"Wow, Mom, look at that tree! It's so beautiful!" exclaimed Riley.

"Yes, it is beautiful, maybe in the future we'll get one like that too!" Her Mom said putting her daughter under her arm and pulling her close. "One day we'll have a tree, one that makes this one look small and bland in comparison."

"I hope so, but right now... I just want a blanket." Riley's Mom quickly took off her jacket and wrapped it around her daughter to make her warm. Now she felt it, the cold freezing flakes of snow landing on her skin. It made it impossible to think about anything else. "Thanks, Mommy!"

"Of course, sweetie."

"Mom, what day is it?"

"Well, it's Christmas Eve, the day before Christmas?"

"Wow, Christmas is so cool."

"Yes it is."

"Everyone here is buying awesome gifts for each other!"

"Yes, they are."

"It looks like people are buying the bigger gifts for the ones that they love! Like their family! They love their family!" Upon hearing this, the Mom became lost in thought. Did her daughter really think the bigger the gift, the more the person loves you? What would she think of the gift that I got for her?

"I wish we could buy all those gifts for other people."

"Me too, sweetie."

"But I know we don't have any money, so it's OK." The Mom didn't respond to this. Was her daughter disappointed in the situation they were in, especially on a day like Christams Eve.

"Momma, do you think I can go in to one of those stores? Just to look?" Riley stared at her Mom with hopeful eyes.

"Yes, just make sure not to touch anything."

"OK," Riley responded already running off across the street into the store that all last minute shoppers were piling into. The Mom watched her daughter disappear among the crowd.

Later that night she returned with a smile on her face. "What happened sweetie?"

"Nothing," she wrapped herself in her Mom's jacket and went to sleep. Tomorrow was Christmas, Riley's favorite time of the year, and we still haven't moved from this spot in three months, the Mom thought. Am I a bad mother? Does Riley think I'm a bad mother? She too went to sleep with all this in mind, only hoping that tomorrow would go well.

"Merry Christmas!" Riley yelled to wake her Mom up.

"Merry Christmas sweetie!"

"Look what I got you!" Riley pulled out a small snow globe with a large Christams tree in the middle. It was beautiful. "See, that's the Christmas tree we'll have one day!"

"How did you get this?"

"They gave it to me?"

"Who?"

"The elves!"

"The elves?"

"Yeah, they gave it to me and said that you would love it!"

"I do. Thank you Riley. You see, I have a gift to give you too..." The Mom pulled out the same snow globe from under her bag. The same brilliant Christmas tree with glitter flying through the air.

"You got the same one! It's so cool!" Riley said grabbing the globe from her Mom. "Here take yours," Riley said giving the other globe to her Mom. "One day, we're gonna have an even better tree than this! Just wait till next year!"

"Next year?"

"Yeah, the elves said they are gonna set up something big next year."

"Where did you meet this elves?"

"In the store." The Mom said nothing knowing that these "elves" were probably just employees selling her daughter false information.

"That's nice sweetie."

"They said you wouldn't believe me, they said you'd probably think they're employees. But they said you'll come around. And when next year hits, we'll have a new life." Riley just sat there playing with her new snow globe. There's no way Riley actually met elves, Santa's elves, that's... well that's impossible. Isn't it?

The city streets were quiet as I strolled along Fortitude Valley. It was early on Christmas Eve, too early for anyone to be out and about but me. I’d had a bad night, couldn’t sleep, I was reminiscing of past holiday seasons, when I had a home. Kicking a stone on the footpath, I sent angry vibes to my abusive ex. This was all his fault. And my father. He wouldn’t allow me to come to stay, he didn’t care for my plight.

Crossing the road, I headed towards the park and sat down on a bench. Under a nearby tree were two people still huddled under their blankets, and I smiled wanly towards them. A magpie chortled. A car sped past. I lit a smoke, inhaling deeply and letting the smoke out slowly in circlular puffs. Just then, the sleeping duo stirred, and seeing me, they waved.

“Merry Christmas love!”

“Merry Christmas to you too, guys!” I replied.

They got up and scratched their heads, looking around. I got up and wandered off again, back to the mall. There was $2.50 in my pocket and I was hungry. So into McDonald’s I went for a cheeseburger, which I downed greedily.

This is such a lonely few days for people like me, I thought sadly. My heart was aching but I had no more tears to cry. My body was still covered in black and blue bruises, but I was used to it now and didn’t feel them anymore.

Just then, the two blokes from the park came along. They saw me and waved again.

A teenage girl with purple dreadlocks joined them. Grinning, feeling better after my burger, I got up and approached them.

