The Best Christmas Ever: a feel-good festive romance to warm your heart this Christmas

by Karen King

  ‘What about the man you bumped into?’ Granny Mabe asked as she started a new row.

  ‘He bumped into me actually, sent me reeling with his elbow.’ Lexi swallowed. ‘And guess what I’ve found out? He’s a tree surgeon and the council have asked him to cut down the fir tree on the green – this week.’

  Granny Mabe stopped knitting and stared at her. ‘What? Before Christmas?’

  ‘Here we are.’ Paula returned with a bottle of witch hazel and some cotton wool. ‘This will bring out the bruise quicker and it will heal faster.’ She put some witch hazel on the cotton wool and dabbed the bump on Lexi’s forehead.

  Lexi bit her lip, it was painful when touched.

  ‘Put it on a couple of times a day,’ her mum told her.

  Lexi’s dad came in, a big plastic reindeer under his arm. ‘I thought I still had this. I hope the lights still work, Toby will love it.’ he said, holding a screwdriver in his other hand. Then he paused when he saw Lexi holding the cotton wool onto her forehead. ‘What’s happened?’

  Lexi recounted it all to him, including her conversation with Joel on the green. Both her parents looked horrified.

  ‘That’s outrageous! They can’t do that at such short notice. They’re not even giving anyone time to try and save it,’ her mum protested.

  ‘Joel said that they’ve already had a tree specialist look at it who deemed it unsafe and they’re now asking companies to submit quotes with a view of cutting it down in the next couple of days.’

  ‘Well, that’s a load of rubbish, there is nothing wrong with that tree that trimming a few branches won’t put right,’ Granny Mabe said defiantly, clicking her needles even faster in her annoyance.

  ‘Now, Ma, it must be unsafe if a specialist company has looked at it, and there’s cordon tape around it,’ Craig said, unscrewing the plug on the reindeer lights. ‘We just have to accept it. It would have been nice if we could have had a final carol service there but it can’t be helped . . .’

  ‘We can all gather in the square and have a bit of a carol service there but it won’t be the same,’ Paula said with a sigh.

  ‘We can’t give up that easily!’ Lexi retorted. ‘We should start a petition, if we get enough support the council might think about saving the tree.’

  Her mum shook her head. ‘Martin Groves, the man on the council who’s dealing with this, is a moderniser. He’s not one for traditions. He’s already up in arms about all this yarn-bombing that’s going on in the village. He said it’s nothing more than glorified littering. There’s a hefty fine if he catches anyone doing it, but the stuff seems to appear overnight and no one has spotted the culprits yet despite there being CCTV everywhere. They wear hoods and black clothing, apparently.’

  Granny Mabe’s needles clicked more furiously.

  ‘I bet it’s because of those yarn-bombers that they’re cutting down the tree before Christmas,’ Lexi’s dad said, carrying the reindeer over to the plug socket on the far wall and setting it down on the floor before plugging it in. No lights came on.

  ‘What do you mean?’ her mum asked.

  Lexi looked over at Granny Mabe, who had stopped knitting and was listening avidly.

  ‘Well, they’ve been putting all those festive yarn-bombs everywhere,’ her dad continued. ‘Maybe the council think they’ll start on the fir tree next, try to pretty it up as there’s no lights and they don’t want to risk that in case one of the branches falls off and someone gets badly hurt. The council could have an expensive compensation claim to settle.’ He pulled out the plug and picked up his screwdriver.

  That sounded plausible, Lexi had to acknowledge.

  ‘That tree is as safe as houses. We can’t let them cut it down,’ Granny said, her eyes fixed firmly on her knitting. ‘I think Lexi’s right and we should get a petition up to protest. They could at least postpone cutting it down until after Christmas.

  Lexi glanced over at her gran, were the Yarn Bombers planning something for Christmas Eve? She remembered her gran saying that she had something to tell her when she’d first arrived, but then her mum had come home. She had to get Granny Mabe on her own and find out what it was. She could imagine her gran and her friends tying themselves to the tree and singing ‘this tree will not be removed!’

