatherly hug but I couldn’t so we fell silent after that and concentrated on the chess for a while.

I was out and about in the garden early next morning it was less than a week before Christmas and I was beginning to despair that as far as we had come together it was not going to be far enough to save us both.
But it was more than that, when I started it was about helping Julie in order to cross over and be reunited with Rose.
I had come to care about Julie more than I thought possible and furthermore I had come to realise just how much I had wasted the final months of my own life.
I had brought her back from the brink and I resolved that I would succeed in opening her heart not for my own sake but for hers.
I transported myself to the sitting room only to find it empty but there was the sound of cooking coming from the kitchen and perhaps more alarming the sound of singing.
When I appeared in the kitchen I found Julie frying bacon and singing along to an Eva Cassidy song playing on the radio.
“Are you ok?” I asked with false concern.
“Yes why?”
“I thought you must have had a relapse and your hip was hurting”
“Very funny Harry” she said with a smile.
“Would you like some bacon? Oh I forgot you can’t eat can you I’ll have to eat it all myself then”
“You can be a very cruel young woman” I said indignantly and tucked the newspaper under my arm and withdrew to the sitting room.
After she had devoured her bacon, which not only could I not eat but perhaps worse
I was also denied its smell, she came into the sitting room and sat opposite me and we started a tug of war over the newspaper.
“You’re in a very playful mood today” I suggested after I had lost custody of the paper.
“I feel happy today, I don’t know why I just do”
As she was in a good mood I decided to chance my arm and enquire as to the state of play between her and Paul.
“Have you heard from Paul?” I said directly.
“Don’t start”
“What? It was an innocent enough question”
“Hmm, well as it happens he did phone me”
“Really?” I said keenly
“He invited me out for dinner on Christmas eve”
“That’s great”
“I declined his invitation”
“Why?”
“Look Harry I’m sure he really is a nice guy and I do like him”
“But?”
“But, I am finally getting my life back on course, and that’s due in no small part to you, and I don’t need any complications”
“That really is a shame” I said sincerely.
“I just don’t think I’m ready” She added
With that she handed me the paper and returned to the kitchen I left it ten minutes or so and then joined her just as Bruce Springfield’s gravelled tones emanated from the radio and I dueted with him in a fine rendition of “Santa Claus is coming to town”.
When we had finished more or less together I took a bow or two.
“Ha ha I do love a good Christmas song”
“Oh God protect me from the happy Christmas ghost” Julie was laughing.
“What is it with you and Christmas anyway?” she asked rhetorically.
Then she stood and looked at me, my portly build, white beard and the hateful red sweater, shaking her head despairingly.
“In fact come to think of it you even look like Santa in a rather jaded retired to the old folks home kind of way” Then she chuckled her rich velvet chuckle.
“Oh and why is that, just because I’m a jolly fat man with a white beard?” I said striking an indignant pose.
“No you have a fair point you would only qualify on two out of three” then her chuckle morphed into a full belly laugh and then I was laughing with her.
Our merriment was interrupted by a knock at the door and Julie was still wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes as she opened the door.
It was a smiling Paul Warwick who had knocked and his expression instantly changed to one of concern when he saw Julie’s tears.
“Is everything alright?” he asked with genuine concern.
Realizing what she was doing Julie quickly dispelled his concern with a tale about something hilarious on the radio.
Suitably reassured Paul’s smile returned to his face and briefly gathered himself before revealing the meaning for his visit.
“I know you said you didn’t do Christmas” He began.
“But as I said everyone has a little Christmas in their heart”
Julie was about to cut him off in full flow but he put his hand up to stop her before she could start.
“So with that in mind” he said ducking down to retrieve something from the floor.
”I thought of this”
He was holding in his hand a small live Christmas tree in a pot, complete with tinsel and Baubles standing about two feet tall it was even topped by a fairy.
“A tiny Christmas tree for someone with only a tiny bit of Christmas in her heart”
He said as he presented the tree to Julie.
“That’s so sweet” She said “Thank you”
“You can plant it in the garden after Christmas so it will keep growing and hopefully your love of Christmas will grow with it”
There were tears in her eyes again as she looked at the tiny tree and then Paul excused himself as he had some estate business that he needed to attend to which I later found out was delivering hampers to the homes of his workers.
Julie stood looking at the little tree with a silly grin on her face as Paul said goodbye and was heading up the path.
“I told you he was a nice man” I said.
“Yes” she said looking at me with tears welling up in her eyes.
“Oh God I can’t let him go I have to talk to him”
“Well run after him then” I suggested
“I can’t run” She said.
“Go and slow him down somehow”
Julie set off walking and I transported myself to the gate just as Pauls hand reached for the latch.
As he tried to open the gate I held it shut and no matter how much he shook it the gate didn’t move.
Julie was only a few yards away now.
“Paul!” She called.
Paul turned around to see where Julie was calling from.
“Hi, you appear to have a problem with your gate” He said just as I let go of the gate and the gate swung open
“That’s odd” he said.
“I’m glad I caught you” She said wincing a little at the effort of pursuing him.
“About dinner on Christmas Eve is it too late to change my mind?”

On Christmas eve I sat in the solitude of the cottage for what I hoped would be the last time, hoping that the person I had come to care so much for would not need me anymore while at the same time regretting that I would no longer be required to spend the long pleasant evenings in her company.
In the beginning I thought that I was left stranded on earth solely because of the way I withdrew from life and that my having to help someone escape my fate was my penance but in fact I came to understand that my predicament was less about a punishment for me but rather more about salvation for Julie and a last chance for her to find happiness.
In truth no matter how fond I was of her I did not belong there and though tinged with regret I hoped soon to be moving on
I became aware of voices outside and thought was this the moment a tender kiss goodnight on the door step but instead the door opened and Julie stepped into the darkness and my heart dropped and I thought we were back, perhaps not to square one but we had definitely gone into reverse.
Then the light went on and following Julie was the tall figure of Paul who closed the door behind him.
“Make yourself comfortable while I get us a drink” Julie said before disappearing into the kitchen.
Paul headed in my direction and I had to move quickly before he sat on my lap.
I stood invisible in the corner by the stairs and observed as Julie came out of the kitchen with a bottle of wine and a glass, then she stopped in her tracks and turned on her heels and briefly returned to the kitchen before reappearing with a second glass. She smiled to herself at the force of habit and glanced around the room to see where I was.
Julie set the bottle and glasses on the table then before she could sit Paul stood up and took her hand and pulled her gently towards him and beside the tiny Christmas tree he kissed her tenderly and she kissed him back.
At the precise moment she returned his kiss on that Christmas Eve a bright light emanated down the stairs and I knew my moment had come.
I looked up the illuminated staircase and standing at the top was my dear Rose with her hand outstretched towards me.
I turned again to look at the embracing couple, Paul had his back to me and as their lips parted I allowed Julie to see me one last time.
“Good bye Julie it’s time for me to go now, have a happy life” I said and waved.
Then as she stood holding onto Paul her head resting on his shoulder she mouthed the words “Merry Christmas Harry”
I left the young couple and walked up the stairs and took Rose’s hand and we were instantly in another place.
Now I spend most of my time with Rose and all those who went before me but. I still look in Paul and Julie from time to time, I can do that now I’m a proper spirit, but that is a tale for another time.