Sorry this is a day late, but a server somewhere kept sending me messages that it was having problems. Everyone’s Christmas morning looks different. Maybe it’s a quiet time of reflection over breakfast by yourself. Maybe it’s being attacked by your preschoolers in bed. It could be helping at a shelter or working so colleagues can have the day off. It could be waking up in a room at a resort for a Christmas vacation or waking up in the guest room of your sister’s house and being attacked by her preschoolers in bed. Use the five senses to describe your Christmas morning. Here’s mine:
- SIGHT: Multi-colored wrapping paper coating the floor. Multi-colored Christmas tree lights glowing by the window. The backyard growing lighter with the dawn. Shiny bows and ribbons. Boxes of all shapes and sizes. A red penknife.
- SMELL: Aroma of bacon, cream scones, coffee.
- TASTE : Salty bacon, crumbly scones, coffee, tea, orange juice.
- TOUCH: Smooth wrapping paper and ribbon. Prickly pine tree.
- HEARING: Chatting, laughter. Crinkly paper.
Here’s how I work those sensations into a story.
*****
I collapsed onto the couch next to Tom. “It’s been a great Christmas.
The living room was buried in wrapping paper, and the multicolored tree seemed to glow extra bright was dawn light strengthened through the window behind it. Giggly conversations from upstairs as the kids investigated their gifts drifted down to us. The cozy aroma of bacon and freshly bake scones hung over every room.
“Despite the Taylors?” said Tom.
“Yes.” I was firm. “I tried to help, and I didn’t help at all. If anything’s going on over there, it’s none of my business.”
“Nothing wrong with offering to help,” my sweet husband said. “You just can’t make them take–“
A scream erupted outside. To the right of our house. The Taylors’ side.
*****
Here are more Christmas writing prompts.
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