Advent

In today's story, Advent, a neighborhood sitter has a very special advent calendar.

Today's prompt was inspired by the Christmas season. Do you use an advent calendar to countdown the days to Christmas? Do you have a fun one to share? Let me know through social media or my website (links below). 

As always, this story was written from the prompt, with no planning and very little editing. If you enjoy today's story, please share it with your friends and leave a review for Freely Written. Thank you!


More about Susan Quilty

Susan Quilty mainly writes novels, including two standalone novels and her current YA series: The Psychic Traveler Society.  Susan's short stories for Freely Written are created during quick writing breaks and shared as a way to practice her narration skills before she dives into recording audio versions of her novels.

Website:  SusanQuilty.com
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The Freely Written Book: Freely Written Vol. 1
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Transcript

Below is the transcript for Season 1, Episode 104 of Freely Written, a podcast by author Susan Quilty:

 
Welcome to Freely Written where a simple prompt leads to a little unplanned fiction. 

[Light piano music]

Hi, friends! I’m Susan Quilty and today’s prompt is Advent.

Today’s prompt is a festive one as we’re sliding our way into the Christmas season. Or maybe we’re well into the season, if you go by how long Christmas displays have been in stores. But let’s not pull at that thread. 

It’s mid-December and we’re in the midst of several winter holidays. Christmas is the loudest, at least in the U.S., and it’s full of traditions that may be religious or secular or somewhere in between. 

For Christians, Advent is a four-week period of reflection before Christmas Day. In the secular world, the word advent is more likely associated with calendars that count down the days to Christmas. Often advent calendars have a small treat or present to enjoy each day. 

I haven’t had an advent calendar in many years, but I have enjoyed seeing the cute collectibles some of my friends have been posting online. It seems like a fun tradition. If you have a favorite advent calendar I might like for next year, let me know! You can tell me through my socials or my website (SusanQuilty.com). There are links in the show notes. 

Back to today’s story… It was written with my usual process where I sit down with the prompt and write whatever comes to mind, using no planning and very little editing. 

Here’s where that led today:

Advent

The small wooden house boasted six rows of four doors. Each tiny door was painted red or green and bore a golden number ranging from one to 24. One door for each day of December leading to Christmas Day. In addition to its number, each door also had a small carving of a seasonal design, such as snowflakes, wreaths, music notes, or various toys. 

Marla leaned closer, peering at the intricate designs. Eight doors were cracked open and the space inside each appeared to be empty. The rest were firmly closed and held tight by tiny latches. Squinting, Marla thought there might be a faint glow coming from each of the closed doors, but it was hard to tell in the daylight. 

“No peeking!” 

Marla jumped at the sound of her daughter’s high-pitched voice. Bridget had run back into the living room ahead of her brother, Benny, and their sitter, Mrs. Pierce. 

“I’m not peeking,” Marla assured with her hands held in the air. She was glad the children had a sitter they adored, and even more thrilled that Mrs. Pierce lived only three houses away. Yet there were times, like now, when she felt left out of their cozy arrangement. 

They had arrived at Mrs. Pierce’s house moments before and the children had quickly begun to take off their mittens, scarves, coats, and snow boots. Marla had tried to help, but Mrs. Pierce had stepped in seamlessly. She had a way with the children, efficiently whisking them out of their cold weather gear while simultaneously listening to their overlapping stories and questions. 

Feeling in the way, Marla had stepped back. She was waiting to say her goodbyes when the sight of the beautifully carved advent calendar had drawn her into the living room. The small house appeared to be quite old, yet it was in pristine condition. She fleetingly hoped that Bridget and Benny were gentle with it and didn’t pull off any of its delicate doors.

“That’s our special house,” Benny said with wide eyes. “It’s not for grown-ups. Except for Mrs. Pierce because it’s been hers since she was little.”

“It’s all right for your mother to look,” Mrs. Pierce told the children mildly. Her smile was warm, though Marla felt a bit shaky when she smiled in return. 

“We told her about it,” Bridget confessed, twining her fingers as she explained. “Just that each day has a new adventure.”

“A new advent,” Benny corrected, frowning when Bridget shook her head. 

“Adventure,” she repeated slowly, emphasizing each syllable. “It’s an advent calendar and we go on adventures.”

“Because it gives us a new advent every day,” Benny agreed uncertainly, to which Bridget sighed and threw up her hands. 

“It’s all right, dear,” Mrs. Pierce soothed. “We’ll sort it out later. Your mother is waiting for her goodbye hugs.”

Marla half-knelt and accepted ready hugs from her children, though an uncertain feeling continued to whisper through her body. She reminded herself that Bridget and Benny loved spending time with Mrs. Pierce, but that only heightened her unease. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to come shopping with me?” She heard herself ask the question, though she knew that would be a bad idea. She couldn’t buy their holiday presents if they were with her. 

“No!” Both children shrieked in mock fear as they pulled away from her arms.  

“You said we could stay with Mrs. Pierce!” Bridget reminded indignantly. “You promised!”

“We need to be here for our advent!” Benny added, edging toward the living room. 

“It’s no trouble, Marla,” Mrs. Pierce reassured. 

Marla wanted to protest. The children already stayed at Mrs. Pierce’s house everyday while she was at work, and they’d also spent some time with her both Saturday and Sunday last weekend. Now, here she was leaving the kids for a few hours on another Saturday. 

