After Cat was asleep, Abel asked, "Why do Joe and Cat call each other Big Twin and Little Twin?"

"Cat was born on my tenth birthday," answered Joe. "When she was little, she thought that we were twins because we were born on the same day. Since I'm bigger than her, she started calling me Big Twin and I started calling her Little Twin. She knows now that we're not twins but we still call each other Big and Little Twin."

"I'm glad that she has started doing that again," added Ben. "She hasn't done that since last Christmas so doing that means that she's finally beginning to feel like part of the family. Now, we need to discuss sleeping arrangements for Christmas. The family will be coming in on Wednesday and the Ingalls will come home with us after the Christmas Eve service so we're going to have an additional fourteen people sleeping here. Laura and Mary will sleep with Cat and Carrie can sleep in the same room as her parents but we're still going to be short on space. I may have to ask the three of you to sleep in the small bunkhouse like you did when everyone was here for Kate's funeral."

"If people don't mind doubling up again, that may not be necessary as we won't have Nick, Audra, the Grants, Shermans, and Sheridans here this time," said Adam. "They didn't seem to mind doing that when they were here for Kate's funeral. Joe can sleep in with me and that will free up one room. Matt and Rip probably won't mind sharing a room as they rarely get to see each other."

"If Hoss doesn't mind, I'll sleep in his room," said Abel. "That will free up another room. Yes I know that Hoss snores but after spending as many years at sea as I did, his snoring won't bother me at all."

"Maybe Jarrod and Heath will agree to bunk together," said Joe. "Even if people don't want to share a bed, we've got several cots in the attic and I'm sure that the Devlins and Kings have some we can borrow. We're going to need to borrow their extra tables too since counting Joshua and Thaddeus, we're going to have twenty one people for meals."

"Shore Abel, ya can sleep in my room ifn ya think my snoring won't bother ya. Maybe Victoria and Kitty will share a room, and I'm shore Luke won't mind Mark sleeping with him," added Hoss.

"Those are excellent ideas," replied Ben. "If everyone agrees to share rooms again, we'll have enough bedrooms so the three of you won't have to sleep in the bunkhouse. I'll send telegrams to everyone tomorrow after church. Hoss, will you please get Joe's old trundle bed out of the attic on Friday morning? Carrie can sleep on it."

"When are we going to get the tree?" asked Abel.

"We'll do that on Thursday after breakfast. Cat and Adam have to go to town after dinner to rehearse for the Christmas Eve service so we can start decorating once we get the tree in here and finish when they return home."

"Cat can stand on my shoulders and put the angel on top," said Hoss. "I know she'll enjoy doing that."

"Since no school on Thursday, Missy Cat can help make gingerblead cookies on Wednesday," added Hop Sing. "She always like doing that. Other little girls can come help."

"Oh Hop Sing," said Ben. "I almost forgot to tell you. Caroline Ingalls said she will make the pies for Christmas dinner. She's going to bring them over Friday morning and we can put them in the cooler. She also said to tell you that she will help you make dinner and I'm quite sure that Kitty and Victoria will also."

"That very good. I make Christmas dinner for bunkhouse on Friday. Tell hands to clean before since little girls and boys not be here to do it."

"I will definitely do that. In fact, I'll talk to Pete when we return home from church tomorrow."

"I've been thinkin'," said Hoss. "We're givin' two horses to the Ingalls but Charles ain't got a lot of money. We should give him some hay and oats too."

"You are absolutely right son. We'll definitely need to give Charles hay and oats for those horses and probably should continue doing that for some time to come. Someone also needs to pick up the sleds from Gerald McLeod before Wednesday."

"I did that while you and Cat were in Carson City," answered Adam. "They're in the loft above the tack room. Gerald had their names burned into them and Cat's also has the Ponderosa brand on it."

"Thank you son. We're going to need to finish picking up supplies for Christmas and winter this week. The family will be in on Wednesday and we'll need the buckboard for their luggage. I already told Cat she could drive the surrey, so we'll need to take some horses and the large buggy as I'm quite sure the surrey will have six children in it. I know that Victoria and Kitty will not want to ride horses back to the ranch and I'm not certain if any of the men will want to ride horses, especially after long stage and train rides."

The family was surprised the next morning when Cat came downstairs wearing a dress. As usual, all three of her brothers vied for the honor of holding her chair. Abel settled the matter by doing it himself. "You look nice this morning Granddaughter."

"Thank you Grandpa. Since it's almost Christmas, I thought I'd wear a dress to church. I wish it was Christmas already. Then Mark would be here."

