Page 43 of Snowflakes at the Little Christmas Tree Farm
‘You say this is a popular tourist market for the festive season?’ I look around, my eyes wandering to all the empty spots where Fiona’s demanded a tree. ‘Why don’t we ask local businesses to decorate them for the free advertising?’
Noel makes a noise of interest, Fiona’s head whips round faster than a flash of lightning, and even Fergus has looked up from the marmalade.
‘They could do, like, themed decorations for their products, with a couple of big signs saying who they are and where to get their stuff. For example, you …’ I point at Noel. ‘You know those miniature clay pumpkins you were selling as Halloween decorations? You could make more of those with a ribbon through the top and a bit of glitter and hang them like baubles. You could use white tinsel with sparkly orange bits, garlands of green vines, a couple of Cinderella pumpkin carriages, maybe some glass slippers too. Your mum was telling me about her knitting, she could knit Roscoe Farm bunting to string around it, that sort of thing. And you …’ I turn to Fiona. ‘You could hang up some miniature bathbombs and string up chains of bath pearls, pastel coloured tinsel to match your products, with a sparkly bath puff on top instead of a star. Fergus could have strings of gingerbread men, baubles of … well, knowing Fergus it’ll be baubles of donkeys and Mary and Joseph and—’
‘Nutcrackers!’ Fergus shouts. ‘I’ve never made a gingerbread nutcracker before.’
‘But not just the market traders. We pitch the idea properly to big businesses, preferably local, who have products to sell and don’t already have a presence in the Christmas market. It’s a great way to get their products in front of customers who wouldn’t otherwise see them and show that they have a bit of Christmas cheer and community spirit too.’
‘This is brilliant.’ Noel is almost bouncing on the spot. ‘Why have we never thought of this before?’
‘Because we’ve never had a wonderful newcomer willing to donate lots of Christmas trees before!’ Fiona comes over and pulls me into a hug. ‘You’re brilliant, you are!’
I blush because it’s been a long time since anyone thought that.
‘I’ll start work on a list of businesses to pitch to right away.’ She releases me and goes to hug Noel and then Fergus. Fergus’s hug is a lot longer than either of ours and Noel meets my eyes and raises an eyebrow at the sight.
‘We could make it a competition.’ I feel a bit more confident in the idea now that they haven’t laughed me out of the building. ‘We could ask them to decorate the smaller trees, and then get local schoolkids to judge them, and whoever wins will … I don’t know. Win something. We have to make it worthwhile for businesses to want to get involved. You said there used to be a big tree at the other end of Elffield, right?’
Noel nods. ‘Yeah, but the council cut it from the budget years ago.’
‘And there’s a motorway over there …’ I point in the general direction of where I think the motorway passes, and Noel touches my hand and moves my arm around to the opposite direction. ‘So the tree would’ve been visible from it?’
He gives me another nod of confirmation.
‘So what if we put it back? What if we take one of the biggest Peppermint firs and put it there, and whoever wins this little market competition will get to decorate it. If it’s visible from the motorway, that’s incredibly good advertising, and something a bit different for Christmas. Local businesses would be interested in that, right?’
‘And the motorway exit is just past that spot, so people could pull right off and come in if they fancied it,’ Fiona says.
‘You’re happy to give away all these trees for nothing?’ Noel raises a cynical eyebrow.
‘It’s not for nothing.’ I think of how light the box of postcards and flyers under my arm is now, how happy the stallholders have been to hand them out to their customers, how welcoming everyone has been and how many people have told me how much they loved Peppermint Branches and how happy they are to see it reopening. ‘We help our own round here.’
He laughs at the repetition of words that have been said to me a few times this morning.
‘I know someone on the council, I could have a word, see if they’d support it?’ Fergus says. ‘It’d bring loads of extra people into the market. The businesses could pay something towards it, either an entry fee into the competition or a rental fee for their individual trees, so that would bring in revenue that the market sorely needs, and it would be fun for the whole town with the kids getting involved too. Kids would love judging something like that. I’ll make gingerbread Christmas trees to bribe them into picking mine …’ Fergus lets out a giggle. ‘Oops, did I say that out loud?’
‘Do you do any kind of co-incentives here?’
‘I don’t even know what they are,’ Noel says.
‘Co-ordinated shopping. Like, if you buy a tree here, you get 20 per cent off at the decorations stall. If someone buys a bathbomb, you could give them a coupon for the candle stall and vice versa. If someone buys two loaves of bread from the baker, they could have a free gingerbread biscuit from Fergus.’
‘I could make gingerbread in the shape of loaves!’ Fergus says.
‘We’ve never done that.’ Noel looks around the market and then back at me. ‘Why have we never done that? That’s genius.’
I blush again. The Noel I’ve got to know over the last couple of weeks is a creative genius, so hearing that from him is a real compliment. I barrel on because I don’t want to think about how fluttery it makes me feel. ‘We need to give people a reason to visit the whole market, to look at every stall, to buy things that they didn’t know they wanted before stepping foot in here. If we have any chance of saving this place, we have to do it together.’
‘Do you think we can?’ Fiona looks between me and Noel. ‘There’s been an underlying current between traders that it’s as good as gone. There’s no saving it.’
‘I think a good season could delay it.’ Noel sounds like he’s being careful not to get their hopes up. ‘If businesses take up the Christmas tree idea – and if we can get a good bit of publicity going online and in the local area then I think they will – it could be a game-changer. If we can get people talking about it, encourage kids from all around to come and vote for their favourite, the trees would be the sort of thing that people would visit specifically to see. And with this wee genius on board, who knows what the year could bring?’ His arm drops around my shoulder and he squeezes me tight into his side.
The surface of the sun is currently cooler than my burning cheeks. I reach up with the intention of smacking his hand where his warm fingers are curled into my upper arm, but as soon as I touch his skin, my hand sort of ends up staying there, closing over his. I don’t make any attempt to move, despite the fact Fiona’s eyes have swivelled to our joined hands and even Fergus is craning his neck for a better look.
‘Were you in marketing before?’ Fiona asks, her eyes alternating between my shoulder and Noel’s face. ‘We should take you on as a market manager permanently. You’re wasted as a tree farmer.’
‘Not as wasted as the trees are most days,’ Noel replies quickly.
