Christmas+Mini+Stories+2014

__Is Christmas a quiet time__?

Summer holidays are long time forgotten. After four months working hard, we need some spare time for us and our family. And this is what the Christmas vacations are made for.

In those previous days, we get very excited to know that a well deserved rest is coming. But, nevertheless, what happens is the opposite. Christmas shopping, family get-together, pantagruelian meals, and a large etcetera, bring us back to reality.

Then, our expectations seem to fall down. We start to get nervous, we argue with our partner, with our children, and we look forward to coming back to the office in order to rest. It isn't odd that many couples get divorced after Christmas!

Rocío PM

Since his mother was diagnosed with cancer, Alex lost all hope of living. The family had spent all the money in order to try to find a cure for her. Afterwards, his father was fired.
 * Alex’s match of chess **

 Sergio, the maths teacher, told him about fractions and equations, but Alex was in another world. He knew about Alex’s problem, but he didn’t know what to do.

 One day, when the students were playing chess in Maths class, Alex broke a chessboard: //“This is a shit game. Why do I have to play?”// Sergio punished Alex by making him play chess for a month during the breaks. It was then when he started to love this activity. This way Alex could forget. From then on, he never stopped playing.

 Suddenly, Alex realized that solving maths problems was the same as playing chess. Despite having been a bad student in high school, he was able to finish a degree (in Maths, of course!) and get a post in a great European university as a professor.

 Years later, when Sergio had Alzheimer’s and he didn’t play chess anymore, he got a present. It was a beautiful chess set with the pieces and the board made of ebony. In the corner of the board he could read: //“To the teacher who taught me how to play the match of my life”.//

//Jesús A. Sánchez //


 * ONE OF MY HAPPIEST MEMORIES **

The whole street was covered in snow. It was raining hard. In spite of this, I had to leave home that night. I couldn´t understand why, I only knew I was going to have a little sister soon. I was in pajamas when my neighbour Mary took me to her house. It was cold. However, I felt warm and safe in her arms. I can still recall that sensation...  When I was already in bed, my father arrived to say goodnight. But also, he brought me a present, a beautiful doll. It was my first doll! I remember perfectly what she looked like. As my father gave me it, he whispered: “she´s Marilyn Monroe...” I didn´t know who she was. But it didn´t matter. It was like the Three Wise Men´s night, really exciting! The next morning, another great surprise awaited me... I found out that the stork had been home and my little sister was already there –because at the time, only storks delivered babies...  It was definitely one of my happiest memories. Conchi del Nogal **Good Christmas Memories**

Every Christmas Eve a vivid memory comes to my mind and to my heart. I remember perfectly well when I was a child and lived in a small village. All the children would wait anxiously for this evening. We all dressed in heavy coats, gloves and wooly hats to go from door to door around the neighbourhood asking for “Aguinaldo”. We knocked on every door, and when the neighbour opened we started to sing our particular Christmas carol, a short song we had to improvise looking for a word that would rhyme with the neighbour´s name. It was very funny to make it up because sometimes it was a witty song. In exchange for the song we received the “Aguinaldo”, which could consist of sweets, pieces of fruit, dried fruits or even some coins. When we had finished going through all the houses we would split our treasure between the singers. It was our Spanish Christmas present instead of Father Christmas one.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">YOLANDA MINGUEZ AVANZADO 2