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Mary had a terrible night’s sleep and woke up for the first time in a long time not excited about Christmas. She felt bad for being so awful to Bright and blaming him for the party being ruined. It wasn’t really his fault. And she couldn’t ex- pect everyone to love Christmas as much as she did.
Practically, she knew it wouldn’t work to have the party at the clubhouse. Even if they had been able to fit everyone into the rec room, it would be a squeeze and they’d need to walk through the damaged lounge to the kitchen, which was probably considered a safety hazard. It was disappointing, that was all. She’d taken that out on Bright, when he was just
trying to come up with a solution.
Christmas had always been important to her because of her gran but if Gran was here now, she’d have made the best of it. ‘It’s not how you react when life is easy, it’s how you react when you’ve been dealt a dud hand’, Gran would have said. The way Mary had reacted had been pretty poor.
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She’d gotten up thinking that she would have to go around and apologise to Bright, so when he turned up at her house dressed as the Grinch, she thought she must still be dream- ing. But there he stood, at her front door, wearing a red Santa jacket over green leggings that were two inches too short for his long legs and a green beard. He looked ridiculous. Mary’s heart thumped erratically in her chest.
He held out the palm of his hand, encased in a green glove. There was a small gift-wrapped box in it. Inside was a pair of gaudy earrings. Little elves with pink hair and curly-toed shoes just like he had on.
“Before you say anything,” he said, “please, come with me? I have something to show you. Bring your costume, you can change later.”
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It was amazing. Bright had completely transformed the Palms. Klaus was in his Santa suit, sitting atop a red sleigh being pulled by two dappled ponies, the grandkids sat next
to him looking delighted. There was a layer of white snow on the back lawn. A marquee twinkled with lights and the tables were set with the stockings she had made at each setting.
“Merry Christmas, Mary,” Bright said.
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Bright helped her get the turkeys into the ovens, dress the salads and decorate the pavlovas. When everything was done, he popped a bottle of champagne and they sat outside in the sun to have a break.
“I can’t believe you did all this,” Mary said. The day was turning out beautifully, a light breeze blowing and the snow machine building up a layer of white to coat the lawn. “I’m sorry I was so awful yesterday.”
“No, it’s fine,” Bright said. “I know how much the day means to you.”
There was a wailing sound, and then a large pushchair emerged from around the side of the building. Andrew was looking frazzled, his wife Nat more put together. Mary leapt up to say hello and meet the babies.
“Over there, beside the door,” Dougal said, coming around the corner. It took Mary a few minutes to realise it was him. He was in a tuxedo. Behind him, a couple of muscular guys she had never seen were struggling with an old piano. “That’s it. Well done, boys, thank you.” Dougal reached into his pocket and then gave them each a five-dollar note. They both looked bemused, then outright laughed when they saw
Bright in his costume. “Dale’s sons,” Dougal said as they left. “It might not be the best instrument, but it’ll work.”
Mary felt like she might cry. “Dougal, this is wonderful,” she told him, giving him a hug. He gave her an awkward pat and then sat down to play.
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Slowly all the residents began to arrive. Bets had on reindeer antlers and a red nose, Viv and Helen were in hilarious ugly sweaters. Glenda and Lois both turned up with angel halos much to their annoyance. Janice was an elf with bells on her shoes and pointy plastic ears. Slipping off to get changed into her Cindy Lou costume, Mary grinned as she clipped the big bow on her head, feeling happier than she had in a long time.
Everyone had a full glass when she got out and Bright made a toast. “Here’s to Mary, our wonderful party organiser.”
They all cheered.
Jerry arrived, a little flustered looking in his outfit. He was one of the wise men and he had a buttonhole pinned to his front. In one hand he had a bunch of matching pink roses and he placed them down in front of Lois with a little flourish.
“For you,” he said. “Merry Christmas, Lois.” She went the colour of the petals. So did Glenda as she scowled.
She’d hadn’t made more stuffing, the Christmas puddings were a little bit of a disaster to look at, but tasted fine, and
Mary thought she’d never had such a wonderful Christmas Day.
“I can’t believe you managed to pull this together,” An- drew slurred in Mary’s ear as they ate. “Especially after I screwed up the budget so badly.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Didn’t Bright tell you? I undercharged some of the resi- dents on some stuff. He didn’t want to make a big deal about it to them and back charge them so he cut the Christmas budget instead.” He hiccuped. “Not that you can tell, this all looks like it cost a bomb.”
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Klaus had taken most of the residents on a sleigh ride with Tonya steering them in a path around the lanes. Eventual- ly Bright and Mary had a turn. Klaus had been very chatty with everyone as they perched up on the seat next to him, but he was quiet with Bright and Mary. They sat and held hands as they trotted along, stealing glances at each other and smiling.
“Wonderful. Thank you, Tonya. Thank you, Santa,” Mary said as they got out.
Klaus looked around conspiratorially and then leant clos- er. “I don’t know if I am really Santa,” he whispered, looking worried. “I might be a bit mixed up.”
Bright patted his knee. “You’ll always be Santa for us, Dad,” he said and Klaus beamed.
Mary looked at Bright in his hilarious green costume and thought, I think I might be in love with this guy.
Dougal had stopped playing, claiming he’d had enough and needed to get out of his monkey suit and away from the ‘hordes’. Some people were helping to clean up, stacking up plates and scraping the scraps into a bucket for Tonya to take back for their pigs.
Mary went over to Bright and hugged him. “You, Mr Nicols, are amazing.”
There was a strange popping noise and then from inside, the old jukebox started to play ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’. Bright laughed and then they started to sway to the music, under the twinkling lights.
“Now that is a Christmas miracle,” Mary said. “No,” Bright corrected her, “you are.”
They kissed for a long time until someone in the back- ground coughed. As they pulled apart, Mary noticed some- thing from the corner of her eye.
“Oh my God, Bright. Are those the handcuffs on the tree?”
