and it didn't take them long to wake up after that, I can tell you. As
soon as it was really light, they put on their wrappers, and woke
their father and mother, and then they went for the stockings. They
took them into their grandparents' room, and Grandmother and
Grandfather sat up in bed with shawls over their shoulders, and the
rest sat on the edge of the bed. Then they all opened their stockings,
and I couldn't begin to tell you what fine presents they found in
them, nor how happy they all were. After breakfast they all sat down
by the kitchen fire, and father got the big family Bible, and laid it
on Grandfather's lap, and Grandfather polished up his spectacles till
they shone, and put them on his nose, and then he read about the story
of the first Christmas long ago in Bethlehem. And it was all so quiet
while he was reading that you could almost hear the snow flakes
falling outside, for it had begun to snow. Then, when Grandfather had
finished reading, and closed the Bible, they all sang a Christmas
carol, which they always sings together every Christmas in that house;
and they sang it out so clear and strong, that a traveler in a sleigh,
way down at the cross-roads, heard it, and it sounded so good that he
stopped his horse in spite of the storm, and listened till it was
over. Well, I can't tell you everything else they did that morning
except that Father found the floor all swept, and knew it must have
been done by the brownies; and then Mother found the paper caps that
the house-fairies had made. She was ever so glad; and so were the
children when they opened them up and put them on. You'll see how they
look on the children's heads when the curtain opens. Then about the
dinner. Father had brought in the big table, and set it up in the
kitchen in front of the fire-place, and Mother put on the plates and
the forks and the knives and the spoons and all the rest. Then the
goose was roasted, and, oh, how good it smelt when it was cooking. At
last everything was ready and twelve o'clock came, and they all sat