Christmas Dreams

Fourteen-year-old Jessie loved Christmas. With the thoughts of presents, sweets, and no school, what young person didn’t? While Jessie loved those things as much as the next person, Christmas also meant travelling to a place of Christmas dreams, somewhere she has been able to go since she was a little girl.

For a while, Jessie went to this place by way of her grandparents’ house, who lived thirty miles away on a hilltop acre with spotty cell phone service and basic cable. She would politely greet her family when arriving before finding her way to the dreamland, as if a portal in the very house took her there.

This place was a small town with perfect snowy weather and the warmest glow of lights from its homes and buildings with Christmas emanating from every door and window. Its bustle of people always drew her in further as well. Children played outside throughout the town. Adult figures came and went to work, errands, or Christmas preparations. Horse-drawn carriages coursed around. In the middle of town were a large frozen pond where people skated and a large pine tree the townspeople decorated. Not that Jessie never saw or did any of this at home, but here they were more special, as if sacred and pure.

Until she stopped believing in Santa Claus, she thought this might be the North Pole. Within a few more years, she noticed that the place seemed out of time. These people didn’t have smartphones, computers, television, or video games. Although they had electricity, and some had radio (which were big, bulky and old to Jessie at first). Life there seemed to exist perfectly without those devices and Jessie easily learned to embrace it as well. She started to understand this place much more after learning about Charles Dickens, but no matter her logical or intellectual approach, the place was always idyllic.

When Jessie visited the place this year, she immediately joined her friends, Effie and Eleanor, the most fun to sled downhill with. After a couple turns, they were swallowed up in a fun, gang-like snowball battle. It seemed every kid in town was involved. An onslaught from the side opposing the one the girls seemed to be on chased them downtown, where they spread out hoping for cover or to regroup. Jessie trailed behind a couple teammates until a rather aggressive wayward snowball met her face. Stunned, she landed in the middle of the street.

“That’s not like this place,” She thought in a stupor, unaware a carriage was several feet behind her. Before she knew it, she felt scooped up and led out of the throughfare.

“Oh gosh! Are you alright?” A worried male voice beside her asked.

“Mmm? Oh! Yeah! Thank you…” Jessie flustered while turning to face who the voice belonged to. “…Robbie!” She smiled at a face she recognized, one of her best friends here. The two of them played together for several years. Except this year, that face was more mature than the last time she saw it. It was a few inches higher and on a broader frame wearing a tweed overcoat too.

“Jessie!” He reciprocated, a smile melting his worried expression. “I’m glad to see you!”

“Me too! And thanks again for keeping me out from under the horses’ feet!” She laughed.

“No problem!” He chucked as well, whilst examining her cheek, “But maybe we should get you inside for a little bit to make sure that doesn’t turn into an ice burn.” He took off his own scarf, wrapped it around her, and adjusted it cradle her face. “How about some hot cocoa from the tea shop?”

“I’d love to!” There were not many circumstances where she’d say no to her favorite holiday drink. The two strolled across town to the tea shop, feeling giddy and suddenly a little shy. Robbie wasn’t self-centered but he never expressed so much concern for a playmate before. Plus, Jessie was prettier than he remembered.

Robbie led them to a couple seats near the fireplace when they got there. The firelight and the warming flush in his face drew Jessie’s attention to his eyes and his chestnut hair after he took off his newsboy cap.

“What have you been up to?” He asked when they were settled.

“I’m almost finished with eighth grade. What about you?”

“I’ve started apprenticing with the bank,” Robbie answered.

“Oh!” Jessie was intrigued, “Almost a man now! That explains the nice coat,” She smiled.

“Yeah,” he sighed. “Father wants me to attend college in the city to study business, but if I did, I don’t know if I could see you again. I’ve thought about you a lot lately, Jessie, and I wish I could see more of you than just at Christmas as it is.”

The boys her age back home seemed so awkward about girls, yet here she was getting affection she only ever imagined. It was intense to actually experience! Her heart sped up and she almost choked on her sip of cocoa.

“That’s the sweetest thing anybody has ever said to me…”

Overwhelming, anxious thoughts trailed her off. A boyfriend—her first!—for Christmas! But wouldn’t he be looking to get married if he’s "almost a man"? Is he interested in marrying her?! In his world marrying as teenagers may have been nothing, but she still had high school ahead of her! Even if they didn’t marry right away, any other time, Jessie adored the idea of long-time sweethearts. Except hers would live in this Christmas dreamland if she agreed to Robbie. As much as she wished to see more of anybody from here sometimes, the dreamland didn’t exist outside of Christmastime.

“--But I just couldn’t,” was all she could say. Her heart deflated. Who would’ve thought her desires were unattainable even in her Christmas dreamland?

Robbie sunk as well. Among other things, he very much wanted to understand why he only saw her at Christmastime, but if she did not reciprocate his desires, he only felt it polite not to push matters further. The once-friendly pair now sat forlornly together at the tea shop hearth, broken-hearted in the merriest time of the year. Even the glowing fire now seemed to dim before them.

“Dinnertime, Jessie!” Her mother’s voice cut through the atmosphere. Following the direction of the voice to the tea shop entrance, her mother hung on the door, glancing inside, as if she herself traveled across town looking for her. The next moment, Jessie is looking at her mother from across a room in her grandparents’ house again. Taking her cue, Jessie left the ornate Noma Dickensville Christmas town display her grandmother sets up every year. It fascinated her ever since she was a little girl. With her active imagination, she loved making it her own world. She’d constantly rearrange the figurines according to whatever story she had them acting out. Jessie quit playing with it like that as she got older, but she still loved to look at it, sometimes still imagining their lives and experiences.

After that Christmas, her grandmother decided to bequeath the Christmas village to her granddaughter. Her grandparents were downsizing, and Grandma felt putting up the village was starting to take more energy than she had, but she took joy in how much Jessie would love taking care of it now. Jessie was a purist about it; any additions had to be within the same collection, and they weren’t always easy to find or cheap to purchase but eventually, she found the bank at an estate sale during the summer. 

Adding it to her setup that Christmastime, she managed to make some space to display it in her room that year. She’d be even closer to Christmas dreams now.

One night, she couldn’t sleep. Bringing herself to her feet from her bed, one moment she was shuffling across her room, the next she was in a dark, sleepy night in Dickensville. Actually, she had never been there after dark. It breathed a low glow, but still a warm glow as if lights were kept on just for her. A lone horse carriage, a lamplighter, and a stray cat trodded the quiet streets with her at first. She wandered towards the center of town, where the decorated pine with its trinkets catching the last available light smoldered a late night afterglow. She saw a lone figure standing on the bridge, looking towards the tree as well. Curious, she approached, and both were extremely surprised.

“Jessie?!” The figure turned when he heard footsteps on the bridge.

“Robbie?!” Jessie immediately recognized him. They ran and embraced each other.

“We can still be friends if you’d like,” Jessie told him as they broke for a moment. “But distance shouldn’t be a problem anymore.”

“Absolutely!” Robbie grinned and hugged her again. Their Christmas dreams finally satisfied.