What a wonderful Christmas thought, said Madelaine. She had three children all under the age of seven, and they all sang “Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. Please put a penny in the old man’s hat.”
The children chanted it with such sweetness and charm that Madelaine took them to the street corner and they chanted it beautifully for the Christmas shoppers. “Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. Please put a penny in the old man’s hat. If you haven’t got a penny, a halfpenny will do.”
Madelaine even put a hat on the ground for coins, just in case. No one gave much, even though the children were cute and attractive.
When Christmas came, Madelaine had little to feed her three. She had a tin of spam and some potatoes. To finish off they had a can of peaches bought with the money in the hat. They had the celebration of their lives!
“Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. Please put a penny in the old man’s hat. If you haven’t got a penny, a halfpenny will do. If you haven’t got a halfpenny then God bless you!”
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