"I understand Sweetheart," said Ben. "However, it won't be that many more days before the pair of you will have two weeks to spend together. I have received telegrams from everyone stating that they will be here on Wednesday."

"Lucky Mark. He gets to miss school because it takes four days to get here from North Fork."

"Mark may not be attending school this week, but I'm quite certain his father has him doing lessons during the trip."

"Now that's just plain mean. Uncle Luke shouldn't make Mark do school work on the way here. I'm going to ask Mark if he had to do school work and if he did, I'm going to yell at Uncle Luke for being mean to him."

The family laughed at Cat's outrage at the thought of Mark having to do school work on the way to Virginia City. "You are not going to yell at Lucas because you are a polite little girl and polite little girls don't yell at adults unless they're in danger," said Ben. Mark is missing important class time and he needs to do the work so he won't fail fourth grade. I know you wouldn't want that to happen. Right now, you need to finish your breakfast so we're not late for church. You will not be allowed to drive the surrey if we are late leaving so you had better eat."

Before beginning the church service, Reverend Long said, "Miss Susan Winter has asked if I would please allow her to address all of the parents and students this morning so we will be a few minutes late starting the service but this is important."

"Thank you Reverend Long. As you are aware, Christmas Day is next Saturday and the children will be putting on their annual play at the Christmas Eve service on Friday. Since they need to practice on Thursday, the last day of school before Christmas break will be this Wednesday. School will resume on Monday, January ten. Children, as the school will be closed until then, you may each check two books out from the school library. I have been sending four weeks work home with the students who will not be able to attend school once the snow gets deep. I have been informed that it could be almost two months before they will be able to return to school, so on Wednesday, I will send eight weeks work home with them. I want to remind the parents that those assignments are not to be done unless the students are snowed in as that is material we will be covering in class. Some parents have asked if I will be sending grades home on Wednesday. I will not be doing that. It has only been a little more than a month since the children received their grades. Not sending grades home just prior to the Christmas break has always been my practice. I am very well aware of the fact that some parents set unreasonably high expectations for their children and that those children are severely punished for not meeting those expectations. I do not want any child being punished for grades, especially over the holidays. I can tell you that with the exception of three students, and their parents know who they are, all of the children are passing all of their subjects. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me after the service. Reverend Long, thank you again for allowing me to speak to the parents and students before the service."

Ben went to send his telegrams after church, giving his sons and Mitch Devlin the opportunity to locate the children who had been teasing Cat and take them to their parents, who promised that the children would be dealt with and that the teasing would stop. While her brothers were dealing with her school mates who had been teasing her, Cat was talking to Caroline. "Mama Ingalls, can I please ask you a question?"

"Of course you may Cat. What can I help you with?"

"Would you please make an apron for me to give Hop Sing for Christmas and put his name on it? His cousin, Mr. Chin Lee, wrote it out for me in Chinese."

Caroline looked at the little girl she desperately wanted to add to her family and said, "I will be more than happy to do that for you. I'll even wrap it up for you and you can put it under your Christmas tree after church on Friday."

Cat hugged her. "Gee, thanks lots and lots. I'll pay you for it. How much money do you need?"

Caroline had already decided that the apron was going to contain more than just Hop Sing's name so she said, "I think a dollar will cover the cost of the material and embroidery thread. Since you need it in a hurry, I'll ask Mr. McLeod if he'll open his store today long enough for me to buy what I need."

"That's great. Pa's over sending telegrams to the family so let me ask one of my brothers if I can borrow a dollar until we get home."

"You go right ahead. I'll tell Mr. Ingalls what I'm doing and talk to Mr. McLeod."

Charles looked at his wife and asked, "What was that all about?"

"Cat asked me to make an apron for Hop Sing's Christmas present and put his name on it. She doesn't know it yet, but I have decided that apron is going to have more than just Hop Sing's name on it. I need to talk to Mr. McLeod and ask him to open his store long enough for me to buy fabric and embroidery thread."

Cat ran off to find her brothers and seeing Adam first, asked, "Adam, can I please borrow a dollar until we get home? Mama Ingalls said she would make an apron for me to give Hop Sing for Christmas but I forgot to bring the money you, Grandpa, Hoss, and Joe gave me when we left for church."

Adam smiled at his sister, reached in his pocket, handed her two dollars and said, "Don't worry about paying me back when we get home. Keep the money you have left from what we gave you yesterday in case you think of something else you want to buy for someone."

