Christmas Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

[Music]

christmas

christmas was coming the little log

house was almost

buried in snow great drifts were banked

against the walls and windows

and in the morning when paul opened the

door there was a wall of snow

as high as laura’s head paw took the

shovel

and shoveled it away and then he

shoveled a path to the barn

where the horses and the cows were snug

and warm in their stalls

the days were clear and bright laura

and mary stood on chairs by the window

and looked out across the glittering

snow

at the glittering trees snow was piled

all along their bare dark branches

and it sparkled in the sunshine icicles

hung from the eaves of the house to the

snow banks

great icicles as large at the top

as laura’s arm they were like

glass and full of sharp lights

paw’s breath hung in the air like smoke

when he came along the path from the

barn

he breathed it out in clouds and it

froze in

white frost on his mustache and beard

when he came in stamping the snow from

his boots

and caught laura up in a bears hug

against his cold

big coat his mustache was beaded with

little drops of melting frost

every night he was busy working on a

large piece of board

and two small pieces he whittled them

with his knife

he rubbed them with sandpaper and with

the palm of his hand

until when laura touched them they felt

soft

and smooth as silk

then with his sharp jackknife he worked

at them

cutting the edges of the large one into

little peaks and towers

with a large star carved on the very

tallest point

he cut little holes through the wood

he cut the holes and shapes of windows

and little stars and crescent moons and

circles

all around them he carved tiny leaves

and flowers and birds one of the little

boards

he shaped in a lovely curve and around

its edges

he carved leaves and flowers and stars

and through it he cut crescent moons and

curly cues

around the edges of the smallest board

he carved a tiny

flowering vine he made the tiniest

shavings cutting very slowly and

carefully

making whatever he thought would be

pretty

at last he had the pieces finished

and one night he fitted them together

when this was done

the large piece was a beautifully carved

back

for a smooth little shelf across its

middle

the large star was at the very top of it

the curved piece supported the shelf

underneath

and it was carved beautifully too and

the little vine

ran around the edge of the shelf

paw had made this bracket for a

christmas present for ma

he hung it carefully against the log

wall between the windows

and ma stood her little china woman

on the shelf the little china woman

had a china bonnet on her head and china

curls

hung against her china neck her china

dress

was laced across in front and she wore a

pale

pink china apron and little guilt china

shoes

she was beautiful standing on the shelf

with flowers and leaves and

birds and moons carved all around her

and the large star at the very top

maul was busy all day long cooking good

things for christmas

she baked salt rising bread and rye

and ingen bread and swedish crackers

and a huge pan of baked beans with salt

pork and molasses

she baked vinegar pies and dried apple

pies

and filled a big jar with cookies and

she let laura

and mary lick the cake spoon

one morning she boiled molasses and

sugar together

until they made a thick syrup and paul

brought 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 into little streams onto the snow

they made circles and curly cues and

squiggledy things

and these hardened at once and were

candy

laura and mary might 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 coming to spend christmas

the day before christmas they came laura

and mary heard the gay ringing of sleigh

bells growing louder every moment

and then the big bobsled came out of the

woods and drove up to the gate

aunt eliza and uncle peter and the

cousins were in it

all covered up under blankets and robes

and buffalo skins

they were wrapped up in so many coats

and mufflers and veils and shawls that

they look like big

shapeless bundles when they all came in

the little house was full and running

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 them

peter and

alice and ella and laura and mary began

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 must

go outdoors to do it

and ma thought it was too cold for laura

to play outdoors

but when she saw how disappointed laura

was

she said she might go after all for a

little while

she put on laura’s coat and mittens and

the warm cape with the hood

and wrapped a muffler around her neck

and let her go

laura had never had so much fun

all morning she played outdoors in the

snow with alice

and ella and peter and mary

making pictures the way they did it was

this

each one by herself climbed up on a

stump

and then all at once holding 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 snow

