Christmas Visitor

Marcus and Nanette were excited. They had received a letter from their Mimi that she was coming for Christmas. The note said that she would be there on Christmas Eve. Their parents had helped them count down the days till Mimi was to arrive. On the day she was to come, the children dressed in their finest clothes and waited for Mimi to arrive.

Their Pa went to the train station to pick up their Mimi, and the children started to get anxious. They kept asking their Ma questions about their Mimi. “What was she like?” “Would she like me?” “Was she nice?” They were so worried that she wouldn’t be nice or that she wouldn’t like them because they hadn’t seen her since Nanette was a baby and Marcus was three years old.

Finally, the children heard their father arrive home, so they ran to the door, but no one was with him when he came in. The children were disappointed, and Ma seemed worried. Pa told them that Mimi hadn’t been on any of the trains to come in today.

The children were put to bed disappointed. Ma and Pa talked about what could have happened downstairs out of earshot of the children. They couldn’t figure out what would have made Mimi break her word.

Just after midnight, after everyone was asleep, they were awakened by the sound of a sleigh and the doorbell ringing. The children were in the hall when Pa and Ma came out. Pa told Ma to put Marcus and Nanette back to bed while he took care of the visitor. The children were disappointed; they were tired and could not see who was at the door.

When Ma brought them downstairs the following day, Mimi awaited them with Christmas gifts. She was the visitor who had shown up in the middle of the night last night. She’d missed her train, and Santa offered to lift her to their house.

The children were so happy. Mimi was just what they hoped she would be.