- Ho ho ho! Christmas again. Birdy joins the family as he has for the past couple of years, and Mr. Hook stops by like he did last year. He brings candy for Polly Ann and Tom's sisters, and for Tom, a set of carpentry tools that had belonged to his uncle.
- This time, the Dolans persuade Birdy to stay when Mr. Hook shows up, and soon the two men are swapping stories like two old son-of-a-guns. Polly Ann enjoys hearing the old stories too.
- By the end of February, close to spring when Tom intends to make his offer to Mr. Armond, Tom begins to feel overwhelmed about how much work it'll be to take the barn down, move it, and rebuild it. Now that it's almost real, the dream is getting daunting!
- Polly Ann gives him a pep talk. She says he's held fast to the dream for three years, and points out how much it has changed him; he started work at the mill, he fixed the house, and he's improved all their lives. She tells him to go make the offer.
- Everyone has last-minute advice for Tom: Mr. Hook, who has by this time stopped by the Dolan house many times, which Tom can see makes his mom happy, tells Tom just to be himself. Polly Ann tells Tom not to be bashful.
- Tom still feels nervous the whole drive. He has to talk to a professional man from the city. That doesn't happen every day in Boonville.
- The Armond place has two barns (one three times the size of the Breen place), a big main house, and several other buildings. Yeesh. Tom can tell Mr. Armond is the type who likes things grand.
- Tom feels very out of place, even "insignificant," when he pulls up to the well-manicured house and puts his horse and old wagon in Mr. Armond's fine barn with way flashier rides. He's got a surrey, a wagonette, a buggy with red wheels, and a cutter. Basically the 1900 version of Lamborghinis and stretch limos.