The Ghosts of Christmas Past
Created | Updated Dec 9, 2005
My 6 year old son asked me to write a ghost story for children, instead of all the boring ones for adults.
So here it is...
The house was completely in darkness, all was prepared for the following day. Outside the sky was clear and the moon shone full and bright. The straggling partygoers were now a little thin on the ground at this late hour, as thin as the light dusting of snow that had fallen an hour earlier.
All over the world children and adults alike slept, dreaming of the following mornings revelry, all was prepared.
In a the living room of a house sat a bureau. Normally throughout the year it served as a purely functional piece of furniture, but know in the season of advent it had become the focal point of the room. On it sat a small plastic tree decorated with silver and red glass bauble’s. A string of green beads also hung from its branches as did a collection of twinkling lights, now turned off for the night.
Either side of the holly adorned fire place stood two green and red felt lined sacks both bursting full of parcels, brightly wrapped.
The old Christmas tree had seen it all before of course, it knew that the following morning he would hear the words, ‘He’s been?’ as two excited young boys would both see the empty glass and plate in the dinning room, not to mention the well chewed carrot top which always accompanied Santa’s fare.
Seconds after that the living room door would spring open and the unwrapping would commence. The ritual was the same every year, presents, trying to get the youngsters dressed then the smell, oh the smell of the cooking dinner.
All that was yet to come, still several hours away.
The little tree thought back over the years, how many presents had it seen unwrapped, too numerous to remember, some though he could not forget, some long gone for whatever reason. Worn out through over use or disposed of because of neglect, some would stay here always.
The time was fast approaching now, it usually happened at the stroke of three.
The clock on the mantel piece read two fifty five, still five minutes to go.
A thud broke the silence of the night. The baubles on the tree let out the slightest jingle as they gently touched each other, was it vibration from the activities upstairs or was it the tree curiously looking around?
Listening hard the tree heard a slight cry from one of the boys, then silence once more. Obviously one of the over excited children dreaming, not surprising really as this was Christmas Eve.
Once again calm fell over the house as it did over most of the village, not to mention the world.
Then something happened, without the slightest hint of anything untoward happening a blue and red ball, the size of a tennis ball rolled across the floor.
The tree smiled to itself, the yearly trip through nostalgia was about to commence.
From one side of the room a robot, not unlike an android from a popular ‘50’s American TV show crackled and fizzes across the floor. In the other direction coming to meet it was an old racing car, sticking out of its brightly coloured shell turned a clockwork driven key.
Bouncing down from somewhere unseen came a wooden hoop. The tree didn’t remember this present long disregarded, the Jack in a box took his mind though elsewhere as it sprang open. Both of these long gone toys where from a different time, another generation. The old play things were followed by a wooden spinning top. It stopped, toppled over then silently disappeared. A doll, blond wiry curls filling her head appeared. She was in a push chair being paraded around the room. While the pram lapped the room once again an armed vehicle drove into the middle of the floor, a male doll dressed in army attire sat in the drivers seat.
More and more toys appeared shimmering in and out of existence, all overlapping but not interfering with one another.
The table football game stood in the middle of the room as did the snooker table, on the floor building blokes of many various designs and ages formed together to make cars, ships and space craft before dismantling themselves and reforming into other sculptures. Police cars, fire engines and ambulances criss-crossed the floor, some of them with lights flashing some without.
Watching over all of the toys from years gone by was a larger orange ball, two ribbed horns protruding from its top, on its surface a large smiling face. It was of course a space hopper. Like the tree he had seen it all and watched with a quiet calm about himself.
As the clock struck four o’clock all once again fell silent. Only the tree remained.
In an hour or so this years presents would be unwrapped and played with. He wondered which toys would be favoured?
At five thirty a bump was heard from the upstairs, this was quickly followed by excited voices.
Moments later the thump, thump of feet coming down the stairs could be heard. The door burst open and two excited boys burst into the room followed by two bleary eyed parents.
The eldest of the two climbed onto the arm of the sofa and flicked on the light switch.
Joy appeared on the young faces, “He’s been, look Jake, he’s been?” said Sam to his young brother.
The first and biggest present opened that morning was a space hopper.
