John Larrysson Column: Summer Story Chapter 4 Part 9 - Santa Claus Only Gives Presents to Children
文章日期:2016年8月31日

Her father and Uncle Peter each had a pair of new, warm mittens, knit in little squares of red and white. Her mother and Aunt Eliza had made them.

Aunt Eliza had brought Laura's mother a large red apple stuck full of cloves. How good it smelled! And it would not spoil, for so many cloves would keep it good and sweet.

Laura's Mother gave Aunt Eliza a little needle-book she had made, with bits of silk for covers and soft white cloth pages into which to stick the needles. The cloth would keep the needles from rusting. They all admired mother's beautiful shelf and Aunt Eliza said that Uncle Peter had made one for her - of course, with different pictures cut into them.

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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. Her father and mother were good. It was because they were grown up and grown people must give each other presents.

Then all the presents must be put away for a little while. Her cousin Peter went out with her father and Uncle Peter to do the house work. Alice and Ella helped Aunt Eliza make the beds. Laura and Mary set all the plates and cups and knifes and spoons and forks on the table, while her mother got breakfast.

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The original old English Christmas was a pagan (non-Christian) holiday, with its name changed. About 400 years ago in England there were strict Christians called Puritans. They believed in Christianity from the Bible and not what priests said. Puritans read the Bible for themselves. The Puritans ruled England in the mid-seventeenth century, under the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. They passed a law against Christmas. Many of the Englishmen to first immigrate to the American colonies were Puritans. So in early America many Christians did not celebrate Christmas, unless they had children. The early American Christmas celebrations in families like Laura's were a simple family party. Christmas was not the big shopping holiday it is today.

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The Little House in the Big Woods

Chapter 1 - Part 1: Introduction

Chapter 1 - Part 2: Wolves in the Night

Chapter 1 - Part 3: Venison

Chapter 1 - Part 4: Smoked Meat

Chapter 1 - Part 5: Food for Winter

Chapter 1 - Part 6: Butchering Time

Chapter 1 - Part 7: After Butchering Time

Chapter 1 - Part 8: Winter

Chapter 1 - Part 9: Winter Night

Chapter 1 - Part 10: About the Author & Where to Find the Book

Chapter 2 - Part 1: Winter Days and Winter Nights

Chapter 2 - Part 2: Jack Frost

Chapter 2 - Part 3: Laura and Mary Helped Mother with the Housework

Chapter 2 - Part 4: Churn on Thursday

Chapter 2 - Part 5: The Best Time of All

Chapter 2 - Part 6: Her Father Began to Play his Fiddle and Sing

Chapter 2 - Part 7: Father Told Stories

Chapter 2 - Part 8 - The Story of Grandfather and the Panther

Chapter 3 - Part 1: Introduction (The Long Rifle)

Chapter 3 - Part 2: Making Bullets

Chapter 3 - Part 3: Cleaning the Gun

Chapter 3 - Part 4: Loading the Gun

Chapter 3 - Part 5: Where and Why to Keep a Gun

Chapter 3 - Part 6: The Story of her Father and the Voice in the Forest Part 1

Chapter 3 - Part 7: The Story of her Father and the Voice in the Forest Part 2

Chapter 4 - Part 1: Christmas in the Forest

Chapter 4 - Part 2: Making a Gift for his Wife

Chapter 4 - Part 3: Christmas is Coming

Chapter 4 - Part 4: Children Make Pictures in the Snow

Chapter 4 - Part 5: Prince & the Blue Dress (part 1 of 3)

Chapter 4 - Part 6: Prince & the Blue Dress (part 2 of 3)

Chapter 4 - Part 7: Prince & the Blue Dress (part 3 of 3)

Chapter 4 - Part 8: Christmas Morning

Chapter 4 - Part 9: Santa Claus Only Gives Presents to Children

Chapter 4 - Part 10: Breakfast, Dinner and Goodbye

 

by John Larrysson

[email protected]

A native English speaker who has been teaching practical English in Hong Kong for over two decades.

NOTE: This summer story will be published every Wednesday.

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