Evening star., 1932-12-18
beautiful
Christmas
story
MARIA
PLATT
ADAMS


~ bright strings and handed them to
her. and she hung them on the
tree.
Sometimes she had to stand a chair, be-
cause her legs were SO little she could not
reach the top. but she loved that. 1t was such
a tall tree and when she got away up near the
tousShe buried her nose in it. 1t smelled nice
Mummy liked the smell. too, but she laughed
at Ann when Ann hid her head in the branches
And she took two little balls that Daddy had
strung and hung them on AIMS ears.
Mummy was like that, she laughed and
teased when she was alone with Daddy when
there were just the three Of them she was the
gayest person. even gayer than Jerry. and Ann
knew that Jerry was the gayest person in the
world. Daddy said He said he didn't
know how Jerry could be that way married to
. fellow like Jim, she was a wonder
That was hard for Ann to UNDERSTANDINGS
cause she liked jim He wasn't quiet all the
time He skated beautifully he skated better
than Daddy and he didn't mind skating with
her. He held her hands very tight. and sne
felt safe and sure, and If she tumbled. which
she couldn't help sometimes he was nke
Mummy, he never teased her about things IKE
that
Jerry called her "Humpty Dumpty," and
laughed She had lovely laugh, it was like a
bell It ticked the inside of AIMS ears-So
she didn't mind her words so much, but then
Daddy always laughed, too.
mat nurC a utLe, IL uuEL Oil, cFct eo IioCAA
more until she discovered that he wasn't
laughing at her he wasn't even paying atten-
ton to her, he was looking at Jerrys red
month, which was just exactly the color OF
Jerry's red cap. That was a funny thing to
laugh at, but Daddy laughed at such funny
things anyway.
Jerry didn't always have the red cap on,
- but she noticed he laughed just the same
She wanted to ask Mummy about that, she was
thinking about what she was doing hanging
shiny balls on the Christmas tree. But she
wasn't-she was thinking about Mummy's
laugh and her eyes.
She looked just like Daddy when he was
talking to Jerry-or when he wasn't talking to
Jerry, when Jerry was just in the room.
Ann didn't want Jerry to come in. She
wanted Daddy to be like that all the time, she
wanted him like that when she was alone with
him-or the way they were now. The three
of them and the beautiful smelly tree. But he
didn't smile he went right on putting little
strings through the Christmas balls and hand
ing them to her.
She heard Jerry's car the same time Daddy
did. Mummy was putting things on the tree,
so she didn't look around but Ann looked at
Daddy quickly. He looked just like picture
in one of her story books-an Misunderstanding.
But he didn't look that way long because
right then he dropped one Of the largest and
shiniest balls and there was a big fussy scram-
BILE to pick UP the pieces. Mummy helped, too
because the doorbell rang, and Mummy said.
while Nora was opening the door, they better
clear the place up, because. they didn't know
who it was and she didn't want neighbors see
ing her place like that" That was silly, be-
cause Daddy and Ann said at the same time,
"That's Jerry"
Ann said it twice. because Mummy didn't
seem to pay any attention the first time-but
M1mmy said ''wc,l, anyways!"
So Ann pic, .he last little piece quick
ly-because Jerry standing in the
door, laughil she had her arms flsl of
bundles, VIII crispy bundles. tied with red
ribbon. She said, ''Biff, come here take these.
they're heavy"
"Biff" was Jerrys name for Daddy. Ann
didn't like that name. She didn't think Num-
my did either. Mummy always said Dick.
Just like that, "Dick," quick But "Biff!" "Bif"
was like an echo. you seemed to hear 1t long
after Jerry got through saying it.
Mummy was sitting down, 50 Ann went and
sat On the nooe next to hef. She cuddled up
aeniA.t ,hecIlees and Mummy put her hand On
her he2h