The junior Osbornes had asked that the money which their parents had planned to spend in presents for them be given to them the previous week ; and given it was , without a word . The uncles and aunts arrived in due time , but not with them was the junior Osbornes ' concern . They were the guests of Mr. and Mrs. Osborne . The junior Osbornes were having a Christmas dinner party of their own . In the small dining room a table was spread and loaded with good things . Ida and the twins cooked that dinner all by themselves . To be sure , Cousin Myra had helped some , and Frank and Darby had stoned all the raisins and helped pull the home-made candy ; and all together they had decorated the small dining room royally with Christmas greens . Then their guests came . First , all the little Rolands from the Hollow arrived -- seven in all , with very red , shining faces and not a word to say for themselves , so shy were they . Then came a troop from French Joe 's -- four black-eyed lads , who never knew what shyness meant . Frank drove down to the village in the cutter and brought lame Sammy back with him , and soon after the last guest arrived -- little Tillie Mather , who was Miss Rankin 's `` orphan ` sylum girl '' from over the road . Everybody knew that Miss Rankin never kept Christmas . She did not believe in it , she said , but she did not prevent Tillie from going to the Osbornes ' dinner party . Just at first the guests were a little stiff and unsocial ; but they soon got acquainted , and so jolly was Cousin Myra -- who had her dinner with the children in preference to the grown-ups -- and so friendly the junior Osbornes , that all stiffness vanished . What a merry dinner it was ! What peals of laughter went up , reaching to the big dining room across the hall , where the grown-ups sat in rather solemn state . And how those guests did eat and frankly enjoy the good things before them ! How nicely they all behaved , even to the French Joes ! Myra had secretly been a little dubious about those four mischievous-looking lads , but their manners were quite flawless . Mrs. French Joe had been drilling them for three days -- ever since they had been invited to `` de Chrismus dinner at de beeg house . ''
After the merry dinner was over , the junior Osbornes XXXXX in a Christmas tree , loaded with presents .
behaved believe brought came eat enjoy helped knew loaded meant