"You might'a not thought it was necessary, but I bet there were plenty of other folks in that class that were sayin' prayers of thanksgiving that they didn't hafta do it all from memory," he pointed out, grinning at her back over his shoulder as he fished around in the pantry for the tin of cocoa powder. Once he had that he fetched down a pair of mugs and got a spoon for stirring then headed back over to the stove.
"You gonna be able t'get everything done an' in in time for us to get home afore Christmas Eve, then?" he asked, nodding to the book she'd fished out. "I told Momma we'd do our best to get there by the twenty-third, but we might be a day late."