Since the last Brownie meeting, the weather gradually had turned warmer. Only a little snow and a few icicles remained to remind the girls of the recent storm.

“I don’t even want new skates for Christmas,” declared Jane, carefully wiping up a blob of paste which had dropped on the rug. “Just once, I wish we could have a giant-size snowstorm here!”

“Out West where my Grandfather and Grandmother Williams live, they have wonderful snowstorms,”37 Connie said wistfully. “Once they were snowed in their house nearly a week.”

37

“You mean they couldn’t get out at all?” asked Sunny in awe.

“Not until a big snowplow came along and opened up the roads. They didn’t starve though, because they had plenty of food in the house.”

“In Minnesota, where my grandparents live, the snows are very heavy too,” said Miss Gordon. She smiled at the recollection. “Christmas at Snow Valley—I count it as one of my happiest memories.”

“Snow Valley,” repeated Connie. “What a beautiful name!”

“Are the snows really deep?” asked Eileen.

“I’ve seen drifts so high they nearly touched the roof. And the coasting! Out of this world!”

Miss Gordon told the girls more about the farm home of her Grandfather and Grandmother Gordon. The living room fireplace was so large that quarter logs were burned in it instead of chopped wood.

“I wish a flying carpet would come along and take me there right now!” exclaimed Connie, her eyes bright.

“Perhaps I’ll return to Minnesota for the holidays,” revealed Miss Gordon. “And that brings me38 to an important question. You remember the ‘surprise’ of which I spoke?”

38

Immediately the room buzzed with excited conversation.

Miss Gordon had to raise her hand in the Brownie sign for silence. Connie followed suit, becoming as still as a mouse. Next Sunny raised her hand, and last of all, Jane, who was chattering like a magpie.

When one could have heard a pin drop, Miss Gordon said:

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