Oh. My. Sleigh bells!

This could be even better than I’d hoped!

I replied to Woody with a casual, “Sure,” but had to put my phone in the fridge to stop me adding “IS THAT MISTLETOE FOR ME? I THINK I LOVE YOU!” and ran upstairs.

Mum then yelled that Woody had texted saying it “will be good to talk,” if that meant anything? I told her to stop looking at my phone. She said it was hard when she was trying to reach the cheese. So I retrieved my phone and discovered the crucial detail she’d omitted. He’d sent three kisses. Three!

For a boy, that’s basically a hundred. Actual evidence things were getting back on track!

I screenshot and shared immediately with Ruby and Fred.

But two hours later, and still no Woody.

My mouth felt like a freeze-dried Hula-Hoop even though I’d done three full electric toothbrush cycles.

And by eight thirty p.m., both my lip gloss and optimism had dwindled, and my Woody excitement had been replaced by the big FOR SALE sign outside. I’d been reduced to going around my room saying bye to the key items (walls, door, not windows in case Woody saw) and preparing them for my potential departure. I’d messaged Naomi to see how she felt about Christmas being a write-off, but she just went on about how warm it was going to be where she was.

Thanks for the solidarity, sister.

I needed a better distraction, so I got another decorations box out of the loft—but when I opened it up, I spotted something I hadn’t seen before. A really old, really battered wooden box with “Soph” on it—my mum’s name. When I opened it and saw the pile of envelopes, near-identical handwriting on each one, I knew exactly what it was. Mum’s old Christmas letters. I took them downstairs, and the three of us picked through them, some of the frostiness between us thawing. That’s how good Christmas is.

Reading them was like time-traveling with my mum, back to when she was my age.

“Too funny…” She held one out. “This was the year Jess and I ended up on the local news.” The year of the big snow. She opened it up and started to read.