A WINNING STORY!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 
And to mark the occasion I won a small competition on a writers' forum with this 200 word story, prompted by the word GLITTER. I make no apology for the fact that my background theme is again Christmas - in Tenerife the festival isn't over until after tomorrow - EL DIA DE LOS REYES - Kings' Day. 
So - Felices Reyes to everyone, and may 2015 bring peace and prosperity to us all.

WINGS                                     

At the cry of a newborn the villagers rejoiced – a new life was always worth celebrating but on Christmas Eve it was a double blessing. They clustered round as his father held him up.

“What will you call him?” a woman asked.

“Jesús, naturally,” Josef answered.

           

An hour later a dog barked and was instantly silenced, but it had been tied up deliberately far from the village and had done its job before it died.

Josef woke his children with his hand over their mouths. “Run and hide in the caves,” he ordered and they slid silently away, Maria close behind them carrying her baby.

The villagers cowered deep in the caves while rebels burned everything and then rampaged through the forest, slashing wildly with glittering machetes. Maria’s children clung to her skirts and Jesús whimpered.

The rebel leader stopped, listening.

The villagers watched in horror as Maria, with tears pouring down her face, held her hand over her baby’s mouth.

“They have gone,” the lookout reported eventually but the cave remained silent – Maria’s baby lay limp in her arms.

Then the air moved as if wafted by angel wings, the tiny chest heaved, and Jesús lived again.

CRIBS AND KINGS - THE FINAL FIESTA

photo from www.newsinthesun.com

Today is January 6^th – Epiphany in the church calendar. To some people it is Twelfth Night – the day by which all Christmas decorations should be put away. Here in Tenerife it is Dia de los Reyes – Kings’ Day – when all good Spanish children receive gifts from the Three Kings, or a bag of coal – carbon del Rey – if they’ve been naughty.

Another Christmas tradition here is the making of a crib – un Belen – which can be anything from a plastic scene from a euro shop to an elaborate creation with life-size figures.

The one in the above photograph is mine. In 1980 I made the main figures at pottery class, then my children got in on the act. Mandy made the horse, Debs the cow, John the pig and Dan, who was two at the time, insisted on making a second infant Jesus. Even when my children are far away at Christmas, I have this crib to remind me of when they were young and always there.

In our shopping village, Las Galletas, I only just spotted this Belen in the window of the farmacia in time before they took it away. The detail is amazing.

An oxen-drawn cart and chickens . . 

. . . a village plaza with a bar in the background and a circular meeting-place, choristers mounting the steps  . .

. .  a market with ham and sausages, cheeses and potatoes for sale  . . 

. . .  flamenco dancers by the duck-pond welcoming Los Reyes on their camels . .

... and finally the inn with the Nativity scene in the cave stable beneath it - complete with Guardia Civil..

FELIZ REYES!