‘Thanks for having me on,’ said Lois, still not sure if Fiona had done them a favour or not.
‘No problem and come back if you win!’ she said with a wink that said she didn’t think they would.
Lois walked home along the riverside. She made a cup of tea and opened the boxes of decorations she’d hauled out of the attic the night before. When she’d left home, her mum had made her a beautiful parcel of all the baubles which she had ever chosen for the family Christmas tree and every year since, Lois made a point of buying one more to add to her collection. It was an eclectic mix. There was one from a trip to Disneyland, a glass one which she had blown herself at a workshop she went to with her mum and a revolting one she had made out of salt dough at school that really ought to be thrown away but it was part of the collection so it survived. Alex had thought it was insane and had lobbied every year for a themed tree like you saw in home interiors magazines, but Lois had resisted and because he didn’t care about Christmas as much as she did, he always gave in first. She suspected that Oliver, with his tasteful fairy lights at the coffee house, may also be in favour of themes and might think her stash of mismatched decorations was horrendous but the fact that he was so insistent that she have a real tree gave her a glimmer of hope that he may love Christmas just as much as she did.
The following morning was foggy but cold and dry. Lois dressed for the cold and decided that wellies were essential in case they did end up trudging around a field.
Oliver was right on time and as she’d been looking out for him, she waved from the window to save him from parking up.
‘Morning,’ he said brightly.
‘Morning.’ She settled herself into the Mini and wondered whether they would even fit a tree into the relatively small car. ‘There’s no way you picked your trees up in this car.’
‘No, I had them delivered,’ he said sheepishly. ‘But it’s a Clubman, you know, with the doors on the back,’ he explained as Lois looked blank. ‘It’ll be fine. Anyway, how big a tree do you need?’
‘It needs to be taller than me, that’s the rule,’ said Lois without thinking.
‘The rule? I’ve never heard of that.’
‘It’s a family rule,’ she admitted, wishing she’d never mentioned it.
‘Oh, that’s important then,’ said Oliver smiling.
They hadn’t even got there yet, and he already thought she was a tree-buying lunatic.
‘Isn’t your tree taller than you?’
‘Actually, it is. You’re right, maybe it’s a thing.’
‘It definitely is.’
‘Where are we going to try?’
‘We’ll go to Coddington.’ As he said this, they passed the huge local Christmas tree farm.
‘Not there?’
‘No, it’s not the right place.’
Lois wondered why Oliver wouldn’t have just chosen the nearest place.
Twenty minutes later, he pulled off a small country lane in Herefordshire into Coddington Christmas tree farm. There were fields with a wonderful mix of different types of trees, all in different sizes, nothing like the well-ordered larger farm they’d passed. This was a special place, Lois could tell. As well as the fields of trees, they also had a stock of freshly cut ones ready to take away.
‘I think it’s better if we go and choose one from the field,’ said Oliver as they got out of the car.
‘Okay, whatever you think.’ Lois was thrilled. She had seen places like this in the cheesy Christmas films she loved but never realised they existed in real life and were so close by.
They wandered in between the trees, inspecting them carefully before Oliver shouted over that he’d found a good one.
Lois stood and looked at it. It was a good shape, bushy enough at the base, symmetrical and the right height but there weren’t many branches near the top. It wasn’t perfect. As it was the first tree they’d seen, Lois felt it was reasonable enough to discount it without seeming like a nutter. They carried on looking.
‘Hey, Oliver! Over here!’ The tree that Lois had found did look pretty perfect. ‘I think this one is it,’ she said as he came over.
He looked at it thoughtfully. ‘It’s a touch shorter than you.’
‘I think that’s okay.’
‘Rules are rules, Lois,’ he said, then turned and walked away, leaving Lois astounded next to her tree. Well, she could humour him, keep looking for a while and come back to this one. She made a mental note of where it was and carried on looking.
