The Digglers

The Beginning

Winter finally arrived bringing with it beauty and colours that are special to that season. It also saw the return of their old friend, Snowman. He arrived during the night whilst everyone was asleep and he was so quiet that no-one heard him. The next morning the island looked like a giant Christmas cake floating on the sea!
Diane and Lucy had already started their Christmas holidays but there was still a lot to do. After breakfast, the two girls and Rusty went to find the Christmas tree. They brought him back to the cottage and started to put on the decorations. Rusty thought it was great fun to have a tree in the house and he tried to remove the coloured balls and tinsel! Needless to say he was put in the kitchen out of the way until he could behave himself.
That afternoon, Diane and Lucy set about making the snowman using the bit of snow they had kept all year from the fridge. He also had his yellow hair as Diane had also kept the yellow twigs. After doing this, they wrapped the last of the presents and put them under the tree. That night when their dad came home from work, he too would be on holiday and tomorrow was Christmas Day.

The next day, Diane and Lucy were up early wanting to open their presents but it was no use as they had to wait until after breakfast.
When all the chores had been finished, everyone sat by the fire and opened their presents. There was lots of excited shrieks as they showed each other what they had got. Rusty also enjoyed himself. He wanted to open all the presents but had to make do with the wrapping paper. At last, one present left under the tree. This appeared to have quite a chocolaty smell. Rusty couldn't believe his luck when he was allowed to open it. He found a large tin of chocolate treats for dogs! Of course, he wanted to eat them all at once but had to make do with four treats.
After opening their presents, they sang some chorals. They had planned to go to church on the mainland but the weather was too bad to make the crossing.
Their mum began to prepare the Christmas dinner and whilst it was cooking they all went for a walk. It was very cold and still snowing and they decided to walk to Mirror Lake. It was a beautiful walk, everything covered in snow. When they got to the lake they found it was covered in a thin layer of ice. Their dad said if it stayed cold, it wouldn't be too long before the ice was thick enough for skating. Lucy said she had never skated on ice but Diane said she would teach her.
When they got back to the cottage, they were all very hungry and helped to get the dinner ready. Rusty felt very pleased as they let him have a Christmas dinner as well! After Dinner, Diane, Lucy and Rusty went to the wood. It was quiet and peaceful covered in the snow.
'It's hard to imagine what it looks like in summer with all the flowers and leaves on the trees,' sighed Diane, 'but I'm glad its not like that all the time, I'd miss the snow.'
'I think it's a wonderful place,' said Lucy, ' no matter what time of year it is.'
'This time last year, I made my first snowman,' said Diane. ' I was lonely. I am not lonely anymore. It's the best year I've ever had!'
'When I first came here, I cried,' said Lucy. 'I heard you come into my room and I pretended to be asleep. When I saw you had changed my clothes, I stopped crying. I knew you were kind people. I wish everyone could be as happy as me!'
'I wish everyone could have an island like ours and see all the beauty on it,' said Diane. 'When I get older, I'll write a book about it and then people can read about it and share it,' she said with great conviction!
'You'll have to let me help you,' laughed Lucy, 'because I bet you won't write about pushing Kevin in the lake!'
With that they took a leap at the Snowman. When they picked themselves up, they found he had vanished. There was just a heap of snow, pebbles and twigs!
'Never mind, Snowman,' they shouted as they made their way back to the cottage. 'We'll make you again tomorrow!'

The End