Chapter 6
December 19, 1851
It's the sixth day of Christmas, and what did Barnum see, but six snow angels...
Lettie Lutz tried not to shiver as she watched the Barnum girls play in the snow. Sensibly, Charity didn't want the girls playing outside all alone, but Lettie hoped they would get bored and want to go in soon. She was cold!
"Lettie! Come play with us!" Helen exclaimed as she waddled around in the snow. Lettie hesitated.
"Why don't I just watch?" she said instead. Helen pouted.
"Why?" Lettie paused.
"Adults don't play in the snow, Helen." The little girl frowned, but before she could argue, she was interrupted:
"Jenny!" Caroline shouted, waving at someone behind Lettie. Her back stiffened from more than the cold this time. She still wasn't quite comfortable around Jenny Lind. Lettie wasn't holding a grudge - she believed life was too short to do that - but the normal atmosphere of acceptance and comfort at the circus was interrupted by the beautiful opera singer's presence, around whom Lettie could only feel clumsy and inelegant.
"Jenny! Will you play with us?" Lettie was gratified to see Jenny Lind hesitate.
"Well, I suppose…" she said slowly, "What do we do?"
"We're making snow angels!" Helen exclaimed. Jenny looked as mystified as Lettie felt.
"What is a snow angel?"
"Is it like a snowman?" Lettie asked. She had seen some of the children building those lately. Caroline shook her head.
"You make pictures in the snow with your body," she explained. "Watch!" The two women watched, surprised, as the little girl fell backwards into the snow. Lettie frowned. She was not going to flounder around in the snow like some bumpkin in front of Jenny Lind, no sir. Jenny herself also looked less than thrilled by this idea.
However, no one besides Charity could resist the Barnum Puppy Dog Eyes. Faced with the inevitable, the two woman exchanged looks that seemed to say, I'll look foolish if you will.
Instructed by Helen, Lettie fell carefully backwards into the snow, which was softer than she had expected, though (unsurprisingly) quite cold.
"Now what?" she asked.
"Now you move your arms and legs back and forth!" Helen exclaimed, flopping down next to Lettie and waving her arms and legs enthusiastically to make her own snow angel. Feeling incredibly silly, Lettie nonetheless did as she was told.
"And then what?"
"Now you stand up real carefully, so you don't ruin your snow angel," Helen instructed seriously. She helped Lettie up.
"Oh! I see what you mean!" Lettie exclaimed when she saw the shapes in the snow. Jenny nodded.
"They do sort of look like angels," Jenny agreed. Sensing that she and her sister were bringing the two women around, Helen leaned toward Lettie.
"Now, we should have a snowball fight!" Lettie blinked.
"What's that?" Whump. Lettie froze as she felt something soft and wet hit her in the back. A snowball. She turned around to see Jenny looking incredibly guilty. The titian-haired singer pointed at Caroline.
"It was her idea!" She gulped as Lettie's eyes narrowed. A snowball fight.
"Let's get 'em, Helen!" Lettie exclaimed. Jenny and Caroline shrieked as they were assaulted by snowballs - but soon enough, they were giving as good as they got.
Unseen by all, P.T. smiled at the scene from his office window. He knew it was a good idea, sending Lettie and Jenny outside!
FIVE WOODEN SLEDS!
Four painted zebras,
three new daring acts,
two dancing daughters,
and a beautiful Christmas tree!
Question of the day: Out of curiosity, does anyone know how snow angels came about? I try to research the historical accuracy of my favorite Christmas/winter traditions (even if I end up ignoring it later) but I came up empty!