<p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is an occasional bonus episode, for the thirtieth of December, 2025, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Your one-hundred word story for the day is: Don't Wake Christmas</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">---</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Christmas lies glutted with turkey and mince pies, asleep behind the sofa. A child shrieks with glee, still delighted with a new toy, and Christmas stirs, muttering half-words of whiskey and late-night cocoa.</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">A parent begins to gather up the discarded ribbons and wrapping paper, smoothing them out with vague thoughts of next year. They nudge Christmas. </p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">"You indolent beast, lying there in a smear of cranberry. Entertain us!"</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Christmas waves them blearily away.</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">"I'm tired. Go and see Hogmanay for your fun."</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">And Christmas shuffles off, to nest comfortably among the tinsel and paper chains until Advent.</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">---</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">I'm actually a big fan of keeping Christmas up till twelfth night, though it's not always easy to keep the festive feeling when January looms with all its back-to-work vibes. Whatever you celebrate - or don't - at this time of year, I hope you're safe and warm, and finding the opportunity to rest.</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Take care, everyone, and I'll see you again sometime.</p><p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">https://www.elizabethguilt.com/drabbletober/s2-dec30-bonus</p>