In a house far from the city lived John and his mother. John’s only hobby was wandering in the nearby picturesque forest. In its center was a shiny clear lake with schools of fish dancing in it. Lovely animals such as deer or rabbits were playing around and cute birds were singing in trees. Fascinated by the beauty and liveliness of nature, he desired to become a great artist and present all the breath-taking scenes to the world.

John studied in the local primary school. Life was not easy for John and his mom after his father died. Knowing what hard work his mother did to make ends meet, John really didn’t want his mother to worry. His mother knew the significance of education in life but she was against his dream of becoming an artist. “The profession of artist can’t aid a person in meeting his daily expenses,” she would say. But as each day passed, John’s dream became more passionate.

Due to the living circumstances, even buying some new colors would be a luxury. John only used the worn drawing file and limited colors for his daily practice. Though lacking fine painting materials, he never gave up drawing. He spent a significant amount of time staying in the forest, secretly perfecting his craft. With continuous hard work and a distinct gift for art, he drew beautifully.

One day John read about a competition being held in the town, whose deadline was only two days away. He got the perfect opportunity to fulfill his desire but he was in a dilemma (两难境地) as for the competition he needed special paints and some brushes. He didn’t have the courage to ask his mother for money as he knew her prejudice against art.

That evening his mom returned from work and handed him a few paper notes, saying, “This is for your lunch at school next month.” The money was enough for his desired materials! John’s face lit up.

Early the next morning, John secretly left home with the money.

A week later, a phone call came to John’s home.

I was eating breakfast at home in Hampshire in March this year, scrolling through social media on my phone, when a story caught my eye. It was about a nine-year-old dog, Charlie, dubbed (称为) the loneliest in Britain. He had been in a rescue centre in Somerset for more than 500 days.

For some reason, nobody wanted to adopt him. I clicked on the link and straight away these huge, sad eyes stared back at me. I was emotional. I turned to my husband, Sam, and said: "We’ve got to have him.” He read the article over my shoulder and felt exactly the same way. We wanted to give Charlie a happy home and a new lease of life.

Over the past few years we have tried to adopt a few different dogs, but we haven’ had any luck — we were never top of the list. Sam and I got used to filling in forms and not hearing anything. We’d almost given up hope.

But Charlie is an older dog and we felt we’d be suited — even older dogs have a lot of love left to offer. So we took our time with the application, sent photographs of our house and garden. We explained why Charlie would be happy with us, and then forgot all about it.

A few days later we received an email from Brent Knoll animal centre, saying we’d been shortlisted. We were thrilled. They asked us to visit Charlie to be interviewed and to see if he liked us.

When we arrived we were taken to the staff room. We didn’t know what to expect. We hadn’t been told much about Charlie’s circumstances, but as he had been given up for adoption and hadn’t been placed with a new owner for so long, we thought there might be issues. But the dog that bounded (蹦跳) in was full of joy and charisma.

He came straight over to us.

We feel proud that we’ve given Charlie a new home and a second chance.

The year 2013 marked a turning point in my life. In June, my husband was offered a new Job in Ghana. Feeling that I had hit a career bottleneck as a photographer and copywriter (广告文字撰写人), I, without any hesitation, made the decision to relocate with him.

While my husband engaged in work, my visa didn’t grant me the same privilege. But that’s okay. I didn’t know what to do anyway. I was left isolated, homesick and lacking purpose. Our new home was a bungalow near a river that cut across expansive grasslands. With few people around our home, I turned to nature, which had been a fondness of mine since childhood. Every day, I would take my camera and wander around, photographing aimlessly.

It wasn’t long before September arrived, bringing the full flow of the rainy season. After one particularly bad thunderstorm, I found a finch (雀) — a poor little thing barely a month old with one wing broken — on the ground. Evidently, he had been abandoned by his flock, his nest blown from a tree. The sight was heartbreaking. He was the size of my lite finger. His eyes were tightly shut and he was shuddering, too young to survive alone. I somehow felt a connection with it. Immediately I scooped him up and cautiously placed him in a cardboard box with towels, mimicking a nest, and stayed up all night researching how to care for him.

