Written for Will, Nate, Charlie, Lucy, Max, Dean, Brooks,
and all boys and girls of every age
By Bailey Herrington
At one time or another, there lived someplace nearby - or perhaps it was far away- a young boy and his sister. They lived in a house with their mother and father, and a mouse named Marquis de Lafayette. But they never saw the Marquis de Lafayette. He came from his mouse house somewhere in the house - no one could tell where - only after the brother and sister and mother and father were asleep.
Oh, I almost forgot. The boy’s name was Mary and his sister’s name was Lawrence. Or was it the other way around? Perhaps it was. The other way round, I mean. Their mother’s name was Grace, and their father was Luke.
Have I mentioned that it was Christmas time? You say I haven’t? Goodness, how could I forget it was Christmas morning? In fact, it was very early Christmas morning.
Mother and Father were sleeping. But not Mary and Lawrence. They were what you would call jumpy-excited, which is lots more excited than just plain old vanilla - excited. They were jumpy-excited because - well, you know why, don’t you? Of course you know. CHRISTMAS MORNING!
Mary and Lawrence sneaked down the hall to their parent’s bedroom door. They weren’t even close to the door when they heard a kind of snorting, roaring sound coming from behind the door. Ordinarily such a noise would have scared them. Goodness, it would have scared even Marquis de Lafayette, and that is saying something, for the Marquis is an exceedingly brave mouse.
But it didn’t frighten Lawrence and Mary. They had heard this sound before. It was the sound of . . . would you like to guess what the sound was? You’re right! It was their father snoring.
Now this was not good. You see, it was the Christmas-morning custom in their family that Mary and Lawrence must stay upstairs until their father went down and turned on all the lights on the tree, and the electric candles in the windows.
What to do? Their father and mother were still sleeping, and it was already six o’clock in the morning! It was getting late, you see. Mary and Lawrence tip-toed back to Lawrence’s bedroom.
Mary sulked, which means she stuck out her lower lip. Oh, she stuck it out very far, so far that if a bird had been in the room it would have had room to perch on her lip. But Lawrence did not waste time sulking. Oh, no. Lawrence thought. And he thought. And he thought some more. And suddenly, Lawrence thought of a plan. A plan to wake up their mother and father. Mary said it was the best-est plan in the world.
Mary and Lawrence shoved and pushed and tugged their toy box down the hall to the top of the stairs. With one last grunting, groaning push, they toppled the toy box down the stairs! Oh, my! What a racket! What a clattering, smashing racket!
What do you think? Did their plan work? Did their mother and father wake up? Yes, you’re right again! What clever children you are! At first mother and father were frightened. Then they were a tiny bit annoyed. Then they laughed.
Naturally, Mary and Lawrence picked up all the toys and put the toy box back in its proper place.
Luke turned on the Christmas tree lights and the electric candles in the windows. Mary and Lawrence came down stairs with their mother. And, oh my, there were lots of presents under and around the tree! And every one of them was wrapped in beautiful paper, and every one of them had a beautiful ribbon in a color that was just perfect for the color of the paper. Oh, let me tell you, some of the gifts were really big, some were medium-sized, and a few were rather small, but every one of them sparkled in the Christmas tree lights.
Then something very unusual happened, although the Marquis de Lafayette could tell you it was all very normal, very usual for Christmas day in that house. Here’s what happened.
Mary and Lawrence and Grace and Luke put on their coats and hats and gloves and boots, because it was cold, and snowing. They picked up the packages so lovely and carried them to the garage and put them oh so carefully, so gently, into the trunk of the cat.. When every gift was packed in the car (there were so many that Mary and Lawrence and their mother had to hold three or four on their laps on top of their seat belts), Luke drove away from their house. The tires made a chewy-crunchy sound as they rolled over the snow.
The car-full of Christmas gifts traveled not far, but not near either, into the city, into the middle of the city, up to the door of a place with a sign out front that read, “All Are Welcome House.”
Inside were many people, grown-ups and kids, and most of them looked different from Grace and Luke and Mary and Lawrence. Their clothing was different, and their words sounded different, too. But when you really looked with your heart and not just your eyes, and when you heard with your heart and not just your ears, you knew they were just like Grace and Luke and Mary and Lawrence.
Then Mary and Lawrence helped their mother and father bring all the lovely packages into the All Are Welcome House.
And then - and this was what had made Mary and Lawrence so jumpy-excited - they watched and listened to the grown-ups and kids laughing and crying as they tore off the wrapping paper and opened the gifts. And all the people at the All Are Welcome House said in their own languages “thank you” and “it’s just what I need” and “how did you ever guess I wished for this gift?” “This is a miracle!” and lots more things like that.
Then Grace and Luke and Mary and Lawrence hugged and kissed every grown-up and every kid (even the ones with runny noses) and got back in the car and drove home. On the way they sang some carols: Good King Wenceslaus, Jingle Bells, Away in a Manger, The First Noel, and finished with Silent Night. And they said to one another, as they did every Christmas, “this is the best-est Christmas ever!”
And do you know what? It was.
A Joyous and Blessed Holiday Season to you all as you celebrate your own special festival in your own best-est way!