Thanks everyone who enjoyed this!

I enjoyed frantically writing it on the day, right down to the wire.

Yes, some things definitely need clarification and fixing.

A couple of things requiring an answer: -

Mark, the enchanted ornament and its magic were ramped up in the longer draft - it was meant to magically appear on Molly's pillow that Christmas Eve morning, and keep appearing, but it got edited out for page length.

Dave, that one little comma omission - inserting it would have taken me onto a next line..

Like my old uni flat - made me laugh, Matty.

Rob, 'feck, 'feckin' just Irish slang for the other f-word.

The timeline needs tweaking and the wording in the News broadcast for sure. I was thrilled not too many people harped on about that.

Yes, the flashback needed detail and a better segue.

Some like the ending, some not.
Things do need some fixing over all.

Wondering if it's worth a rewrite, or if it should just slink off into OWC annals?

The overall favourable comments and high compliments really made my day. Thanks, guys.

I was stoked with tied second place!

I never get a big head in this household however, cause as Hubby said to me:
Donald Trump got second place too.  

New draft is up. Thanks, Don!

Took all your feedback into account. Clarity added in a few parts, logline addition, added segue into the flashback plus time element, and refined the ending a bit.

P.S. I'm aware there's no FADE at the top.

Libby, I hesitate to comment much cuz I don't know to what extent I have anything valid to say, but the new version is fantastic IMO. In hindsight the truth is I’m not sure why I felt the way I did about the ending because I liked the voice of this. I liked how the tone of the voice matched the story and protagonist's personality. All the best with it.

Thanks, Andrea!  I'm guessing this is you and not Ghostie cause he liked the original ending but you were slightly iffy on it. Not that much changed in that regard, it just need a bit more tweaking for a more satisfying final Christmas-y visual. Very happy you approved.