Promptvent - Day 18

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 18 of Promptvent!

If you’d like some wintry musical inspiration whilst you write, why not try listening to ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year’, 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.

You are looking at a cozy kitchen dining area, with a huge wooden dining table bathed in light from the large window. The window looks out onto a snow-covered pine forest that slopes down into a valley.

There are about five or six small boxes on the table stacked up neatly, you inch closer to get a better look, just as the red wreathed door to your left slowly opens, inviting you further. You step through the door, stamp the snow off of your boots and hang your winter coat up on a golden brass hook. The room is bright and decorated with the most stunning festive glass ornaments.

You approach the table and smile excitedly, the boxes are all jigsaw puzzles! Each box contains a different cozy winter scene, with varying numbers of pieces, shapes and difficulties. You absolutely love sitting down with a puzzle except sadly you don’t get much time anymore. One box has a frozen winter lake, where people are ice-skating merrily round a Christmas tree. Another is a cozy winter cabin in the woods with smoke billowing from the chimney and a family of deer munching on tree close by. Another is Santa’s workshop where the elves are getting ready for Christmas Day. Another is a quaint snow covered village with Santa’s sleigh riding over the rooftops. The last two are special to you, puzzles that bring forth memories of loved ones and sounds of wooden pieces clicking into place, a sense of peace and calm.

You take one of those puzzles and open the box, the smell of the box brings more memories with it. You sigh with relief as you sit down and take the weight off your feet. The puzzle isn’t too big and you set about creating the outer frame. Before you know it, you’ve completed half of the puzzle and the light is beginning to fade from the window, replacing it with an orange glow. You realize you have been so focused on the task of putting these pieces together, that your mind has been still for hours and your shoulders have sunk an inch or two.

As you begin to fill in the last pieces of the puzzle, you notice something hidden under the last puzzle pieces left in the box. You shake them free and take the item out, it is a little notebook and pen. You open the notebook and on the first page is one word written in cursive script at the top.

It reads: PUZZLE

You slowly place the final puzzle piece, completing the picture with a sense of achievement. You smile and thank yourself, and the advent calendar for giving you this precious time and memory. And then you pick up the pen - and you write.