Mary Orleans has dreamt of a white Christmas since she was a child. Every Christmas they spend at home in Australia, between sheep and heat. Just one Christmas in New York, that's all she wants.
Lenny Darwin hates Christmas. The cold, the family, th...
I opened the door to the apartment and immediately a familiar smell rose in my nose. I heard Christmas music playing and knew right away that my mom was looking for the right exchange student. If she saw how much joy Mary devoted herself to every detail, she would squeak loudly. I took the boots off my feet and hung my jacket on the wardrobe before entering the living room. I could hardly believe my eyes. Mary had built a cookie factory on the dining table. There was a whole bunch of dough in a bowl, so there were a lot of cookie cutters. The work surface was dusted with flour. The Christmas tree was shining brightly in front of it and a Christmas playlist was running on the TV. On the coffee table in front of the sofa piled up some DVD's screaming Christmas. But the best was Mary, who stood in front of me with a broad grin on her face, a pointed cap on her head, and a spoon in her hand.
"You're crazy.", I noted. "Yes, I guess I am. Welcome to Christmas Paradise." I put the shopping bag on a chair and ran through my hair. "Help, you really are Mariah – Maria. You're Christmas as a person. Did I tell you I can't stand it?"I asked her again. "Yes, very often. That's exactly why I'm doing it." "Well, thank you very much." Mary took the bag and looked inside. She nodded happily. "Okay, then let's get into the fray. Here's your hat, master chef." Mary held me a Christmas hat. I grinned crooked, but actually put it on me. And in fact, we started baking. We bought seven sheets of cookies and decorated three of them because we ran out of icing. Mary seemed so happy that I couldn't bear to tell her that I hadn't baked cookies in ten years, let alone never intended to do it again. I had consistently stayed out of all Christmas traditions that had anything to do with Dad. Only the tree was left. Mom insisted.
Then we fell on the sofa and turned on "The Miracle of Manhattan". It was Mom's favorite Christmas movie, so I saw it every year anyway, but it was quite encouraging to see Mary's outrage when they tried to put old Kringle in the psych ward. By the way, Mary ate Christmas sweets for the first time in her life. Slowly I began to doubt whether they were even celebrating Christmas in Australia. But before I could ask Mary about it, we heard the door open and Sina announce herself loudly. I paused the movie and looked over my shoulder at her. "Hey, how was school?"I asked my sister. "Very good.She said a little annoyed, but her expression lightened instantly when she saw Mary. She cheered. "Skating!" Mary sighed and stood up. "I'm going to change and get my skates, then we can go." Mary looked at me questioningly. "No, I'm not going with you." "Oh, Lenny!" said my little sister. That was the end of the discussion. Mary laughed and also left the room to change.
I put on my clothes before while I was waiting for my escort. Sina was the first to come around the corner and smiled. A few minutes passed and Mary was getting impatient. "I'll check on her.", I then said to my sister and rubbed my shoes off again. I went to my – her room and knocked. "Mary?" I asked. A soft "yes!" came out of the room, so I pushed the door open. The sight I saw was confusing. Mary was sitting in the middle of a pile of clothes. But what was even weirder was all the decoration in my room. There was a small tree in a corner, and there were chains of lights everywhere. Mary had made an effort, so much was certain. I went to Mary and slightly touched her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
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