"Oh, no, Daddy! I heard you say that you wished you had some money," said Peter. "And I want very much to give it to you."
Daddy put his arm around Peter and said, "Peter, I am going to tell you why I said that. I wanted to buy something that I knew we all would enjoy. I didn't think I could afford it, but now I have almost all of the money to pay for it."
"Oh, Daddy! What is it?" said Peter.
"Well, I am keeping it a secret from Mother," said Daddy, "because I thought it would be nice to have it a Christmas surprise. But I'll tell you, if you think you can keep it a secret."
"Oh, yes, Daddy!" said Peter.
Daddy leaned over and whispered the secret in Peter's ear. Peter looked very much surprised and very delighted. "Oh, Daddy!" he cried. "How wonderful! How much more money do you need?"
"Well," said Daddy, "just about five dollars."
"Oh, isn't that wonderful!" said Peter. "Here's my five dollars. Now you can buy it."
"That's just great, Peter," said Daddy. "Now it will be from both of us to Mother."
"From Penny, too," said Peter, "because he didn't take anything for helping me deliver papers."
"All right. That's fine," said Daddy, as he reached into his vest pocket.
Peter watched Daddy put the five-dollar bill in his wallet. He felt very proud, giving Daddy five dollars that he had earned.
Daddy put the wallet in his pocket and said, "Peter, I can't tell you how much this five dollars means to me. To think that you went out and earned it for me. I'm proud to have you for my son."
Just then, Mother called from upstairs. "Peter!" she called. "It is time for you to go to bed."
"I'm coming, Mother," Peter replied. "Good night, Daddy."
Peter kissed his daddy good night and Daddy pulled out his wallet again.
"Peter," he said, "here is some money with which to buy your Christmas presents."
Daddy gave Peter five one-dollar bills.
"But, Daddy!" said Peter. "Aren't you giving back to me the five dollars that I gave you?"
"Not at all! This is the five dollars you gave me," said Daddy, patting the five-dollar bill. "And, Peter, my boy, it means a great deal to me. More than I can ever tell you."
"Well, thanks, Daddy, for the Christmas money," said Peter, as he stuffed the five one-dollar bills into his pocket. "Good night."
"Good night, Peter," said Daddy.
About two weeks before Christmas, Daddy said, "Mr. Ferguson says we can spend Christmas in his cabin."
"Oh, Daddy!" cried Peter and Penny in one breath. "That's wonderful!" And Peter's eyes twinkled when he looked at Daddy.
"Would you like it, Mother?" asked Daddy.
"I would like nothing better," replied Mother. "You know how I love the cabin."
"How long can we stay?" asked Penny.
"Just over the weekend," replied Daddy.
"Where will we have our Christmas tree?" asked Penny.
"I think it would be best to have it here," said Daddy. "We can trim it before we go and it will be here when we get back."
"Oh, Daddy!" cried Penny. "Couldn't Peter and I trim the tree ourselves this year?"
"What do you think of that, Mother?" asked Daddy.
"I don't see any reason why not," said Mother.
"Oh, goodie!" cried Penny. "Shall we let Patsy help?"
"Sure," said Peter.
A few days before Christmas, Peter, Penny, and Daddy went out and bought a Christmas tree. Daddy put it in the living-room alcove where it would be out of the way. It was a bushy tree but it only reached halfway to the ceiling. Daddy said that was big enough because they were going to trim it themselves.
Two days before Christmas, the boys carried the boxes of Christmas tree balls downstairs from the attic.
Penny telephoned to Patsy and Patsy came over to help trim the tree. Tootsie came with her. By this time, Tootsie was just like Mary's little lamb. She followed Patsy wherever she went.
"Hello, Patsy!" the two boys called out when Patsy came into the house.
"Hello!" replied Patsy, walking into the living room. "Isn't it exciting to trim the Christmas tree? Daddy and Mother won't let me help with our Christmas tree. But they said maybe I could next year. Anyway, I'm going to help trim yours now."
The boys patted Tootsie and then she settled her great self down before the open fire.
