Page:Christmas stories (IA christmasstories00faul).pdf/38

 both cheeks, and with a big smack on the lips called out, “Good-by, Mother,” and, picking up Annie and Willie as if they were live dolls, tucked one under each arm and dashed out to the magic sleigh. They seemed fairly to fly through the air, and the moon and the stars seemed to dance in the sky as they went on faster and faster. Then they came down nearer and nearer to earth where the lights in the great city gleamed like fireflies far below.

The next thing Annie and Willie knew, they were on the roof of their own home. The next thing they knew, they were down, down the chimney and—there they were right in their own, little beds! The sun-light was streaming into their eyes and their mother was calling, “Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, little sleepy heads!”