after the last bit of glory has faded from the autumn woods and the first snowfall comes to cover the tired fields, green valley, all snugly housed and winter proof, settles down to solid comfort and careful preparation for the two great winter festivals—thanksgiving and christmas.
the question of whether the thanksgiving dinner is to be eaten at home or whether "we're going away for thanksgiving" has in all probability been settled long ago. for in green valley thanksgiving invitations begin to be exchanged and sent out to distant parts as early as july. that is, of course, if the matter of who's to go where had not already been settled the thanksgiving before. in some families the last rite of each thanksgiving feast is to discuss this question and settle it then and there for the following year. conservative and clannish families who live far enough apart so that little quarrels can not be born among them to upset this fixed yearly programme usually do this.
the greater part of green valley however leaves itself absolutely free until some time in august. by that time though, the heat is so intense that stout, collarless men in shirt sleeves, in searching about for some relief, think gratefully of thanksgiving and snowdrifts and ask their wives whom they are planning to have for thanksgiving.
"why," may be the answer, "i hadn't thought of it yet. but i rather think aunt eleanor expects us this year."
"well," answers the husband, "all right. only if you decide to go, don't forget to take along some of your own pumpkin pies. your aunt eleanor's never quite suit me. i like considerable ginger in my pumpkin pies."
another husband may say, "no, sir! not on your life are we going to jim's for thanksgiving. that wife of his is much too young to know how to make just the right kind of turkey dressing. and i'm too old to take chances on things like that now. those pretty brides are apt to get so excited over their lace table doilies that they forget to put in the sage or onions and there you are—one whole thanksgiving day and a turkey spoiled forever. no, sir—count me out!"
sometimes wives say, "we've been invited to three places, jemmy, but let's stay home. when we go out i always get white meat and i hate it. and i like my cranberries hulls and all instead of just jell."
it is just such little human likes and notions that finally decide the matter. and so it was this year.
sam bobbins' eldest sister was having sam and his wife "because sam's spent so much money for his fighting roosters that he ain't got money for a thanksgiving turkey."
dolly beatty's mother was having charlie peters for thanksgiving dinner and all the immediate relatives to pass judgment on him. he had proposed and dolly had accepted but no announcement was to be made until all the beattys and dundrys had had their say.
frank burton and jenny were going by train to jennie's rich and haughty and painfully religious aunt in cedar point. all jennie's sisters, even the one from vermont, were to be there and jennie did want to go to visit with the girls. she and frank had never been invited to any semi-religious festival by this aunt, owing to frank's atheistic tendencies.
but the haughty and religious dame had heard rumors and was curious.
"i'll go for your sake, jennie. but she'll be disappointed. maybe i'd better shave my mustache so's to let her see some change in me."
of course everybody who had a grandmother in the country was going to grandma's and early thanksgiving morning teams were arriving for the various batches of grandchildren.
that was the only fault one could find with a green valley thanksgiving—that so many went away to spend the day.
but with christmas it was different. christmas in green valley was a home day. the town was full of visitors and sleigh bells and merry calls and walking couples. everybody was waving christmas presents or wearing them. for green valley believed in christmas presents. not the kind that make people he awake nights hating christmas and that call for "do your shopping early" signs. but the old-fashioned kind of presents that are not stained with hate or worry or debt.
the giving of christmas presents was the pleasantest kind of a game in green valley. of course everybody knew everybody's needs so well that weeks before the gifts, wrapped in tissue paper, lay waiting in a trunk up in the attic. and as a general thing everybody was happy over what they got. no present cost much money but oh, what a world of thought and love and fun went into it. nor was it hard for green valley folks to decide what to give.
when dell parsons saw her dearest friend admiring her asparagus fern she divided it in the fall and tended it carefully and sent it to nan turner on christmas morning.
when folks found out that some time next spring alice sears might have a baby to dress they sent her ever so many lovely, soft little things so she would not have to worry or grieve because her first baby could not have its share of pretties.
