midnight
Mother says you 'll have to stay home from school the day you read this , for there wo n't be time for anything else . More love from Polly . June Holiday Home awoke early on the 24th of December , for everybody -- which means fifteen of the residents -- was going to spend the day with Mrs. Randolph . `` From directly after breakfast until midnight , '' the invitation ran , and the president 's car was to be at the Home by eight o'clock . Such a profusion of curls and crimps , of new dresses and waists and fichus , added to new shoes and hats and coats , would have shocked the former superintendent of the Home ; but Miss Churchill and Miss Ely even offered their services in the putting on of frills and furbelows , to the astonishment of those not yet grown familiar with kindness . Mrs. Post , being unable to walk , had at first considered herself as entirely out of the fun ; but Mrs. Randolph won the enduring love of that eldest member of the Home circle by saying that she should send an extra man with the chauffeur , so that Mrs. Post might have no fears regarding her trip from Edgewood Avenue to Courtney Street . The Randolph home looked a bower of Christmas greenery and blossoms when the guests entered it that chill morning .