text: 8
  
  When they arrived at the house, Paulie ran out and said to Colleen, "What's all this? I didn't know you were coming, but I'm glad Grit invited you. I hope you're spending Christmas with us!"
  
  "That's the idea," she said. "I have five whole days off."
  
  "Welcome to our place," Paulie said. "It's so good to see you again. Come on into the house. It's cold outside. Let me take your bag for you. Grit can take care of the horses."
  
  Just as Grit had thought, Paulie was more excited to have Colleen visit than he was. He unsaddled and rubbed down the horses before going into the house.
  
  Paulie had already shown Colleen to her room. When Grit walked in, Paulie said, "See, wasn't it a good idea to have a three-bedroom house?"
  
  Grit laughed, "Yes, it was. You were right about that."
  
  As Colleen walked out of her room, she said, "This is so nice. I never imagined you'd have a place like this."
  
  "It's a little rough yet," Grit said. "We could use something for the walls, but we just moved in a few months ago."
  
  "I love the bear-skin rugs," she said. "Nice on our feet. And you have a cook stove and a heat stove. This is going to spoil me."
  
  Paulie had a pot of stew on the stove. Soon he fixed a fresh batch of biscuits, and they all sat down to dinner.
  
  "Good stew, Paulie," Colleen said.
  
  "I've had a lot of practice," he said. "We eat stew most of the time around here. We both enjoy it, and it's filling."
  
  "What kind of meat is this?" Colleen asked.
  
  "Venison," Paulie said. "I shot a doe yesterday down along the river, and I saw a cougar just after sunset. There's all kinds of wild animals around here."