“All right then,” Marla eventually agreed and gave each child a kiss before heading out to her car. 

“She’s finally gone!” Bridget cried with a dramatic sigh, while Benny jumped around asking if it was advent time. 

“Yes, yes,” Mrs. Pierce laughed happily. 

She peered out the front window, watching Marla drive away, then followed the kids into the living room. They stood in front of the small house studying the tiny, latched door that was marked with a number nine. 

“What is our clue today?” Mrs. Pierce asked, though she could see the wooden door as well as they could. 

“A snowman!” Benny shouted happily. 

“Does that mean we need to get our coats and boots back on?” Bridget asked thoughtfully. 

“Yes, I suppose it does,” Mrs. Pierce agreed. “Mittens, too.”

She joined the children in donning warm winter clothes before they all returned to the small house in the living room. There was an excitement in the air, anticipation as the children waited to discover today’s adventure and Mrs. Pierce waited to see it again through their fresh eyes.

“It’s my turn to open a door,” Bridget said solemnly, and Benny did not argue the way he might have at home. The advent calendar was sacred and neither of them wanted to mar the moment with squabbling. 

At Mrs. Pierce’s gentle urging, Bridget removed one mitten so she could slide open the door’s tiny latch. The moment she did, the door began to swing open, allowing a shimmering silver light to spread throughout the room. As the door opened, it also expanded in size. They all stepped back, allowing space as it shifted into the center of the room and became a full-sized door. A door that opened onto a wide-open field of deep white snow. 

Bridget hastily tugged her mitten back in place and they all stepped through the hazy doorway into a snowy meadow that was quite real. There were a few trees in the meadow and two large rock formations capped in snow. In the center of the space, two snowmen smiled at them with mouths and eyes made of coal. They had carrots for noses, sticks for arms, and scarves wrapped around their necks. 

“Where’s the sleigh?” Benny asked, scanning the area for the horse-drawn sleigh they had ridden in during an earlier adventure. 

“No sleigh today,” Mrs. Pierce said gleefully. Her eyes shone as she watched the children stoop to gather handfuls of snow. 

“We’re building another snowman?” Bridget was already beginning to pack some snow into a small ball that she could roll into the base of their creation. 

“Not exactly,” Mrs. Pierce answered, “but making snowballs is a good idea.”

She scooped up some snow herself as Benny yelled, “Snowball fight!” 

“But there was a snowman on the door,” Bridget reminded him. 

“Yes,” Mrs. Pierce grinned. “We do need someone to battle.”

Before either child could ask another question, a soft rumbling brought their attention back to the snowmen. Their upper bodies bent toward the ground as their stick arms rapidly formed perfect balls of snow. 

The children shrieked in delight as Mrs. Pierce called, “Run for the rocks!” They streaked toward one of the rock formations, ducking behind cover just as the snowmen’s first projectiles hit with wet splats. The battle was on!

For several minutes, the children and Mrs. Pierce darted from behind the rocks, happily pelting snow at their icy new friends. When they tired of the snowball fight, Mrs. Pierce called a truce and they came out to play with the snowmen, making a snow child and a snow dog to add to their family. 

By the time Marla returned, the children had hugged the snow family goodbye and returned to Mrs. Pierce’s house for hot chocolate and cinnamon toast. 

“Can we come back tomorrow?” Bridget and Benny begged their mother as they reluctantly put on their coats and boots. 

“We can’t bother Mrs. Pierce every day,” Marla told them, though Mrs. Pierce was quick to correct her. 

“It’s not an imposition at all. I enjoy having the children over.”

Marla hesitated, seeing the pleading in her children’s eyes. 

“Just for a little while?” Benny asked. 

“An hour?” Bridget negotiated. 

“How about the children come over for a little while in the morning and then you can join us for lunch?” Mrs. Pierce suggested. “We would love to make a special lunch for you.”

In the end, Marla agreed, and the children rejoiced. As they walked down Mrs. Pierce’s front walk, Marla asked what their advent adventure had been today. 

“A snowball fight with snowmen!” Benny announced. “And we built more snowmen, too. And a snow dog!”

Marla looked at the few inches of untouched snow on either side of the front walk. “In the backyard? It doesn’t seem like there’s enough snow for that.”

“There is,” Benny answered confidently. 

“If you use your imagination,” Bridget added, giving Benny a sharp nudge. 

“Yeah, your imagination,” Benny agreed quickly.

Marla looked at each of them, then smiled softly. “I guess Mrs. Pierce has a good imagination?”

“Oh, yeah,” they agreed. “Especially with her advent calendar!”

When Marla tucked them into bed that night, she was grateful her children had a sitter with a good imagination. She vowed to let her own imagination out to play this holiday season. 

The End

Thank you for joining me today. If you enjoyed this story, please share it with your friends and tell them about Freely Written. I never know where a story will go, but it’s a lot of fun to let my imagination wander through the words. Try it for yourself using any of my prompts or make up one of your own! You can also send me prompt suggestions through social media or my website, which, again, is SusanQuilty.com. Links are in the show notes.

My website also has information about my novels, which were not free-written but, instead, written with a lot of planning and many rounds of editing. While this podcast is a fun hobby, my novels are very important to me, and I would love for you to read them as well. They also make great gifts.

Until next time, try a little free writing of your own. Let go of any planning and see where your imagination takes you. 

[Light piano music]