Ten snowflakes falling
'Sorry, sorry, sorry,' Tom muttered to his fellow parents as he edged along the row of chairs to take his seat next to Mary and his parents-in-law in the assembly hall of the primary school.
'Where have you been?' she hissed as he finally sat down.
'I got stuck behind a gritter. Couldn't get past the damn thing,' he muttered, nodding at Robert and Cora. 'I haven't missed anything, have I?'
'No, they haven't started yet. Oh, here we go,' she said as one of the older children walked to the front of the stage.
'I hope Sybbie's all right. She was nervous this morning. She kept going over and over her lines,' Tom said, anxiously.
'She'll be fine. If she's anything like Sybil, she'll be brilliant,' Mary whispered back. 'It's George I'm worried about. He is not happy with his role.'
'Shhhh!' an annoyed voice came from behind them.
Tom held up his hand to apologise and they both subsided into silence.
Up on the stage, the nativity began to unfold, the age-old story of the birth of the baby Jesus playing out with a cast of children, ranging in age from five to eleven.
Everything was going swimmingly, the performances running the gamut from cute to awkward to surprisingly good.
Sybbie appeared, dressed all in blue, saying her words perfectly, Tom mouthing them along with her from his seat. She played her role as the Virgin Mary with aplomb, leaving her father, aunt and grandparents beaming with pride.
And then it began to "snow" on the stage.
In an effort to make sure every child had a role, the teachers had assigned a number of them to be snowflakes, each of them decked out in white with cardboard cutouts in the shape of individual snowflakes draped over them like sandwich boards.
This was the role George had been handed and he hated it, complaining vociferously to Mary about the stupid costume and the stupid dance they had to do, all while the entire cast belted out'Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!' with gusto.
Mary held her breath, praying all would go well.
It started off well and then up on the stage, the boy standing next to George went the wrong way in the dance, barging into George, bending the prongs of his snowflake out of shape.
George stumbled, losing his balance and windmilling his arms to save himself. Instead, he managed to catch some of his fellow snowflakes with his flailing arms, sending them reeling too.
With a collective gasp, the entire hall watched as each little snowflake wobbled in turn, until all ten of them toppled over, falling onto the stage in a flurry of arms, legs and white-painted cardboard.
For a moment, there was silence as the singing petered out and everyone stared at the heap of downed snowflakes in shock.
And then George lifted his head, grinning under his snowflake-studded white woolly hat.
'Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!' he sang loudly, finishing off with a rousing, 'Merry Christmas, everyone!'
The audience erupted into laughter and applause. Mary found herself on her feet, clapping loudly, smiling from ear to ear, proud of her boy. Beside her, Tom stood, sticking his fingers in his mouth and giving an appreciative whistle, while her parents cheered loudly.
He leaned in and whispered in her ear, 'Don't worry, I got the whole thing on camera. That'll be one to pull out and show his girlfriends when he's 18.'
Mary smiled, already eager to watch her little snowflake save the day again.