Twinkle TWINKLE

'Twas the night before Christmas and a little star was about to make it truly magical

And a merry A Christmas to you too, Mrs Fortescue!'  Josephine waved goodbye to her last customer and turned over the 'closed' sign.

'Who'd have thought,' she addressed herself in the mirror opposite, 'so many people would want a new hairdo on Christmas Eve?'

'Good for Jo-Jo's business,' her reflection replied, 'but it does mean it's already...'

Josephine glanced up at the wall clock. 

Oh, Heavens! Nearly 2.30pm.

'You work too hard!' her mother had cautioned the previous evening. 'Businesswoman of the Year is no use if you miss your new niece's first Christmas!' 'So they've definitely decided on Carol?' Josephine had asked.

Her mother had mockgroaned. 'They keep insisting she's a Christmas baby. The sixteenth of December is Christmas week, I suppose.' 'At least they didn't pick Noelle,' Josephine had laughingly pointed out.

Now she chuckled, scrawling a note for the assistant who would come in early, after the Boxing Day bank holiday.

'And then it all starts again, she observed, straightening the various bottles of lotions and potions, before turning off all the lights.

'Hurtling towards the all-handson-deck of New Year's Eve.

Josephine gave her own, close-cropped blonde hair a quick tidy, and blew herself a kiss in the mirror.

'Right, you, on your way!' she instructed herself. 'It'll be dark before you're home.

In the staff area behind the salon, two bags were ready to be scooped up for her car, the first containing clothes for the long weekend, and the second a flask of hot water and mint tea bags for the journey, and her pre-wrapped presents.

Josephine ran a tender finger along the New baby! wrapping paper, within which nestled a super-soft blanket for her brother's infant daughter. With it was the tiny hat which her own inexpert hands had stumbled over many evenings in the company of crochet made simple videos.