"Well, now!" said Penny. "Here are the boxes of balls and here are the tree hooks and here are the packages of silver. Look, it looks just like spiderwebs when you put it on the tree."
"Hey!" cried Peter. "Don't put it on now, Penny. It goes on last. After all the balls are on."
"I know. I was just showing Patsy," said Penny.
"Now, be careful of those balls, Patsy," said Peter. "Don't break any."
"All right," replied Patsy, as she lifted a box off the top of the pile and put it on the seat of a nearby chair. "I'll be careful."
Penny lifted the lid of a box and uncovered twelve beautiful red balls. He put a hook through the little tin loop on each ball and hung them on the tree. At the same time, Peter was hanging striped balls.
The balls that Patsy was hanging were silver. When she looked at them, she could see her own face. Only it was a funny Patsy face. The side of the ball made her face look very broad and her cheeks stuck out on each side like a chipmunk with nuts in its cheeks. Patsy got the giggles.
"Stop giggling, Patsy," said Penny. "You'll break a ball if you're not careful."
"I'm being careful," said Patsy.
Peter's next box of balls looked like brightly
painted tops, while Penny's were red bells. They tinkled when he shook them.
Patsy finished hanging her silver balls and picked up the next box. When she lifted the lid, there were twelve golden reindeer.
"Be very careful of those reindeer," said Penny. "They're very special."
"I am careful," said Patsy, as she hung a reindeer on a branch of the Christmas tree.
"Say! It's beginning to look nice!" said Penny. And he flopped himself down on the nearest chair. Immediately, there was the crunching sound of breaking Christmas tree balls. Penny's eyebrows flew up in surprise as he lifted himself out of the chair. There, on the seat of the chair, was a broken box and six crushed balls.
"Oh, Penny!" cried Patsy and Peter together. "Look what you did!"
"I didn't see the box on the chair," said Penny.
"Well, you should have looked," said Peter. "That was the box I was using. Now look at them! Just look at them! Nothing but crumbles."
"I'm sorry," said Penny.
"Well, you have to be more careful," said Peter. "Look out there, Patsy! You nearly dropped an angel."
Penny gathered up the crumpled cardboard box and the crumbled glass and threw all of it into the fireplace.
The tree was beginning to look very lovely but there was still a long way to go before it would be finished. Peter stood off and admired it. "It's going to look awfully pretty," he said.
Penny picked up another box of balls. He removed the lid and began to hang golden stars on the tree.
"I'm thirsty," said Peter. "I'm going to get a glass of milk."
"So am I," said Penny. "Come on, Patsy, let's get a glass of milk."
The three children traipsed out to the kitchen. Minnie poured out three glasses of milk and the children returned to the living room. They each carried a glass of milk in one hand and a cookie in the other.
"Now, don't sit on any balls," said Peter.
They all sat down without sitting on any balls. They sat munching their cookies and drinking their milk and admiring the Christmas tree.
"I'm going to get another cookie," said Peter, putting his glass on a small table.
"Bring me another, too," said Penny. "And one for Patsy."
"Okay!" replied Peter, as he left the room.
Tootsie, who had been asleep in front of the fireplace, got up and followed Peter to the door of the living room. There, just
inside of the door, she lay down.
In a few moments, Peter came back with the cookies. As he passed Tootsie, he tripped over her big paw. Peter didn't fall but he kept right on tripping and he tripped all the way through the living room and headed right for the alcove and the Christmas tree.
Penny and Patsy sat watching this performance in amazement. It didn't seem possible that Peter was going to crash into the Christmas tree. But he went right on tripping, straight into the alcove. And then, Crash!, down came the tree, balls, Peter, cookies, and all.
The children were so surprised that they were speechless. Peter lay on the floor, not knowing exactly what had happened.
Just then, Daddy appeared in the doorway.
"Great snakes!" he cried. "What is going on?"
When he saw Peter lying under the Christmas tree, he couldn't help laughing. This made Patsy and Penny laugh, too.
"I don't think it is funny," muttered Peter from under the tree. And then Peter did something that he hardly ever did. He began to cry.
