‘What do you think of me starting a giving tree?’ Both looked blank. ‘A giving tree. For the village. I fill out a tag for people who need help and someone else takes it and buys the gift. It’s like giving to charity only you buy a present instead of donating money.’

If they did something like this in Meadowbank, all those families who were struggling could be helped.

‘Oh, darling, what a lovely idea. What made you think of that?’

‘Just seeing the situation here and knowing how hard some people are finding things at home.’ She didn’t mention the slightly selfish reason of wanting to fill her brain with things other than Evan.

‘You’ll have to be a bit careful,’ Caro added, waking up a little. ‘Make sure you tread carefully. You can’t go around forcing charity onto people who don’t want it. There are a few people in the village who won’t like it. Seymour Cole for one.’

It was true that Amias’s father had some very conservative attitudes, but she was sure the majority of the village would be in favour of the idea.

‘I know,’ Bella replied. ‘And I don’t want to insult anyone either. I just think that everyone goes through hard times and there are so many people in the village who’ll be happy to help a friend or neighbour. I mean there’s Elsie at the library – she’ll be more than happy to help. The guys at Bluebell Park, Nina and Johnny and school.’

Cynthia nodded agreement. ‘So how will it work?’

Good question. How could she make it work? Obviously, she could work with the school, but some of the older residents had lost loved ones recently, like poor old Winston whose wife had just died, and faced Christmas alone. They’d never had children and though he was close to Elsie, the librarian, would anyone else buy him gifts this year? There were other older people too who had lost their partners and might be feeling lonely at this time of year. It would be nice to make this Christmas extra special for them too.

‘If those who wanted to take part filled out a form, each form could have a number that went on a tag to hang on the giving tree. As long as the tag had the form number and a suggested gift, it would be easy to keep track of.’

‘And you could include an option for food gifts as well,’ Cynthia said. ‘We all know the food bank’s already running low. You can’t give fresh food, but you could definitely give other things to make the season special like Christmas puddings and selection boxes.’

‘That’s a great idea, Mum.’ Bella grinned. They seemed genuinely excited for the idea, just as she was.