Words for Wednesday ~ 25.12.2025

The Word for Wednesday challenge started a long time ago. Now it has turned into a movable feast with Elephant's Child as our coordinator; and the Words are provided by a number of people.
The prompts for December are provided by Wisewebwoman and can be found @ Elephant's Child.

The general idea of this challenge is to make us write. Poems, stories, subtitles, tales, jokes, haiku, crosswords, puns, ... you're the boss.
Use all Words, some Words, one Word, or even none of them if that makes your creative juices flow. Anything goes, only please nothing rude or vulgar.

 It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.

So Please, remember to follow the links, go back and read other peoples' stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need encouragement.

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This week's prompts are:
Wreath
Pine
Ribbon
Stealth
Chimney
    and/or
Toboggan
Wolf
Plum pudding
Ambience
Blizzard

A chapter from January of the third and last year of the Unicorn Farm, The darkness is gathering.

Susan woke with a start, she looked around, a wreath made of pine stood on the table, its purple ribbons trailing almost to the floor. Why had it been left behind when she and Mom put away all the Christmas things yesterday after school? Now it was Saturday, and she had fallen asleep waiting for her parents to return home from somewhere. And then the snow had begun. She had dreamt, something about Unicorn Farm, some of the Nisser there were in grave danger. Now stealth was of importance. Could she use the 'phone? No, she dared not, it would probably alarm Ms. Madsen, the old, cranky neighbour, whom Mom had called in to watch over them while she and dad were away doing ... Susan just plain did not remember, the urgent dream had drowned out most of here every day life.
She tip toed to the chimney. It was cold as only cold stone could be. Where was Ms. Madsen, the neighbour? In the kitchen, Susan realized, probably drinking coffee and telling Linda all the latest gossip. Susan tensed and listened. A murmur of voices from the kitchen confirmed her suspicion.
She sneaked into the corridor, found her socks, shoes and winter things, then she went down into the basement. It was always more or less spooky down there, but in the deep of winter, it was dark. She dressed while waiting for the old boiler to start. It did so soon enough and this close it sounded like a thousand ping pong balls were being boiled inside. Susan found her old toboggan and opened the largest of the window on the garden side of the house. She pushed out the toboggan, then followed herself. She had no idea why she brought it, it just seemed like a good idea. And her parents were sure nobody could get in or out through the basement windows, but Susan still could do it - even dressed in her winter coat.
She ran through the dancing snow to the old lumber yard, there she tied the toboggan to a tree and jumped through the portal. When the world stopped spinning, she opened her eyes again and was relieved to see the old, crude furniture of the storage room at the Unicorn Farm. For a moment she just stood there, happy too have arrived in one piece.The room she ended up in, was warm and quiet, the old furniture still in place, but outside she could hear voices, many voices, small and big, raising and falling. She went to the window and looked out. The snow had stopped, it had not snowed as much here as  at home, but everything was still covered in a heavy layer, and a full moon shone eerily through the hurrying clouds. She went to the door leading to the big kitchen manned by the Nisser and listened once again.
Someone were cussing loudly, and screaming at the Nisser. She opened the door, just a crack, wand ready. For a short while she was blinded by the light in the kitchen, then she saw that four or five men dressed in black were trying to catch the Nisser and put them into big sacks held by two other men at the entrance to the kitchen. The Nisser of course fought back, and it all made so much noise, Susan wondered why the professors were not already alarmed.
Fire, Susan thought. I have to make a lot of fire. It will scare off the black men, and call the professors, but fast. She pointed her wand at the curtains and whispered "Kveikiði". At once a small flame began eating away at the curtains in the kitchen. Soon they blazed and the black clad men stopped their fighting with the Nisser and instead began screaming and babbling at the fires, but to no avail. The lamps suddenly extinguished and the only light in the kitchen came from the full moon outside. The men scurried away from the moonshine, but one of them were caught in it and started changing ... they were Werewolves! Susan was afraid. This time she had no granny and no potion to make them normal people again. She had only the Nisser, and she hoped the professors would soon arrive. The door in the other end of the kitchen opened and the professors came running in, toppling the two sack-holding scums by the door, Susan saw Tähti and Taavi point their wand at the werewolves and chant something in Finnish, Silvery filaments shot through the air and tied up the black men and the one changed into a wolf too. She saw one of the Nisser throw a crate of plum pudding after a black man, that had avoided the silvery filaments, and were trying to escape. The ambience of the room changed from chaos and fight to one of revenge. Susan crept back and carefully closed the door. Mission accomplished. Back in Elsinore she was met by the results of a full blizzard, Slowly she crept to the tree and loosened the toboggan. It was downhill all the way home.