Activity

Wouldn’t be Christmas without the occasional disaster.

Still a  few days to  go  and  i am  on it, honestly , Ath.

After a  hectic  but  lovely  build up to  xmas  and a family orientated  day   yesterday I settled  down  about  half an hour ago  to  try and finish my offering.  ……. son  was  carrying a  very large  bucket  of  soapy  wash  water  out to the drive  to clean his  motorbike when…[Read more]

A never-forgotten Christmas

The telegram sent by my new-made grandfather, telling my father of my safe arrival, at five minutes to midnight on the twentieth December (and, according to my great-grandfather’s fish scales, weighing 6lbs 4 ozs) is explanation enough of why I don’t remember my first Christmas. To establish whether it was my sec…[Read more]

Running the Christmas Gauntlet

Brace yourself, girl. Everywhere is going to be madness today. Most of the throng will be feeling much the same way … which means shouting and kids screaming; means shoving and pushing … but take a deep breath. Concentrate on the list. You’ve successfully run the Christmas shopping gauntlet before.

The veget…[Read more]

Nativity Mystery – A lighthearted tale

540 words excluding title

Miss Farthing sighed wearily and then screamed ‘Be quiet!’  She could stand it no longer.  This was the last rehearsal of the Nativity play at Priory Primary School before the performance in front of parents and governors and it was utter chaos.  Some children had swapped co…[Read more]

Ah, thank you Terrie. After reading the others I feel very lucky! I’m a bit late arriving – so apologies. I’ll get right to the December comp.

Thank you, Terrie! And congratulations on a truly creepy story, Ath. And Jill for a heart-warming, magical tale – exactly right for the time of year.

Congratulations, Athelstone.  I look forward to your December challenge.  I enjoyed the other two November fireside tales very much too.  Thank you, Terrie for setting an interesting challenge, which brought out the Grandma in me, although I have grandsons not a granddaughter!     Jill x

Jill  –  a heart-warming  tale  with a hint  of  caution and a happy ending as  luckily the fairies didn’t try to whisk  Ellie away.

The warmth between Ellie and her grandma really shone through and I enjoyed how you blended something modern with a fairy tale too.

Libby  – I tried to  leave the scope  of the  challenge   a  little open…[Read more]

Only one more  day remaining  for anyone  thinking about submitting   something  for  the   November    competiton .

Percy.

Percy was old. I knew that because everybody knew that. I went to see him because I was invited, and young, ambitious journalists don’t refuse invitations from Percy Fullbig’s people. The man who had seen it all, and predicted much of it. Predicted the Second World War, Vietnam, various troubles in the Middle East, the Financial Cra…[Read more]

You asked for a heart-warming tale, Terrie, but my story, after I started it and got stuck, became the opposite. You’re welcome to disqualify it or not read it at all.

Content warning: includes postnatal depression

499 words including title

I Lied When I Said My Daughter Lived Abroad

After that walk up and down a steep crag, I sat beside t…[Read more]