The Christmas Forest - a winter story

December at last... Soon the Nezumiz will be decking the Burrow with boughs of folly! To get the preparations started, here's a (very) short Christmas story. Hope you like it!

Nezumiz


The Christmas Forest

Christmas was over. Dad carried the tree outside and left it against the fence. Inside, Peter and Maria were busy playing with their presents when they spotted a shabby figure through the window, coming out of the forest. They recognised him at once: Mr. Sapin, the only person in the village who never seemed to be touched by the joyful season. Every year he remained alone as the rest of the village gathered in bright fire lit houses, spending Christmas Eve with his grumpy self and his old black cat. The elderly man’s gloom was known in the entire village. Today, however, the children were surprised to see he was smiling.
Curious, Peter and Maria went out of the house and watched Mr Sapin as he went around the neighbours’ gardens and reappeared dragging heavy black plastic bags, before heading back slowly towards his own house at the edge of the forest. As the old man was trying to heave a particularly heavy-looking bag, it suddenly ripped open, and out of it fell a tree. Peter and Maria offered to help.
Mr Sapin paused for a moment, then finally smiled hesitantly at the children. “Are you wondering what I’ve been doing in the forest?”
Peter and Maria nodded. The two children followed Mr Sapin in silence as the old man led the way into the woods. Suddenly, he stopped and whispered proudly: “Here’s my secret place.”
The children gasped in amazement. In front of them was a large clearing planted with hundreds of Christmas trees. They were all beautiful, decorated with thousands of baubles and tinsel glittering in the winter sun.
“Merry Christmas,” Mr. Sapin said, smiling.
“They’re the most wonderful Christmas trees I’ve ever seen!” Maria exclaimed.
“Well, you see,” replied Mr. Sapin, I think it’s a shame people leave their tree lying sadly in the street once Christmas is over if there’s still some life in it.” The old man sighed. “Some people think I don’t care for trees because I never buy one for Christmas, but every year I collect the trees in the neighbourhood and I plant them back here, and my secret forest gets bigger every year,” he added happily. “That’s my way of celebrating Christmas.”

And so that year on the 26^th of December the villagers discovered Mr. Sapin’s secret. Now it has become a tradition: every year after Christmas, parents bring their trees to Mr. Sapin and the children help the old man with the decorations. Even the local shops only sell trees with roots, so they can be planted back in what is now known as “the Christmas Forest.”


We hope you liked this story and that you too will think about starting your own Christmas Forest this year!

On our Christmas Forest Pendant  page you can see more pictures of the piece of jewellery that was inspired by the story.

Happy December from Nezumiz!