An Itchycoo House of Advent.

Christmas lunch was yummy scrummy, roast turkey and everything you could ever wish for. The crackers had jokes and treats but what I liked best was the table where we sat. This was because it was a huge old pinball machine made of wood with silver flowers. The best thing about it was when the adults were loud, deep in conversation, I mean really boring, us kids got to play and somehow none of them really noticed. 

 Ping, ping, ring, ding, RING. The ringing got louder. I got totally confused as the ringing sound I thought I heard from the pinball machine, I imagined was the school bell. The bell that rings at the end of a test. It was a dream. My alarm clock rang and I had dreamt I had a literacy test, writing a story about Christmas, I was too late I didn't get it finished.

 Not that it mattered now. Pinball, bell or alarm, it was all ringing in my ears and soon I'll be late for real. I can hear mum calling me down for breakfast. When I got up I noticed there was a tiny red ribbon wrapped around the bell on my alarm clock, I followed it out of my room, down the stairs into the sitting room.

There above the fireplace was the most beautiful miniature house that I had ever seen. The ribbon wrapped around it, in and out of the windows, in between branches of trees and when I looked closer I noticed it wrote letters that became words on the Russian dolls. It looked like a magical wonderland and I tried to imagine what it might be like inside. At the end of the ribbon was a silver key with a heart, so I tried to find a way to open it, but there was no keyhole. I picked the small house up and studied it closely. As I turned the house to look at each side I'm sure the dolls looked or even blinked at me.

Now I could read what it said:

I Love You

Inside 

Out.

I wished I could go inside. I lifted it up and peaked my eye through the window. It looked like it was snowing, deeper inside I could see a golden glow with swirls of colour flashing in the distance. Then I shook it - nothing, it felt empty and I felt a little silly but still,I put it up to my ear. I imagined a whirling sound of muffled music.

It was then that I saw the numbers. 1-24 in shining gold. Of course it is the first of December, it must be a house of advent. Then a little window opened in a tree that had a gold number 1. Inside was a scrunched up piece of paper. I carefully opened it up and on the in side of there was writing that wrapped around an old golden charm.