The Snowflake Thief

Sharing is the season's greatest gift.

❄️

A Yuletide snow blanket covered Windleaf Town, turning chimneys, roofs, and roads a dirty white. Holiday lights cast their glow on streets shrouded in frost.

Marlow was the town Grinch - a staunch disbeliever in the Christmas spirit, he kept to himself. No one dared touch the toys in his store - or so he thought. Snow muffled the world's noise - to Marlow, it was the sound of jingle bells hatching an annoying plot.

Then, Marlow's ornaments began to disappear.

One.

By.

One.

Right under his nose.

Each missing ornament felt like a tiny stab in his back. Near the cash register, a faint jingle - reminding him of each missing bauble.

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The disgruntled shopkeeper refused to let missing decorations daunt him - he decided to fight the good fight.

His solution was simple: traps and a little subterfuge.

Armed with a little strategy, he placed them where kleptomaniac fingers would pinch.

Near his Christmas tree.

Near the window.

Near the cash register.

Near the mouse hole (just in case).

Traps carefully set, he waited with trepidation - his heart thumped with hope, not fear.

Trap evidence brought in the usual suspects -brown mice with cheeky grins, a gust of wind, and human footsteps craving for warmth long absent.

Then, Mary, a long-time customer, brought in a bauble.

"Doesn't this belong to your tree?" She shot him a quizzical look.

He fixed her with a spaced gaze that said "bewildered."

Mary was a retired widow whose husband had recently passed.

Then, a nutcracker, brought in by Tim.

A man who called park benches his home.

And a little angel - whose place was the top of his tree. Brought in by Katherine.

"Is...is...this...yours?" The sentence emerged, though with some effort.

Then, mid-craft, he dropped his tools with a jolt.

Not in anger, but in realisation.

His ornaments had gone to the hands of those who needed them.

And the gruff grinch understood the gift hidden in his loss.

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Project Catch Bauble Thief went on for two heart-stopping days.

For a grinch who often felt his heart on the wrong side of his chest.

Then - payoff.

A gentle flash on the Christmas tree as the store's CCTV caught a tiny hand reaching for ornaments -with careful effort.

On it was little Elvie, placing the ornaments in gift bags, bow-tied with meticulous precision.

Sending them to the lonely and needy with thoroughness that spoke 'care.'

He made his move on Christmas Eve.

The little boy gasped mid-gifting and dropped a bauble.

Marlow the Grinch fixed the little pilferer witha penetrating gaze.

On his face was his signature scowl - one that he dropped after a while when he thought of the little boy's heart.

One that knew that gifts should be held by the hands which needed them.

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The grinchy shopkeeper succumbed to Yuletide's resonating charm - he drove Elvie to homes that needed seasonal cheer.

His shop opened to customers with a glow over a hearth - now adorned with knitted socks filled to the brim with heavenly treats.

Warm and welcoming - grinchy fervour forgotten.

It had never felt fuller or readier for a new start.

For a grouchy shopkeeper, sharing had become the season's greatest gift.

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

Original story by Michelle Liew Tsui-Lin. AI tags are coincidental.