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