Lady of the Lord From the East

Wei Wei prepared gifts for all three Williams.

There is no beautiful wrapping paper with printing, so she uses ordinary colored paper for packaging. Today's paper mills have not become larger, but they have more and more patterns in papermaking. Toilet paper, colorful colored paper, and hard paper of different thicknesses that can be used to paste boxes have all done well. Recently, they are researching scented letter paper, and even made molds to press some specific patterns on the paper. If If it can be made, this kind of paper with fragrance and patterns will become the new favorite of the nobles to write letters.

Gift boxes of different sizes are wrapped in colored paper, and then tied with fine linen woven lace ribbons, tied with a bow, put on Christmas cards, and stacked under the Christmas tree.

The Christmas tree that the servant found was nearly three meters high, and the bottom was fixed with a shelf. The tree was full of decorations, but there were only a few gift boxes under the tree, so it looked lonely, so Wei Wei had borrowed Caroline a long time ago. dolls and put them under the tree as a decoration.

At this time, Caroline was looking for gifts in the pile of dolls under Wei Wei's instructions.

She flipped through it for a while, and soon found a blue gift box. The gift box was not big and light, and she flipped it out easily.

"This!" The little lady happily showed the things in her hands to the adults behind her. She was young but smart and obviously knew that this thing that was different from other dolls should be a gift.

But what is this? She tilted her head suspiciously, winked at the gift box in her hand, and reached out to pull the bow on it.

"This is not Caroline's." Wei Wei stopped her, took the gift box from her hand, and pointed to the Christmas tree: "Caroline's gift is still inside."

The little lady wasn't angry when the things were taken away. She didn't like blue, so she didn't have much interest in the gift box, so she continued to rummage through the pile of dolls.

Wei Wei stood up and handed the gift box to Felix: "Merry Christmas."

Felix replied to her with the same words before taking the gift box, slightly surprised: "For me? Isn't it just for children?"

He knew that Wei Wei's Christmas was not the same as the current Christmas. Compared with the religious Christmas that he knew, it was more like a day to celebrate a year of harvest and family reunion, so they would prepare A Christmas tree full of presents, a big Christmas dinner, and a family get together to eat, drink, and have fun, instead of going to church mass to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

But Felix had heard the story of Santa Claus that Wei Wei told Caroline. Of course, as an adult, he knew that it was to coax children, but he thought that gifts were only for children.

So when he saw his own gift box and a greeting card with his name on it, he was very annoyed: "I'm sorry, I didn't prepare a present for you."

Wei Wei said playfully: "It doesn't matter, I prepared it for myself, and we will open the presents together later."

Dolores heard their conversation and said expectantly: "Do I have a gift too?"

"Of course, my girl." Wei Wei smiled and nodded at her, then pushed her gently: "You can look for it, the card with your name on it is yours."

Dolores cheered softly, then crouched down too, and turned over with Caroline among the piles of dolls.

Soon, they found the few remaining gift boxes.

But unexpectedly, there were not only four gift boxes in it, but six.

Because each gift box had a greeting card on it, Dolores quickly recognized who those were for, and she happily went to the butler couple standing not far behind the masters: "It's Steward Barton and Mrs. Nancy, yours."

Although it is said that everyone can rest today, it is impossible for all the servants to have a holiday, leaving only the masters to take care of themselves, so they have to take turns to rest, those who work today can have a holiday tomorrow, just like the six around Wei Wei Maid, everyone except Penny and Karma went home for the holidays, and they both get a day off tomorrow.

The housekeeper couple felt that today was a different day. It would be a loss for them if they missed the family gathering of the masters, so they arranged for themselves to rest tomorrow and the day after, so that one can rest and the other can continue. Preside over the daily work of the servants.

The couple, who have served the Williams family for many years, were surprised to hear that they had their own gifts, but they were very happy after the accident.

Christmas is when relatives and friends give gifts to each other in Wei Wei's mouth. Wei Wei prepares gifts for them, which means that in her opinion, they are not only servants, but relatives and friends, which is undoubtedly a recognition of them. .

Felix personally handed the two gifts to them, and said sincerely: "Merry Christmas, you have worked hard all these years."

"Merry Christmas, young master, we don't feel hard at all." Butler Barton said with a whimper, and his wife, Mrs. Nancy, nodded with a moved face, saying that she can really serve the Williams family again. Glory but.

The other servants looked at the housekeeper and his wife enviously, secretly looking forward to working harder in the future, and maybe they would receive the master's Christmas gift at some point.

