1685. A wonderful Christmas gift

You’ve no idea the trouble Ivy went to, to get twelve lovely photographs of the wonderful family who lived next door. There were five in the Winchcombe Family: Mum, Dad, and their three beautiful daughters. The Winchcombes were about as ideal next door neighbours as one could hope for. And every Christmas they would bring Ivy a basket of the tastiest homemade shortbread possible. Glorious!

The trouble was that Ivy always had trouble knowing what best to give them in return. She’d done chocolates at least five times. And then she got this idea. Wonderful!

She would get a calendar printed with a different family photograph each month of the year. Ivy started early gathering the photographs together. It was a difficult task because she didn’t want to let her secret out. The photos were perfect. There was a beautiful one of the family gathering mushrooms in a green field. Another shot was of the family at a fair ground. The loveliest photograph of all was an official portrait taken of the family sitting on a rug in front of a lake. With swans. And trees. And flowers. And… oh lovely! Just lovely!

Ivy was so pleased with the calendar when it was finished that she couldn’t wait to give it to the family. But she must be patient. She mustn’t jump the gun. Only a week to go!

And then the three girls called in with a basket of Christmas shortbread and said that their parents were getting a divorce.

731. Shortbread

Well! What an extraordinary privilege. Prudence had always known she was a good cook. But this! This was quite unexpected!

Prudence had died, and Saint Michael the Archangel had personally asked her if she would be in charge of making the shortbread. Shortbread in heaven! Fortunately she could remember her grandmother’s special recipe that she had used on earth.

And then something even more wonderful happened. Saint Michael the Archangel turned up in the kitchen, again personally, and asked if a piece of shortbread could be delivered to him on a daily basis. Saint Michael! The most powerful created personage after Lucifer. Michael’s name meant “Who-is-like-God?” Saint Michael was to eat her shortbread. Prudence was ecstatic.

A year or two went by. Suddenly, Michael didn’t want his daily piece of shortbread sent to him. He cancelled. Prudence was sad. She wondered why. Plucking up every ounce of courage she approached Saint Michael.

“Why no daily shortbread?”

“We’re spirits. Archangels don’t eat,” said Saint Michael. “I used to get the shortbread for my pet canary, but it died.”

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