"Gee thanks big brother."

"You're welcome little sister. Now go and give that money to Caroline so she can buy the fabric and thread."

Cat hugged Adam and ran off to give the money to Caroline. She handed her the money and piece of paper with Hop Sing's name written on it and said, "Adam gave me two dollars to give you. Is Mr. McLeod going to let you buy the things you need?"

"Yes he is so I can start making the apron today and have it ready for you by Christmas Eve. I see your father coming back from the telegraph office. You should go and see if he's ready to go home yet and I need to go to Mr. McLeod's store. I will see you on Friday."

"Thank you for saying you'd make that apron for me. Oh, I almost forgot. Hop Sing invited Mary and Laura to come and help make gingerbread cookies after school on Wednesday. Please say they can. Pa said I can drive the surrey so they can ride in it with me and Mark. Pa said he'd bring them home after dinner."

"Of course they may help make gingerbread cookies. I'll let their Pa know he won't have to pick them up after school on Wednesday."

Ben returned from sending his telegrams and talked to Mr. King and Mr. Devlin, both of whom agreed to lend him their extra tables and chairs again. They also agreed to lend him cots if he needed them. Both men promised to bring the tables, chairs, and cots to the Ponderosa on Tuesday. On their way home, Ben said, "We're going to have to buy at least one more table and some chairs after the holidays."

"Why do we need more tables and chairs?" asked Cat.

"Well, for one thing, even though they're not all at the house all of the time, my family seems to have increased by five children. Our table is much too small for all of your friends and their families to eat at. It is also too small for when the entire family is there. Try and do the arithmetic in your head while you're driving and figure out how many people will be eating Christmas dinner with us. How many people are in our family?"

"Seven counting Hop Sing."

"Hop Sing probably won't join us for Christmas dinner. He doesn't like eating with us when we have a lot of company, so it will just be the six of us. Now, how many people are in the Ingalls family?"

"Five so that makes eleven."

"Yes. Now we're also going to be joined by three Barkleys."

"That makes fourteen."

"You're doing fine so far. Now add in Joshua, Thaddeus, Matt, Kitty, Rip, Lucas, and Mark."

"That's seven more. Let's see, seven and four is eleven. Carry the one. One and one makes two so there's going to be twenty one people eating Christmas dinner at our house."

"That was very good. You are correct, we are going to have twenty one people eating Christmas dinner at the Ponderosa. It isn't fair to my friends for me to keep borrowing their extra tables and chairs every time I have a lot of people here for supper, which I'm quite certain will be happening a lot once the weather is warm enough for fishing, swimming, and picnics."

"I remember how many people ate Thanksgiving dinner with us and that the tables went into the great room. Where are you going to put the new ones?"

"The tables and chairs I'm going to borrow from Mr. Devlin and Mr. King are going to be put in the small bunk room that's attached to the house. It only gets used when we hire extra hands for the roundup or we have so many overnight guests that your brothers have to give up their rooms and sleep in it. We'll keep some of the chairs in the house so everyone has a place to sit and bring everything else into the house just before meals. The ones I'll buy after the holidays will be kept in the loft above the tack room until they're needed."

After dinner, Cat and her brothers took two burlap sacks and went out to gather pine cones and tree bark. When they returned to the house, Cat looked at everything and asked, "What can I make from them?"

"I ain't shore yet," replied Hoss. "Let me study on them for a bit and I'll let ya know what I figure out. In the mean time, why don't ya go and see ifn Adam finished that picture for ya?"

Cat left Hoss' room and knocked on Adam's door. "Come in Cat."

"How did you know it was me?"

"Because you are the smallest person in the house and have the quietest knock."

"Oh. Maybe I'll knock louder next time so you think it's Joe."

"Come here silly one and look at the picture I drew for you."

"WOW! That's great Adam. Thanks a lot. I don't know if I can copy it and make mine look like yours."

"Just do the best you can and it will be fine. I'll help you get started and with placing all of the people and animals. Draw lightly so it will be easier to erase if you make a mistake." He tore the drawing off the pad, told Cat to sit at his desk, handed her a ruler, pencil, and eraser and said, "Measure the roof on the house and I'll show you where to start it." Adam worked with Cat for more than two hours and, with a lot of encouragement, she copied his drawing as best as she could. "You've done a very good job Cat. I know you're not happy with your drawing because it doesn't look exactly like mine but you have to remember that I've been drawing ever since I was five or six years old and you're just learning how. All you have to do now is color it in and you can start on that after school tomorrow."

