“We shall!” remarked the boy named Billy, laughing. Christmas! “God rest ye merry gentlemen Let nothing you dismay, Remember Christ our Savior Was born on Christmas day,” sang the boy named Billy, a bit off key. “_Billy_” begged Big Sister, “please get that correctly--you’ll throw the whole choir off if you sing it that way--come to the piano and I’ll drill you until you can _sing_ it!” “Run along now, you’re letter perfect,” said Big Sister after a half-hour of practice, “I’m going to wrap up my gifts now, and it’s no fair peeking, either.” “Oh, I don’t care anything about your gifts,” said Billy, “I’m going to stay right here and Somebody is going to tell me all about Christmas and why we give gifts and everything. Was it because the wise men brought gifts to the baby Jesus?” “Perhaps,” said Somebody, “but it seems more likely that it grew out of the realization of God’s great gift to the world--the gifts of Love and Friendliness and Peace which He bestowed upon us in sending His only son to teach us how to live.” “‘Peace on earth, good will toward men,’” quoted Billy softly. “That’s enough to make people happy.” “Christmas was not always the happy time that it is now,” said Somebody. “The early Christians had rather a hard time of it.” “I remember,” said the boy named Billy, “I never could understand how they had the courage to keep it up.” “They were upholding Truth,” said Somebody, “and Truth is the strongest thing in the world.” “Was Christ really born on December 25th?” asked Billy. “Probably not,” said Somebody. “The Eastern church celebrated January 6th, as the date of birth, calling it Epiphania, while the Western church celebrated December 25th, calling it Natalis. The Pagans had a festival at this season of the year called THE BIRTHDAY OF THE SUN of which they were very fond. Out of this grew the idea of using that time to celebrate the birth of Christ, the spiritual Sun of the world. This gradually took the place of the old pagan festival.” “The singing of Christmas songs is an English custom, is it not?” asked Billy. “Yes,” said Somebody. “There are many beautiful old-world customs which were left behind when the Puritans came to the new world in search of a place in which to worship in their own way. “In Devonshire, England, it is said that the bees sing all night long in their hives the night before Christmas, and if you are wise you will go and wish them a Merry Christmas and hang a bit of holly on each hive, else you may get no honey next year. “And you must on no account ask to borrow a match or a bit of fire on Christmas day, because fire is the symbol of the heart of the house and of happiness, and you must always add to and not take away from the happiness of others.