ired, answers FATHER. He lifts the lid of the wood-box, and
throws in the wood with a great clatter. Then, while he takes off his
cap and gloves and muffler, he says: The snow is so deep that it's
hard to walk in it, especially carrying a load as heavy as that wood
was. He sits down.

Children, says GRANDMOTHER, go, tell your mother that father is
here. She'll want to give us supper at once and hurry you both off to
bed.

But when are we to hang up our stockings? asks WALTER.

We'll do that right after supper, answers FATHER. Run along now,
and tell mother that I'm here. The children go, and FATHER
continues speaking. Is everything all ready for tomorrow? he asks.

Yes, answers GRANDMOTHER, Mary finished everything quite a while
ago. Or almost everything. She didn't get the paper caps made for the
children, but she was just too tired to do it after all the other
work.

I don't wonder, says FATHER. When there is so much to be done, some
things simply have to be left. Perhaps there will be time tomorrow
morning. I'm leaving some things for tomorrow myself. For instance, I
promised Mary I'd sweep out the kitchen here, after I'd brought in the
wood; and it needs it, sure enough, for I see I've tracked in a lot of
dirt. But I'm going to beg off for tonight. I'll do it first thing in
the morning. I only hope that Santa Claus won't notice it, and think
we're an untidy household. But we leave such a dim light in the
kitchen at night, that I don't believe he'll be able to tell whether
the room is broom-clean or not. And any way, I guess he must get tired
himself sometimes. So he'll know how it is, and won't lay it up
against us.

And that is the end of the First Scene.

The Interlude

Again before the Second Scene begins, MOTHER GOOSE comes out in
front of the Curtain, and this is what she says:

Children, do you want to know what has happened in that Kitchen since
the curtain closed? Well, I've come to tell you all about it. The
first thing was that they all had supper; not a very hearty supper,
because they all wanted to save up their appetites for the Christmas
dinner the next day. But they had as much as they needed. And then the
two children went and got their stockings, one for each member of the
family, and then they all hung up their own stockings. Gertrude hung
up her stocking, and Walter hung up his stocking, and Mother hung up
her stocking, and Father hung up his stocking, and Grandmother hung