It Started With A Christmas Tree - A Lizzie Fuller Christmas Novella Read Online Free PDF

thing like that won’t make
any difference,” I replied, noticing Harper’s bulging belly. Maybe I should
give him half a one next time.
    “Your tree is lovely, poppet,” smiled
Andrew as I followed Harper into the lounge room. Riley handed me a glass of
wine as everyone took a seat on the couch.
    “Thanks Drew,” I said. “Riley and I are
starting a new tradition this year. We’re having a real tree from now on.”
    “That’s what we should do, Drew!” yelled
Danny. Drew sighed.
    “Well, they are lovely but they make such
a mess,” commented Drew, sounding awfully like my mother. Actually Drew was
probably closer to my mother’s age than he was to Danny’s. He was about
seventeen years older than Danny and at least thirty years more mature. Which
was a good thing. Danny acted like a child most of the time. I looked at my
brother and sister sitting next to each other on the couch and smiled. There
was Danny in his skinny jeans and black t-shirt, his hair scrunched up into a
messy style tonight and Molly in her skinny jeans and black lacy top, with her
long dark hair scrunched into a mess of curls. Somehow her mess of curls looked
sleek and sexy where as my mess of curls looked frizzy and a mess! The only
real difference between Danny and Molly tonight was that Danny’s hair was fire
engine red again.
    “I’m just going with the plastic one,”
said Molly, pulling my attention back to the tree.
    “You suck at decorating though,” said
Danny, lifting his glass and drinking from it.
    “I haven’t finished it yet!” I replied
indignantly. “That’s what you’re here to help me with.” I grabbed my shopping
bags and placed them in front of the tree. “We’ve got plenty to choose from.”
    “Did you leave anything in the shop for
anybody else to buy?” asked Danny. As you can see, he shares Molly’s sense of
sarcasm.
    “Blame Grandma Mabel for that,” I
answered, pulling the first of the decorations out of its’ bag. “Come on
everyone, dig in.”
    Thankfully everyone pulled up a bag and
started to fill the tree. Molly had moved to my iPod and found a few Christmas
songs I had downloaded, and we all started to sing along. It didn’t take long
for us all to be in a very festive mood.
    “This one is beautiful,” said Molly,
pulling a glass orb from the branches and holding up for everyone to see.
    “It came with the tree,” I explained,
telling them the story of Earl and how I found this decoration once we had the
tree home.
    “It’s really strange but I dreamt about it
today,” I said.
    “Did you have a nana?” asked Danny,
smirking.
    “Maybe. But that’s not the point,” I
huffed. “The point is,the dream felt real.” I quickly filled them in on the
dream and how I woke up with the scribbled code.
    “You didn’t tell me about that,” said
Riley.
    “Yeah, well….I was a bit preoccupied when
you got home,” I mumbled. Riley replied with a grin.
    “Show me the note,” said Molly, intrigued.
    “Maybe it’s Lizzie the psychic who wrote
the note,” laughed Danny.
    Ignoring him, I walked to the bin and
pulled out the paper I had scrunched and thrown away earlier.
    Danny grabbed the note and looked at my scrawl.
    “It doesn’t make sense,” he said, passing
it to Drew. Molly stepped up next to Drew and read over his shoulder.
    “I know. That’s because I wrote it in my
sleep,” I explained slowly, looking at Danny like he was an idiot. “I thought
you’d find it funny.”
    Everyone looked more intrigued than
amused.
    “What if it’s a clue?” said Danny,
excitement dancing in his eyes.
    “It’s not a clue! It’s the scrawl of
someone sleep writing!” Jeez, they just didn’t get it.
    Molly shrugged. “Did the woman talk in the
dream?”
    “No. She just looked sad.”
    “I think you’re right, poppet,” said Drew.
“It doesn’t mean anything.”
    “Maybe you weren’t supposed to get the
decoration,” said Molly. “Maybe the tree was ear marked for