January 2024 Newsletter

When: 27th January 2024 3:00 PM, Singapore Time.

Where: at member’s home in Potong Pasir 

Storyweb is a warm friendly space to practise your stories. It could be any story that you would like to tell or have been working on to tell. 

Registration is mandatory and we have only 10 seats exclusive for SAS members (on a first come first serve basis)

A fee of SGD 5 will be applies upon registration which will be refunded upon attendance. 

Space is limited to the first 10 participants on a ‘first come, first serve’ basis.

Calming Nights

Twinkling Lights

Winking Bright

Pleasing Sights

Our Delight

Festivals are special times that bring hope. My earliest memories of Christmas are fruit cakes, rose cookies, kalkals, stars, and Christmas trees. I looked forward to the treats every Christmas.

One of my fondest memories of Christmas is how all of us kids got together and helped build a huge star from scratch which was hung in the neighborhood’s celebratory square. It was a magical time of merrymaking!

Even today as a grown up, a gift under a tree makes me feel special. The gifts I received always said, “from Santa.” I never bothered to think about or question Santa’s existence! To me it was a gift from someone who cared enough to leave one for me. A T-shirt tied up with a ribbon with an ordinary piece of paper attached to it which said, “lots of love, from Santa” was all that was needed, and l was over the moon.

I wish we could all be as happy as a kid on Christmas morning! I don’t know whether every child can be happy. Things don’t magically change just because it is Christmas. Wars continue to rage; many may be battling sadness, but we all need a little Christmas cheer in our lives!

“I like to compare the holiday season with the way a child listens to a favourite story. The pleasure is in the familiar way the story begins, the anticipation of familiar turns it takes, the familiar moments of suspense, and the familiar climax and ending.” – Fred Rogers

Here is a story of one of Mrs. Pickering’s best Christmas memories.

Bouncy The Retriever-Cat

It was Christmas! James was on his way home after attending to a sick cow. All about town, the smell of turkey, sage and onion wafted through the air. Snow was thick on the streets and on the roofs of houses. Pretty lights from Christmas trees winked and beckoned through the windows. The market square was empty and the shops were closed but the huge Christmas tree stood tall, decorated beautifully with tinsel, holly, baubles, and bells.

As he passed by Mrs. Pickering’s house, he heard her call out, “Merry Christmas, Mr. James! Come on in and have a drink to warm yourself up.”

He had time to spare and hence accepted her offer.

He knew Mrs. Pickering well, as he did most of the others in the town; he was a vet there. There were many farms and naturally there were tons of animals to be cared for.

He often called at the Pickering’s place to attend to the basset hounds, and she had three of them named Freddie, Eddie, and Teddie. They had a tranquil life: good food, endless snoring sessions wherever and whenever they wished, inside or outside the house, not to mention serene walks with their mistress.

That cold winter day, Freddie, Eddie, and Teddie lay in front of the fireplace where the coals glowed and sparkled. The cat about the house did not bother them at all.

Her cat Bouncy was sleek and handsome, he lived like a prince and had an ornate collar around his neck that added to his regality.

As they sat chatting, Mrs. Pickering recalled Bouncy’s mother who was a timid little stray cat. She would come into her home a few times a week, eat whatever food was offered to her, and on some days, she floated on light footsteps into the hall and sat upright for a few moments by the fireplace staring intently ahead into the fire. It was as though she was giving herself a treat. And just as quietly as she came, she would tiptoe back. Once outside she jumped up onto the stone wall, down the other side and disappeared.

The cat did not seem to want to live with Mrs. Pickering or want help of any kind. She stayed at most for ten minutes and then left. She was named Debbie and rhymed with Freddie, Eddie, and Teddie.

Then Mrs. Pickering said, “I had not seen her for several months and then last year on Christmas morning she staggered into the kitchen carrying a kitten in her mouth. She laid it on the rug, and immediately flopped down with the tiny kitten huddled close to her. She had stayed still for a long time, and that’s when I panicked and called you on a Christmas morning.”

“You were so kind to come immediately to check on her. She was scrawny and her coat matted and dirty and you said she did not have long to live.” Mrs. Pickering teared up as she recalled the moment.

“I felt so much regret and wished I had done more for her. You, Mr. James, were kind and assured me that no one could have done more for her than what I did! She had brought her kitten to me, her most precious possession! To the only place of warmth that she knew!”

“I had never kept a cat, and when I picked up the tiny, bedraggled kitten and stroked it, it stole my heart. It has been mine ever since and look at him today!”

“He is not timid like his mother. He is so full of energy; he darts up to each of the three dogs and teases them so and gives them no peace. He wants them to play with him, challenges them to a wrestling game, he boxes with both paws.”

Then, with great excitement Mrs. Pickering asked James to accompany her to the garden as she wished to show something to him.

She took a hard rubber ball from the toybox, and they went outside. She threw the ball across the lawn and Bouncy bounded after it over the snow-covered grass. He grabbed the ball in his mouth and carried it back and dropped it at the feet of his mistress and waited patiently. She threw it again and he retrieved it again and it looked like he would never tire of the game.

Her dogs looked on unimpressed; nothing would make them chase a ball. Bouncy was a most remarkable cat!

She then lifted Bouncy as he purred loudly, looking healthy and contented. James remembered his mother who had carried her tiny kitten to the only place of warmth and comfort she had ever known.

James got up to leave. Mrs. Pickering was smiling but her eyes were moist and thoughtful. “His mum would be pleased,” she said.

It was just a year ago today on a Christmas morning she brought him in. She hugged Bouncy again and said, “The best Christmas present I have ever had!”

References:

Christmas Day Kitten By James Herriot

Kalkals; also spelled kulkuls is a traditional, deep fried Goan pastry shaped into small curls.