"Can I please take it to school and work on it during recess and dinner? I still have to make whatever Hoss has figured out to do with the stuff we picked up outside today, the family is coming in on Wednesday and I want to spend time with Mark. Don't worry, I won't work on it when I'm supposed to be doing my lessons. I don't want to get in trouble."

"Yes, you may take it to school with you. Go and get your saddle bags so I can see if the pad will fit in them." Cat got her saddle bags and Adam tried putting his sketch pad in one side. "The pad of paper is too big for your saddle bags. Go and get one of the bags Gerald made for your puppies to ride in." Cat returned with one of the puppy bags and Adam put the sketch pad in it after taking a blank page out. "That bag is perfect for carrying the pad in. Let's put the crayons in there too. That way they'll both be together. Now why don't you go and see if Hoss has figured out what to do with the pine cones and tree bark we picked up today?"

Cat walked out of Adam's room just as Hoss was leaving his. "Are ya done with Adam?"

"Yes. All I have to do now is color the picture."

"That's good. Can I see it?"

"Sure. Adam's still got it."

They walked into Adam's room and he showed Cat's picture to his brother. "That's real good Cat. Ya done a good job on it."

"I don't think it's that good. Adam's picture looks lots better than mine does."

"Considerin' that yore just learnin' how to draw, that's a mighty fine picture and Abel will like it just fine. Adam, I've got an idea about what to do with them pine cones and tree bark pieces we picked up today. Come and look at them and tell me what ya think."

"Sure Hoss. I'll be happy to look at them and listen to your idea. Come on Cat, let's see what Hoss has in mind."

Just then, Joe joined them, carrying a picture frame he had made. He showed it to his siblings who were impressed by his work. "I just need to know what color to paint it."

"Cat should be the one to paint the frame," said Adam. "But first let's find out what Hoss has in mind."

"I've been here studying on these pine cones and tree bark and finally figured out what we can do with them. We can use the bigger ones as trees and make the small ones into critters. Since little sister ain't used to workin' with wood, I'll cut everything and she can glue it together to make the critters. Then she can paint everything and glue it to the bark."

"I don't have time to do all of that. I have to go to school tomorrow, Tuesday, and Wednesday and I have to color the picture and paint the frame. Everybody will be here on Wednesday and Hop Sing wants me, Laura, and Mary to help make gingerbread cookies. I want to spend time with Mark, and help put Mama Ingalls' cart together, and all of the grownups will probably want me to do a whole bunch of stuff for them all at once. There's practice for the Christmas play on Thursday and church on Friday, and I'll probably have homework on Monday and Tuesday. Besides that, if I'm not with the family when they're here, Pa will say I'm being rude and get mad at me. Then I'll get on Santa's naughty list, there isn't enough time to get off of it and he won't bring me anything."

Joe hugged Cat. "Whoa there little sister. You're not going to do everything by yourself. We're going to help you. If Adam will let you, you can take your picture to school and start coloring it during recess and after you eat dinner. There's still time before supper tonight to paint the frame. It shouldn't take you more than fifteen minutes and if it needs a second coat of paint, I'll do it while you're in school. Adam, Hoss, and I can help glue pine cone pieces together and you can paint and glue them to the tree bark. Don't worry about everyone wanting you to do a lot of things all at once. We'll remind them that you're not a slave and they shouldn't be telling you to do a lot of stuff. We'll talk to Pa and tell him you're working on Grandfather's Christmas gift so he won't be upset that you're not with the family. Who knows, Mark may even want to help. Maybe we can convince Pa, Charles, and Caroline to let Laura and Mary spend the night on Wednesday and they may want to help. You have a family now and it's our job to help you so you don't have to do everything all by yourself. Now, what color do you want to paint this picture frame I made for you?"

"I don't know. Either green or blue."

"You've got to make up your mind so you have time to do it before supper."

Adam went into his room and took his drawing out of Cat's puppy bag and carried it back into Hoss' room. "Here's the picture I drew. Take a good look at it and maybe that will help you decide what color you want the frame to be."

Cat looked at the picture and said, "I think maybe blue like Lake Tahoe."

"That's a good choice. The picture will look good in a frame the color of the lake."

"Blue it is," said Joe. "Come on Cat. Let's get this thing painted while we still have time."

"Cat," said Adam. "Go in my room and get one of the shirts we wore when we were painting Caroline's cart. That way you won't get your clothes full of paint."

"Thanks Adam."

