A Christmas Tale

A Christmas Tale When a child we had small live candles on the Christmas tree; the fire service had a busy night. Mum had a bucket of water by the tree and kept an eye on it as we children forgot. The tree caught fire; my uncle was there, but before mum could douse it he opened up a window, threw out the tree. Not a smart move the curtains caught fire too and he had to throw the curtains out as well; mum was furious with him. Uncle a genial man worked on the docks and tended to react before thinking. Blinds burning in the snow, uncle brought back the tree plus the unburned decorations. But gifts under were saved. Uncle had to buy new drapes when the shops opened. Next year electric candles came on the market, and our fire service was less busy, but my uncle had died; a bag of rice fell into the icy harbour water, he dived after it forgot he couldn’t swim.