as soon as green valley knew that jocelyn brownlee was engaged it sent her a tried and true poor-man's-wife cookbook, big gingham aprons, holders to keep her from burning her hands and samples of their best jellies, pickles and preserves.
and such a time as green valley grandmothers had weaving, knitting and crocheting beautiful rag rugs to match blue and white bathrooms, yellow and green kitchens, pink and cream bedrooms. and every year there was a large crop of home knitted mittens that green valley girls and boys wore with pride and comfort. no city pair of gloves ever equaled grandma's knitted ones that went very nearly to the elbow and were the only thing for skating and coasting.
christmas was the time too when dreams came true. fanny foster knew this when christmas morning she opened a parcel and found a beautiful silk petticoat. no card came with it but fanny knew.
hen tomlins had a baby boy for his best christmas gift. agnes had always opposed all talk of adopting a baby, but this year that was her gift to hen. and they were all happy about it.
of course, even in green valley a certain amount of foolishness prevailed. everybody smiled when a week before christmas jessie williams said she had all her presents ready but arthur's; that she was waiting for the next pay day to get his; that she believed she'd get him a new pink silk lamp shade but she knew beforehand he wouldn't be pleased and would only say that he wished to heaven she'd let him have the money.
lutie barlow was badly disappointed with the hundred and fifty dollar victrola her husband bought her. she said she wanted a red cow to match her rhode island reds.
perhaps no one in green valley was so generously remembered as the young minister. but though every one of the many gifts that came pleased him he was strangely unhappy and restless. invitations as usual had poured in on him but he had chosen to spend the day with grandma wentworth. and yet, though he was glad to be with her, his thoughts strayed off to a certain gray day in the fall when he ran down a hill with a girl's hand in his. he remembered the surge of joy that had rushed through him when he got her safely into his storm-proof house and banged shut the door on the stormy world without.
he thought of the hour they spent in silence before the fire that roared exultantly as the storm tore with angry fingers at the doors and windows. that, he now felt, was the most perfect hour of his life.
his mind was struggling to understand these memories, these strange new emotions. he had a queer feeling that something wonderful was waiting just outside his reach, something was waiting for his recognition.
he was standing in grandma wentworth's dining room, looking out the window at the winter landscape. grandma was in the kitchen seeing to the dinner, for she was to have quite a party—roger and david, mrs. brownlee and jocelyn, cynthia's son and his man timothy.
idly cynthia's son watched the rest of the party coming through the little path that led to grandma's door. he saw them all plainly through the curtains and plants that screened him. jocelyn and david came last. david made a great to-do about stamping the snow off his feet, taking pains to stand between jocelyn and the door. then, just as jocelyn was about to slip past him, the minister saw david reach out and sweep the girl into his arms. and cynthia's son could not help but see the glory in the boy's eyes as the girl's wild-rose face turned up to meet her lover's kiss.
for blind seconds john roger churchill knight crashed through space. and then the next minute he was living in a shining world that was all roses and skylarks and dew. he laughed, for all at once he knew what ailed him; he knew that the wonderful, tantalizing something that had so steadily eluded him, tormented him was—just nan, the girl of the gray day, the log fire and the storm.
he was the maddest, gladdest man in all green valley that day until he remembered that he had sent nan no gift, not even a greeting or a word of thanks for the beautiful collie dog she had sent him. he stood in horrified amazement at his stupidity. jocelyn had been showing them her new ring. and nan, his sweetheart, had not even a christmas card.
cynthia's son went to the telephone but even as he raised the receiver he somehow guessed what the answer would be.
nan's father answered.
"why, john, she left on that 1:10 for scranton, pennsylvania. it's the first fool thing i have ever known her to do. stayed right here till she'd given us our christmas gifts and dinner and then off she went to see this old aunt in scranton. why, yes—you can send a telegram. she'll get it when she arrives."
so it happened that when a tired, homesick, wretched girl reached her aunt's house in scranton, pennsylvania, she found the one gift for which her heart had cried all that long, long christmas day. it was just a bit of yellow paper that said:
"oh gray day girl don't stay too long the
fire is singing your chair is waiting and i have
so much to tell you come home and forgive."
