Birch Manor - New Year

New Year
It was New Year's morning. Susan got up and walked with soft, silent steps to the window. She enjoyed the sight of the still almost new curtains. They were made of unbleached linen and sewn with sewing thread that shimmered in all the colours of the rainbow like a peacock's plumage. Susan called it her magic sewing thread, but unlike Susan herself, there was nothing magical about the sewing thread. She pulled back the curtains and looked out. The weather was in its very worst winter mood, grey, with heavy, low-hanging clouds and not a hint of sunshine. She faintly heard the bells tolling from the church in the nearby village and gave a small start. Knud!" she called softly. "It's time to get up. They're all coming today!"
    Knud opened his eyes and looked at her, blinking his eyes, "What time is it? Is it morning already, it's pitch dark."
    "It's seven o'clock, the bells are still tolling if you care to listen." She paused so Knud could listen. "And today is the first of January. They're all coming! Oh, it's so exciting. Who do you think will be the first to arrive?"
    Knud sat on the edge of the bed and put on his glasses. "Probably Fiona. Or maybe Frank and Freya. I wonder how little Thora is doing. It was great of them to name the little one after our old teacher.  I'm looking forward to seeing them all again, too."
    After they had eaten a hearty breakfast, Susan started the car to pick up Martine, who had moved into the village in a nice little house right next to the church actually.
    "Happy New Year, Martine, are you ready?" Susan said as Martine opened the door.
    "Happy New Year to you as well, Susan," Martine said, "Yes, I'm ready, more than ready!" she said, her normally sleek hair frizzy from exitement and her cheeks reddish.

 Back at Birch Manor, Knud had brewed several pints of coffee and set the cakes on the tables. Susan helped him bring the last chairs in from  the outhouse, while Martine filled many jugs with fresh, cold water.
     It was a good thing that they had decided to leave the old dining hall unchanged. Today was just what they needed.  Although it was still half dark outside, the room was bright and friendly. Light floorboards, white walls and bright linen curtains at the windows. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, casting an indirect but bright light over the tables. There were no tablecloths on the two long tables, but they were set with white, faintly patterned plates, steel knives and forks with a twisting pattern that was actually birch leaves, and polished, solid glasses. Clear glass water jugs and coffee pots of some whitish material with blue, yellow, red, green and black flowers on their thick stomachs completed the decor. The long tables had room for 50 each, and Susan just hoped that was enough.   
  Let me see," said Knud, whose thoughts had been wandering the same paths. "Eighteen apprentices minus Sarah makes seventeen. Six of us are married to each other, two are unmarried or widowed, that makes nine spouses, and then Martine and Ella. Seventeen plus nine plus two; 28 in all."
  Susan nodded, "Yes, and then a bit more than 40 children and their spouses and even more grandchildren. There's no way these two tables will suffice ..."
  "No, I don't think they will, and what's more I don't see what we can do about it. Apart from getting another long table, that is."
  "Well, let's see about that," Susan replied.
  "I'll get it - and use some magic," Knud said. "A table for 28 people. I think we can just put it on the second row down by the kitchen and we'll make a V.I.P. section," Knud said teasingly.
  "Oh, Knud, you know I hate that sort of thing," Susan said with a smile that showed she loved and knew her husband. "But just today it actually makes a lot of sense. I'll get the two tables to move over a bit."
Susan turned toward the tables, and slowly the two long tables moved farther toward the end. They walked quite carefully, not a drop of vant spilling from the pitchers and not a single glass or cup tipping over.
  "Oh, that's why you don't have tablecloths on the tables," said Martine, coming in with the very last of the pitchers.
  "Yes, the peripatetic magic is easier when there are no tablecloths to keep track of too. And Knud and I thought there wouldn't be enough room. Stay in the kitchen with those pitchers, the last table will be along shortly."

The wait was pure agony, but then they heard a car approaching. It wasn't Freja and Frank or Fiona who were the first to arrive, it was actually My who came driving up in front of the house with her three children and their spouses and a total of 5 grandchildren. One of the children had hired a minibus, and Knud laughed out loud at the sight of it: "Look, Susan, it's just like us, in the good old days. Good thing we fenced a large section of meadow off into a parking lot!" Still grinning, he went out to greet them and show the way.
  Fiona arrived a few seconds later, teleporting into the empty area behind the house that Susan and Knud had fenced off for that purpose. "My kids are coming along in their cars a bit later," she said when she had landed. "But I just had to try this. I'm a permissive witch, no need to tell me."
  "I've been wanting to try a teleport since I got my wand, but I  haven't dared trying yet!" Susan said, "you're not permissive, you're brave."

  The phone rang. It was Lis calling from Tage's house. Their car had broken down.
  "Do you think we can ask My's daughter to go and get them all in that minibus? It's not far," Knud said.
  "Pray do," Susan said. "The worst they can do is to say 'no'."