“Hi, my name’s Ziggy” said the purple haired girl, hand outstretched.

“Hi, Ziggy, I’m Vanessa, merry Christmas to you” I replied, shaking her petite hand.

The red haired bloke jumped in then.

“I’m Pete and this is Graham” he said warmly. Graham smiled his blue eyed smile and said hello shyly.

“Let’s go to the shelter and see who’s around, ay?” suggested Pete.

“Yeah, that’d be awesome, I hope my friends are there” said Ziggy.

So off we went, the five of us, feeling less lonely and less sad than before.

_____________________________________________________________________

The visit to the shelter proved to be quite fruitful, and the group of 5 was now a gang of 12. Ziggy had found 4 friends, and they had money. They decided we should go to the pub on the corner, so that’s where we all wandered off to next.

We sat outside so we could smoke. A few of us had been to the ATM on the way, and feeling rich, we bought our smokes and settled in for a few beers. At 11am, a one-man-band arrived, which excited us, and we went and got ourselves jugs of beer. Before we knew it, we were all chatting away like old friends. It’s funny like that on the street. Even though you have to watch your back, most of the time anyone else in the same predicament is willing to spend time with you. We all get lonely and sad, so we all try to cheer each other up. We come together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, I thought.

Soon we were singing along to Jimmy Barnes and INXS, and whatever else we even half recognised. We laughed and talked and sang. Henry was on security and we loved him. He always treated us kindly and with no judgement. He came over with his big wide grin and put an arm around our shoulders, wishing us a merry Christmas. After sharing a few entertaining stories with us, he left us to return to his post. His warm words, his gentle acceptance of us, meant the world to us.

_____________________________________________________________________

The boys had all gone off to the mens shelter, and I was left with Ziggy and her friends. We sat on seats in the mall, watching the late afternoon shoppers bustling along. Envy swept over us. Memories of days gone by filled our heads. We just kept sitting there.

_____________________________________________________________________

Two ladies we knew, who were private sex workers that worked out of the Mantra Hotel, were heading our way. Lola and Cindy! We got and ran over to them, embracing them and wishing them a merry Christmas.

“Oh girls, it’s good to see you all!” said Cindy, smiling.

“Hey, why don’t you all come with us? We’re taking the rest of the day off, so come back to the hotel with us and we’ll see Christmas in together. What do you think?” said Lola excitedly.

We had no hesitation in accepting this offer of course! Wow, what good luck! We loved these two. They always told us about interesting clients, and often spotted us money.

So we all strolled back up the mall and over to the Mantra. A sense of belonging enveloped us, and our hearts were warmed.

The girls had two adjoining apartment rooms, and they opened the connecting door. Music was playing. We each had a shower, then Lola and Cindy got out all their clothes and invited us to dress up. They did our makeup for us too, they just wanted us to feel beautiful. Photos were taken, of smiling pretty faces, with happiness in the air. What a beautiful picture the jigsaw pieces were making now, I thought.

_____________________________________________________________________

Waking up the next morning, we were very surprised to find Cindy and Lola were not there. There was a note on the kitchen bench.

“Merry Christmas, beautifuls...... We are off to an overnight party. The room is paid for til the 27th, so please stay and enjoy yourselves here. We’ve left some clothes and shoes in our room, which we’d like you to keep. See you tomorrow! xoxo C & L”

We were stunned. Such generosity, such kindness! Group hug, tears streaming down our faces. What special friends these two prostitutes were.

Among the clothes were 6 brand new pairs of bikinis, with another note telling us to enjoy the pool and spa, and to keep the bikinis.

_____________________________________________________________________

Special memories were made over those few days, and we formed a sisterly bond with each other that we knew nothing would break. Human beings are jigsaw pieces. Our Christmas jigsaw pieces had been delightful, stunning, and full of love. A slow burn of Hope began in our souls.

@demcmurphy

My dad has been at work from 5am to 10pm everyday for 2 months. All he wants to do is be able to provide us a white Christmas. Mom left us 3 years ago, dad told us she died. We know he just refuses to believe she left him for a man that makes 35$ an hour. My sister wanted a phone for Christmas, and my brother wanted a record player. All I wanted was snow.

My dad told us that Santa wasn't real a long time ago, that way he wouldn't have to spend money on ANOTHER present for each of us. He can barely afford 1 present for each of us. Plus the tree. Plus the food. This year all we can have for dinner is 1 bread roll and 1 slice of the tiny chicken we bought on sale. We couldn't afford the turkey.

But it's finally Christmas Eve and dad came home at 7pm. His boss refused to give him a Christmas bonus this year. It looks like all I'm getting is snow after all.