One MAKE THOSE GREEN FROSTING COOKIES WITH SILVER BALLS Tomorrow is going to be the best day ever Tomorrow my best friend Roxanne is flying from Three Rivers Massachusetts to visit me in Paris She is staying here for a whole week She is coming for Christmas with her grandmother Granny Bee Granny Bee is short for Granny Becky which is short for Granny Rebecca Granny Bee is my Grandma Balthazar’s best friend in the whole world I have two best friends and the second one is Mirabel Plouffe my FBFANDN French best friend and next door neighbor Mirabel Plouffe is going to meet Roxanne for the first time They will probably become best friends too 6
But maybe not quite as best friends as me and Roxanne And less best than me and Mirabel Plouffe But still best friends And we could call ourselves the Tremendous Three Tremendous means great which is what we will be Winicker you look just as excited as I feel Grandma Balthazar says We are all sitting at the kitchen table me Grandma Balthazar Mom Dad and my baby brother Walter in Mom’s arms We’re all having cinnamon and brown sugar oatmeal with raisins for breakfast Except Walter because he can only have milk He’s a new baby New babies get milk It is our last breakfast before I am on Christmas break from school It is our last breakfast before Roxanne gets here I am so excited I say We’re going to do all of the Christmas stuff we used to do in Three Rivers We’re going to decorate cookies with 7
weird green frosting and little silver balls And speaking of silver I can’t wait for Roxanne to see my hair My silver hair is from Grandma Balthazar’s hair dye It looks magnificent which is another word for tremendous We’re going to watch Christmas movies and make a gingerbread house I say And we’ll listen to Christmas music in our pajamas I can’t wait until she gets here tomorrow Those things sound like a lot of fun says Dad He has a couple spots of oatmeal and a raisin down the front of his flannel shirt But remember Winicker he says Roxanne’s never been to Paris before She’ll probably want to get out and see the sights too Grandma Balthazar breathes in really deeply That means she is going to say something like an old movie star would say in an old black-and-white movie Her silver hair sparkles under the kitchen 9
