Chapter 10
Christmas came to Green Gables with an anticipation that had not been present in that particular household for a long time. For Anne there was a single mar on it, the absence of Diana's presence in her life and the presence of one Gilbert Blythe constantly in it.
Gilbert had causally asked Henry about past Christmas's at the orphanage and what Anne liked. He had been horrified to hear Henry say that Anne liked to imagine for them that they had a Christmas feast, and last year she had managed to find some string and had saved bits of brightly colored trash that she strung along it to pretend were decorations, and they had imagined an old broom that had made its way to the garbage was their tree.
Henry had declared proudly, "We proved Christmas at the orphanage didn't have to be bleak and gray and could be about more than receiving new socks. People are always making socks and donating them, never scarves or the like, but socks upon socks, enough that every body gets a pair. Course that was also the year that horrid wincey was donated. It was only mildly less scratchy then the previous stuff. Anne said we should be grateful for that. Anne would say red heads are cursed with sensitive skin, since the three of us were more afflicted than the other orphans, but she being a girl had it worse than me or Tommy. Her skin atleast stopped being as red and irritated from her clothes, even if the wincey was still awful, so I suppose that was something of a Christmas miracle. But this year Marilla is making a real Christmas feast and Matthew said we are gonna cut a tree down and put it up to decorate. Anne is awful excited about that, and Marilla promised Tommy he could put the star on the top, which he is awful excited about. Anne said we ought to do something real nice for Matthew and Marilla to let them know how much we appreciate them taking us on, so we are. Marilla at first was dead set against having a tree in the house, but she came around. What are Christmases like for you?"Henry asked curiously.
"My ma always bakes a whole bunch of food and makes her famous Christmas apple strudle. Blythe's are known for our apples," Gilbert said feeling slightly guilty that he had always taken his Christmas experience for granted, never stopping to think others didn't get to experience it the same way. None of the Green Gables orphans ever showed any bitterness about their past and Henry in particular seemed to take it in stride as just part of life. But Gilbert couldn't ever take such information with the same calmness of spirit Henry shared it with. To Henry it was just a fact of life, to Gilbert it was appalling.
Gilbert made up his mind he wanted to do something to be part of Anne's first real Christmas. He wanted to do something to make this Christmas memorable for all three of the red headed orphans. He knew enough about Anne to know she wouldn't accept an outright gift from him. Any gift he gave her he would have to be certain to give the same to Henry and Tommy. And even then she was only likely to accept if Marilla made her. Marilla wouldn't allow her to refuse, it would show poor breeding, Gilbert thought with a growing idea. Marilla and her concept of proper behavior was the key to giving Anne Shirely a Christmas gift. He knew Anne liked the Chocolate Carmels Matthew often bought for her and the others, but a clear memory of the candy heart he tried to give her had him shying away from that idea, she might be forced to accept it, but she wouldn't eat it.
Seeing Gilbert in deep concentration, Henry said, "Hey Gil, whatever you are thinking, don't make Anne mad, kay? Most of your ideas seem to backfire and end up with her mad."
"I won't. I'll be real careful, promise," Gilbert said flashing a grin. He knew Henry was referring to Gilbert's great idea to use his birthday to win Anne over. When he had, with his most winning smile, informed her it was his birthday and that for his present she could just admit she liked him as much as he liked her, hoping that once she did he could walk next to her and carry her books for her, she had tossed her head and disdainfully claimed neither of them liked the other and said, "There I've admitted we like each other equally, not at all. You won't trick me into thinking you mean to be my friend. I remember just what you did and you don't like me at all! You wish I had never come to Avonlea!" before running off almost in tears.
Henry had glared at him and declared, "Nice going mate."
Poor Gilbert had been confused as to why his attempt to be charming had gone so poorly.
For Anne the answer was easy, in her mind he was her nemesis since he had called her carrots and rather than see his arguments with her as attempts to talk to her, she saw him as constantly belittling her. She refused to listen to Henry's repeated admonishments that Gilbert was sorry and wanted to be her friend to such an extent that she had declared an embargo on the subject of Gilbert Blythe between them. Gilbert's most recent attempt had come off as cocky arrogance, rather than charm to Anne. In her mind she just knew he didn't like her and nothing would convince her otherwise. She was quite convinced the only reason he persisted was because he thought to highly of himself to not want everyone to like him, regardless whether he liked them or not and she wouldn't fall into the trap of liking Gilbert Blythe. Anne believed that she just knew he would never look twice at a skinny red headed girl like her other than to call her carrots.
…
Gilbert thought long and hard about Christmas and finally arrived at a simple idea. He hadn't been lying when he said his mother made the best Christmas apple strudle. It was an established fact in Avonlea. Her recipe was also top secret and known only to her. He also knew Anne was partial to apples, though she refused to eat any he tried to give her. If he wanted to do something special for Anne at Christmas, his ma's Christmas apple strudle was the answer. If he could convince his ma to make a spare one and give it to the Cuthbert's Anne would have a slice of it and he just knew she would find it delicious with its unique taste of Christmas. And coming from his ma, she would accept it.
When he first put forth the idea to his ma, she had been reluctant, claiming Marilla would have her own desserts and not need any more and that she had enough to do with her own preparations for the Blythes. But Gilbert was persistent and it was the, "But ma, they're orphans! Shouldn't we do something to make this, there first real Christmas, special?" Seeing how much it meant to her only son she agreed.
…
When Anne ate every bite of her slice with her eyes closed in bliss, after exclaiming that it tasted exactly like Christmas should, Henry gave a small chuckle. When Marilla mentioned that it was Mrs. Blythe's famous Christmas Strudel she had graciously brought over to share, Anne didn't even blink at the Blyth name, after all Mrs. Blythe was not to be held accountable for her son's sins. Anne happened to know that Henry had only good things to say about her. Of course Henry only had good things to say about Gilbert as well, but Anne was willing to conviently overlook that fact.
