Discovered in a Christmas Pud - 22nd December

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Whew! I am finally going to post these! A bit of an explanation: for the DIALJ Christmas 2011 I wrote a short story that was meant to be followed immediately by a companion story. However, Christmas 2011 was a bit fraught, being marked by a lost dog (fortunately found, miraculously in time, beside a very busy highway) and my mother's fall on Christmas Eve that led to a broken wrist and the realization that I couldn't care for her, at her stage of dementia, at home anymore. That was followed by a year of moving her into a nursing home, worrying, planning, and (the next year) selling the family home and moving into an apartment. Therefore, not only was the companion story never written, I didn't write at all for the last year. This post marks, I hope, a return to regular writing for me.

I am posting both stories here, since they really do need to be read together. The first you may well have read already, so I'll put it under its own cut. The trailer that, er, trails, applies to both stories. I am rusty at the writing and the posting, I'm afraid! But I hope you will enjoy these stories of Christmas with the lads. Happy Christmas to all who celebrate it, and all the best for everyone for the new year!

( Part 1: There Is No Rest )

( Part 2: Because You're Mine )

( Trailer )