Christmas

Yesterday was Christmas. It started off in the morning with a present from Marmee: a small dove-colored book to guide me through my days to become a better person. All of my sisters received one as well. We began reading them that morning. When Marmee got home she told us of a poor family living not too far away with six children, a newborn baby, and nothing to eat. She asked us if we would mind giving them our breakfast. I was very hungry but of course I helped to carry the food over to the house. The joy on their poor little faces made up for it all!

When we got back we all gave our gifts to Marmee. My gift was a new handkerchief I embroidered myself with the word "Mother". That evening we all put on a play that was a huge success, though we did have a few difficulties. When we came downstairs afterwards there was a huge surprise waiting for us. Marmee told us that Mr. Laurence, who lives next-door to us, heard about our sacrifice this morning and wanted to show how pleased he was, so he sent us an entire table filled with foods of all kinds. There were even two dishes of ice cream! But all this festivity could not take away the fact that Father was not here to share it with us. I do hope he comes home soon.