"Oh, come!" said Daddy, picking up the tree. "You're not hurt, are you?"
"No," said Peter, "but I made such an awful mess of the Christmas tree. Look at all of the balls I broke."
Daddy stood the tree upright. By a miracle, there were still a lot of balls that had not broken.
Peter brought the dustpan and brush and swept up the broken balls. Every once in a while he had to wipe away a tear.
The children finished the tree by dinnertime. Not once did anyone say, "Be careful. Don't drop the Christmas tree balls."
The following day, Daddy and Mother, Peter and Penny left for the cabin. Peter sat in the back of the car in the midst of packages of all sizes and shapes. There were also boxes and the big picnic basket, bulging with everything for Christmas dinner.
The ride up into the mountains was very different from the last time. Now, in place of the yellow, orange, pink, and red of the leaves, the bare branches of the trees showed gray against the paler gray sky. They passed brown fields with patches of snow, left over from the last snowstorm. The only bright color was the green of the fields sown with winter wheat.
"That sky looks full of snow," said Daddy. "We'll probably have snow before morning."
"Oh, goodie!" cried Penny.
"I hope so!" said Peter.
Sure enough, by the time they reached the cabin, it was snowing very hard.
"Oh, I hope I am going to get those skis I asked for," said Peter, looking at a very long package that stuck way up inside of the car.
"No fair guessing," said Daddy. "You are supposed to be looking out of the window, Peter."
Peter laughed. "All right," he said.
When they drove up to the cabin, the roof and the steps and the pine trees looked as though they had been dusted freely with powdered sugar. The snow was falling so hard that it hid the lake from view.
"Now, you wait here a few minutes," said Daddy, "while I unlock the door and light the fire."
Daddy got out of the car and took some bags out of the back. He carried them up the steps and went into the cabin. In a few minutes, smoke was curling out of the chimney.
When Daddy returned to the car, he said, "Come on, now. The fire is burning."
Peter, Penny, and Mother got out of the car. With their arms filled with bundles and boxes, they paraded up the path to the cabin. When they reached the door, there, hanging on the doorknob, was a great big Christmas card. It said, "Love and a Merry Christmas to Mother, from Daddy and the boys."
Mother was so surprised she hardly knew what to say.
"Sorry we couldn't wrap it up in cellophane and tie it with red ribbon," said Daddy.
Mother laughed. "It's wonderful !" she cried. "Just wonderful!" Then she kissed Daddy and Penny and Peter. "Thank you so much," she said.
Inside, the cabin looked very cheery, with the fire roaring in the fireplace.
It took a long time to unload the car and stow everything away in the cabin. When they had finished Daddy said, "Well, boys! What do you say we go out and trim another Christmas tree?"
"What do you mean?" cried Penny.
"I thought it would be nice to trim one for the birds," said Daddy.
"Oh, Daddy!" cried Peter. "That would be great! What will we use for trimmings?"
"Oh, I have brought the trimmings," said Daddy, picking up a box.
The boys followed Daddy outside. They picked out a small pine tree near the steps.
Soon they were all at work trimming the tree. They hung the branches with pieces of suet and cranberries and little metal cups filled with different kinds of seeds. Daddy also had some tiny red apples that they hung here and there. Near the top, they hung a loaf of bread.
In the midst of the trimming, Daddy said with a laugh, "Careful now, Peter, don't drop any balls."
Peter laughed. "Well, anyway," he said, "this is one Christmas tree I can't knock over, even if I try."
Turn the page for a peek at another
Carolyn Haywood classic
Primrose Day
where there's always a reason to be merry!
1. Merry Leaves for America
Merry Primrose Ramsay was almost seven years old. She was named Merry because her mother loved merry little girls and Primrose because she was born in the month of April when the primroses bloom in England.
Merry lived in England in the big city of London. When asked whom she lived with, she would reply, "I live with my mummy and daddy, Greggie and Molly and Annie." Greggie was a Scottie dog whose name was really Mac-Gregor. Molly was a make-believe playmate and Annie was the cook.