Of course, the significance of this gift is not its specific value, but a glory, a glory recognized by the master. In the future, the housekeeper and his wife will be more authoritative in the hearts of the servants, and even if others know about this, they will Look up to him more.

Everyone got the gift, and everyone opened it together.

Caroline couldn't wait the most. She searched for a long time before she found her own red gift box. It was a big box, and it was a bit heavy for Caroline. After confirming that it was her own gift, she was tired She just sat down on the ground and started pulling the ribbon on it.

The floor of the castle hall was originally without any bedding, but there was a thick blanket under the area around the Christmas tree, so Caroline would not catch a cold sitting on the ground, but Wei Wei still said to Felix: "Maybe next time We should put a Christmas tree in the break room, right in front of the fireplace, so we can all look at the presents over the fire."

Felix immediately acted: "Don't wait, I'll send someone to find a smaller pine tree now, let them decorate it, and put it in the lounge."

He even had a whim and said that tonight's Christmas dinner could also be eaten in that lounge: "Just a few of us, a small table is enough."

After he finished speaking, Butler Patton said immediately, "Okay, young master, I'll make arrangements now."

There are still hours before dinner, enough for them to set up.

"No hurry, let's unpack the gifts first."

Caroline removed the bow, but she didn't know how to remove the wrapping paper, but probably children have a desire to destroy. She quickly tore off the red wrapping paper to reveal the cardboard box underneath.

Mrs. Nancy, worried that she tore the carton too—though she couldn’t do it—hurried forward to help her open it.

"Wow!" The voices of exclamation came from the mouths of two girls, one big and one small. Dolores hadn't opened her present yet. They were all ready to accept surprises slowly, so they planned to come one by one.

So when Caroline opened the gift, Dolores watched from the side, to see what the gift was inside.

It is a set of simulated kitchen toys for home use. There are knives, forks, dishes, stoves, frying pans, and stewing pots. There are even simulated fruits, vegetables and cakes. The extent to which the child stuffed into the mouth is more like a children's version of the kitchen utensils.

These things are made of very light and sturdy wood. For safety reasons, they are not colored. Each piece is polished without any edges and corners. Even the small wooden knives and forks are rounded and thickened. hurt the child.

Even if these things in front of them are the color of logs, you can see their usefulness at a glance. The temptation of playing a house is undoubtedly very great for a little girl. Even at Dolores' age, she is still very happy. I played with Caroline, but they used to find whatever they wanted to play this game, and they had never seen such a variety of housewares.

Seeing this, she couldn't help but marvel, and then expressed her interest in wanting to play this with Caroline.

Caroline's response was to take those things out of the box and place them on the ground, obviously she wanted to play now.

Wei Wei had to remind them that now is not the right time and place: "Lola, it's time for you to open the present."

"Okay." Seeing Caroline's gift, Dolores looked forward to her gift even more.

She demolished a dollhouse.

The doll's house was assembled early in the morning. The appearance is a beautiful three-story house. The front piece can be disassembled to reveal the internal structure of the doll's house. It is a very typical noble and gorgeous style. It is made in appearance, and it is exquisite like real furniture. If it is enlarged, it can be directly lived in by people.

And now, the resident of this doll house is a girl puppet with blonde hair and blue eyes. "She" is standing in the hall. The painted villain can't tell that it is made of wood, but she is hidden under the gorgeous clothes. Her body is undisguised, a humanoid girl made in equal proportions, and below the neck is like the kind of joint puppet that cartoonists use to draw the proportions of the human body, that is to say, she can make many different poses.

This puppet's face is five or six points similar to Dolores's, and people can tell who the original is at a glance. Dolores put the puppet wearing a long skirt on the chair and put it in a sitting posture, as if It's like sitting inside.

Caroline was also attracted by her gift. She looked at Dolores's gift, and then at her own, and then pouted, her face full of grievance: "No Caroline..."

Obviously, she felt that her new gift was missing a villain like herself.

Wei Wei covered her mouth and smiled, and she guessed that with Caroline's character and age, she would not pay attention to which gift was more delicate and time-consuming. It is estimated that in her opinion, the gifts of both are the same, and they can Play together, the only difference is whether there is a villain like yourself.

Seeing Caroline's pouted mouth, Dolores hurriedly said, "It doesn't matter, I'll let you play with this one from my little aunt." As she spoke, she handed over the puppet she liked very much.

