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Pa hadit carefully against the log wall between the s, and Ma stood her little china woman on the shelf

The little china woainst her china neck Her china dress was laced across in front, and she wore a pale pink china apron and little gilt china shoes She was beautiful, standing on the shelf with flowers and leaves and birds and e star at the very top

Ma was busy all day long, cooking good things for Christ bread and rye ’n Injun bread, and Swedish crackers, and a huge pan of baked beans, with salt pork and ar pies and dried-apple pies, and filled a big jar with cookies, and she let Laura and Mary lick the cake spoon

One ether until they ht in two pans of clean, white snow from outdoors Laura and Mary each had a pan, and Pa and Ma showed them how to pour the dark syrup in little streams on to the snow

They s, and these hardened at once and were candy Laura and Mary ht eat one piece each, but the rest was saved for Christmas Day

All this was done because Aunt Eliza and Uncle Peter and the cousins, Peter and Alice and Ella, were co to spend Christmas

The day before Christh bells, growing louder everybobsled caate Aunt Eliza and Uncle Peter and the cousins were in it, all covered up, under blankets and robes and buffalo skins

They rapped up in so many coats and , shapeless bundles

When they all ca over Black Susan ran out and hid in the barn, but Jack leaped in circles through the snow, barking as though he would never stop Now there were cousins to play with!

As soon as Aunt Eliza had unwrapped thean to run and shout At last Aunt Eliza told them to be quiet Then Alice said:

“I’ll tell you what let’s do Let’s make pictures”

Alice said they ht it was too cold for Laura to play outdoors But when she sa disappointed Laura was, she said she o, after all, for a little while She put on Laura’s coat and mittens and the warm cape with the hood, and wrapped a o

Laura had never had soshe played outdoors in the snoith Alice and Ella and Peter and Mary,pictures The way they did it was this:

Each one by herself cli their arms out wide, they fell off the stumps into the soft, deep snow They fell flat on their faces Then they tried to get up without spoiling the marks they made when they fell If they did it well, there in the snoere five holes, shaped als and all They called these their pictures

They played so hard all day that when night came they were too excited to sleep But theytheir stockings by the fireplace, and said their prayers, and went to bed—Alice and Ella and Mary and Laura all in one big bed on the floor