The Christmas Branches

Once upon a time, in a small town, there lived a very happy family: a boy, a girl, and their mum and dad. Dad went to work during the weekdays, while Mum stayed at home and looked after the children. At the weekends, they spent a lot of time together. They often went out for day trips or to the cinema, or played games together at home.

Until one ordinary summer’s day, Dad lost his job.

"Never mind, I’ll find a new one," he said with a smile, and Mum and the kids smiled too.

But time went by, and things didn’t work out for Dad as he had hoped. Mum and the children kept on reassuring him that money wasn’t everything and that he would surely find a job when the time was right, but it was no good. And the truth was that their savings were slowly but surely running out. Dad became more and more pensive. He didn’t play games with the children anymore, and he didn’t even talk to Mum that much…

The summer flew by, and then the autumn, and soon enough, Christmas came round. It was Christmas Eve. Dad was wandering around the town but his head was somewhere else entirely. People were rushing past him with bags stuffed full of presents and delicious food, hurrying home to wrap them all up, cook up a feast and be ready for a Christmas day filled with love and joy.

"Sorry," said a pedestrian who had bumped into Dad as he rushed past with his final purchases.

Dad looked up drowsily. "Happy Christmas," he mumbled. Then, with sudden horror he exclaimed: "Oh, it’s Christmas…and I haven’t got any presents!"

It was already starting to get dark and the shops were closing. He reached…