midnight
She had never had such a feeling in the mountains , but she had it now , and she wondered whether she could ever be quite the same toward Jason again . Christmas was approaching and no greater wonder had ever dawned on the lives of Mavis and Jason than the way these people in the settlements made ready for it . In the mountains many had never heard of Christmas and few of Christmas stockings , Santa Claus , and catching Christmas gifts -- not even the Hawns , But Mavis and Jason had known of Christmas , had celebrated it after the mountain way , and knew , moreover , what the Blue-grass children did not know , of old Christmas as well , which came just twelve days after the new . At midnight of old Christmas , so the old folks in the mountains said , the elders bloomed and the beasts of the field and the cattle in the barn kneeled lowing and moaning , and once the two children had slipped out of their grandfather 's house to the barn and waited to watch the cattle and to listen to them , but they suffered from the cold , and when they told what they had done next morning , their grandfather said they had not waited long enough , for it happened just at midnight ; so when Mavis and Jason told Marjorie and Gray of old Christmas they all agreed they would wait up this time till midnight sure . As for new Christmas in the hills , the women paid little attention to it , and to the men it meant `` a jug of liquor , a pistol in each hand , and a galloping nag . '' Always , indeed , it meant drinking , and target-shooting to see `` who should drink and who should smell , '' for the man who made a bad shot got nothing but a smell from the jug until he had redeemed himself . So , Steve Hawn and Jason got ready in their own way and Mavis and Martha Hawn accepted their rude preparations as a matter of course .