A Christmas in Bleak Times- a short story written by Aileen Cleave.

A CHRISTMAS IN BLEAK TIMES

Lisa’s eye caught the calendar hanging on her kitchen wall.  15th of December.  Of course, she had two electronic devices plotting more or less all her movements, but she found  a wall calendar reassuring with all the important dates clearly highlighted.    Her stomach knotted, and she felt the all too familiar feeling of panic and hopelessness  causing her chest to tighten.  10 days to create a miracle,  10 days to find a way of providing her three children with a Christmas somewhere approaching their expectations .

Money had never been so tight. Tight? Better to say, scarce, non-existent even, once the bills had been at least partly paid.  In Lisa’s mind there seemed  to have been an explosion of costs from the rise in mortgage rates, the  ridiculous increase in fuel prices,  and the spiralling cost of food.  It had been impossible to put away even a few pounds towards a Christmas fund .  How had this happened?   Both she and David had what she had once thought were good  jobs, with more than adequate salaries.  Now with the increase in childcare prices, she wondered if her job was worth keeping .  The first thing to go had been the foreign holiday, indeed any holiday .  The school holidays had been a nightmare, the wet and unseasonal grey weather of July and August accentuating the misery of  trying to find some spare cash to take the children to the coast or to visit a  theme park.  Even  these outings had been very limited because of  the exorbitant cost of train fares and entrance fees .  Lisa thought back to last Christmas when the pinch was just beginning to be felt.  There had been an enormous real Christmas tree in the hall, under which was a mountain of expensively  wrapped presents. There was a large, farm reared fresh  turkey for Christmas dinner shared by both sets of grandparents .   It had all been wonderful but also  the reason there was no holiday this year. The credit card was still being paid off in July and Lisa was determined that was not going to happen again. The children would just have to learn that occasionally times are hard and  - what was the expression our parents used?   Oh yes, you have to cut your cloth accordingly. 

No, there would be no credit card this year .  A plan was beginning to form in her mind, a plan that she must successfully sell to the children without them thinking the family was in total penury.  Lisa’s own childhood had been safe and comfortable, growing up in the eighties, a decade of high interest rates but also a decade of easy to get mortgages which meant  high price gains in property giving people overall  a feeling of well being.  She wanted no less for her children. 

And so it came to pass that after much cajoling and many references to the unfortunate children of Ukraine and Palestine and indeed half the world,  Lisa’s children were convinced that they would be heroes if they were to sell some of last year‘s toys in order to make room and purchasing power  for this year‘s presents and a small donation to the aforementioned children.  There was inevitably much agonising  over what they could bear to part with, and what it was simply not possible to be without.  Advertisements  were painstakingly written and posted on the local forum of Facebook  and various other local social media and  the response was swift and gratifying. Other families were finding themselves in a similar situation and any opportunity to purchase cheaper gifts was  very welcome.  

Warming to her idea of selling and buying, she took a careful look around her home.  She had so much stuff!  But she needed to be organised, Christmas would be upon her imminently.  She cleared space in the garage, noting as she did that there was rather a lot of junk that could be sold in the New Year.  Slowly she began to collect  a miscellany of table lamps, vases, picture frames, and various objet d’art .Without pausing to think too much, she priced each item realistically . Then warming to the task ahead, she arranged them artfully on trestle tables in the garage, and arranged the table lamps to give a welcoming glow in the gloomy December days.  With a week to go till Christmas, her garage sale cum Christmas Fair was  also advertised on social media and in the local freebie newspaper.  

The day of the sale dawned and Lisa was in the garage bright and early, ensuring all looked good.   The coffee maker was  brought down from the house, the aroma adding to the ambience.  By 11.00 there was a steady stream of people perusing, with the children handing out coffee where required.  

Lisa  hadn’t felt so light hearted in a long time.  She found herself wishing she had made mince pies and mulled wine, but common sense prevailed.  That was a luxury she couldn’t afford this year - but next time! It was so much of a social occasion, meeting up with neighbours and wishing them the best of the season.  And all the time her cash box was filling up handsomely.  By the time the last customer had departed, almost everything had been sold  and the final cash count deemed the day a resounding success.

A day had been selected to take the children shopping.  This was going to be very special.  They each had the money added to their Apple Pay account from the toys or devices they had successfully sold - no more, no less, and the agreement was they could spend it all on an item for themselves or they could put some of the money towards gifts for grandparents,parents or friends.   It would be their decision.  

Two days later, ever nearer to Christmas but suitably recovered from the garage sale, the family set out to do their Christmas shopping.  Normally a time fraught with tensions and arguments, the day was quite enjoyable.  Each child knew exactly what he or she could spend and, of course, being children of today, they also knew precisely what they wanted.  Of course there was the occasional cross word, the inevitable vying for attention but nothing that Lisa and David couldn’t gloss over quickly and reassert the equilibrium.

Warming to her new-found frugality, instead of the usual fresh turkey from the farm shop, Lisa ordered a frozen one at a fraction of the price, which David would have to collect tomorrow to give it time to defrost.

Her only extravagance was to buy a rather lovely  specimen of Norwegian spruce, reduced because it was so close to the big day,  which they would all have such fun dressing that evening and putting their gift wrapped presents underneath.  

Christmas morning dawned bright and sparkling with frost.  Lisa experienced an incredible feeling of peace and achievement as she and David exchanged their gift to each other - a totally clear credit card and a rather healthy looking  bank statement.  Of course, the true spirit of Christmas was still alive and well,  and they would both find a little something awaiting them under the tree.