Ulrike's Christmas

By Victoria Zigler

Ulrike knows all about the Winter Solstice celebrations of the giants, being one himself. But what he doesn't know is why the humans cut down whole trees, only to take them home to decorate. Other giants tell him to forget about it, but Ulrike is curious; he needs to know why they do it.

Finally, when he's puzzled over it so much his head is sore from all the thinking, he decides that this is the year he'll figure it out, and risks a return trip to the home of the last family he watched to look for clues, despite almost being spotted last time he was there.

That's how he meets Billy, a friendly little boy who loves stories, and is happy to tell Ulrike all about tree decorating, and Santa Claus, along with a couple of stories he knows about them. Stories which Ulrike loves, and which inspire him to add some of what Billy says are Christmas celebrations to his own this Winter, in the hopes that Santa Claus will visit him too.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Victoria Zigler
• Release date: Dec 17, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370858835

Victoria Zigler

Victoria Zigler is a blind vegan poet and children's author. Born and raised in the shadow of the Black Mountains of Wales, UK, she moved away from Wales three times: once to spend six months living in Alberta, Canada, the other times to spend a few years living near Hastings on the South-East coast of England, UK, each time returning to Wales. Now she lives in Wales again, along with a chinchilla named Mollie, a West Highland White Terrier named Lilie, a Cavapoo named Logan, a Hermann’s Tortoise named Artemis, and her Canadian husband, Kelly.Despite spending far too much time in hospital, and eventually losing her sight to Congenital Glaucoma, Victoria - or Tori, if you prefer - has been writing since she knew how, with no plans to stop any time soon. So far she has published 11 poetry books and 46 children’s books. Tori is also a contributor of the sci-fi and fantasy anthology Wyrd Worlds II, as well as the Poetry Treasures anthology. Additionally, her Hermann’s Tortoise, Artemis, was featured in both the Magnificent Pets Coloring Book For Children and the Magnificent Pets Mandala Coloring Book For Adults.Vegan due to both a love for animals and dairy allergy, as well as an Eclectic Pagan, Tori describes herself as a combination of Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter books: Hermione’s thirst for knowledge and love of books, combined with Luna’s wandering mind and alternative way of looking at the world. She has a wide variety of interests, designed to exercise both the creative and logical sides of her brain, and dabbles in them at random depending on what she feels like doing at any given time, but is most likely to be found playing with her petkids, curled up somewhere with a cup of tea and a book, or trying to keep one step ahead of those pesky typo fairies while writing her own books.

Book preview

Ulrike’s Christmas

By Victoria Zigler

Published by Victoria Zigler at Smashwords

Copyright © 2016 Victoria Zigler

Cover art by Jacob Blackmon - copyright © 2016

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favourite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is a work of fiction. The people, animals, places and events in this book are the products of the imagination of the author, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance in this book to works by other authors is entirely coincidental.

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Chapter 1

It was a cold, but clear and starry, December 21st, with a thick layer of snow covering everything, especially the ground, and the branches of the trees. Ignoring the chill as the damp snow soaked in to his warm woollen coat, Ulrike the giant stood among the trees where the woods met the edge of the small village, gaining what cover he could from the snow-covered trees, while peering with interest at the house, with its festive decorations. His attention was especially drawn to a certain brightly lit window, where a decorated Christmas tree could be seen.

Earlier that same evening, Ulrike had been out for a Solstice walk in the snowy woods, when he’d spotted the little family. The walk beneath the stars had been part of his Winter Solstice celebrations, as it was every year. However, his Solstice celebrations forgotten for the time being, he’d watched with confusion and curiosity as the delighted family selected a tree from the woods, cut it down, and carried it home. Then he’d watched with even more confusion and greater curiosity as they laughed together while they hung decorations of all shapes and sizes from the fir tree. There were balls of different colours and patterns, birds that appeared to be made of glass, tiny ornamental reindeer, and many more besides, along with strands of glittering tinsel, and twinkling multi-coloured lights.

This same scene had been repeated several times recently, and Ulrike knew it had happened before too. It was winter then as well, he was sure of it. He was sure he remembered standing among the