成人快手

Somewhere, hidden in a blanket of white, a man granted wishes.

Spirit-like, he glided through the sleeping town, serene despite the sack gnawing red marks on his shoulder.

It hurt.

A beard hid beneath his hood, wispy and white, evidence of countless years spent accumulating boxes upon boxes of hopes and desires.

The Christmas wishes were his favourite, dancing in his sack, smelling of cinnamon and bringing the yuletide joy he longed for as winter crept in.

And the sack didn’t hold dolls, bicycles, eggnog or any other toys.

It was full of wishes.

They were peculiar little things, like miniatures of a physics’ sphere that floated into homes beneath bejewelled trees.

He was pulling them out of his sack one by one- some he would remember more than others.

The houses glowed brighter after he passed them, unconscious of the small smile spreading on his lips with each wish that he blew from his fingertips.

He might have gone on granting wishes forever, but the cobblestones stopped abruptly. There were no more houses; his last wish just glared tiny and exposed from his palm.

Immediate horror.

“Dear God, I’ve forgotten someone.”

Then disbelief, for the only person left wish-less on the entire planet was him.

It was the first time he saw one open, spilling out its mist and magic in swirls of red-green pattern to reveal the contents.

The contents of…nothing.

At first, his brow furrowed- he shook it, then squeezed it.

Still nothing.

Disappointment ate away at his mind, eyes sinking alongside his spirit, until something sounded against the cobbles.

A newborn, crying in terror and a woman who cried too, in delight that her dreams of motherhood came true.

At that moment the man knew what his wish had been: life and joy to the world.

As the luminous winter moon shone over the city of New York, Nina became increasingly dreadful of another shift at the diner. She pushed open the window of her flat, the festively cold air blanketed her, and the wind whistled with promise, reassuring her that morning was only a few hours away.

The foyer brought warmth to her, through her fingertips and into her chest, and Nina felt joy at the tiny flames on the candles dancing merrily to ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ which whispered from the radio in the corner of the room. For whatever reason she could not understand, Nina was flooded with a hopeful sensation of optimism about the day ahead.

The Christmas tree, which stood tall and proud in the centre of The Big Apple, welcomed her to another late night shift.

The bell dinged as Nina thrust the door open, but as certain as she'd been standing there, the same four people who'd always come to the diner, the only ones in fact, sat with their usual order at their usual table.

Apron on, and a decaf latte poured for her, Nina braced herself for the long night ahead. However, a man, unrecognizable to anyone in the diner approached the counter. He glanced up at her. Nina's world began to dissolve around her, as she could only focus on one thing. Him. His pale face and sparkling eyes which were not unknown to her, left her speechless once again. Nina's heart pounded in her chest, she felt her palms tingle. Emilio the only word she could manage fell from her lips.

He smiled at her, one filled with magic and adoration, which Nina had not felt in many years.

“Merry Christmas, mi amour.”

Light winds, untouched snow, three in the morning after a snowstorm. That's my wish for Christmas. I want to feel that satisfying crunch of the magical white powder on the formerly black concrete streets. I want to walk when no one is around, just me. That's my wish for Christmas.

When every kid is fast asleep dreaming of their presents, dreaming of what's under the tree, dreaming of Santa's fluffy white beard as he goes about delivering their valuables, I do something different. I don't want to be that kid. Snow is like Santa's fluffy white beard to me. It's the reason I wake up in the morning, even in the blazing hot summer.

I would wait all year just for this moment, just for the moment I scramble out of my house during the snowfall with inches of accumulating snow, not a curb to be seen anywhere. All the cars become white, all the lampposts become white, where every single colour of bin turns white. The freezing frost would come up to your knees and you have to trudge through it, covered up in multiple layers just to insulate.

Eventually the sun rises, the lamp posts are turned off and I wake up after a restful sleep. My friends would come out and we would have the best in a snowball fight you can imagine, with hats that have the structural look of a modern skyscraper, and with snowmen as our bodyguards. That is my wish for Christmas. Others may not agree if it's not their cup of tea, but it's a wish that is mine all the same. Best wish would make you feel like you're in an alternative place it would be a dream come true: a white Christmas.