  ‘Well, there’s only a few days to go, let’s hope they can’t get it all organised in time,’ Paula said. ‘You know what the council are like, forms for this, forms for that. We’ll get a petition going at the bakery and see if we can drum up enough support to make the council reconsider.’ She got up. ‘I’d better go and dish out dinner before the meat dries up.’

  Lexi followed her mother into the kitchen. ‘Can I do anything to help?’ Both her parents worked hard and she didn’t want them waiting on her.

  ‘That’s kind of you, dear. Perhaps you could lay the table?’ her mum said as she opened the oven and took out a big piece of roast beef.

  Lexi’s tummy rumbled. Roast beef, roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding had to be her favourite meal ever.

  When they were all sitting around the table, tucking in to their meal, she remembered about the Christmas tree for Lloyd.

  ‘Do you have a spare Christmas tree in the loft, Dad?’ she asked.

  ‘I think there’s a couple up there. Did you want another one for your bedroom? We still have the small one you used to put on your bedside table,’ he replied.

  ‘Do you? I might put it up.’ Lexi felt a bit nostalgic remembering the little tree. ‘I was thinking of one a bit bigger, though. Lloyd, the old man who slipped, well, I helped him into his house with his shopping and noticed that he hadn’t got a Christmas tree so I wondered if you had a spare one I could take to him.’

  ‘I’m sure we have,’ said her mum. ‘Why don’t you take a look up in the loft and see? You’re welcome to take anything you want from there. You’d be doing me a favour, actually, I’ve been trying to persuade your father to sort out the Christmas stuff for years but you know what he’s like. He won’t throw anything away, but would give you the shirt off his back.’ Her mum pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. ‘Honestly, the shed and the loft are chock-a-block with stuff. He’ll be taking over the spare bedrooms next!’

  ‘Always been the same has Craig. He’d be upset if I threw anything away when he was a child,’ Granny Mabe announced as she cut up her Yorkshire pudding. ‘He’d put everything he didn’t use any longer on top of the wardrobe. Had it piled that high that the top of the wardrobe fell through.’

  ‘I am here, you know!’ her dad said, mock-indignantly. He speared some broccoli on his fork before saying to Lexi, ‘You can take anything you like, love. I don’t mind as long as someone can make use of it.’

  Her dad hated anything being thrown away. Lexi remembered how he had been the same when they were young, whenever they had stopped using anything it went into the shed ‘just in case they needed it again’. He’d put floorboards in the loft, and ladders leading up to it, so that he could use it to store stuff. She hadn’t been up there for years, but it had been pretty full with things then, and she was sure there was even more stuff up there now. Her dad had not only kept things from when they were all small, but things from when he was a child, and he had also put some things of Grandpa Huey’s up there too, when he and Granny Mabe had moved in. Her mum had wanted to move to a bungalow when Lexi and her brothers had moved out, but her dad had pointed out that there would be nowhere to put all his stuff. ‘That’s the point!’ her mum had told him. But before she could persuade her dad to move, Grandpa Huey had taken ill and they’d started making plans for the garage conversion. Now, Lexi thought that her parents and Granny Mabe wouldn’t want the upheaval of moving. Anyway, the spare bedrooms came in handy when Lexi or her brothers came to stay. Although, she thought her mother was right and her dad would soon start filling them up too.

  ‘Thanks, Dad,’ she said. ‘Lloyd looked pleased when I mentioned it to him. He lives on his own.’

  ‘Lloy
d and Ruby . . . that rings a bell. You must mean Mr Winston. He often pops into the bakery for a loaf of bread. I’m sure his wife was named Ruby,’ her mum said.

  ‘He had a son too, didn’t he? I can’t remember his name,’ Granny Mabe added. ‘He moved away years ago, as the young do.’

  ‘I wonder if he’s going to his son’s for Christmas,’ Lexi said. She hoped he was, she hated to think of the kind old man being on his own on Christmas Day. ‘I’ll ask him when I take the tree round, and if he isn’t can I please invite him here?’

  ‘We could squeeze him in couldn’t we, Paula?’ Granny Mabe asked. ‘I remember Ruby, she was lovely. I met Lloyd a couple of times too, he seems a pleasant man’

  Her mum nodded. ‘It’s no problem to me. We have plenty of food and one more at the table won’t make any difference. What do you think, Craig?’

