The Adventures of Nicholas by Helen Siiteri

disappointed.” Each mother and father sat quietly, remembering the joyful Christmas mornings when they were children, and had waked up to find their stockings stuffed with toys and goodies.
    “He was a fine, good man,” they all agreed. “We must not let the children lose faith in Nicholas.”
    So that Christmas Eve each child was allowed to hang his stocking from the mantel above the fireplace, and a fire was kept burning warmly on each hearth, in memory of an old and beloved friend whom the children still believed in.
    Christmas morning dawned bright and clear. The air was pure and fresh, and the snow lay glistening along the doorways. The little village lay peaceful in the early morning quiet.
    Suddenly one door burst open, and with a wild shout little Christian dashed out into the snow. “Look at my stocking! It’s filled, just the same as always. Look, everybody, Nicholas did come! Wake up, wake up!”
    The children leaped from their beds right into the largest piles of toys they had ever seen, all around the fireplaces and heaped up on the tables and chairs. The bells pealed out a joyful, merry sound. And the happy villagers called to one another in the clear, cold air, “Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas to you! Merry Christmas!”