When people asked Merry where she lived she would say, "I live at number eight Heartford Square." Then everyone knew that Merry lived in a house that faced a little park. Merry was glad she lived in a house on a square. She liked walking past the houses on one side of the square, then across the end of the square and down the other side. The houses were built of red brick and they all had white stone steps. They were very close together. Merry thought they looked like faces with their cheeks touching. The square was a cozy place to live.
But the nicest part about living on the square was the little park. All around the park there was a high iron railing. There was a gate at each end. The people who lived on the square had keys so that they could go in and out of the gates. There were flower beds and trees in the park. In the spring there were tulips in the flower beds. The paths were covered with pebbles and sometimes Merry would find a very pretty pebble. Then she would put it in her pocket and carry it home to show to Mummy.
There were benches in the park, too. On clear days there were always nurses sitting on the benches. They watched over the little children while they played. All of the nurses were called "Nanny." Merry had had a nanny when she was little but now that she was almost seven years old, she didn't need a nurse to watch her. She was old enough to take care of herself.
One afternoon Merry stood at the front window. It was February and it was raining. No one was in the park. The benches were shiny wet. The bare trees dripped. Tiny rivers ran between the pebbles in the paths. Merry pressed her nose against the windowpane. "Do you know what, Molly?" she said to her make-believe playmate. "I'm going to America. I'm going to America to stay with Aunt Helen and Uncle Bill and my cousin Jerry. You see, Molly, it's because of the war. Mummy says when people are selfish and afraid of each other they go to war and hurt each other. All of the boys and girls in my school have gone away from London. Mummy and Daddy are sending me to America until the war is all over. I'm going all by myself, too. Daddy can't go because he is doing very important work for the King. And Mummy can't go because England needs her, too. So I'm going alone."
Merry turned away from the window and began to set out her doll's tea set. When Greggie heard the rattle of the dishes, he came into the room. Greggie knew that where there are dishes there may be food. He never missed any if he could help it.
"Greggie, you are going to America, too," said
Merry.
Greggie cocked one ear.
"And I'm going to take you, too, Molly. Do you think you will like to go to America?"
Just then the front door closed. Merry set a cup on the table and ran to the head of the stairs. Greggie tore along at her heels.
"Daddy!" she called. "Is that you, Daddy?"
"Right you are!" called Daddy.
Merry started down the stairs at a run. Halfway down, she stopped still. Daddy stood at the bottom of the stairs. He was wearing a soldier's uniform. Merry hadn't seen her daddy in a soldier's uniform before. He looked strange and different. Merry went down the last six steps very slowly. Her face was grave and her eyes were very big. When she reached the second step, Daddy took her in his arms. "How do you like me, little one?" he asked.
"All right," murmured Merry, "only you don't look like Daddy."
Daddy rubbed his cheek against Merry's. "Do I feel like Daddy?" he asked.
Merry hugged him very tight. "Yes," she said, "you scratch like Daddy." Then they both laughed.
The night before Merry was to leave for America, her mummy packed her bag. She put in all of Merry's winter clothes and all of her summer clothes, her underwear, and her stockings. She packed her winter pajamas and her summer nightgowns. On the very top she placed her warm dressing gown. Her shoes and her bedroom slippers were tucked in the side of the suitcase. Into a little rubber envelope, she put Merry's toothbrush and sponge. Merry sat on the bed and watched her. At last the lid was closed. Merry heard the lock snap shut.
"Mummy," said Merry, "do you think you could sleep in my bed tonight?"
"Yes, darling," said Mummy. "I'll sleep in your bed tonight."
Merry lay in her bed and waited for Mummy. She wondered why it took Mummy so long to get ready for bed. At last she came. She turned out the light beside the bed. Then she lay down beside her little girl. "Oh, Mummy!" cried Merry, "you have lain right on top of Molly!"
"Dear, dear!" said Mummy. "It is so hard for me to know where Molly is. Do you think she will mind very much?"
"Well, if you could lift up a little, she could get out," said Merry.
Penny and Peter Page 6