  ‘Fine by me. The more the merrier.’

  ‘Thank you so much. I’ll help you, I promise,’ Lexi said. She didn’t want to make even more work for her parents.

  Chapter Ten

  After dinner, Lexi insisted her mother sat down and had a rest while she cleared the dinner things away and loaded the dishwasher. ‘I’ll go and find that Christmas tree now,’ she said when the kitchen was tidy again

  Her dad had returned to the reindeer-that-wouldn’t-light-up. He wasn’t one to let anything defeat him. ‘I can’t figure out why this thing isn’t working. None of the wires are broken, I’ve checked them all thoroughly.’

  ‘Where are you going to put it?’ Lexi asked him, looking around. Every shelf and surface was covered with Christmas decorations: candles, snowmen, Santas, wind-up carol singers and other festive ornaments. Her parents always cleared the shelves and sideboard every December, putting the standard ornaments and photos away in a box, to make room for the Christmas decorations. Then in January, when the Christmas decorations had been put away, they all came out again.

  ‘On top of the wardrobe in Jay and Sonia’s room. I reckon Toby will love it and it will provide a night light for him.’

  Lexi smiled. Having a child in the house again would give her dad a good reason to go even more overboard with lights and decorations this Christmas. ‘Are you and Mum dressing up as Father Christmas and Mrs Claus again?’ she asked.

  ‘We’re planning on it, if I can find our outfits. If you spot them up in the loft when you’re looking for the Christmas tree, bring them down with you, will you, love?’ her dad asked.

  ‘Sure,’ Lexi agreed. She went upstairs and took the stick with the hook on the end out of the airing cupboard and used it to tug open the loft hatch and pull down the ladders. Making sure she’d secured them, she climbed up and reached inside for the light switch on the left wall and flicked it on. Immediately, the loft was flooded with light. She stepped inside and peered around. It was full of bags and boxes. She recognised the old rocking horse that she, Ryan and Jay had played on when they were small, and her doll’s house. There were big trunks, too. She opened one and saw that it was full of clothes. She’d bet some of them were vintage. She knew that Granny Mabe had brought some of the boxes with her. It was like a treasure trove. She wished she had time to sort through it all – who knew what she’d find there – but she had to focus on finding the Christmas tree and decorations.

  Although it looked like everything had just been dumped there, she knew her father did have some sort of order. The Christmas stuff would all be piled together, and probably still in its original boxes. Her dad always put things back in their wrappings, even the tools in his shed and some of the kitchen appliances, like the steamer. It drove her mum mad sometimes. When she needed something, she wanted to put her hand on it, not have to take it out of a box. Somewhere, amongst all this, would be a pile of Christmas stuff. All she had to do was find it.

  Finally, she tracked down a big box over in the corner by the window, and a thin, long box standing upright behind it. That could be it. She walked over for a better look and saw the faded picture of a Christmas tree on the front. Brilliant. And she’d bet the other box was full of Christmas decorations.

  It was.

  Next, she searched through the other boxes of Christmas things to find the Santa costumes. Ah, there they were, neatly put away in a black bag with a label saying ‘Santa outfits’ on the front. She decided to take them down first.

  ‘I’ve got the Santa outfits,’ she said, walking into the lounge, just as the reindeer lights sprang on. Her dad looked chuffed.

  ‘I knew I’d do it! I’ll go up and put this in Jay’s room now.’ He stood up and brushed down his trousers. ‘Do you want me to help you carry the tree and baubles down?’

  ‘Thanks, Dad, that would be great . . .’

  They stopped off at the big bedroom at the back that Jay, Sonia and Toby were sleeping in, first. Lexi gasped as she stepped inside. It was like a magical grotto with lights twinkling everywhere. A Christmas tree stood on the top of a low cupboard, with a Christmas scene around it, and festive duvet covers adorned both the double bed and the camp bed beside it. On the bottom of the camp bed were three soft toys: a Santa, a snowman and a penguin.

  ‘I think you and Mum are going to enjoy having a child in the house again this Christmas,’ she said.

  ‘You bet we are.’ Her dad carried the reindeer over to the wardrobe in the corner, placed it on the top and plugged it in, smiling triumphantly as the lights twinkled. ‘There! It gives a lovely glow to the room and it’s too high up for Toby to mess with,’ he said.

