Christmas everyday
This is a tale about something that happened very long ago, before you were born, way back in the nineteenth century. A little girl -- let's call her Jinnie -- lived in the north near a forest. She used to wander in the forest and make up games, and one day she came upon a huge old tree with a label carved into the bark: Wish-fulfilling Tree. Pondering, Jinnie asked, "Are you really a tree that can grant wishes?" "Yes," said the Tree. "Now that you have found me, you may make one wish that will come true. Ask quickly." Now Christmas was almost here and Jinnie loved what happens at Christmas. Why not have it every day? "Please, sir," said she, "let it be Christmas everyday!" "Very well," said the Tree, "you may have it so for a year; after that, we'll see about it."
When the great day arrived Jinnie was already excited. In their family, presents were opened in the morning, and sure enough, here were all the things people received in those days -- stockings on the fireplace bulging with Mandarin oranges, candies, rubber balls and pretend-jewels, her big brother's filled with ruler and pen and ink and other things for school. Jinnie filled up on chocolates and so on, and didn't want any breakfast. Out of her pile of boxes came dolls and water-colors and picture books and her first earrings and all manner of things, which she found around the Christmas tree. (No Nintendo or software games or line skates as you have now, nothing like that!) Then came dinner, which was turkey and all the fixing's, roast potatoes and pumpkin pies.
The day went on like this and Jinnie forgot all about her wish. She was keeping it a secret, anyway. It was a white Christmas, so she took out her new sled (her largest gift) and coasted around the neighborhood. She watched her little sisters play with their silly things, got a stomach ache, felt tired all evening and went to bed early.
In the morning Jinnie felt heavy and tried to sleep late, but here were her sisters, jumping and yelling, "C'mon, it's Christmas, c'mon, c'mon!" "No way," said Jinnie, "it was Christmas yesterday." "Never mind that, just you come and see." Then she remembered the Tree. Sure enough, there in the living room were the lumpy stockings and the fancy wrapped packages. Her parents, picking up their presents, were looking sleepy and puzzled. Mother almost cried, wondering how she would use all these things. Father mumbled some thing about "deja vu!" (which means, "Didn't we do this yesterday?") and the wrappings piled into a mountain. Jinnie laughed to herself and ate so much candy she didn't want any breakfast. And so it went on the whole day, just like before.
Next day it was Christmas again, and the day after. It was Christmas on April Fool's Day and on the Fourth of July and that really gummed things up. People only got more cross and ill tempered. You can probably imagine how things went on at this rate. Turkeys got to be a thousand dollars apiece and people were cooking all kinds of other birds instead. So many trees were cut down to make Christmas trees that stumps were everywhere and all the early environmentalists were much alarmed. Everyone became poor from giving presents, except the candy-makers and gift-shop owners and the post office. Finally people were taking their presents, even unwrapped, and just throwing them at the doors of houses, without any cards, saying, "Here, take it, you old so-and-so!", and many people built barns to hold their presents and the barns got full and overflowed.
Jinnie was afraid, now, even to tell her mother. And she was too ashamed to go back and ask the Wish-fulfilling Tree to take back her gift. Pretty soon she just sat on her dolls as there was no other place to sit. By Thanksgiving somehow it had come out how all this had happened and no one would play with Jinnie now, for they said it was her greediness that had brought it on, and there was nothing to be thankful for. At last she went in search of her Tree, but strange to say, she could find it nowhere in the forest. So the year had to finish: there was no help for it. You may imagine how relieved everyone was when the following real Christmas was over!
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