The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-12-25
By Georgia Wood Pangborn

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leading the cookies from his pockets 20 that
he might wrsstls With his snow shoes for
the do1enth time that day.
But Jean sat very stn. and let the lengths
Of paper chains drop from her hands to coll
and mas about her like heaps Of red and
blue and yellow flowers. She had been feel
ing strangely weak since that hystericsl
giving way At breakfast time, and she was
not quite sure she could bear all that this
Christmas was bringing into her scared and
hungry life.
OF course they had carols in the evening;
the babies Joined in noo,y. II sketchily.
Good King wenessa.s looked
On tAs fssss of sssphea
Whsa ths nov ny roand sSouA
Deep md crtss M s~sa-
II was Just the vsathsr precisely for King
wsnceslaus and hA page to set forth. One
seemed to see them ~ they sang in the dusk
bsfors the lamps were Lit, Christmas phan-
toms moving duskiiy across the wide, white
outdoor spaces. while the pslIid glow Of the
sunset stiIl hung In the west and a planet
biased abovs the mountain at the east
P.ss and monarch. forth thsy vent
Perth thsy vs.t tosvh~.
They would havs gone on longer but that
Twesdlsdee yawned and Tweedledum was OBJ
served To lean heavily on Jeans knee with
his finger in his mouth. signs meaning bed
time after q busy day. 30 they were has-
tied OF.
While Martha was tuckinx them in Jean
and, looking At the star which was sparkling
through the growing frost of the window.
sang. He shall feed hi. nock :" In q voice
which had once been cultivated and cared
for anxiously along with other useless lovely
things.
After which. the babies having gone OF
sound while they were being undreesed, the
three grownups became almost hysterically
gay over the tree. dressing It from tip to root
in Jeans paper chains and showering Il al
over with gift shop tribes. discarded doll
had been painted and dressed and fitted
with wings to fly at the top for Christmas
fairy, and Mrs. Johns burberry pie was
reared upon q kind Of pedestal and wreathed
about with green to set of its rich round
face. and the cookies also were hung on the
tips Of the twigs.
There were the rag dolls that Jean had
made, gay In dresses that made up for any
blankness Of feature, while to the expect
ant stockinss, Jean told Thomas where she
had been hiding some butternuts and beech
nuts against this contingency. and they put
. lead pencil in each and topped OF with
some Of the more wholesome looking pieces
Of candy out Of the box which Martha had
planned to absorb on her way to New York.
Oh, yes, in the toe Of each they put their pen
knives. Toms and Marthas. Really, those
were stockings that anybody might have
been pleased to receive on Christmas morn
ing. and a. to the trss, they were all agreed
things udy generally, II was the most taste
full one they had ever seen. Most trees are
% overloaded. And who cares for boughten
thinss anyway
Christmas morning
II w. st1n dark whsn the auto born wok.
that the car had been brought around from
the ssras~ then be rsmsmbersd how they
had eiampsd the horn On . chair sxactly
half way bstwssn the two cribs. For bow
can Christmas morning dawn without tin
trun1sts' % th~s are none, one must
~ "a - - en- with sussdtussH But Il
~ . sssa hsra. net .ssaat fer tndesr 1s>
.Io trump was AsoSwsa ~ small eha.sans
volosG
"CAst.mtA. OArasniA CArAuAsr 49, nag
Arr ths ths amsn q h2 al nuans a.d
o6anoa. - thS1shl - - Assss.AsA, ~
seuisat al svAsssrins - hsass had -