A Siege in a Stocking

Wednesday. Christmas is coming, and I have discovered something terrible. People are giving each other my siege as a present.

Not the siege, exactly. An hour in the sanctum, on a card, in an envelope, for anyone who grew up wishing for a wand. They buy the vouchers from the castle’s own website and hang them on trees. Grandparents give them to grandchildren. Aunties give them to nephews. A man at the post office was sending one to his sister.

Then some summer morning the lucky student goes online, picks Perth or Sydney, chooses a time from the calendar and is booked in before the toast is cold. Or they ring up and ask a person. Either way, another class at my castle walls.

I am giving Crumpet a voucher for a slightly larger jar. It is the thought that counts.