CHAPTER VI
THE PARKNEY FAMILY
"Happy new year, precious!" said Mother, coming into Sunny Boy's room to put down his window the next morning.
"Happy New Year, Sunny Boy!" cried Grandpa and Grandma Horton, when they met him in the hall on the way to breakfast.
"Happy New Year, Son!" said Daddy Horton, catching him in his arms and lifting him as high as the Christmas tree which still stood in one corner of the parlor.
"Happy New Year, Sunny Boy!" cried Harriet, waving a dish towel at him when he peeped into her kitchen.
"I think New Year is nice," said Sunny Boy, when Mother said he might have two waffles for his breakfast because of the holiday. Usually Mother said that hot cakes were not good for little boys.
After breakfast Sunny Boy brought down his lead soldiers from the playroom and played with them on the rug before the fire place. This was the last day the Christmas tree would be left standing, Mother Horton said, so he liked to stay near it.
"When will it be time to pass the New Year cakes?" he asked Harriet, when she came in to bring more wood for the fire.
"This afternoon," she answered. "When the callers come."