Thank Heaven Beth continues so comfortable . JANUARY A Happy New Year to you all , my dearest family , which of course includes Mr. L. and a young man by the name of Teddy . I ca n't tell you how much I enjoyed your Christmas bundle , for I did n't get it till night and had given up hoping . Your letter came in the morning , but you said nothing about a parcel , meaning it for a surprise , so I was disappointed , for I 'd had a ` kind of feeling ' that you would n't forget me . I felt a little low in my mind as I sat up in my room after tea , and when the big , muddy , battered-looking bundle was brought to me , I just hugged it and pranced . It was so homey and refreshing that I sat down on the floor and read and looked and ate and laughed and cried , in my usual absurd way . The things were just what I wanted , and all the better for being made instead of bought . Beth 's new ` ink bib ' was capital , and Hannah 's box of hard gingerbread will be a treasure . I 'll be sure and wear the nice flannels you sent , Marmee , and read carefully the books Father has marked . Thank you all , heaps and heaps ! Speaking of books reminds me that I 'm getting rich in that line , for on New Year 's Day Mr. Bhaer gave me a fine Shakespeare . It is one he values much , and I 've often admired it , set up in the place of honor with his German Bible , Plato , Homer , and Milton , so you may imagine how I felt when he brought it down , without its cover , and showed me my own name in it , `` from my friend Friedrich Bhaer '' . `` You say often you wish a library . Here I gif you one , for between these lids -LRB- he meant covers -RRB- is many books in one . Read him well , and he will help you much , for the study of character in this book will help you to read it in the world and paint it with your pen . '' I thanked him as well as I could , and talk now about ` my library ' , as if I had a hundred books . I never knew how much there was in Shakespeare before , but then I never had a Bhaer to explain it to me . Now do n't laugh at his horrid name . It is n't pronounced either Bear or Beer , as people will say it , but something between the two , as only Germans can give it . I 'm glad you both like what I tell you about him , and hope you will know him some day .
Mother would admire his warm heart , XXXXX his wise head .
Beth Father German Hannah Homer Milton Plato Shakespeare gingerbread night