"We always had a Christmas tree. I was thinking about the very first Christmas I remember. I came down the stairs as we were called, and we had it in the morning and they opened our front room – in the winter, we could only heat the dining room and kitchen – and they opened those double doors, and there was that huge Christmas tree with candles lit. So what a thrill! But after a while we began having our Christmas in the evenings, Christmas Eve. But that other was a thrill for a little girl, coming down and seeing that tree all lit up. I wonder today how, how there wasn't more, why there wasn't more fires. Those candles were lit… One year, my mother said not to expect anything [presents]. She said, 'We just can't afford it.' So we were kind of disappointed. But we did get scarves and mittens that year."