It was Christmas Eve, and Harold had to have a Christmas tree before Santa Claus arrived.
So, in a warm woolen cap and mittens, with his purple crayon and the moon, he set off for the north woods.
Harold made sure he went north, by the big dipper. He was glad it happened to be a clear starry night.
Suddenly he remembered Santa Claus came by sleigh. There would have to be snow.
And there was snow. There was a blizzard.
Harold shivered. It’s a fine night to be out, he thought, for a snowman.
The snowstorm was worse than he imagined. Even a snowman didn’t look cheerful in it.
Harold gave the snowman a muffler to wear.
And, happily, the storm finally was showing signs of letting up.
The snow stopped falling but it lay in big drifts. It covered everything.
From the looks of things, Harold thought, he might very well be at the North Pole.
But this couldn’t be really the North Pole, he told himself, because he knew that Santa Claus’s workshop is at the North Pole.
And here all Harold could see was snow.
Still, it did look remarkably like the North Pole, Harold reflected, as he climbed up on a snowdrift as big as a house.
It was a house. He really was at the North Pole, on the roof of Santa’s workshop.
With smooth snow over the eaves Harold was sure Santa Claus was inside. He was snowed in. And it was the night before Christmas.
Why, Harold asked excitedly, couldn’t Santa come out up the chimney?
Then he realized that was a silly question.
Of course Santa Claus could come up a chimney.
The difficulty was, Santa’s sleigh full of toys couldn’t come out that way. Harold thought.
Then he acted fast. He told Santa to come out without the sleigh and not to worry, to leave things to him.
Santa Claus appeared to be rather doubtful.
But Harold confidently went to work lining up the reindeer.
Soon Prancer and Dancer were pawing at the snow, eager to be off around the world.
Harold wasn’t quite certain of the names of the other reindeer.
But he made sure there were eight of them.
They were all handsome and spirited animals.
And, if they weren’t exactly in their right order, none of them complained.
Harold harnessed them with no difficulty.
And he hitched them to a splendid sleigh.
It had a comfortable seat for Santa Claus.
And it had room for a sizeable bag of toys.
He generously filled the bag to overflowing.
For a moment Harold thought of looking to see which were his parents.
But there wasn’t time. He told Santa Claus to get in the sleigh and deliver the toys.
And, without more ado, he waved goodbye.
He would have liked to ride with Santa but he still had to find a Christmas tree.
And he had to get it home, and decorate it too, before Santa got there.
He looked everywhere for a Christmas tree, but all he could see was the moon.
He wondered how the moon would look on top of a Christmas tree, as an ornament.
It looked fine over the tree. And the tree also looked fine under the moon.
It was just the tree he had been looking for.
Now the only problem was to get it home.
It had to stand in the living room, between the fireplace and the big soft chair.
Fortunately, the tree fitted in perfectly. Harold hung up one of his stockings on the fireplace mantel.
And he climbed into the big soft chair to wait for Santa Claus to arrive.