The Christmas present

The Christmas present

I had been invited to spend a winter break with my friend and fellow writer Asbjørn at his Greenland home in Nuuk. It had been one of those late November days when the sun had hung low in the mornings sky, the winter solstice had crippled the sun to an almost hovering standstill, it had spent the day seemingly waiting for the frosty moon to take over its daily task.

I stepped into the evening’s chill; the translucent tangerine sky glistened overhead and beckoned me towards its radiant glow, I felt my pulsating heart beat in time with the nights chirping insects, acoustically singing their copulatory love songs

The energetic exciting sounds resonated through my veins, as I walked into the night, the sky promise tomorrow would be a wonderful day, but tonight the night was mine. I shrugged my shoulders and pulled up my collar, each breath misted the chilled air as the crunching sounds beneath my every step reminded me of the decreasing temperature.
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Reaching the gazebo, I entered, and sat on the wooden seat which ran around the inside of the building, I was just by a small window with a clear view of the lawn, it had a fine covering of snow as if it were a thinly frosted Christmas cake, I could still see a greenish tint showing through the thin frosting, with not a mark to mar its appearance.

My wristwatch read 2am when I saw her, at first she seemed timid to come into the open, but then she made her way across the lawn towards me, she was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen, her pure snow white fur almost hid her from my view.

Asbjørn had told me about this Arctic fox which made frequent visits to his garden and so I was excited to see her with my own eyes, her three kits following behind still had a slight brownish colour to their fur which told me that they were still quite young.

After an hour of playing with her family she and the kits were gone, I waited for a short while and then made my way back to the warmth of the house, my heart was still thumping with exhilaration of the evenings events, clasping my camera, I thought this was a Christmas present I would never forget.