"You're welcome Cat. As Joe said, it's our job to take care of you. Don't worry about what the family is going to do. We'll talk to Pa, Hop Sing, and Grandfather tonight and tell them about your concerns. They won't let the family treat you badly. Personally, I think your biggest problem will be with Aunt Victoria. I'm quite sure that Matt and Rip will spend their time arguing over who gets to hug you and when. Maybe they'll fight duels over you the way your Godfathers did."

Cat giggled at the thought of her uncles arguing and fighting over her. "I don't know if Uncle Matt knows how to fight with a sword."

"Well then, I guess he'll have to learn in a hurry, won't he. Go with Joe and paint that frame. It's almost supper time and you know Pa won't let you out of the house after supper since you have school in the morning."

Once Cat was asleep, her brothers talked to Ben about her fears of spending her entire vacation running errands for the visiting adults. "I won't allow that to happen. I do agree with you that my sister is most likely to be a major problem and I will take whatever steps I deem necessary to keep her from upsetting your sister. Victoria has made no attempt to get to know Cat better and has absolutely no right to order her around. I also agree that Matt and Rip will spend a lot of time arguing over who gets to hug Cat. It will be interesting to see how they settle their little dispute. I can just picture the pair of them walking side by side with Cat riding on their shoulders, hugging their necks."

"Benjamin," said Able, "Provided you have no objections, if I observe your sister ordering Cat around, I will put her in her place. I do not wish to see my granddaughter upset, especially at Christmas."

"Do whatever you think is necessary Abel. You are family and I'm sure that Cat's uncles will back you up. You know we will."

"Thank you. There is an excellent chance that we won't have anything to worry about. Your sister may be on her best behavior while she's here and, knowing the way Hop Sing feels about Cat, he will probably say something to her and will probably use his spoon on her. Also, once the girls get their sleds and ice skates, they're going to want to be out sledding and skating with their friends. I am also quite certain that all of us will be expected to be present the first time my granddaughter uses her sled."

"I know and as I told Gerald when he showed the sleds to me, I will probably have a heart attack the first time I see my little girl flying head first down a hill on hers."

"Then I highly recommend you close your eyes."

Ben laughed. "That is exactly what Gerald told me. Boys, tomorrow and Tuesday, I would like you to take the buckboard to town and get more supplies. With so many people coming for Christmas, I want to ensure we're well supplied in the event of a blizzard. Also, Victoria said she was shipping two crates each of peaches and oranges and I am expecting some shipments from Carson City and would like you to pick them up. Each of the five children can get two peaches and two oranges in their stockings along with peppermint sticks and gingerbread cookies. That reminds me, please pick up ten peppermint sticks while you're at Gerald's. Adam, how is your sister doing with those two songs for Friday night? You haven't practiced in several days."

"She knows them very well and is understandably nervous about singing in church in front of all those people. So I decided to give her a few days break. We'll go over them again tomorrow and Tuesday and then we'll practice once more on Thursday at the church. I don't want her getting the impression that I'm expecting her to do them perfectly because then she'll be so nervous that she will make mistakes." During breakfast, Adam said, "Cat, tonight and tomorrow night, we will need to practice those songs we're singing on Friday. You know them and have been doing a great job with them, so I want to try something different and see how well it works. If it works well we'll do it and if it doesn't, we won't. Since you and I will be singing them, we'll let the family decide if what I want to do works or not."

"Ok but I don't know why Reverend Long asked me to sing. That was a pretty dumb idea. I don't sing that good."

"The word is well," corrected Abel gently. "And you sing very well for a nine year old. Why did you say you would sing if you didn't want to?"

"'Cause Reverend Long talks to God and I didn't want him to tell God I wouldn't sing. 'Cause if he did that, I'd get on God's naughty list and then I'd get on Santa's naughty list. Besides that, Jonah said no to God and a big fish ate him. I don't want to spend Christmas inside a big fish. I want to spend it playing with my friends and Mark. Also, I thought Adam would say he didn't have time to teach me those songs so I wouldn't have to sing."

The family struggled to keep from laughing at the logic of a nine year old child and her reasons for saying she'd sing even though she didn't want to. "Cat," said Adam. As Hoss, Joe, and I told you yesterday, we will always help you with anything you need help with. Reverend Long asked you to sing because you do have a very nice voice and it will probably get even better as you get older. You sang very nicely on Thanksgiving and I know you will do great on Friday night. I know that you're nervous about singing in church, but remember, I'll be singing with you. Reverend Long has already talked to Mr. White, Mr. Davis, and Mr. Roberts and promised me that Tommy, Billy, and Annabel will be sitting next to them during the service and they will not laugh at you. They promised Reverend Long that if their children even hinted at misbehaving during the service, they would be taken outside and when they returned, they would have a very hard time sitting on the church pews. So stop worrying about Friday and eat your breakfast. You still have three days of school left and won't be able to concentrate on your lessons if you're hungry."

