I looked out at the brightness through my frosty window. From the guttering, icicles descended, glistening in the wintry sunshine. I opened the window slightly, inhaling the crisp air. “So beautiful” I whispered as I snapped off the longest icicle and dropped it, watching it spear into the snow below. “Mmm, perfect murder weapon!” I giggled. I pulled my fleece blanket tightly around my shoulders as the cold air drifted in on a light chilly breeze. “Finally we will have a white Christmas…” I heard a familiar Christmas song echo through the speakers on the radio. I instantly began to whistle and hum the tune.
I closed the window and made my way downstairs and headed towards the front door. I opened it quickly, wanting to be out there, to feel the cold surround me and take me back to childhood. At thirty-three, I am still a child at heart. We haven’t had snowfall like this for sixteen years. Every year I pray for snow and especially at this time of year. As I recall, I don’t ever remember snow at Christmas and here it is, a day before the best day of the year. Or is Christmas Eve the best day? I think it might be. The anticipation of what’s to come. Seeing the smiling faces of nieces and nephews opening their presents, a sight to melt the biggest snowdrift.
The snow takes me back to when I was younger. Hours were spent building a snowman, the beginning of which was a snowball the size of a tennis ball. My friends and I would take turns to roll it from one house to another along the pathways. As we reached the middle of the avenue, the snowball was the size of a football. We trudged through more snow, picking it up as we went. From a football size to a basketball size and bigger still. We had so much fun rolling the huge ball around and around the avenue and through the playing field. In the end the ball got so big that it took three or four of us to roll it back to my garden.
We managed it though and when we got to my house we all rushed in, hoping to find my dad to measure how tall the ball of snow was. Poor dad, we didn’t give him time to get his coat and gloves on. The look on his face when he got outside and saw the body of our snowman said it all. It was by far the biggest we had ever made. He measured it and announced that it was three feet and four inches high. My friends and I jumped up and cheered. We rolled the ball into the right position and headed across the road to start on the other side. It was time to make the head of the snowman.
I smiled to myself as I stood out on the doorstep. I looked down and saw the icicle standing upright in the snow. Dare I step out a little further and get harpooned by my own murder weapon falling from the gutter, I thought. I glanced down the road and saw a figure walking towards my house. The only sound was the trudging of their boots as they sunk into the snow. I knew they were heading for my house. There were no other houses nearby. They lifted their arm and waved. I waved back, still not recognising who they were, although I was sure it was a woman. Long dark hair flowed past her shoulders, dancing in the breeze. She was dressed in jeans and a creamy coloured chunky woolly jumper. She must be freezing.
She opened the gate and cautiously walked towards me. As she neared me she held out her hand. “I’m sorry to bother you, but my car has got stuck in the snow. Can I borrow your phone? I really wasn’t prepared for this weather!”
I took her hand and she held it tightly. Her hand was freezing and I was surprised she could still move her fingers. “Yes of course you can, come in and I’ll get you a warm drink. Is tea ok?”
“Yeah thanks. I stayed at my sisters last night. She lives in the next village. The snow wasn’t that bad when I left there, but you seem to have it quite bad here. I’m sure they didn’t forecast it, but you know what they say about the British weather…”
We both looked at each other and simultaneously announced, “unpredictable!”
She rubbed her hands together, bringing a little life into them. “I’m Alex by the way. I was a little worried as to who might live here, you’re pretty isolated here.” She seated herself at the kitchen table, continuing to rub her hands together.
“Isolated yes, but so damn pretty on a morning like this. Don’t you agree? Do you have milk, sugar?”
“Milk, please and no sugar…”
“Sweet enough eh?” I teased. She smiled and her eyes smiled with her. I poured out our teas and placed them on the table then sat opposite her. Her cheeks were red and her eyes were glazed over. Oh god those eyes. They were a shade of green with a delicate hint of blue. Piercing. I placed my hands on hers and massaged them. “Jesus, you have frostbite I think. We’d better get you warmed up. I’m Chrissy by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Chrissy. I don’t want to be too much trouble. I shall go when I’ve made my call.”
“You aren’t going back out there just yet. As lovely as it is, you are not dressed for it!”
“What about your husband, won’t he mind your Christmas eve being interrupted?”
I smiled. “There’s no husband. I live alone. And it will be good to have a little company. It doesn’t look like I will be going out anywhere.”
“Where were you going?”
“Oh just visiting my parents and meeting up with the rest of the family. Depending on how it went I might have stayed the night with them. Still, its beautiful here now that we have snow.”
Her eyes cut into me again. I have never seen eyes that colour before. I hadn’t noticed and neither had she but my hands were still on hers. I had stopped the massaging and was now lightly stroking her soft skin. I could feel it warming up in my palms. She smiled and parted her lips. “That feels good, my hands are warming up.”
I slowly took my hands from hers and placed them around my mug of tea. “Come with me, its warmer in the living room… and the phone is in here too.” She took her mug and followed me into the adjoining room. “Are you hungry?”
I looked over at Alex and she was looking around the room. “I hate to be a bother, but I am a little hungry. You’ve decorated it wonderfully Chrissy. I love the co-ordinated look but I can never quite manage it and I end up with an array of colours on my tree and everywhere else.” She sat down on the long sofa, her eyes following the silver tinsel as it sat neatly around the edge of the walls where they meet the ceiling. A frosted garland draped over the mantelpiece with static white lights entwined through it. The tree stood about eight feet high and sat proudly in the bay window. Clear lights twinkled through the frosted lilac baubles. She placed her mug on the coffee table. “Did you do all this by yourself?
“Yes I did. I love Christmas. I decorate nearly every room.” I leant down and picked up the firelighters. “I’ll get this going then I’ll do us something to eat. The phone is just behind you.”
“Thanks, I’ll call my sister in a minute.”
I lit the firelighters and soon the crackling of the dry logs could be heard. “You can’t beat an open fire!”