Wei Wei reminded them, "Look at the room on the third floor."

There are two rooms on the third floor of the doll's house, one on the left and one on the right. They are both bedrooms, but the furnishings are slightly different. The beds in the two rooms are all curtains. Now the curtains are down, so I can't see clearly what is inside.

Dolores' expression changed, and she quickly took out a wooden doll from one of the smaller beds.

It is a lot shorter than the girl puppet, with dark golden curly hair, blue eyes, and a small face with baby fat. It is not Caroline.

"Caroline!" This time, the little lady was no longer wronged, she happily took the little puppet that was really similar to her, but only had the length of her palm, and touched her little curly hair: "The same , it's Caroline!"

"Yes, this is made according to Caroline's style." Wei Wei smiled: "You can use this to play your family in the future."

The two aunts and nephews nodded together, and the two five-point similar faces showed the same happy smiles, and then they happily got together to play with the toys, as if they were not ten years apart from each other, but children of the same age.

But for Dolores, who was always neglected in childhood and never had many toys, playing with Caroline completely made up for her childhood regrets.

After reading the gifts of the two little girls, it was naturally the other adults' turn to open the gifts.

Felix got a copy of the Swiss Army Knife, a multifunctional folding knife that included a wine corkscrew, scissors, saws, rulers, tweezers, toothpicks, nail files, awls, and wrenches in addition to the main knife. They, the main knife of this Swiss Army knife is about the same length as the dagger when it is unfolded. At about 20 centimeters, the thickness of the main part exceeds three centimeters. It is very heavy to hold in the hand, and it is limited by the current production process and materials. , This tool is made of iron as a whole. In order to prevent rust, they have to be removed and maintained after a period of time and then put back in.

But this does not prevent Felix from liking it. He feels that with such a tool, he will be much more convenient in the field in the future.

"Does it have a name?"

Wei Wei wanted to say Swiss Army Knife, but it was obviously inappropriate, so she just said: "It's called a multi-function tool knife. You see it has so many tools with different functions, but the main body is a knife, so it's called this."

Felix agreed: "I think the Cavaliers can also be equipped with a tool like this, it looks very convenient."

"You have to ask the blacksmith if it is possible."

Felix wrote it down, then looked at the gift box in Wei Wei's hand: "What did you prepare for yourself?"

"A new hat, I asked a tailor to make it before." Wei Wei gave herself a gift just to cooperate with everyone. She didn't particularly want anything, so she simply stuffed the newly made hat into the crowd. It seems very perfunctory in the gift.

Felix didn't say anything, just helped her put on the peaked cap made of rabbit fur. The fluffy cap was very warm and felt very tactile.

Afterwards, they looked at the gifts from the butlers. Butler Patton got a badge made of pure gold with the emblem of the Williams family, while Mrs. Nancy got a gold bracelet with a wide front and a narrow back. It is a reduced version of the laurel wreath. In addition to the gorgeous and delicate patterns, the widest position is also the emblem of the Williams family. The lion on it is also inlaid with blue gemstones in the eye area. The color is the same as the Williams family. the same blue eyes.

The price of gold is not cheap, not to mention that it is made into accessories, but for the housekeeper couple, what makes them most happy is the pattern of the family crest on it.

As soon as they got the gift, they couldn't wait to ask the owner, and then put it on their body. Butler Patton, who had a family badge on his chest, held his head high, feeling that his waist was straighter than before, and Mrs. Nancy also put the bracelet on He also deliberately showed his hand outside his sleeve, wanting everyone to see this gift.

After reading everyone's gifts and Dolores playing with Caroline for a while, she suddenly remembered that she had prepared gifts too.

She ran back to her room in a hurry, and then ran back with her things in her arms. Because of the relationship between going up and down the stairs, when she came back to them, she was running out of breath.

Wei Wei hurriedly helped her get better, and when the little girl recovered, she saw her blushing face, whether she was tired from running or shy, and handed the thing to Wei Wei: "I originally wanted to give it to me at night. yours."

Wei Wei was a little surprised that Dolores would prepare gifts. After all, everyone was not celebrating Christmas. Although she told them about Santa Claus, she did not say that family and friends could also give gifts to each other.

Dolores said embarrassedly, "Didn't you say that all the good children can get gifts today, so I prepared gifts for Caroline and the little baby."

Dolores is not Caroline, and of course she doesn't believe in the existence of Santa Claus. Naturally, the so-called gifts can only be given to children by adults in the family. She (self-confessed) is also an adult, and naturally it should be given to children at home. Prepare gifts.