In an effort to distract Cat from her worries about singing in church, Joe asked, "Say Little Twin, how would you like to drive the buckboard to town this morning and ride Cochise home from school?"

"Gee thanks Big Twin. How come you need to take the buckboard to town?"

"Because we're still getting supplies for Christmas and winter. We're going to have a lot of people here for Christmas and need to make sure we have enough food for everyone. Also, as Miss Winter said yesterday, once the blizzards start coming, it could be two months before we're able to get to town so we have to stock up on food, hay and oats. Tomorrow and Thursday, we're going to need to take the buckboard and both big wagons to town so we can get two wagon loads of hay along with more supplies. If Adam doesn't mind, the two of you can take the buckboard when you go to practice for the Christmas play while Hoss and I each take one of the big wagons. I was up in the loft yesterday and we'll need at least four wagon loads to completely fill it."

"WOW! That's a lot of hay. Can I see what the hayloft looks like now?"

"I'll take you up there when you get home from school. Now, how about it, are you going to drive the buckboard to town and ride Cochise home from school?"

"I got a better idea," replied Hoss. "Why don't little sister ride Cochise too and from school, little brother and I can take the buckboard and Adam can ride Sport? Otherwise two of us are gonna have to ride with the kids 'cause I know that Mike and Jasper are gonna want ta ride with her."

"That's fine," said Joe. "I'll get Coach saddled after we finish breakfast. Won't the big kids be jealous when they see you riding him instead of Beauty? Maybe one day after the snow melts, Hoss will let you ride Chub and Adam will let you ride Sport another day. That will really make those big kids green with envy."

While Laura and Mary were getting ready for school, Caroline said, "I am going to ride to town with you this morning. I want to go to China Town and ask one of the merchants to please write down the Cartwright's names in Chinese for me. I want to make Hop Sing's apron extra special for Cat. Since Mary does such nice needlework, I'm going to need her help so it will be done before Friday."

"What are you planning to do? I know Cat just asked you to put Hop Sing's name on it."

"That's my secret for now although I'm sure you'll figure it out as Mary and I work on it."

Charles laughed. "Well, whatever it is you're planning to do, I'm sure that Cat and Hop Sing will love it. I still wish there was a way to steal her from the Cartwrights."

"So do I and quite a few other people, but we all know that Ben will never part with that little girl."

"You are right, and we had better get our girls off to school." Charles got the team hitched up while Caroline helped Laura with her coat and Mary helped Carrie with hers.

Mike was surprised to see Cat riding Cochise when they met. "How come you're riding Joe's horse this morning?"

"I don't know. Joe asked me if I wanted to drive the buckboard into town this morning and ride Cochise home from school this afternoon but Hoss said I should ride Cochise to school while he and Joe took the buckboard and Adam rode Sport."

"How come they need to take the buckboard to town?"

"'Cause we're gonna have a lot of company for Christmas and Pa wants to make sure we've got enough supplies in case we get snowed in."

"Yeah, my Pa has been making a lot of trips to town for supplies too. He says we could be in for a real bad winter. Too bad Miss Winter is sending lessons home for us. We won't be able to get to town, but as long as it's not snowing, we can walk to our favorite sledding hill and have a lot of fun. Even if Santa doesn't bring you one for Christmas, Jas and I will share ours with you. it's just too bad we're going to have to do lessons before we can go and have fun."

"You're right. If we get snowed in, I'm going to be stuck with Adam helping me with my lessons and Joe says he's a real mean teacher. Joe said Adam wouldn't let him have any breaks, he had to eat dinner while he was doing his lessons, and he had to do more work than what his teacher assigned. That's another reason I want to go back to Dodge. Uncle Matt would never be mean to me like that."

"But don't forget, Adam's grandfather is there now. He loves you as though you were his very own granddaughter and he won't let Adam be that mean to you. Also, Hop Sing loves you just as much as Captain Abel does so if Adam is mean to you, you can tell Hop Sing and he'll make sure Adam isn't mean to you again. Also, be sure and tell your Pa what Joe said. He can tell Adam not to be so mean to you and you need to tell him if Adam is mean to you."