By Sarah Beauregard and Johannie Dufour / Translated by Katya Teague
Once upon a time, in the town of Mount Christmas, there was a quaint little general store where all the residents went to shop. The owner, Lucy, was well known for her kind heart and generous spirit. In fact, she often donated food and toys to charities in the area.
One early morning in December, as Lucy prepared to open the store, she noticed dozens of customers lined up outside. It was an unusually large crowd, especially since she hadn’t announced any big sales that week.
As soon as Lucy unlocked the door, customers flooded into the store. They all headed straight for the decoration aisle.
With Christmas just around the corner, I guess they want to make sure their homes look festive, Lucy thought.
Strangely though, everyone seemed to be interested in only one type of decoration. Lucy watched as residents bought strand after strand of garlands. She also noticed that many of her customers were giggling and whispering to each other as they left.
This is very odd, Lucy thought, but she didn’t ask any questions. She preferred to respect the privacy of her fellow citizens.
However, the store owner soon began to worry that she would run out of the popular garlands. Lucy asked her young cashier to keep an eye on the shop, then she rushed to the storage room.
Lucy searched and searched for the boxes of extra garlands, but they were nowhere to be found.
“Where did I put them?” she wondered out loud.
That’s when she heard a familiar chirp. It was Octave, the magical cardinal that watched over the town of Mount Christmas.
From his perch atop a shelf, the bird cheerfully sang: “Your treasure awaits, near the skis and skates!”
“Of course,” Lucy exclaimed. She’d put all the extra Christmas decorations alongside the sporting goods last year.
“Thank you, my feathered friend,” she said. Lucy quickly gathered up the boxes of garlands and went to restock the shelves.
By the time she headed home that evening, Lucy was tired but happy that she’d had enough supplies for all of her customers. When she pulled into the driveway, her jaw dropped. Lucy rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
“Is this my house?” she exclaimed. All the garlands she’d sold that day now lined the roof, encircled the windows and embellished the front door of her home. Even the fence and trees were twinkling with tinsel. “It’s so beautiful! But who put these here?”
Suddenly, dozens of people emerged from behind the hedges, cheering and clapping. Right away, Lucy recognized the familiar faces of her loyal customers.
“You did this?” she asked. “But why?”
An elderly gentleman stepped forward and handed Lucy a bouquet of flowers.
“Dearest Lucy,” he said, “since your store is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, we wanted to thank you for your hard work and generosity. We know how much you love the holidays, but you never have time to decorate your home. So, we decided to do it for you!”
“Don’t worry,” the man added with a chuckle, “we’ll come take them down for you after New Year’s Day.”
As Lucy hugged each of her customers and thanked them for this wonderful surprise, Octave watched from a nearby tree, his red plumage shimmering like tinsel in the moonlight.