were five

holes shaped almost exactly like four

little girls and a boy

arms and legs and all they called these

their pictures they played so hard

all day that when night came they were

too excited to sleep

but they must sleep or santa claus would

not come

so they hung their 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

peter had the trundle bed and eliza

and uncle peter were going to sleep in

the big bed

and another bed was made on the attic

floor for paw

and ma the buffalo robes and all the

blankets had been brought in from uncle

peter’s sled so there were enough

covers for everybody paw

and ma and aunt eliza and uncle peter

sat by the fire talking

and just as laura was drifting off to

sleep

she heard uncle peter say eliza had a

narrow squeak the

other day when i was away at lake city

you know prince that big dog of mine

laura was wide awake at once she always

liked to hear about

dogs she lay still as a mouse

and looked at the fire light flickering

on the log walls

and listened to uncle peter well

uncle peter said early in the morning

eliza started to the spring to get a

pail of water and prince was following

her

she got to the edge of the ravine where

the path goes down to the spring

and all of a sudden prince set his teeth

in the back of her skirt and pulled

you know what a big dog he is eliza

scolded him

but he wouldn’t let go and he’s so big

and strong

she couldn’t get away from him he kept

backing and pulling till he tore

a piece out of her skirt it was my

blueprint

and eliza said to ma dear me

ma said he tore a big piece

right out of the back of it and eliza

said

i was so mad i could have whipped him

for it

but he growled at me prince growled at

you

pau said yes said antoliza

so then she started on again toward the

spring

uncle peter went on but prince jumped

into the path ahead of her and snarled

at her

he paid no attention to her talking and

scolding he just kept on

showing his teeth and snarling and when

she tried to get past him

he kept in front of her and snapped at

her that scared her

i should think it would ma said

he was so savage i thought he was going

to bite me

said antoliza i believe he would have

i never heard of such a thing said ma

what on earth did you do

i turned right around and ran into the

house where the children were and

slammed the door

aunt eliza answered of course prince was

savage with strangers

said uncle peter but he was always so

kind to allies and the children i felt

perfectly safe to leave them with him

eliza couldn’t understand it at all

after she got into the house he kept

pacing around it and growling

every time she started to open the door

he jumped at her and snarled

had he gone mad said ma that’s what i

thought

and eliza said i didn’t know what to do

there i was shut up in the house with

the children and not

daring to go out and we didn’t have any

water i couldn’t even get any snow to

melt

every time i opened the door so much as

a crack prince acted like he would tear

me to pieces

how long did this go on paul asked

all day till late in the afternoon and

eliza said

peter had taken the gun or i would have

shot him

a long late in the afternoon uncle peter

said

he got quiet and laid down in front of

the door

eliza thought he was asleep and she made

up her mind to try to slip

past him and get to the spring for some

water

so she opened the door very quietly but

of course he woke up right away

when he saw she had the water pail in

her hand

he got up and walked ahead of her to the

spring just the same as usual

and there all around the spring in the

snow

were the fresh tracks of a panther

the tracks were as big as my hand said

antoliza yes uncle peter said

he was a big fellow his tracks were the

biggest i

ever saw he would have got eliza sure

if prince had let her go to the spring

in the morning

i saw the tracks he had been lying up in

that big oak over the spring

waiting for some animal to come there

for water

undoubtedly he would have dropped down

on her

night was coming on when she saw the

tracks and she didn’t waste any time

getting back to the house

with her pail of water prince followed

close behind her looking back into the

ravine now and then

i took him into the house with me and

eliza said

and we all stayed inside till peter came

home

did you get him pau asked uncle peter

no uncle peter said i took my gun

and hunted all around the place but i

couldn’t find him

i saw some more of his tracks he’d gone

on north

farther into the big woods alice

and ella and mary were all wide awake

now

and laura put her head under the covers

and whispered to alice

my weren’t you scared alice whispered

back that she was scared

but ella was scared her and ella

whispered that she wasn’t either any

such thing

well anyway you made more fuss about

being thirsty

alice whispered they lay there

whispering about it till ma

said charles those children never will

get to sleep unless you play for them

so paw got his fiddle the room was still

and warm and full of fire light mars

shadow

and antalyzers and uncle peters were

big and quivering on the walls in the

flickering fire light

and paws fiddle sang merrily to itself

it sang

money musk and the red heifer

the devil’s dream and arkansas traveler

and laura went to sleep while paw and

the fiddle were both softly singing

oh my darling nelly gray they have

taken you away and i’ll never

see my darling anymore

[Music]

