Darby looked at it and reread what she’d written. Not bad for a first effort.
Tis the Season...
To see that, like Frosty the Snowman, our dreams can melt if we wait too long to make them come true
To understand that, like a certain red-nosed reindeer, everyone has potential and no one should be excluded
To be humble, like the Little Drummer Boy
To know that it’s not the presents under the tree but the people gathered around it that matter
To realize that the best thing to ask for is forgiveness and the greatest gift we can give anyone is love.
Later that night she wound up at Gregory’s house, comparing how their Christmas Day had gone.
“Mine was chaos, as usual,” he said. “My nephews wereamped up on sugar, and they terrified my mom’s cat. Then they broke the arm on Mom’s mechanical waving Santa. His waving days are now over, I guess. Oh, and remember Aunt Bernice?”
“The ugly sweater queen?”
“She dropped the red velvet cake on the way to the table.”
“Sounds pretty entertaining,” Darby said.
“And my cousin brought a friend who she knew would be perfect for me.”
Darby frowned at that. “Is she?”
“Uh, that would be a no. The Griswolds have nothing on us.”
“Now, there’s a Christmas movie I haven’t watched in a while,” Darby said.
“Don’t ask me to watch it with you. My personal Griswold Christmas is still fresh in my mind.”
She chuckled. “Okay, noNational Lampoon’s Christmas Vacationthen.”
“Now onward and upward, to New Year’s Eve,” he said. “Have you got plans?”
“Not yet...”
“You do now,” he informed her, and kissed her. Then he sobered. “And how about after New Year’s Day? Do you have to go back to the city?”
“Only to collect my things.”
“Yeah?” He looked at her hopefully.
“I think I need to make a new start somewhere else.”
“With someone else?”
“Do you have someone in mind?” she teased.
“I sure do,” he said. “I met this girl recently.”
Darby smiled at that. She’d met a new girl too. The one she looked at in the mirror only that morning was very different from the one she’d seen for so many years. She liked this new Darby and knew that—whatever the future held—this girl would walk into it with kindness.
Later that night she texted Josh.I got something great for Christmas.
Yeah? What?
A new start.It was the perfect Christmas gift.
