Beloved Tradition

            Alicia Winters sighed as she stepped into the shortest checkout line. It was at least a mile long, probably stretched all through the store, ending somewhere near the dairy produce. She fought the scowl threatening to transform her face into a fearsome mask, and smiled as the elderly lady in front of her glanced back.

            “You’re getting so little,” the woman commented, eying the few random goods Alicia was clutching to her chest. “Did you do all your Christmas shopping early?”

            Normally such an innocent question would have been answered courteously, but today was not the best of days. In fact, it was, for all intents and purposes, already night and Alicia would really rather be home. Asleep. Forget homework. That was her justification for the lies that came out of her mouth, but really there was no reason to be so cruel.

            “Oh, we don’t celebrate Christmas the same way as other people,” she said sweetly, smiling. Anyone who knew her would have noted the sharp edges of her grin and backed away. Although it wasn’t like anyone actually knew her.

            The little old lady in front of her looked mildly affronted at the very idea of someone not enjoying a good, wholesome, traditional Christmas, complete with consumerism and a little dash of fable. It just encouraged Alicia.

            “See, we get together with all of our extended family.” Was that a brief look of relief on the woman’s face? Not for long. “We trade off whose house we stay at, and this year it’s ours. I’m so grateful that all of my little cousins finally get to see the great town I live in. They’ve really been enjoying the weather, because some of them live where it’s sunny all the time. We can hardly get them inside for dinner. But tonight’ll be different. Tonight is when the real celebration begins.”

            There was a look of consternation at her last sentence. Christmas eve wasn’t for a few days.

            “See, today is the solstice,” Alicia continued, glad that she’d noticed the little words on her calendar that morning. “Traditionally we go outside as soon as darkness falls, but Dad forgot to buy some of the materials we need.”

            Now it was time to get creative. The objects in Alicia’s arms did not lend themselves to obvious witchcraft or Satan worship, so she would have to tailor her story slightly. She had a pack of white shirts, a blown glass vase, a set of turkey carving knives, and a bag of colored marshmallows.

            “I don’t think it’ll matter too much, though. We’re only going out back to the barbeque pit. And Mom got the lamb a week back so we could start feeding it properly.”

            The woman’s eyes were bugging out of her head by this point, and she seemed extremely uncomfortable. However, Alicia knew that she also wasn’t positive about the conclusion she’d drawn. She would remain an attentive audience for a while longer.

            “I just really wish I hadn’t had to run to the store. We really need the knives to begin and the sooner we start the better.”

            The old lady turned away from Alicia, deciding to ignore her. Or attempt to. Her concentration was fixed firmly on the contents of her cart now. Well, it didn’t matter. Alicia didn’t have a cart, so she could stand right behind the woman and keep on with her story.

            “See, when I get back, Mom’s going to take the knives, and she’s going to kill the lamb. We’ll catch the blood and use it to draw symbols onto our shirts. The symbols will bring us a happy, lucky new year, but after that they’ll only bring bad luck, so once the lamb is dead and skinned, we’ll start up a fire, burn the old shirts, and roast the lamb. Then it’s time to chant and dance around, offering up meat to the demons who watch over us. Usually someone gets possessed and starts having a fit, but only three have ever died that I know of. Once this is through we have to keep vigilance until dawn, so we’ll sit around the fire and tell Christmas stories and roast marshmallows. Then, when it is dawn—.”

            The woman seemed to finally get enough. With a huff of annoyance she yanked her cart to the side and scuttled off towards the back of a different line. Alicia moved forward and a minute later found herself facing a bored looking cashier.

            She was grinning the entire way home, her smile still in place as she slipped inside her house and scampered up the stairs to wrap her gifts. The gullibility of some people was astonishing. Surely the woman could see that she was just buying a few presents.