NOVEMBER 25: Thanksgiving Day
It was a holiday and it was Thanksgiving Day. From the moment Melly got up she felt in a “holiday” spirit, she said. And everything and every one seemed to feel the same way too.
First she went in quite early in the morning to see her mother who was sitting up in bed, waiting for her little visitor.
Her mother was wearing a dear little blue jacket and a blue cap and was looking so pretty.
She had a nice little chat with her mother and then she went back into her own room to get dressed.
Yes, every one in the house seemed to act and feel as though the day was a holiday as it most certainly was.
And oh, such a Thanksgiving dinner as they had.
First they had corn soup and then they had turkey and many vegetables and then they had apple and celery salad. Next they had two pies to choose from, or to take a piece from each, and they had ice-cream too, and every kind of a nut and piece of fruit was in the fruit dish.
In the center of the table was a little bit of a pumpkin. It was a real pumpkin but it was very, very small.
On top of the pumpkin Melly’s mother had put some tiny carrots and baby potatoes and some little snowberries from the snowberry bush.
They did make the table look so gay and pretty. After dinner Melly and her family played the good old game of “stagecoach.” You know the game?
The different people in the room who are playing the game take the names of the people supposed to be in the stagecoach, such as the driver, the little boy traveler and his mother and so on.
Every time the word stage-coach is mentioned each person playing the game must get up and turn around and the last person who sits down when doing this goes on with the story-telling.
Of course the one who is telling the story must tell all of the trip this imaginary stage-coach took.
And of course the names of all the characters must be mentioned often, for every time a character is mentioned that one who is taking the part of the character must get up and turn around.
So Melly and her family played this in the afternoon.
And when it became dark they lighted the lights and the fire was poked up so that it blazed most beautifully.
They had supper in front of the fire and though each one had said he couldn’t possibly eat another thing after such a dinner, they all managed to eat something.
And when Melly went to bed that night she said: “I believe in Thanksgiving Day! And I have so much to be so thankful for! More, I’m sure, than anybody else has.”