This chapter is full of images that have stayed with me ever since my first reading of The Long Winter. To me, they’re full of burgeoning excitement.
Image 1: Pa and Mr. Boast walking down the street with the Christmas barrel between them.
Image 2: The family standing around the barrel waiting to see what’s underneath that brown paper.
Image 2: The “silk shawl!” Which Ma, fittingly, gets.
Image 3: The bright yarns and embroidery silks juxtaposed against Laura’s rough, hay-bitten fingers.
Image 4. The cranberries thumping and rolling around on the bottom of the barrel when Pa lifts up the turkey.
Mr. Boast has witnessed the festivities and runs home to tell Ellie that day after tomorrow (because the turkey needs to thaw, no doubt) will feature turkey at the Ingalls home for Christmas dinner – Christmas in May.