That afternoon, as father, mother, and children were engaged beside her, Nannie lay on her couch and looked on; but she did not need to say, "Be patient, be patient," for she was patient; and when her father, stopping for a moment, whispered, "Is all right, Nannie?" she said, smiling, "Yes, father; trying helps, doesn't it?"
Swiftly the evening fled. They had cracked nuts and eaten apples, till even Jack was satisfied; and as the fire burned down, and Charlie lay asleep in his mother's lap, the father said, "How many things we have to be thankful for this year! Let us each tell of something, and then together we will offer our sacrifice of thanksgiving."
The mother's fingers played in Charlie's curls, as she said, "I thank my heavenly Father for my children's lives."
They were still for a moment. They all remembered the sad days of last winter, when they gathered round the fire and whispered anxiously together, while Charlie tossed and wearied on his sick-bed.
Then sister Mary said, "I thank him for his Son Jesus Christ."
Then Belle, in a softened tone, said, "I thank him for our pleasant home."
Jack said, while Nannie looked up with a pleasant smile, "I thank him for my little sister."
Then it was Nannie's turn, and, smiling to her father, she said, "I thank him for patience."
So ended their Christmas-day.