It was nearly the end of the year, and school holidays would be starting on Monday. The weather had turned very cold and when we looked outside the ground was already covered with a blanket of snow. Robin Red Breast and his family had made a nest in our apple tree, and this was a sign the cold weather was here to stay. Everyone was preparing for Christmas. Yesterday, we helped Mummy and Daddy put up the tree and decorated it nicely. 

We walked to the end of the street and entered a tiny garden. Daddy knocked on the door. An elderly lady opened the door and greeted us with a big, “Hello!” It was then that Verity and I realized that we would be staying with Just Joan. We had met Just Joan on the way to town on the Butter Box. She had sometimes come to our house to chat with Mummy and had a cup of tea and biscuits. We had never been to her house. “Come in,” she said.

The warm air greeted us. We took off our coats and wellies. Daddy said, “Be good and don’t get up to mischief. Do what Joan tells you. You have your food and drink, I suggest you eat breakfast.” Daddy waved and he was gone.

Just Joan took us into her lounge room. It was quite dark as she had very heavy velvet curtains on the windows and they seemed to make the room feel small. We sat on the floor at a coffee table that was in front of a fire. Just Joan had the tv on and switched the channels to find cartoons. She said, “I will leave you to sort out your breakfast!” I took out the foiled packages, and we sat and ate marmalade toast and sipped on hot chocolate.

We watched tv and then played with some of our toys and then we did some colouring in. There was no sign of Just Joan. Verity became hungry so we decided to eat lunch, but we had no idea of the time. It seemed like a very long day. We started to hear some very strange noises coming from another room. Verity wanted to investigate but I felt nervous about leaving the lounge room. We decided to go together to look and see what was happening. It sounded like the noise was coming from the kitchen. We slowly opened the kitchen door and all we could see was Just Joan sitting in a rocking chair fast asleep. She was snoring so loud it was like the kitchen walls moved in and out. Verity and I put our hands over our mouths to try to hold our laughter. We quickly went back to the lounge. 

We were glad when the doorbell rang. It was Daddy. Just Joan woke from her sleep and opened the door. “How did it go?” said Daddy. “Just fine,” said Just Joan. Verity and I smiled. As we walked home, Daddy sighed and said, “We made it through the day!”

TUESDAY: We thought Tuesday would be a good day as Daddy told us we would go to work with him. He had arranged the clothing we would need to wear the night before, packed our backpacks and already put cereal in our bowls ready for breakfast. Again, we were up early, Mummy had already left for work, so it was all systems go with Daddy.

We were out of the house in no time and in the car driving to Daddy’s workplace. We went into Daddy’s office and took off our coats but left our shoes on. Verity and I sat in the corner of the office on a sofa and used the coffee table to play on. Daddy sat at his computer and went in and out of the office all day. He bought us chicken nuggets and milk from the canteen for lunch.

The best part of the day was when Daddy took us outside. He showed us the helicopters that he flew in. Verity and I got to sit in one. There were lots of buttons and handles to turn on and off to get the helicopter to fly. The noise was quite loud when the helicopters took off and landed. Verity and I covered our ears. Daddy promised that one day he would take us for a ride.

The day went quick and before long we were back in the car going home. Daddy sighed again and said, “We made it through another day!”

WEDNESDAY: We went back to stay with Just Joan. We knew what to expect and made ourselves at home in her lounge. Just Joan joined us in the lounge room and sat on an old armchair and fell asleep for most of the day. Strange noises came from different parts of her body; it just wasn’t her snoring we heard! Verity and I spent most of the day with our hands over our mouths as all we wanted to do was laugh out loud.

When Daddy came to pick us up, he asked how our day went. Verity and I just burst into laughter. It was like all our laughs for the day had to come out of our body. Daddy said, “Wow, it was that good!” “Yes!” said Verity. Daddy sighed again and said, “We got through hump day!”