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138

Thursday, 24 December

Last night we fixed up our Christmas tree. We had arranged for the tree several weeks in advance.  They do have spruces here, and firs, but by the time they get to the market they are usually turning brown, and their shapes are not always graceful and attractive; so we got ourselves a slender juniper about six feet tall, in a pot with perfectly good roots.  The florist kept it until yesterday for us.  Late in tye afternoon we switched everything in the living roo around half a dozen times until we got an arrangement that suited us.  The tree finally occupied the middle of the west wall between the door and the window, in such a position that it was outlined against the gray background and caught the morning sunlight to the best advantage.  We decorated it with tinsel^[[/]]and some feathery white veil-like stuff that came from home last year, some lead strip tinsel Dorothy had, and some fine tinsel thread of different colors we bought locally. The effect was all bright white and silvery, and the red candles gave just the right color.  For the top I made a glittering white horse.  By the time all was ready we were quite well pleased.

Today I had a little work to do in the morning, principally concerning the staff of the Department for next term.  In the afternoon I went over to the West City to call on W. P. Wang and try to urge him to join the faculty here for the rest of this year at least.  T'ang Tse Ch'ing was there and we three had a fine visit for over two hours.  We got to talking of spirits and such things and they had some new stories of the Tao Yuan and its planchette. It seemes that they managed to get in touch with Jesus, and he wrote: "This is Jesus; but as I am just learning Chinese please do not laugh if I make a mistake."  We laughed overthe joke, of course, then Tse Ch'ing remarked quite seriously that until Jesus did learn Chinese he had no chance in this country; which is a remark pregnant with prophecy.

I got home in time to help get things ready for the party ofthe evening.  Eleanor came early, and soon the other girls came.  We had the tree lighted, and two welcoming candles on a table in the entrance court  All exclaimed suitably about the tree and the attract-