As soon as December started, Sandy got into the habit of counting all the Christmas trees she could see on her walk home from school.  For the first couple of days, there would only be one or two (“probably had theirs up since September,” Gran would say), but as the month wore on, they’d double and triple until you lost count.  Every house you passed would have at least one window full of glowing lights, red or gold or multicoloured.

When Sandy got to her own house, there was a set of warm, flashing lights in the living room window there, too.  But for the last few days, that hadn’t been the first thing she’d looked at.

The plant sat in her window, a striking purple against the yellow curtains.  When you looked up at it from street level, its branches almost looked as if they were waving.

(To be continued)