Not Another Calendar

When you really love someone, it’s possible to make the most ordinary gift into something wonderful…

- Camilla Kelly

We had a deal, Adam and I, not to spend much money on Christmas presents for each other. Still, as I felt along the long, flat parcel he gave me to the unmistakable spiral binding at the edge, I couldn’t help feeling disappointed. Not another calendar.

I’d had a Word of the Day calendar from my gran (that would go in the downstairs loo) and a cute cat calendar from my niece (that would go on my desk at work) and much as I appreciated the thought, I’d looked forward to Adam’s gift, hoping it would be special.

Even Adam looked sheepish.

“I had no idea you’d get so many calendars,” he said. “

You’re learning more about my family every day,” I joked. “We’re a very organised lot.”

It was our first real Christmas together. Last year didn’t count – we’d met that December when we both started jobs on the same day in the student services department of a college, and we’d gone out for a coffee for mutual support.

Our first date was at the Christmas market. I’d bought him a bag of chestnuts and he’d bought me a cute badge of an elf surrounded by tiny lights. And then we hadn’t seen each other again until New Year.

This year we’d made plans to meet up on Boxing Day to exchange gifts after spending Christmas with our families. But at 11pm on the 25th I had a text from him asking if he could see me, and I was filled with happiness and relief because I was desperate to see him too.