The Christmas Dinner | Page 4

They used to hide in a
big clothes basket very much like that one over there. At night, like the
brownies, they used to do some of the house-work to help mother; and
how pleased she used to be, when she found in the morning that some
of the work had been done for her while she was asleep.
Do you suppose, says WALTER, that if I woke up some night, and
came and looked in here, I'd see the brownies working or playing?
Very likely, answers GRANDFATHER.
Oh, I'd like to try it, cries WALTER. Can I do it tonight?
But GRANDMOTHER says: No, indeed, Walter. What is your
Grandfather thinking of to put such a notion into your head. And as for
tonight--well, of all nights in the year!--the very night when we expect
Santa Claus to come and fill the stockings. And you know how
displeased he would be to find the children awake and watching him.
Why, he very likely would go away without leaving a single present.
To be sure, says GRANDFATHER. No, it wouldn't do at all. And,
besides, think how tired you'd be for tomorrow. And then you'd be
sorry with all the goings-on. By dinner time, you'd probably be falling
asleep, and we'd have to eat all the goose and the pudding without you.
We wouldn't want to miss that, says GERTRUDE, shaking her head
decisively. I saw the pudding out in the store closet, and I tell you, it

smelt good.
I bet you tasted it, exclaims WALTER.
Indeed I did not, answers GERTRUDE in a hurt tone; not even the
eentiest teentiest bit of it.
What time will the dinner begin, grandfather? asks WALTER.
About twelve o'clock noon, I expect, GRANDFATHER answers.
And I suppose, says WALTER in a sorrowful voice, that the pudding
will be the last thing of all.
Yes, I suppose so, GRANDFATHER admits.
It will be an awfully long time to wait, says WALTER. And then when
mother begins to help it, Gertrude and I will have to wait and wait
while all the rest of you are helped. It's pretty tiresome waiting
sometimes.
But have you forgotten, Walter? GRANDMOTHER says, reminding
him, You won't have to wait as long as that tomorrow. For tomorrow is
Christmas, and don't you remember, that one of the ways in which
Christmas is different from all the other days in the year, is the way in
which the food is helped out at the Christmas dinner? On other days the
oldest people are helped first, and the youngest ones have to wait: but
at Christmas dinner, the first one to be helped to each thing is the very
youngest one of all, and then comes the next youngest, and so on all the
way round, and the oldest one has to wait till the very last.
Oh, I remember, exclaims GERTRUDE. That was the way we did last
year. Don't you remember, Walter? Walter nods. And last year,
GERTRUDE goes on, I was the youngest and I was helped first to
every single thing. Grandmother, who is the youngest this year?
Why, you are the youngest, answers GRANDMOTHER, just as you
were last Christmas.
But I'm a whole year older than I was then, says GERTRUDE, looking
puzzled.
And so is everybody else, GRANDMOTHER explains.
Really? says GERTRUDE, not quite convinced. So I'm the youngest
still? Will I be helped first to the goose and the apple sauce?
Yes, answers GRANDMOTHER.
And will she be helped first to the pudding, too? asks WALTER
anxiously.
Yes, answers GRANDMOTHER.

Oh, I'm so glad, cries GERTRUDE. Isn't it nice to be the youngest?
Am I the next youngest? asks WALTER.
Yes, GRANDMOTHER answers, and the second helping of everything
will go to you.
Oh, well, that's all right, says WALTER, a good deal relieved. There's
sure to be plenty left. Gertrude couldn't eat it all.
Now there is the sound of someone outside the door, stamping to shake
the snow from his boots.
There's Father, cries GERTRUDE. She and Walter go to the door and
open it. Their father comes in, carrying several good-sized pieces
fire-wood.
How late you are, James, says GRANDFATHER, and how tired you
look.
I am tired, answers FATHER. He lifts the lid of the wood-box, and
throws in the wood with a great clatter. Then, while he takes off his cap
and gloves and muffler, he says: The snow is so deep that it's hard to
walk in it, especially carrying a load as heavy as that wood was. He sits
down.
Children, says GRANDMOTHER, go, tell your mother that father is
here. She'll want to give us supper at once and hurry you both off to
bed.
But when are we to hang up our stockings? asks WALTER.