It was a few days before Christmas. In the home of the Cartwrights was it very cozy but something was still missing. Ponderosa owner Ben Cartwright and his three sons, Adam, Hoss and Little Joe, knew that the tree still had to come. The youngest of the family was Mitch of three years old and he was nagging about it for days.
One morning the rancher said, “We still must have a tree.”
“Indeed. Who will get it?”, asked Adam.
“We toss for it. each writes his name on a piece of paper. We do it in a hat and Mitch draws a paper”, said Ben.
He got up to get everything together. The brothers went to sit a bit closer together.
“We all write down the name of pa on it”, whispered Adam.
His brothers agreed. Ben came back and gave each a pencil and paper. Each wrote down a name on it and folded it up. In the hat of Adam were four pieces of paper.
“Mitch, come here for a second”, said Adam.
His son came with Cody, the dog of the Cartwrights.
“Pick a piece of paper out of the hat. The person with that name must get the tree, set it up and decorate it alone this year”, said Ben.
“May I not help?”, Mitch asked amazed.
The four grownups looked at each other. They hadn’t counted on this.
“You may supervise. Together with Cody”, said Adam.
Mitch nodded and picked a piece of paper. Hereafter the boy gave it to his father. Adam folded it open, read the name and started to smile. Hoss and Little Joe knew enough and started to smile as well.
“Pa, you have the honor to make sure that we get a decorated tree into our home”, Adam spoke.
“You make sure that all Christmas stuff are coming from the attic. In the meantime I am going to get the tree”, said Ben.
They agreed with it.
“Daddy, may I come along with grandpa to get the tree?”, asked Mitch.
“If you promise to stay with grandpa and to listen to him”, said Adam.
Mitch promised that. Adam dressed up his son warmly for departure.
On the way to Virginia City grandpa and grandson Cartwright contrived a little plan.
“Mitch, we get the tree and decorate him together. But daddy, Uncle Hoss and Uncle Joe may not find out. So.... ”, said the rancher.
“I say nothing”, said Mitch.
At home the boys brought the boxes with Christmas stuff downstairs.
“Pa will be very furiously when he hears what we have done with the tickets”, said Little Joe.
“If Mitchy doesn’t say anything. You know how he is”, reacted Hoss.
“He doesn’t understand it quite yet. As long as there is a decorated tree and we are with him is that enough for Mitch”, answered Adam.
After a few hours Ben and Mitch came home with the tree. First the rancher lifted his grandson from the wagon and carried then the tree inside.
“Mitch, have fun with watching how grandpa works”, Adam said to his son.
“Pa, enjoy work”, the brothers said as a choir to their father.
Quickly the boys went away, leaving Ben and Mitch alone.
“Mitch, now we quickly get to work so that the tree is decorated tonight. You do the decorations below and I do them in the middle and on top”, said the rancher.
“May I put the Christmas angel on top?”, asked the boy.
Ben nodded. He got the Christmas angel and gave it then to his grandson. Hereafter the boy got picked up so that the Christmas angel could get into the tree.
By suppertime the Cartwrights had a very nice decorated tree. Ben was reading he newspaper and Mitch played near the fire place when the others came home. Their mouths fell open from amazing when the brothers saw the Christmas tree standing.
“Gees, pa has been working hard this afternoon”, Little Joe remarked.
His brothers laughed.
“I may look old but I still can work hard enough”, reacted Ben.
The boys took off their coats and went to sit in the living room.
During supper Mitch said incidentally, “What have we decorated the tree nicely.”
The brothers looked dat each other amazed.
“Pardon me boy. What did you say there?”, asked Adam.
Mitch realized that he had said a bit too much. He became shy and looked at his plate.
“Mitchy, do you want to say that you have helped grandpa with decorating the tree?”, asked Hoss.
“Yes, or otherwise he still would have been busy now”, his nephew said quickly.
The brothers couldn’t stop laughing anymore.
“Very funny Mitchell”, said Ben.
“Pa, you have said yourself that the drawn person had to decorate the tree alone. What sort of punishment shall we give pa for cheating?”, asked Adam.
“He must do the dishes alone till Christmas”, said Little Joe said right away.
His brothers thought that was a suitable punishment. Because the Chinese cook Hop Sing just came in and heard the punishment too Ben couldn’t escape it anymore.