“O Dorothy, look quick; there’s a little horse and wagon.”
“I see it,” said the little girl, “it’s right near the gingerbread man. And, Ray, just look at the Noah’s Ark.”
“Did you ever see such big gingerbread hearts?” exclaimed Ray. “I’d like to have one to eat, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes,” replied Dorothy, “but I wonder what is in the boxes and packages that are all tied up with ribbon?”
“Presents,” answered Ray, who was a year older and that much wiser than his little cousin.
For a long time the children gazed at the beautiful tree, with all its precious burden, and every moment new treasures were discovered. Then they walked to the next Christmas tree and looked at that. When they had seen many of the trees they thought that they would walk on and see the other sights. After walking a short distance they came to a beautiful snow castle. They opened the door, peeped in, and what do you suppose they saw? A long row of boxes the whole length of the room. The first box was very large, the one next to it was a little smaller, the next still smaller, and so on until they dwindled down to a tiny box on the end.
“I wonder what is in them?” said Ray with curiosity.
“Open one and see,” replied Dorothy quickly.
Ray just touched the lid of the large box, when up it flew and there jumped out the largest Jack-in-the-box the children had ever seen.
The minute he jumped he grinned at them and said “Rubber.”