Christmas Present

It was no ordinary present. I could see that from the effort that had  gone in to wrapping it in gold paper and the stern injunction, “Do not open until Christmas Day.”
    We were not a great family for presents. My mother's favourite saying was “It's not the present, it's the thought.”
    To be honest, her presents did not show much thought either. One year I got a toothbrush. And that was a good year. Sometimes children got no presents because Santa had us on his “nasty list”, after consulting mum  obviously.
    My dad had died suddenly in June and the only present I really wanted, well it wasn't worth mentioning was it? I certainly wasn't going to get him back.
    I could tell it was a book. I enjoyed reading and treated books as a means of escape. I enjoyed stories about King Arthur or outer space. As far away from home as possible in other words.
    And when I opened it, I realised that a lot of thought had gone into this present. It was the original “Diary of  a Common Soldier” by Rowland McMillan, my father. It was in his own  beautiful handwriting. (A far cry from my scrawl as mum delighted in telling me).
    I got to know what it was like for him to be apart from his family for two years in the Western Desert with Nazis trying unsuccessfully to kill him. I learned how much he loved my mother. It  was a part of him. A strange Christmas present but the best ever.

Derek McMillan is a writer in Durrington. His wife, Angela McMillan, is his editor. He also edits #worthingflash.

"Diary of a Common Soldier" is available on Amazon