in the morning they all woke up almost

at the same moment

they looked at their stockings and

something was in them

santa claus had been there alice

and ella and laura in their red flannel

nightgowns

and peter in his red flannel night shirt

all ran

shouting to see what he had brought

in each stocking there was a pair of

bright red

mittens and there was a long flat stick

of red

and white striped peppermint candy all

beautifully notched along each side

they were all so happy they could hardly

speak at first they just

looked with shining eyes at those lovely

christmas presents

but laura was happiest of all

laura had a rag doll

she was a beautiful doll

she had a face of white cloth with black

button eyes

a black pencil had made her eyebrows

and her cheeks and her mouth were red

with the ink made from

pokeberries her hair was black yarn that

had been knitted and raveled

so that it was curly she had little red

flannel stockings

and little black cloth gators for shoes

and her dress was pretty pink and blue

calico

she was so beautiful that laura

could not say a word she just held her

tight and forgot

everything else she did not know that

everyone was looking at her until aunt

eliza said

did you ever see such big eyes

the other girls were not jealous because

laura had mittens and candy

and a doll because laura was the

littlest girl

except baby carrie and aunt eliza’s

little baby

dolly varden the babies were too small

for dolls

they were so small they did not even

know about santa claus

they just put their fingers in their

mouths and wriggled because of all of

the excitement

laura sat down on the edge of the bed

and held her doll

she loved her red mittens and she loved

the candy

but she loved her doll best of all

she named her charlotte then they all

looked at each other’s mittens and tried

on their own

and peter bit a large piece out of his

stick of candy

but alice and ella and mary and laura

licked theirs to make it last

longer well well uncle peter said

isn’t there even one stocking with

nothing but a switch in it

my my have you all been such good

children

but they didn’t believe that santa claus

could really have given any of them

nothing but a switch

that happened to some children but it

couldn’t happen to them

it was so hard to be good all the time

every day for a whole year you mustn’t

tease the children peter

and eliza said ma said

laura aren’t you going to let the other

girls hold your doll

she meant little girls must not be so

selfish

so laura let mary take the beautiful

doll

and then alice held her a minute and

then ella

they smoothed the pretty dress and

admired the red flannel stockings and

the gators and the curly woolen hair

but lara was glad when at last charlotte

was safe in her

arms again paw and uncle peter

had each a pair of new warm mittens knit

in little squares of red and white

ma and aunt eliza had made them

aunt eliza had brought ma a large red

apple

stuck full of cloves how good it smelled

and it would not spoil for so many

cloves

would keep it sound and sweet ma gave

antaliza

a little needle book she had made with

bits of

silk for covers and soft white flannel

leaves into which to stick the needles

the flannel would keep the needles from

rusting

they all admired ma’s beautiful bracket

and aunt eliza said that uncle peter had

made one for her

of course with different carving santa

claus had not given them anything at

all santa claus did not give grown

people presents

but that was not because they had not

been good

paw and ma were good it was because they

were grown up

and grown people must give each other

presents

then all the presents must be laid away

for a little while

peter went out with paul and uncle peter

to do the chores

and alice and ella helped aunt eliza

make the beds

and laura and mary set the table while

ma got breakfast

for breakfast there were pancakes and

mom made a pancake

man for each one of the children ma

called each one in turn to bring her

plate

and each could stand by the stove and

watch while with the spoonful of batter

ma put on the arms and the legs and the

head

it was exciting to watch her turn the

whole little man over

quickly and carefully on a hot griddle

when it was done

she put it smoking hot on the plate

peter ate the head off his man right

away

but alice and ella and mary and laura

ate there slowly in little bits

first the arms and legs and then the

middle

saving the head for last

today the weather was so cold that they

could not play outdoors but there were

the new mittens to admire

and the candy to lick and they all sat

on the floor together

and looked at the pictures in the bible

and the pictures of

all kinds of animals and birds in paw’s

big green

book laura kept charlotte in her arms

the whole time

then there was the christmas dinner

alice and ella and peter and mary and

laura did not say a word at table

for they knew that children should be

seen and not heard

but they did not need to ask for second

helpings

ma and aunt eliza kept their plates full

and let them eat

all the good things they could hold

christmas comes but once a year

said aunt eliza dinner was early

because aunt eliza uncle peter and the

cousins had such a long way to go

best the horses can do uncle peter said

we’ll hardly make it home before dark

so as soon as they had eaten dinner

uncle peter and paul

went to put the horses to the sled while

ma and aunt eliza

wrapped up the cousins they pulled

heavy woolen stockings over the woolen

stockings in the shoes they were already

wearing

they put on mittens and coats and warm

hoods and shawls

and wrapped mufflers around their necks

and thick woolen veils over their faces

ma slipped piping hot baked potatoes

into their pockets to keep their fingers

warm

and antalyzer’s flat irons were hot on

the stove

ready to put at their feet in the sled

the blankets and the quilts

and the buffalo robes were warmed too

so they all got into the big bobsled

cozy and warm

and pot tucked the last robe well in

around them

goodbye goodbye they called and off they

went the horses trotting gaily and the

sleigh bells ringing

in just a little while the merry sound

of the bells was gone

and christmas was over but what a happy

christmas it had been

you