Dear James,
Your package and letter came and caused a lot of excitement. The children have had secrets all day and tonight I was informed I’d have to hunt for presents in the morning. I am sorry Esther is feeling so badly but I have heard that at first they suffer a great deal of pain in that kind of an operation so I think in a few days she will feel much better. We are all feeling well. I had to let the wood supply in the house get pretty low so that I could sweep out that corner, so this afternoon we all went out and split 4 sleigh-loads of wood. That fills the corner. I am cording wood in that little room you left and we’re going to take a lot of the small stuff into the chicken coop.
I washed and trimmed the pelt and laid it out in the woodshed. We’re sending you a leg of lamb. It will be good roasted in the cooker. There isn’t much meat on it but it tastes good. We’ve had more snow and it has been cold. I hope everything is fine with you now. Get all the sleep you can and eat oranges, lemons and grapefruit. They help ward off colds.
Love, Martha