The main bulk of this story was absolutely blissful – the hunt for the perfect present was touchingly written, and the sentiment came across as honest and true.

My only worry is that the whole ‘cornflower blue’ description felt too shoehorned in rather than being seamless – actually, I’m still not totally sure what ‘cornflower blue shadows under snow drifts’ look like!

Also, there are some tense issues near the beginning – ‘ridden’ should be ‘rode’ and ‘taken’ should be ‘took’…

As I say, I really enjoyed it as a story, but as a challenge entry I’m not sure the ending worked so well – MH :)

yeah, i agree. totally. i sat on this for 3 days. consider it a test run. editing now.

Upon reading this, I had the urge to commit a slightly offbeat sequel—an exercise in how certain cues could be read in certain ways, perhaps not the ways that were intended.

Maybe I just have a twisted mind. :)

I had a similar experience as Mostly Harmless- I really liked the description of the perfect present. You capture that desire of the present-giver perfectly.

I didn’t understand the “cornflower blue” and the smiling at the end. I also didn’t know what you meant by “shadows under the snow drifts”, but that might be because I’ve lived in sunny Los Angeles all my life.

the challenge said to mention cornflower blue, and I can’t help you with the snow images, but they have shadows. :) the smile.. well A) I ran out of space to use the words I want and B) he is going to give her, HIMSELF. yeah yeah, cut off the ending and it was perfect. I know, I know.

“You never know where the perfect gift is hiding.” I love that you allowed me to look at it from that angle. This ficlet is fresh and full of holiday energy.

I get the blue of the snow part…its that cold blue that ice on a lake gets. I really like this one, but I did have a struggle with the ending. But a little reread fixed it up for me.

Edited the ending a smidge.

Aww Elsha . Imagined a wedgewood “Something”. I.E. cornflower blue and white snowdrifts AND a cameo That was only because I am a female and know these things, so I knew I was off the beaten track. I really liked your imaginative search for the perfect gift though.