he cottage grew closer. I never knew how Tess had managed to find this place, as in

unclipping my seatbel

he snow thaws out soon,” she replied, obliv

lisation that Tess may have forgot it. She wa

correct. Come on, let’

oment, we made our way around to the back of the car. Opening the boot, we grabbed our bags from

lume of warmer air into my hands, I hated the cold. With my teeth chattering away, we

s’s begging face. “Fine,” I caved, noticing the puppy dog e

fire-maki

he woodshed. I’ll take our bags up t

astically remarked. “Does this

rning away,” Tess excitedly spoke, while movin

d making sure my hat was in place, I trudged back outside in

eet. Grabbing hold of the axe, I placed a piece of wood on the stump and took aim. With one fowl swoop, I missed the log and hit the stump with a thud. Being taken aback

e hints and tips. Realising that I had only one flaky bar of signal, it was no use. We really were i

pieces of wood. It was better than nothing. Not wanting to be out here all day, I continued my determined path of the destruction of turning logs int

, all the while thinking about how much more convenient it w

of Tess, surrounded by an array of boxes and

eamed, trying to get the

have heat in this room,” I spoke,

s absentmindedly spoke, stacki

ly fumed, finally being able to remove my hat and

for nothing. It’s cos

moving my coat. “Let

as we both wrapped the tree in coloured tinsel and hung shiny baubles from the

was far too ‘people-y’ for my liking. Although having said that, I suppose it was nic

ched the fairy lights twinkling away on the Christmas tree, with the pop and crackle of the open fireplace

upplies in,” Tess comment

t relishing the thought of venturing

have to go on foot because the car is pre

to walk than risk another deat