“That’s as it should be,” the professor said. “It’s one of the things I admire most about you Americans—your boyish exuberance. You’re always looking for an excuse to give a party. I think it’s one of the reasons why you have so many national holidays.”
“Nothing shy about us Canadians when it comes to a party either,” one of the weathermen put in. He turned to his two partners. “Let’s show these Yanks a real Christmas party. What do you say?”
There was a chorus of “ayes.”
After a hearty meal of tinned ham, fried potatoes and frozen candied yams, topped off by a flaming plum pudding, they gathered in a tight circle about the little fireplace and sipped hot cider and nibbled marshmallows toasted in the winking embers. About nine o’clock the weathermen picked up a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program of Christmas carols on their shortwave radio and piped it through a big hi-fi speaker over the fireplace.
“This is more like it,” Jerry sighed contentedly, stuffing himself with marshmallows and roasted nuts, staring at the lights twinkling on the Christmas tree and listening to the strains of “Silent Night.”
Dr. Steele grinned mysteriously. “And who knows, maybe Santa will find you boys even up here. Better pin up your stockings before you go to bed.”
There were only two extra cots at the weather station, so the boys, Lou Mayer and Tagish Charley bedded down in their sleeping bags around the fireplace. Just before he turned in, Charley fed the dogs and let them run for a while on the deserted highway. Then he penned them in on the big front porch of the weather station.
Sandy fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow, and the next thing he knew, sunlight was streaming into his eyes. Yawning, he sat up and looked around. Tagish Charley and Lou Mayer were already up and off somewhere. Only Jerry was still asleep, curled up in his sleeping bag like a hibernating bear.
Sandy’s eyes widened as they came to rest on the little Christmas tree in the corner. Beneath it were piled assorted boxes wrapped in gaily colored tissue and tied with tinseled ribbon. He leaned over and shook his friend.
“Hey, Jerry, wake up!”