A Little-House Visit

Honk, honk.

“Come on, Andrew. Mommy is here,” I said.

We ran out of the big house to greet Mommy.

Andrew and I were going to spend the afternoon at the little house with Mommy, Seth, Granny, and Grandad. (Granny and Grandad are Seth’s parents. They were visiting from Nebraska.)

On the way to the little house, we told Mommy the story of the broken angel.

Mommy was glad we were not sad anymore. She reminded us that whenever we have a problem we cannot solve ourselves, we should talk about it with a grown-up we trust.

Before we knew it we had reached the little house. It was all dressed up for Christmas. Lights twinkled and a wreath hung on the door. I could see the Christmas tree through the window. It was smaller than the big-house tree, but very pretty.

“We waited for you and Andrew to trim the tree with us,” said Mommy.

I knew we would not have to worry about an angel. We had bought a beautiful star for the top of the tree the year before.

When I ran inside, I saw presents under the tree. Some of the tags had my name on them!

Then I saw Granny and Grandad. They came out of their room with their arms open wide. Andrew and I ran to them for a fourway hug.

“Merry Christmas!” said Granny.

“Santa delivered my best present one day early,” said Grandad.

“What present is that?” I asked.

“My grandchildren!” Grandad replied.

Just then Seth walked into the kitchen carrying a bag of groceries.

“Hi, kids,” he said. “I am so happy you are here. I just bought chestnuts, popcorn, and eggnog for us.”

We gave Seth hugs.

“Let’s trim the tree with popcorn,” I said.

“Good idea,” said Seth.

Ding-dong. I looked out the window. Nancy was standing on the stoop. She was holding a silver cookie tin and a package wrapped with red paper and green ribbon.

“Merry Christmas,” said Nancy when I opened the door.

“Come in,” I said.

“The cookies are for your whole family,” said Nancy. “The present is for you. Do you want to open it now?”

“Sure!” I replied.

I tore off the ribbon and paper. Inside was a beautiful book. The book was like a photo album with pockets to keep pictures in.

“This is so cool!” I said. “Thank you.”

“Hello, Nancy,” said Mommy. “Would you like to stay and help us trim the tree?”

“Yes,” replied Nancy. “I just have to call my house to see if it is okay.”

Nancy’s mommy said she could stay. So we spent the afternoon eating chestnuts, drinking eggnog, and trimming the tree. We strung some of the popcorn and hung it on the branches. We ate the rest.

We hung almost all the ornaments. We saved the star for last. Seth stepped on a ladder and put it at the top.

“Everyone stand in front of the tree so I can take your picture,” he said.

The six of us stood together and said, “Cheese!”

“I will put this picture in my new book,” I said.

The afternoon was so much fun. But it went too fast. Before I knew it, we were saying our good-byes and heading back to the big house.

“Merry Christmas, kids,” said Mommy when she dropped us off. “I love you!”