My family and I decorate the tree with colored lights.

Outside, the snow falls as carolers sing sweet music.

Come evening, we enjoy a delicious meal together.

Then we all gather around the tree.

We spend the night exchanging gifts.

At midnight, the bells ring.

I grin with joy.

The holiday’s here!

My favorite!

Christmas!

This piece is based on What If? Exercise 93: “Ten to One”. The exercise is to write a 55-word story in which the first sentence has ten words, the second has nine, etc., until the last sentence has only one word. The objective is to show that precision and thrift in writing can produce surprisingly powerful results. I hope you enjoy what I’ve written. Thanks for reading!