‘Strange how these things come around’ thought the tree allowing itself a little smile, after all no one was looking.
FINI
So here it is...
The house was completely in darkness, all was prepared for the following day. Outside the sky was clear and the moon shone full and bright. The straggling partygoers were now a little thin on the ground at this late hour, as thin as the light dusting of snow that had fallen an hour earlier.
All over the world children and adults alike slept, dreaming of the following mornings revelry, all was prepared.
In a the living room of a house sat a bureau. Normally throughout the year it served as a purely functional piece of furniture, but know in the season of advent it had become the focal point of the room. On it sat a small plastic tree decorated with silver and red glass bauble’s. A string of green beads also hung from its branches as did a collection of twinkling lights, now turned off for the night.
Either side of the holly adorned fire place stood two green and red felt lined sacks both bursting full of parcels, brightly wrapped.
The old Christmas tree had seen it all before of course, it knew that the following morning he would hear the words, ‘He’s been?’ as two excited young boys would both see the empty glass and plate in the dinning room, not to mention the well chewed carrot top which always accompanied Santa’s fare.
Seconds after that the living room door would spring open and the unwrapping would commence. The ritual was the same every year, presents, trying to get the youngsters dressed then the smell, oh the smell of the cooking dinner.
All that was yet to come, still several hours away.
The little tree thought back over the years, how many presents had it seen unwrapped, too numerous to remember, some though he could not forget, some long gone for whatever reason. Worn out through over use or disposed of because of neglect, some would stay here always.
The time was fast approaching now, it usually happened at the stroke of three.
The clock on the mantel piece read two fifty five, still five minutes to go.
A thud broke the silence of the night. The baubles on the tree let out the slightest jingle as they gently touched each other, was it vibration from the activities upstairs or was it the tree curiously looking around?
Listening hard the tree heard a slight cry from one of the boys, then silence once more. Obviously one of the over excited children dreaming, not surprising really as this was Christmas Eve.
Once again calm fell over the house as it did over most of the village, not to mention the world.
Then something happened, without the slightest hint of anything untoward happening a blue and red ball, the size of a tennis ball rolled across the floor.
The tree smiled to itself, the yearly trip through nostalgia was about to commence.
From one side of the room a robot, not unlike an android from a popular ‘50’s American TV show crackled and fizzes across the floor. In the other direction coming to meet it was an old racing car, sticking out of its brightly coloured shell turned a clockwork driven key.
Bouncing down from somewhere unseen came a wooden hoop. The tree didn’t remember this present long disregarded, the Jack in a box took his mind though elsewhere as it sprang open. Both of these long gone toys where from a different time, another generation. The old play things were followed by a wooden spinning top. It stopped, toppled over then silently disappeared. A doll, blond wiry curls filling her head appeared. She was in a push chair being paraded around the room. While the pram lapped the room once again an armed vehicle drove into the middle of the floor, a male doll dressed in army attire sat in the drivers seat.
More and more toys appeared shimmering in and out of existence, all overlapping but not interfering with one another.
The table football game stood in the middle of the room as did the snooker table, on the floor building blokes of many various designs and ages formed together to make cars, ships and space craft before dismantling themselves and reforming into other sculptures. Police cars, fire engines and ambulances criss-crossed the floor, some of them with lights flashing some without.
Watching over all of the toys from years gone by was a larger orange ball, two ribbed horns protruding from its top, on its surface a large smiling face. It was of course a space hopper. Like the tree he had seen it all and watched with a quiet calm about himself.
As the clock struck four o’clock all once again fell silent. Only the tree remained.
In an hour or so this years presents would be unwrapped and played with. He wondered which toys would be favoured?
At five thirty a bump was heard from the upstairs, this was quickly followed by excited voices.
Moments later the thump, thump of feet coming down the stairs could be heard. The door burst open and two excited boys burst into the room followed by two bleary eyed parents.
The eldest of the two climbed onto the arm of the sofa and flicked on the light switch.
Joy appeared on the young faces, “He’s been, look Jake, he’s been?” said Sam to his young brother.
The first and biggest present opened that morning was a space hopper.
‘Strange how these things come around’ thought the tree allowing itself a little smile, after all no one was looking.
FINI
