When church was over, a good half or more of the families slipped away for home, not staying for the usual common meal. As Lena walked with Mimi to meet Harley at their carriage, she noticed Arden Mast discreetly wave at her, just ahead in the line of buggies ready to head out to the road. Seeing his contagious grin made her smile, too, and she nodded as she quickly stepped into the Stoltzfus carriage.
Harley was pleased to see his family including Lena Rose in conversation before the meal. He admired the festive paper snowflakes little Levi and his older sisters had made to stick on the windowpanes. “To make Mammi Stoltzfus’s kitchen extra perty,” Levi had announced, eyes sparkling.
Mimi had placed three-dimensional Moravian stars here and there about the main level of the house, as well, but it was Lena who’d suggested putting two tall green candles with miniature holly rings at either end of the long table. That very table was now laden with an enormous baked ham. Mimi and the girls had also made all of Harley’s favorite side dishes—mashed potatoes with ham gravy, buttered corn, and baby limas swimming in butter. Harley’s stomach rumbled in anticipation as he signaled for the prayer of gratitude by folding his hands and bowing his head.
Once the meal was under way, he was glad to notice that even Manny was talking with the others. But when Lena Rose offered to hold baby Joey, Tessa merely shook her head. Harley couldn’t understand why his daughter was refusing Lena’s help with the fussy baby. It’s Christmas, he thought. Why would Tessa act so? Is she out of sorts?
After the meal, the young women worked together to redd up the kitchen, letting Mimi rest a bit. When every last plate, utensil, and pan had been put away, the family gathered in the front room, where it was nice and warm because Harley had stoked the fire in anticipation of this special time of fellowship.
When everyone was quiet, he read Luke chapter two from the Biewel. Lena sat on the floor near six-year-old Joanna and the other children, Joanna whispering to her every so often. Looks like Lena’s having a pleasant time, thought Harley, glad for her sake.
Then he asked Uncle Solomon to share a Christmas memory from his boyhood.
As expected, Solomon had a story on the tip of his tongue. “There once was a young Amish lad named Solomon, who wanted a pony for Christmas more than anything else.”
Several of the children turned to look questioningly at their parents, and Lena smiled at Joanna, who giggled.
“But little Solomon forgot to say exactly what kind of pony. So, when his Dat and Mamma presented their gift to him after Christmas dinner, he took one look at his new pony and thought for sure it must’ve shrunk.” Solomon paused to look around at all the children. “’Cause there it was, in a small wrapped box . . . just the size of a half dollar.”
Ada’s little girls, Ada Mae and Joanna, gasped, their hands flying to their mouths.
“That there pony had not only shrunk,” Solomon said dramatically, “it had turned to wood!”
The smallest of the children looked astonished.
“Did that really happen?” Levi asked, leaning forward on his hands.
“I wouldn’t tell yous a made-up story, now, would I?” Solomon said. But Harley detected a familiar glint in the man’s eyes.
“You were the boy in the story, ain’t so?” asked Ada’s son, Johnny, after a glance at Levi.
Solomon slapped his hand on his leg and chuckled. “In fact, I can prove it right here, right now.” And he pulled a miniature wooden pony out of his pocket. “See here?” He held it up.
Harley smiled at the aahs that rippled round the room.
Of course, then all the children wanted to get up and have a look-see. And they did, gathering close around Solomon.
Aaron, as well as Ada’s husband, John, were the next to share a childhood Christmas memory. They told of going ice fishing, sledding, and helping to push motorists out of snowdrifts.
After Aaron and John were finished with their tellings and everyone began to engage in conversation, Harley tiptoed out of the room and brought back a large basket of goodies and small gifts that he and Mimi had secretly assembled.
Each of the children sat cross-legged on the floor, eyes bright as Harley distributed the homemade candies and sugared almonds wrapped in green cellophane. There were shiny red apples, toy tops, a nice tablet and writing pen for the older school-age children, and small, faceless rag dolls for the younger girls, and sets of jacks for the little boys.
Right away, Levi held his bag of jacks high, then jumped up to thank Harley by offering to shake his hand.
“Ach now . . . how ’bout a bear hug?” Harley said and bent down, arms wide.
This brought more of the younger children to their feet, and soon it was one hug after another for both him and Mimi. The older children came to thank them, as well, looking him right in the eye as they wished him a merry Christmas in Deitsch. “Hallicher Grischtdaag,” Harley said to each of them in return, his heart filled with the delight that only family could bring.
———
In the midst of this joyous setting, Lena recalled a past Christmas when she and Emma had worked together to make a multicolored, quilted throw pillow for Mamma—their first attempt at such a complicated project. They had managed to keep it secret by sneaking over next door to work on it in the Dawdi Haus where Dat’s elderly Aunt Ida lived at the time.
Oh, the look of surprise on Mamma’s dear face when she’d opened their present, tears coming into her eyes.