And their children are not just Caroline.

Wei Wei heard that she had counted all the children in her stomach, and felt warm in her heart, she reached out and touched Dolores' hair that was a little messy from running: "Thank you Lola, can I see what it is? ?"

"Of course!"

The gifts were also placed in cardboard boxes, but Dolores did not wrap them in colorful packaging, nor did they tie strings and bows, so they could be opened directly.

Dolores prepared a new dress for Caroline, still a cute one-piece bunny suit, which is obviously her new work, and she also prepared clothes for the baby to be born in the future, two small clothes on the top and bottom , The fabric is pure cotton, the stitches are hidden tightly, and the clothes are not very thick. Obviously, Wei Wei's due date is also included in the spring and summer of the next year.

There is no embroidery on this suit, but it is not monotonous. Dolores put together a cute Q-version lion on the front of the suit with different colors of cloth.

Wei Wei was naturally very happy to receive such a gift. She praised Dolores for getting better and better, and at the same time made Felix even more sad because he didn't remember to prepare these gifts for the children. .

Even Dolores couldn't compare, Felix felt like a failure at this moment.

Fortunately, only half a day had passed since Christmas, and he still had time to make up for it.

The hall is not a suitable place for family gatherings. After unpacking the gifts, they moved to a lounge. This room has a fireplace, but it was not used much before, but this winter, Wei Wei called the stewards every time to talk about things. Will choose here, so there is always wood in the fireplace in the room, ready to light up for warmth.

Butler Patton energetically directed the servants to decorate the room. A lot of mistletoe was placed above the fireplace. This evergreen and meaningful plant was linked and hung down from both sides of the fireplace to the ground. In the middle was a A wreath of mistletoe, embellished with bright red holly fruit, is very flattering.

The newly cut Christmas tree was placed beside the fireplace, and the one-meter-high small Christmas tree was hung with decorations taken from the tree in the hall-the housekeeper said that he would then add new decorations to the poor Christmas tree- —The star above her head was put on by Caroline who volunteered, and Felix personally held her and put it on the Christmas tree.

The long table and chairs for dinner were also placed in a corner, replacing the cabinets there. The table was covered with lace tablecloths, a few artificial flowers were inserted in a ceramic vase, and the candles on the candlesticks were brand new. Just waiting for the night to be temporarily lit, as for the tableware, it will be placed before the meal.

The well-trained servants were arranged very quickly, and their movements did not cause any unnecessary noise. Even if the masters were all sitting in this room, and a dozen servants walked back and forth, no one made a noise. them.

Wei Wei was sitting on the wool blanket in the corner playing with the new toys with the two little girls. She also played the house with them and acted as a guest, watching Caroline entertain her and Dolorie. Si, in order to cooperate with her, they have to make some remarks such as "The weather is nice today", "This snack is delicious", "Your cooking skills are really good" and so on, Caroline became more serious after hearing that, and even spoke more than usual. It's neat, and some new words come out of her mouth from time to time, all of which they usually talk about. The young lady's learning ability is obviously very strong.

This game was obviously too childish for Felix, and there were so many servants coming and going around, and he couldn't take part in it, so he just sat on the sofa next to them and watched them play, leaving for a while in the middle. , I don't know what to do.

But when Christmas dinner was on the table and dozens of candles were lit in the room, he posted what he had done when he left.

He went to make up the gift.

"Although it's a bit late, I think I haven't missed the festival, have I?"

Felix gave the three gifts to his three most important girls, and then apologetically said to the housekeeper and his wife who were always ready to serve them: "The time is a bit rushed, and I didn't think of what to give you, only to give You guys, I hope you don't mind."

There are two gems in his palm. They are not big, but they are of high purity and can be used to make a good jewelry.

But the couple refused to accept it: "No, young master, we haven't prepared any gifts either, and we shouldn't accept any more gifts from you!"

Felix persuaded them a few words but did not let them change their minds. They have received a precious gift today, and this pair of gems should not belong to them.

In the end, Felix had no choice but to withdraw the gem, and then assured the three girls who had already received gifts: "You too, I will remember to prepare more suitable gifts next year."

Instead of having to go to the vault of the family sadly, find the piece of jewelry that is suitable for them for many years from a pile of jewelry.

Compared with the sincere gifts from Wei Wei and Dolores, he only had a pile of copper stench left.

It's really sad.