  ‘Toby will love it,’ Lexi told him. She was looking forward to seeing Jay again, and meeting his wife and little Toby. Her first nephew, and her parents’ first grandchild. No wonder they were both so excited.

  They didn’t go into Ryan and Nell’s room but Lexi knew that it would be decorated just as festively.

  Then they went up to the attic and her father picked up the box with the Christmas tree in it while Lexi brought down the box of baubles. They put the ladders back up and slid the loft door shut. Lexi had chosen a box of red and silver baubles for Lloyd, thinking they would look very Christmassy and traditional, and also some white lights. She checked the transformer to make sure they were working. She’d also picked up some red and silver tinsel and another string of lights for around Lloyd’s bay window.

  ‘I’ll put them straight into the car and take them to Lloyd first thing in the morning,’ she said. It was dark now and she guessed that Lloyd would be tucked up for the evening and wouldn’t want anyone calling on him so late.

  They all spent the evening sitting around the log fire, drinking mulled wine, eating mince pies and sharing past memories. When her parents went into the kitchen to get more wine and pies, Lexi reminded Granny Mabe about the fines being threatened for yarn-bombers. ‘I don’t think you should do any more for a while, Granny. Let the dust settle a bit.’

  ‘Rubbish. I’m not letting mean-spirited people stop me from bringing a bit of happiness into people’s lives,’ Granny Mabe said.

  Lexi remembered the wonder on the little girl’s face when she saw the yarn-bombings on the railings. Some people did love them, she did too. But others didn’t, and might report Granny Mabe and her friends. There’s always someone who’s got to put the dampener on Christmas, she thought, her mind going to Joel. He’d seemed such a nice man, one that you might think would be full of Christmas cheer and bonhomie. How wrong could you be?

  ‘It’s been so lovely to have a catch up with you, love,’ her mother said, patting Lexi’s hand. ‘I know you must miss Ben, though. Is there no way he can join us, not even on Christmas evening or for Boxing Day? It’s not that long a drive.’

  Lexi felt a little guilty that she’d lied to them about why Ben wasn’t with her. It’s only a little lie and it’s better this way, she told herself. It meant she could put him right out of her mind and not have everyone being all sympathetic around her.

  ‘No chance, but it’s fine, Mum. We can spend New Year together.’

 
; I’m so glad that I came home for Christmas, she thought. It was good to have something else to think about rather than Ben’s betrayal.

  Well, she’d park her upset over that until she got home. Right now she was determined that they were all going to have a lovely family Christmas. And to try and talk Joel into saving the Christmas tree. He’d said he’d be there tomorrow with equipment to assess the damage, so she’d go and see him when she’d taken the tree to Lloyd. He might think that Christmas wasn’t important, but she certainly didn’t.

  It had been an eventful day, Joel thought, as he sat drinking a brandy and watching the logs crackle on the fire. Sweetie was fast asleep, sprawled out on the rug. She looked so peaceful and cute.

  He’d heard Sweetie barking as he got out of the van last night and hoped that she was just making a noise because she’d heard the van. He was at a loss as to what to do with her.. She’s probably missing Hazel and Al, and wondering what I’m doing in her house, he reminded himself. He had to be patient with her. He’d only got a bit of work until New Year, so he could spend plenty of time bonding with Sweetie, then hopefully she would feel more secure and happier to be left.

  He had meant to check on the old man – Lloyd – when he came back. But what with Toni dropping the bombshell that she wanted to get back with him, then checking out the tree and the subsequent fall out with Lexi, which had disturbed him far more that it should have, and coming home to find Sweetie so stressed, he had forgotten all about it. And now it was too late to knock on Lloyd’s door and disturb him. He’d have to go tomorrow. Lloyd looked shaken up earlier, and that had bothered Joel, although he knew that Lexi had seen him home. He’d only met the woman twice, but had certainly picked up that she was a ‘carer’. She cared about things, and about people. She seemed nice, actually. Shame they were at loggerheads about the perishing tree. It wasn’t his fault if the council wanted him to cut it down, and if he didn’t do it, another company would. Surely she didn’t expect him to turn work down.