Christmas Is Canceled || #JustWriteIt #HolidayChaos

christmas is canceled ~ 1

"We decided not to celebrate Christmas this year," our new mayor Arthur Dalton said and a murmur went through the group of people that were assembled in the town hall of the small town I lived in.

Everyone in the room had a shocked expression plastered on their face, except for our mayor and some of his "friends" who were smiling contentedly.

Something like this has never happened before. Even though the town I live in is very small, we're still famous for our Christmases. Every year, the whole town is decorated magnificently. There are Christmas lights and other festive decorations everywhere and decorating the huge Christmas tree in the town square is something the whole town does together.

Christmas dinner always takes place at our mayor's house and everyone is invited. No one would ever not attend Christmas dinner, it's one of our traditions and everyone loves it. Especially when I was still a child I used to be so excited for Christmas that I barely slept the whole month of December.

But maybe we should've already expected something like this to happen. Our old mayor loved Christmas and was probably even more excited for it than the kids. He always used to dress up as Santa to make us believe in him as long as possible and the look in the eyes of the children always showed how much seeing "Santa" meant to them.

But then he suddenly died a few months ago and Arthur Dalton took his place. Unlike our old mayor he used to hate Christmas and obviously still hated it. He belonged to the small group of people that always had a scowl on their faces during Christmas dinner.

But even though they always were in a bad mood, they still attended dinner at the mayor's house which is why I thought that it would be the same this year. Except that Dalton himself would be living in the mayor's house.

Unfortunately my hopes had just been crushed. How dare he destroy such an old and important tradition? How is he going to explain this to the kids that are living in our town?

"Mila, let's go back home," my mom suddenly said and interrupted my thoughts.

"Wait, isn't anyone gonna say anything against it?" I replied and took a look around. Most people were already leaving the room and Dalton wasn't standing behind his speaker's desk anymore. I must've been lost in thought for quite some time.

"I think Ely Andrews wanted to say something. But like always, Dalton didn't let him have a chance to speak."

"And you think that's okay? It's extremely rude that he's always doing that when Ely or I want to say something. Just because we're teenagers, doesn't mean we can't have a say."

"I know, Mila. Of course I'm actually not okay with it, but in this case I think it was for the best. Dalton made the right decision and we'll be able to survive without Christmas this year."

"Are you serious?" I yelled which resulted in a few people staring at me and my mom. "Christmas is everyone's favorite time of the year, why are you okay with it being canceled this year?"

"Because it's the right thing to do after the death of Mayor Smith. We should not celebrate Christmas without him, at least not in the year of his death. Instead we should spend the day grieving about him instead of being happy without him being here with us."

"Are you completely out of your mind now? Mayor Smith wouldn't have wanted this to happen. He would want us to celebrate Christmas the way we always celebrate it instead of acting as if Christmas died along with him."

"That's not true Mila. We're doing the right thing by canceling Christmas and I want you to accept that," my mom said in a strict tone.

"I don't care what you want me to do; I'm not going to accept this."

"Watch your tongue, young lady."

"How are you even going to explain this to Abby?" I asked without even listening to what my mom had just said.

"I'm sure your younger sister will be a lot more understanding than you."

"Yes, for sure!" I sarcastically replied and couldn't help but roll my eyes. "A seven-year-old will be absolutely okay with Christmas being canceled. Tell it to the marines."

"Mila, I don't want you to talk to your mother like that," my dad suddenly interrupted our conversation. "Let's go home now, everyone who's still here is staring at the two of you."

"I don't care who's staring at us," I said a bit louder than I had intended. "I'm not coming home with you. I'm outta here."

My dad had been right when he said that people were staring at us. A small cluster of people had formed around my parents and me and Dalton was standing right across from us with a disgusting smile on his face. Of course he loved how my parents were trying to stop me from wanting to still make Christmas happen this year.

"The show is over!" I snapped at everyone before starting to push my way through the crowd. Quite a few people were making sounds when I came into contact with them but I didn't even care about it right now. I just wanted to get away from everyone.

The cold air made me shiver when I left the town hall and I quickly zipped my parka before wrapping my scarf a bit tighter around my neck. It had started snowing a few hours ago and now everything was covered with a thin layer of snow which only made me want to celebrate Christmas even more.

With a groan I walked down the stairs in front of the building and started wandering through the town. I didn't even know where I was going; I only knew that I needed some time for myself.

I had to find a way to make Christmas happen anyway. I would definitely not let Dalton get away with this. We would celebrate Christmas this year just like we always do it, no matter what it takes.

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Have you already bought Christmas presents for everyone you're going to give something to?