The next day, he seemed to regain some energy. He woke with his mouth open, though still too weak to let out a call. I fed him some food and chirped (叽喳) at him. To my amusement, he chirped back and even climbed into my hand. I affectionately gazed at this adorable creature, who was now boldly pecking (啄) my fingers now and then. A surge of warmth ran through me. Tenderly stroking his feathers, I chirped a lullaby, singing him to sleep. Gradually, his eyes drooped and he drifted off. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the scene — as far as he was concerned, I was his mother.

Para 1. “I will take care of you.” I murmured, making my promise to him.

Para 2. At that moment I realized that as I dedicated myself to the finch’s care, something within me changed.

FOR SOME, putting up Christmas lights is yet another holiday activity. But in the Pascucci household, it was always a big day of celebration and it was a family affair. Every year on the day after Thanksgiving, Anthony Pascucci and his older sister, Connie Pascucci, would visit local stores to check out new decorations. Anthony’s son, Anthony Jr., and daughter, Sara, shared the home, and helped with the decoration every year.

In 2020, as in every year, Anthony Sr. Strung(悬挂) colorful lights all around their roof until it looked as if sparkles(火花) were dripping(滴). The whole house twinkled with lights, and gifts were piled under the tree.

Anthony Sr., 60, had outdone himself, as if the brightness of the lights could counter(抵消) some of the darkness of the past year with COVID-19. On Christmas Eve, everyone was looking forward to enjoying another Christmas together as a family.

Then Connie got a call: Someone she worked with had tested positive. Though Connie didn’t have any symptoms, she decided to get tested right away. Her rapid test came back positive.

Anthony Sr., Anthony Jr., and Sara decided they should all get tested too. When their results came back, they all learned that they also had COVID-19. Sadly, everyone agreed their Christmas celebration would have to be canceled.

Right after the new year, Anthony Sr. started having trouble breathing and was admitted to the hospital. Five days later, Connie began feeling weak and wouldn’t eat. She died before getting to the hospital. Less than a week later, Anthony Sr. passed away.

It was the worst of Sara’s life. She felt as if she was in a fog. Grief left her doubled over in pain. Every day she went back after a long day, the twinkling Christmas lights brought her a spark of joy. “It made us happy to see them,” she says. “I couldn’t bring myself to put them away.” Taking the lights down felt like a final act of closure(结束), but she and her brother weren’t ready to take. So they just kept them up.

One day in February, Sara received an annoying envelope in the mail.

Days later she found her inbox quickly filled with messages showing support as well as criticizing the mean mail.

After twenty years of marriage, Melissas lost her husband, who was a brave soldier and passed away while defending his country.

They had a son, Mathew, who was 18 years old and very considerate. In his spare time, instead of paying, he worked at a local shop so he could help his mother reduce the financial burden.

When Mathew got his first pay cheque from the part-time job, he bought Melissa a beautiful dress and flowers. During the next few months, he often bought something to make his mother smile because he knew she still hadn’t recovered from the death of her lover.

As Christmas neared, Matthew’s friends began planning what to do during the holiday. Soon, they decided to go to a party, but Matthew refused to go with them. He didn’t want Melissa to feel lonely at home on Christmas. For him and Melissa, the day was special and significant, not only because it was their traditional holiday, but also because it was Melissa’s birthday.

“I’ll stay at home with my mother,” he told his friends, “We rarely get to spend time together because she’s mostly on her flights when I’m home.” But later that day, Matthew learned his mother wouldn’t be home on Christmas. “Mom? Why are you working on the big day?” he asked. The airline company Melissa worked for was quite short of attendants recently because many were sick. Besides, there was sharp increase in flights due to the holiday. So Melissa decided to continue working on Christmas to support her company and help serve passengers.

Melissa said, “I’m sorry, Matthew. You’ll have to spend the holiday alone.” She felt sorry that she could not enjoy the holiday with Matthew. Matthew was also upset. But before going to bed that night, Mathew got an idea to stay with his mother on Christmas. He would surprise her on the plane where she worked.

“I can still spend Christmas with her,” he thought. And he turned on his computer to check if the light his mother would be on still had seat left. “Yes! It still has seats!” he yelled.

Immediately, he booked himself a ticket for Christmas.

Later, while passing by Matthew’s seat, Melissa yelled, “Matthew? Is that you?”