On Christmas eve, many years ago, I lay quietly in my bed. I did not rustle the sheets. I breathed slowly and silently. I was listening for a sound—a sound a friend had told me I’d never hear—the ringing bells of Santa’s sleigh.
“So you’ll read to him from one of your books, and he’ll ask to see the pictures. When he looks at the pictures, he’ll get so excited he’ll want to draw one of his own.”
“You’ll have to fix up a little box for him with a blanket and a pillow. He’ll crawl in, make himself comfortable and fluff the pillow a few times. He’ll probably ask you to read him a story.”
“Little Nutbrown Hare, who was going to bed, held on tight to Big Nutbrown Hare’s very long ears. He wanted to be sure that Big Nutbrown Hare was listening.”
“It was late one winter night, long past my bedtime, when Pa and I went owling. There was no wind. The trees stood still as giant statues. And the moon was so bright the sky seemed to shine.”
“ ‘The children are just getting into their beds. They sleep in bunk beds, ‘ she explained, and so they did. Two to a bed, head to tail, stacked five beds high.”
“There were so many giants and tigers and scary and exciting things before, that I am pretty tired now. That is just a moth, and he is only doing his job, the same as the wind. His job is bumping and thumping and my job is to sleep.”
“She jumped out of bed and went to tell Mother and Father. When she got to their door, she thought about it some more and decided not to tell them. She went back to her room.”
″ ‘Then, Humphrey,’ replied Edward, laughing, ‘you must tell me some other time, for it is now very late, and I must go to bed, as I have to rise early. I know you have so many projects in your mind that it would take half the night to listen to them.’ ”
“Once I knew a little girl,
Who wouldn’t go to bed,
And in the morning always had
A very sleepy head.
At night she’d stop up on the stairs,
And hold the railings tight
Then with a puff she’d try to blow
Out Mary Ann’s rushlight.
The bed at last they tuck’d her in.
The light she vowed to keep;
Left in the dark she roar’d and cried;
Till tired she went to sleep.”
It is a great bedtime read and funny at certain parts and sad and touching at others. The story moves very fast so try to savor those arguments because they mean so much.
“And when bedtime came something even worse happened. Teddy Robinson and Deborah got into bed as usual, and what should they find but the blue dog already there, lying right in the middle of the bed, and smiling up at them both, just as if he belonged there.”