Christmas (slight return)

Milly came over today. One way or another - school, work, her social life, my travelling - I haven't seen her for over a week, so it was lovely when she arrived with her big grin and her kaleidoscope of news and recent events in her life.

Last term, she was doing a pottery course with her mum and on Christmas Day she told me that she'd been making me a present but apologised that it hadn't been fired yet. I said that was fine, of course, and then forgot all about it.

Today Milly gave me the vase, which I love for all sorts of reasons: the musical notes, the colours and stars (which remind me of Van Gogh while being nothing like his) and, most of all, the fact that Milly made it for me.