-opened of itself as wide as could
be--and there stood--not Santa himself--don't think it--but a funny
Little Man with slender little legs and a roly-poly stomach which shook
every now and then when he laughed. You would have known right away,
just as Little Girl knew, that he was a very happy little man, and you
would have guessed right away, too, that the reason he was so roly-poly
was because he laughed and chuckled and smiled all the time--for it's
only sour, cross folks who are thin and skimpy. Quick as a wink, he
pulled off his little peaked red cap, smiled the broadest kind of a
smile, and said, "Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Come in! Come in!"

So in went Little Girl, holding fast to Little Man's hand, and when she
was really inside there was the jolliest, reddest fire all glowing and
snapping, and there were Little Man and all his brothers and sisters,
who said their names were "Merry Christmas," and "Good Cheer," and ever
so many other jolly-sounding things, and there were such a lot of them
that Little Girl just knew she never could count them, no matter how
long she tried.

All around her were bundles and boxes and piles of toys and games, and
Little Girl knew that these were all ready and waiting to be loaded into
Santa's big sleigh for his reindeer to whirl them away over cloud-tops
and snowdrifts to the little people down below who had left their
stockings all ready for him. Pretty soon all the little Good Cheer
Brothers began to hurry and bustle and carry out the bundles as fast as
they could to the steps where Little Girl could hear the jingling bells
and the stamping of hoofs. So Little Girl picked up some bundles and
skipped along too, for she wanted to help a bit herself--it's no fun
whatever at Christmas unless you can help, you know--and there in the
yard stood the _biggest_ sleigh that Little Girl had ever seen, and the
reindeer were all stamping and prancing and jingling the bells on their
harnesses, because they were so eager to be on their way to the Earth
once more.

She could hardly wait for Santa to come, and just as she had begun to
wonder where he was, the door opened again and out came a whole forest
of Christmas trees, at least it looked just as if a whole forest had
started out for a walk somewhere, but a second glance showed Little Girl
that there were thousands of Christmas sprites, and that each one
carried a tree or a big Christmas wreath on his back. Behind them all,
she cou