time--for it's only sour, cross folks who are thin and skimpy. Quick as
a wink, he pulled off his little peaked red cap, smiled the broadest
kind of a smile, and said, "Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Come in!
Come in!"

So in went Little Girl, holding fast to Little Man's hand, and when she
was really inside there was the jolliest, reddest fire all glowing and
snapping, and there were Little Man and all his brothers and sisters,
who said their names were "Merry Christmas," and "Good Cheer," and ever
so many other jolly-sounding things, and there were such a lot of them
that Little Girl just knew she never could count them, no matter how
long she tried.

All around her were bundles and boxes and piles of toys and games, and
Little Girl knew that these were all ready and waiting to be loaded
into Santa's big sleigh for his reindeer to whirl them away over
cloudtops and snowdrifts to the little people down below who had left
their stockings all ready for him. Pretty soon all the little Good
Cheer Brothers began to hurry and bustle and carry out the bundles as
fast as they could to the steps where Little Girl could hear the
jingling bells and the stamping of hoofs. So Little Girl picked up some
bundles and skipped along too, for she wanted to help a bit
herself--it's no fun whatever at Christmas unless you can help, you
know--and there in the yard stood the BIGGEST sleigh that Little Girl
had ever seen, and the reindeer were all stamping and prancing and
jingling the bells on their harnesses, because they were so eager to be
on their way to the Earth once more.

She could hardly wait for Santa to come, and just as she had begun to
wonder where he was, the door opened again and out came a whole forest