About this story
Your father worries aloud that keeping house has crowded out the future he wants for you, and asks you to promise not to abandon your sister Tita, whose late-night mischief with the stockings you quietly cover for on Christmas morning. The wreath and the ribbon both stay secret as the family goes in to service.
How it opens
Winter emptied Mackinac's harbor and sealed the old fur warehouses behind hard snow.
Inside the fort chapel, evergreen lines waited for the wreath Miss Lois had made too large.
The proportions are wrong, Anne; sentiment cannot repair a crowded design.
Then help me find a place that keeps both the design and my word.
A promise made kindly can still demand an unkind result from everyone else.
Choose
Let it crown the smaller garlands above the altar.
Hang it near the door where scale matters less.