inter, ten of them were coming to spend Christmas with the real Blairs,
and, as five of them were between fourteen and twelve, the ages of
Mildred and Jack, and some more about nine, like Brownie, they were all
planning to have the very nicest sort of a time, and everybody was as
excited as could be.

Christmas was only two days away, when, suddenly, it began to snow. And
how it snowed! The flakes came down steadily hour after hour, and soon
the sidewalks were covered, and the steps were buried, and the piles of
snow almost covered the gate. Everybody said that all the trains were
delayed; and it was not long before the little Blairs began to whisper,
"Whatever shall we do if they can't get here in time for Christmas?"
Mother Blair guessed what the trouble was, and said cheerfully that, of
course, the snow would stop falling before long, and the trains would
be on time in the morning.

"And a beautiful white Christmas is the loveliest thing in the world,"
she added. But the children looked out of the window and were afraid,
deep down in their hearts, that something dreadful might happen.

"If we only had something nice to do right now," groaned Jack, "so we
could forget the snow. But we can't trim the tree till everybody comes
to help, and the presents are all tied up, and there isn't anything
Christmasy to do that _I_ can think of."

"Why not cook?" suggested Mother Blair, "There are lots of things to
make--Christmas things, you know."

Mildred began to brighten up. "If we could cook things all alone, I'd
like that," she said.

"Boys don't cook," Jack said scornfully, still looking out of the
window.

"Boys make pop-corn, though," laughed his mother. "And then suppose you
make that up into nice balls, and have them all ready when the cousins
come. And, Mildred, I think Norah would give you and Brownie one corner
of the kitchen, and let you cook all by yourselves."

So Jack took the corn-popper and went down to the furnace, and when he
opened the door, he found a great bed of red coals waiting for him; and
Mildred and Brownie put on their big gingham aprons and went out into
the kitchen.

[Illustration: The Christmas cakes]

Underneath the large table was a smaller one; this Mother Blair pulled
out and pushed across the room to an empty place. Then she wrote out
very plainly a little receipt, and under this she explained exactly how
to put things together; this she pinned on the wall over the table.
"There!