It was his one great day of pride and vanity.

He did not try to conceal them.
The other presents floated for a moment in this irresistible tide of laughing good will and found their owners.

I have never forgotten how Uncle Jabez chased Aunt Minerva around the house with a wooden snake cunningly carved and colored.

I observed there were many things on the tree which had not been taken down when we younger ones gathered up our wealth and repaired to Aunt Deel's room to feast our eyes upon it and compare our good fortune.
The women and the big girls rolled up their sleeves and went to work with Aunt Deel preparing the dinner.

The great turkey and the chicken pie were made ready and put in the oven and the potatoes and the onions and the winter squash were soon boiling in their pots on the stove-top.
Meanwhile the children were playing in my aunt's bedroom and Uncle Hiram and Uncle Jabez were pulling sticks in a corner while the other men sat tipped against the wall watching and making playful comments--all save my Uncle Peabody, who was trying to touch his head to the floor and then straighten up with the aid of the broomstick.
By and by I sat on top of the wood with which I had just filled the big wood-box and very conscious of the shining chain on my breast.