It was half November 1873 when the twins Mitch and Pam Cartwright got a for them great idea. They were home together with the loyal Chinese cook Hop Sing. Their father was Adam Cartwright, the eldest son of Ponderosa ranch owner Ben Cartwright. The uncles of the twins, Hoss and Joe, were the younger brothers of Adam and crazy about the children. But that were Ben and Adam too.
That certain afternoon Mitch suggested to his sister, “Shall we bring the house into the Christmas spirit already?”
“We do that. Are you coming to the attic?”, was the counter-question of Pam.
Mitch nodded. Quickly the couple went to the attic where all the Christmas stuff were being put together.
“When does the tree come into the house?”, asked Pam.
“In December. Most of the time uncle Hoss and uncle Joe must chop it in the forest”, answered Mitch.
“And on the way more scolding words come into their scolding dictionary of course”, reacted Pam.
Even though she hadn’t lived long at the ranch Pam had learned a lot from and about her family. That came of course mainly by her twin brother. They were practically inseparable.
“That book as probably already 1000 pages and the end is not in sight at all”, Mitch said laughing.
They brought everything downstairs and went to decorate the house from the inside with Christmas decorations. Hop Sing even helped by making hot chocolate milk and Christmas cake for the twins.
By evening time the children had brought everything they didn’t need any more back to the attic. They knew how late the men came home and around that time Pam was reading and her brother drawing.
Outside Ben saw the wreath hanging on the front door.
He asked amazed, “Adam, is your son already busy with Christmas perhaps?”
“Why must it be my son who do you mean, pa?”, asked Adam.
“You know that I only 1 grandson and that is your son”, answered the rancher.
Adam sighed deep and answered, “I am afraid that Mitch has involved Pam.”
The others were also afraid of that.
Hoss smelled for a second and asked then, “Isn’t that the smell of the Christmas cake of Hop Sing?”
“That is indeed the smell of his Christmas cake. Hop Sing and the twins are a very bad combination”, Joe remarked.
“Not so bad as you 2 together”, was the reaction of Adam.
His brothers looked indignant for a moment at him.
Ben said, “The children mean it well.”
They went inside and came into a living room in Christmas sphere.
“Hello grandpa. Only the tree is missing. But uncle Hoss and uncle Joe may take care of that like each year”, said Pam.
Hoss and Joe knew right away that their nephew had told her more than enough.
Ben looked at his 2 youngest sons and said, “Boys, you have heard Pam so go and find a beautiful tree.”
“But pa, it is November 15. We haven’t even celebrated Thanksgiving yet”, protested Joe.
“I know that too, but seeing as here in the house 2 have already set up the Christmas decorations I think that there must come a tree as well”, answered Ben.
He kept on looking at Hoss and Joe so that they had to go out.
Adam looked with his children the decorated house.
“You have done it very nicely”, he said smiling.
“Thank you”, said Mitch.
He looked at Pam laughing and she looked at him too laughing.
“Upstairs everything is also decorated”, said Pam.
“Then you really have been well busy”, said Adam.
He clearly was as proud as a peacock of his children.
Ben watched his youngest sons go and went then inside. He too looked at all the decorations.
“Adam, kids, I may assume that Christmas has started very early with us”, said the rancher.
The twins noticed that Ben and Adam found it a very nice idea of them.
Meanwhile Hoss and Joe looked for a suitable tree.
“Why are that nephew and niece of ours só crazy about Christmas that we must get a Christmas tree already on November 15, 1873?”, grumbled Joe.
“Because they have our older brother Adam as a father”, answered Hoss.
Finally they found a good and beautiful tree which got taken home.
After supper the tree got trimmed. Although Hoss and Joe first were skeptic they also became in the Christmas mood. Even though it took about 6 weeks before it was really Christmas