It was cold in the manger, but the young couple hardly noticed. The father leaned in close as the mother cradled her infant child, their faces beaming with joy. The sheep slept, huddled together for warmth, as the donkey nibbled on hay.
Then, a distant rumbling caught the couple’s attention. It couldn’t be thunder; the night was so clear, every star was visible. The couple went to the manger door and peered out into the dark. The rumbling grew louder and soon, they saw figures advancing toward them.
The mother clutched her son tight as twelve drummers drumming came into view. Their ba-rum-ba-bum-bumming shook the walls of their small shelter.
The father raised his hands and yelled to the drummers, “Hey, guys! It was cute when it was just the one little boy playing his drum, but twelve of you is a bit much.”
Thank you, Jesus! It’s over!
Not that it wasn’t a lot of fun and it did get my creative juices flowing. Thank you BlogDramedy for conceiving of this inventive, if not slightly maddening, challenge.
And, don’t forget to check out the other participants:
Blogdramedy (writing challenge instigator)
Shouts from the Abyss
Stevil
A Few Clowns Short
Rewind Revise
The Original Bean
Becoming Bitter
Words That Rhyme with Purple
Mad Hatters
A Daft Scots Lass
Random Says
Suzanne Forte PR
Slightly Whimsical
Trail Blazer 1
Ivanna Marie
Lenore Diane’s Thoughts Exactly
Diary of a Mad Gay Man
Woo hoo! You did it, Amy!
And they lived happily ever after. Or did they?
Great ending! And it’s up to us if they live happily ever after
Congratulations!! Now you and Baby Jesus can get some sleep!
Congratulations are in order! I like the inventiveness the short-form cudgels out of a writers head. Well done!
Now can we get some zombies back up in here, yo?
Nice job, Amy! It’s been a lot of fun. For us, I mean.
This is one time one would not want a baker’s dozen of 13.
Great story !
Seems to cry out for a song
Enjoy !
Well done and thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.
“ba-rum-ba-bum-bumming” <– I could totally hear the song in this, and I love that it ends in "bumming!"
I should also apologize for borrowing from your idea of the witch's ritual in my entry for today. So, sorry.
I've enjoyed reading your stories!
Nice! Ending with a very seasonal short snort of a story…how very sneaky of you. (Wish I’d thought of that. Damn.)
Thanks for joining in on BlogFestivus. Hope to see you back here next year…different theme, same insanity.
I think you have a very creative mind and I like many of your short stories (even though I am quite fond of Christmas and not really a big fan of Halloween) but I have to point out that the couple could not have “went to the manger door” as a manger is not in fact a shelter, but a feeding trough for animals. In the original story, the babe “lying in a manger” is actually using a box made for animal feed as a crib.
That said, I look forward to seeing what you write next year!
I was aware of that after I wrote it, but was so happy to have the final story finished that I just left it that way and said “to heck with it!”