Page 16 of Christmas All the Way

The trustees love the idea of evening Christmas tours, so it’s full steam ahead. Do you want me to come down and pitch the idea to the volunteers?

Keeley pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a murmur of frustration. It wasn’t that Xander’s message was unexpected – she’d agreed to the plan, after all, and had known he wouldn’t waste any time before running it past the trustees, and she was all too aware that the groundwork had to be done sooner rather than later. But the thought of him arriving at Juniper Cottage to casually inform her team that their carefully balanced work patterns were about to be turned on their heads made her jaw clench. Not all volunteers would be keen on working into the evenings, and although others would take the change in their stride, it was critical that they were all made to feel valued and heard. If not, Keeley would probably find she didn’t have much of a team left once the buzz of Christmas was over. Xander’s enthusiasm would need to be tempered for now.

I think it needs to come from me first. But you’re welcome to speak to them once I’ve explained the project. Did you tell the trustees I might need to recruit some extra help?

His response was almost instant. Yes, they were fine with that. When’s good to get the photos for social media? The sooner we start building engagement, the better.

Keeley checked the calendar. The logical part of her knew everything he said made sense but she had to fight the urge to put him off on this score too. She assumed he would want the cottage to be closed for the photographs and while it could not be said that the Eliza’s home was busy – at least not by the standards of other historic houses – they still had a respectable stream of visitors on most days. In the past, this had peaked around the August bank holiday weekend, which was still a week away. Would Xander be prepared to wait until September? She suspected not. Suppressing a sigh, she suggested he visited shortly after closing time one evening the following week.

Is Monday too soon? Obviously we want to channel Christmas with all the trimmings. Do you have a tree we can use?

She should have known he would choose the earliest possible date, Keeley thought, and pictured her own Christmas tree, which was the perfect size for the corner of her living room but would look ridiculous beneath the higher ceilings of Juniper Cottage. She’d have to try to source another, then set about studying the digital copies of Eliza’s diaries for directions on how to decorate the house. The thought of that lifted her mood a little; it might even be fun. At the very least it should help her to make plans for the actual decorations later in the year. Fine, she typed back. Leave the tree with me. See you on Monday.

Getting to her feet, she abandoned her small office and headed along the corridor to the room volunteers used for their breaks. Her gaze landed on Jenny, who was flicking through a magazine as she sipped at a cup of tea. ‘Just the person,’ she exclaimed, thanking her lucky stars it wasn’t the altogether less dependable Elspeth. ‘Sorry to interrupt your break but I need your help. Do have any idea where I can get an eight-foot Christmas tree by Monday?’

If the unusual question fazed Jenny, she didn’t say so. Instead, her forehead furrowed in thought. ‘There’s the farm near Tiptree but I’m not sure they sell them this early in the year. Raff would know.’

He would, Keeley conceded, but he wasn’t always the quickest at responding to messages. ‘Maybe.’

‘Does it have to be real?’ Jenny asked.

‘No,’ Keeley said, remembering Xander’s suggestion that an imitation tree would be fine. ‘But I don’t need it for long, so I’d rather not waste money buying one.’

There were any number of websites that sold gloriously realistic trees all year round but they came with hefty price tags. She couldn’t justify the expense for the purposes of a few photographs.

Jenny pursed her lips. ‘I can ask around, see if anyone has one big enough.’ She cocked her head curiously. ‘What’s happening on Monday?’

‘Xander wants to start planning some new social media posts – he needs to take some Christmas pictures,’ she said, keeping the details vague. ‘Which reminds me, could you help to get the decorations down from the hayloft before you go today? I’ll need to sort through them over the weekend.’

The other woman nodded. ‘Of course. Do you need help to put them up?’

Keeley was tempted. If there was one volunteer she could trust to keep Xander’s plans for December under wraps, it was Jenny. But she didn’t want to risk the news leaking out before she’d had time to brief all the volunteers. ‘That’s kind but I’ll be putting them up after we close on Monday evening and taking them down as soon as Xander has what he needs. You’ll be tucked up at home.’

‘Okay,’ Jenny said. ‘Shall I meet you at the hayloft later? Around three?’

‘That would be great,’ Keeley said gratefully. ‘Thanks.’

It wasn’t until much later, when she was loading the boxes into the boot of her car, that it occurred to Keeley there was someone else who might be able to help with the tree problem. Hadn’t Grace invested in an expensive imitation tree some years earlier? She might be willing to loan it to Keeley for a few days. And if that wasn’t possible, she might be able to arrange to borrow one from Ivy. She had no real idea what was involved in a social media photo shoot but if Xander wanted Christmas with all the trimmings at Juniper Cottage, that was what he was going to get.

The bar of the Flying Fox pub in Flaxwood was busy. The crowd had spilled out into the beer garden around the back, and the buzz of many conversations filled the early evening air. Keeley had arrived a few minutes before Grace and had pounced on a table a little removed from the throng, although she suspected the surrounding tables would soon be filled with fellow diners.

‘So?’ she said, once Grace had settled into her chair. ‘How was your first day at Santa’s Secret?’

Her friend looked up from the menu she was idly perusing. ‘Tiring. My watch says I’ve done three times as many steps as I usually do. It’s very confused.’

Keeley pictured the maze of aisles inside the barn. ‘I bet. Did you run into any grinches?’

‘Not a single one,’ Grace said. ‘It’s not like the garden centre, where people bring their children to enjoy the experience. The customers at Santa’s Secret are serious about Christmas. One woman had a spreadsheet.’

‘Sensible,’ Keeley replied, ‘if a bit scary. But did you enjoy it?’

Grace nodded. ‘Yes. My legs aren’t thanking me right now and my brain feels like mush from the whirl of new information, but I like the team and Ivy is absolutely amazing.’ She stretched her arms and winced. ‘Ow. I helped to hang almost a kilometre of fairy lights this morning. My shoulders are not happy.’

‘A hot bath and an early night is what you need,’ Keeley advised, and picked up her own menu. ‘Let’s order and you can tell me everything.’

Over bread and balsamic vinegar, Grace described her day. ‘I met the delivery team when Ivy took me out to the barn next door where they store the really big items. Did you know they supplied the light trail at Purcell Manor last year?’

Keeley’s eyebrows rose. Purcell Manor was a sprawling Georgian estate managed by English History around ten miles from Freezy Tye and she’d read some excellent reviews of their spectacular light trail on the All About Essex website the previous year. ‘I didn’t know that,’ she said. ‘But I shouldn’t be surprised – Raff manages the gardens there.’