What Pegman Saw – The Spirit of Christmas

“What Pegman saw” is a weekly challenge based on Google Streetview. Using the location provided, you must write a piece of flash fiction of no more than 150 words. You can read the rules here. You can find today’s location on this page,  from where you can also get the Inlinkz code. This week’s prompt is North Pole, Alaska. My story is inspired by the prompt, and is not about North Pole!

WPS – The Spirit of Christmas

The smell of barbecued meat mingling with the sweet spiciness of mulled wine teased Maureen’s nostrils. Snow smothered mountains loomed above the streets of Sion, which thronged with people. Ancients, weather-beaten like the trees on the mountain, greeted teenage students. Locals in workaday clothes stood chatting in half a dozen different languages to visitors in furs.

People of many different nationalities have found a home in Sion, and there is a tradition at Christmas that each community prepares a Nativity scene. Visitors make pilgrimage through the town, following the “Chemin des Crèches”.

This year, Syrian migrants had been invited to contribute. Maureen stood reading the placard beside their offering. It reminded readers that the infant Jesus had himself been a refugee in Egypt.

Suddenly she laughed for joy, and spread her arms wide.

“Why, Christmas isn’t something from a tawdry Santa – it’s a world of brothers and sisters to love!”