Promptvent - Day 12

25 days of winter prompts to thaw your writers (ice)block - and this year it's all about being Cozy.

Hello and welcome to day 12 of Promptvent!

If you’d like some wintry musical inspiration whilst you write, why not try listening to ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas - Piano Version’ by David Shultz on Spotify.

Listen to me read the guided invitation via audio below or if you prefer to read the transcript, that is also available for you underneath the audio.

Welcome back to our Promptvent village advent calendar where you find yourself standing once again before the cozy Christmas window.

Bundled up in your warm woolen mittens and thick scarf, you are eager to to know what wintry word of the day awaits you. What world will you step into and discover today? You lean closer, and can feel the eagerness in your fingers as you pull off your mittens and reach for the iron latch on the window, lifting it with care.

The nostalgic sound of Christmas classics dance in your ears from a nearby radio. Your eyes settle on a large Christmas tree, a real one, with a red and white patterned skirt. At the foot of the tree are three large boxes labelled ‘Christmas decorations’ in marker pen. There is a side table to the right with a buffet of finger food, wine and fruit juice. Suddenly a small dog comes leaping into the room barking, two children come running in after him, squealing excitedly at the sight of the tree. They are followed by a small gaggle of adults of varying generations, all smiling and chatting away, wearing Santa Hats. One of the party turns to you and beckons you in, ‘It’s almost time to decorate the tree, I’ll get you a drink!’.

The red wreathed door to your left slowly opens, inviting you further. You step through the door, stamp off the snow from your boots and hang your winter coat up on a golden brass hook. The smell of pine needles and citrus fills your nostrils and you are transported back to many Christmases spent around the tree, decorations scattered everywhere. You are handed a large glass of something warm and fruity with a hint of cinnamon as someone hangs some tinsel around your shoulders. The children begin showing you their favorite items and ask you to put them on the branches they can’t quite reach. Everyone grabs a section of the fairy lights and wraps it round the tree, weaving around and under each other, much to the delight of the children who start making chapel tunnels for each other, in time to ‘Rocking around the Christmas Tree’.

When the group mission is successfully achieved, you go to the box and reach into it. The musty smell brings back memories of Christmas stored in the loft, until that fateful day when the magic starts. You recognize some of the decorations and turn them in your hands, some make you laugh, some bring a pang of melancholy and others give you butterflies - you thought these ones had been lost!

When the tree is fabulously dressed with a mix match of baubles, tinsel, lights and various figurines, a child hands you the Star and says, make a wish! You close your eyes and make a wish quietly to yourself and then place the Star firmly on the top of the tree. The lights turn on, making everything sparkle. Everyone cheers and claps and stands back to admire their work. As you do the same, your foot hits the box and something falls out.

It is a notebook and pen in the shape of a Christmas tree. As everyone trails off to get food, you open the notebook, which reveals one word in large cursive script written at the top of the first page.

It reads: DECORATION

The family strike up a Christmas sing-a-long on the piano in the next room, and you sit by the tree whistling merrily with them, remembering all of the Christmases past, present and future. Then you pick up the pen - and write.