`` This is really the very happiest Christmas morning I have ever known , '' declared Nellie . `` I never felt so really Christmassy in my inmost soul before . '' `` I suppose , '' said Beth thoughtfully , `` that it is because we have discovered for ourselves the old truth that it is more blessed to give than to receive . I 've always known it , in a way , but I never realized it before . '' `` Blessing on Jean 's Christmas inspiration , '' said Nellie . `` But , girls , let us try to make it an all-the-year-round inspiration , I say . We can bring a little of our own sunshine into Miss Allen 's life as long as we live with her . '' `` Amen to that ! '' said Jean heartily . `` Oh , listen , girls -- the Christmas chimes ! '' And over all the beautiful city was wafted the grand old message of peace on earth and good will to all the world . A Christmas Mistake `` Tomorrow is Christmas , '' announced Teddy Grant exultantly , as he sat on the floor struggling manfully with a refractory bootlace that was knotted and tagless and stubbornly refused to go into the eyelets of Teddy 's patched boots . `` Ai n't I glad , though . Hurrah ! '' His mother was washing the breakfast dishes in a dreary , listless sort of way . She looked tired and broken-spirited . Ted 's enthusiasm seemed to grate on her , for she answered sharply : `` Christmas , indeed . I ca n't see that it is anything for us to rejoice over . Other people may be glad enough , but what with winter coming on I 'd sooner it was spring than Christmas . Mary Alice , do lift that child out of the ashes and put its shoes and stockings on .
Everything seems to be at sixes and sevens here this XXXXX . ''
Alice Allen Christmassy Grant Jean Nellie Ted bootlace is morning