Oddfellow's Orphanage (13 page)

When they returned to Oddfellow’s, it was late morning. Delia and Ava scrambled up the stairs to their room to finish their presents. They had been working away for hours when Professor Flockheart peeked in.

“They’re making a gingerbread house in the dining room this afternoon,” she reminded the girls. “And tonight we decorate the Christmas tree. Then Headmaster will do his annual recitation of the Christmas poem.”

The girls finally finished their secret gifts just as the delicious smell of cloves and ginger reached their bedroom. They raced down the stairs and found Nurse Effie, Professors Silas and Stella, and most of the children gathered in the dining room. Delia and Ava found a place to sit as the cooks carried in big trays. One of the trays contained huge ginger cookies cut into
squares and rectangles. The other held decorations and a great bowl of fluffy frosting as white as the snow that fell outside.

Nurse Effie showed everyone how to put the house together properly, and then the best part began—fancying up the plain cinnamon-brown house.

There were peppermint pillars, slabs of chocolate for shingles, pieces of cooked-sugar glass for the windows, gumdrop cobblestones, and sugars in red, pink, and icy blue. By the time they were done, everyone had eaten as many shingles and cobblestones as graced the house.

AFTER
dinner, when everyone was dressed in their pajamas, the headmaster gathered them all in the living room to decorate the tree. The fire was crackling, and the tree stood grandly. Hank had covered it in strands of lights, and its branches were ready for decorations. Professors Stella and Silas brought in boxes of ornaments, and the children carefully unwrapped the glittering treasures wrapped in tissue.

Delia found a crimson glass heart and a small golden bird. The bird reminded her of Ava’s finches, and she tucked it into her friend’s hand. While the other children hung their ornaments low, the two girls stood on their tiptoes to reach the highest and best branches. When the tree was finished, the living room lights were turned off, and the tree lights were turned on. The tree was beautiful!

Delia smiled to see the heart and bird dance proudly near the top.

The headmaster settled into his overstuffed chair. He gazed about the room at all the dear faces, and his eyes misted over, twinkling in the light of the tree.

Everyone sat waiting expectantly, until suddenly, Ollie called out, “The poem, Headmaster. Will you say it?”

“Oh, yes, oh, yes. Quite right. The poem,” he said, smoothing his beard.

“Children, this poem is called ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas,’ and this is how it begins.…” The headmaster took a breath. “ ’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house / Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.…” Oddfellow Bluebeard recited the poem from memory, and at the end, he boomed out like Santa Claus himself, “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Merry applause rippled through the living room.

“And that is that, little ones!” said the headmaster. “Remember, the earlier you get to bed, the earlier Christmas morning will come.”

The children made their way up the stairs to the third floor.

As Delia climbed into bed, she saw snow falling outside the window. She felt so cozy tucked in her bedcovers, she imagined she was a tiny girl nestled inside a warm matchbox. Delia heard the nighttime peeps of the finches and heard Ava whisper “Good night” before they all drifted off to sleep thinking of Christmas morning.

Ava dreamed she lived in a giant gingerbread house, and Delia dreamed she was small enough to ride on the back of a finch.

A MERRY CHRISTMAS

I
MOGEN
woke the other girls by crowing, “It’s Christmas morning, everyone!”

Delia and Ava sat up quickly, shivering with excitement. It was still dark outside.

In the room next door, the boys sat impatiently in their beds, listening for signs that anyone else was awake.

The house was perfectly still until the sun swept the shadows away. Then rustlings and grown-up voices were heard. In a snap, all the children were dressed, running downstairs carrying boxes and packages.

Ava and Delia carried their presents wrapped in brown paper and striped twine. Entering the living room, they both stared in wonder. The tree was circled with packages wrapped in dozens of
different papers. Delia and Ava added their two small packages to the mountain of presents. They oohed at the plump stockings embroidered with each child’s name arranged on the hearth.

Lovely smells led everyone to a breakfast of cinnamon buns in the dining room, along with milk and coffee and tea. The children ate their buns in record time, and when the headmaster called out, “Well, goodness! Let’s have Christmas!” the dining room emptied in a blink.

In the living room, Headmaster Bluebeard appointed himself and Nurse Effie as official Elves. They got to work passing out presents, and a great flurry of rustlings and tearing paper began.

Delia had a small mountain of gifts. She was so happy just looking at them that she didn’t want to open them up.

Ava scooted over with her own gifts and squeezed Delia’s arm. “Who could this be from?” Ava said, moving a present to the top of her pile. The tag read:
TO: AVA, LOVE: DELIA
.

“Oh!” Ava cried. “Where’s the one I made for you?”

Delia shuffled through her presents and beamed as she held up a lumpy parcel with striped string.

The girls tore open their packages at the same time. They admired their presents in happy silence. In Ava’s hands rested the little book Delia had made for her. It had a red paper spine and a crimson ribbon to tie it closed.

Finally, Ava opened it. Inside were drawings of sea monsters
and horned rabbits, magic flowers and the circus, along with stories Delia had written about each adventure.

Clutched to her chest, Delia held a floppy black bear. He had glass-button eyes and a red nose. He was made of nubby wool that strongly resembled Ava’s favorite cardigan.

“So you’ll always have a little bear with you,” Ava said, looking bashfully at the soft, lumpy doll.

Delia reached for the notebook around her neck, then instead wrapped her arms tightly around her friend, squeezing the book and the bear between them.

With the best behind them, the girls could open their other presents. Their stockings were stuffed with candy and fruit, and a new notebook for Delia, and bird treats for Ava. There were jars of the finest honey and windup animals from the headmaster; binoculars from Professors Silas and Stella, which could be twisted together in such a way as to create a telescope; copies of
The Little Mermaid
from Professor Flockheart; and pretty new blouses sewn by Nurse Effie. And from Hank, roller skates with thick leather straps that could be buckled on top of ordinary shoes.

THAT
evening, they had a Christmas feast with an enormous turkey and a dozen side dishes.

After dinner, Daniel arranged the dining chairs into rows in
front of the stage that had been set up in the dining room. Everyone except the performers and the stagehands sat down.