Free The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister by Nonna Bannister, Denise George, Carolyn Tomlin

and Anatoly were already outside opening the gates. Now I could see the bright colors of the sleigh, and I could imagine why it was called the most “famous thing” in our family for generations. It had to be touched up with oil paint when needed. It was a very large sleigh that could fit at least twelve people—and of course, the more people in the sleigh, the warmer the ride. The horses (all three of them) had bells on their harnesses, and it was very exciting.
    Everyone wanted to get up front and be close to Petrovich. Once Grandmother had to enforce a “suggestion,” making us take turns sitting up front with Petrovich. After we were all seated and everything was in order, we took off—what a glorious feeling! It was a very good day for a sleigh ride. The sun was out, but it was very cold (maybe 30 degrees below zero); when we breathed, we could see our breath turn into particles of ice with beautiful glitters.
    The snow on the road was well packed by other sleighs, and because our sleigh was heavily loaded, there was no problem keeping the sleigh on the road. When we were far enough away that Grandmother’s house could not be seen, Petrovich took a road that was close to the woods. It was Grandmother’s idea so we could spot some rabbits or other animals. With the sounds of the bells and the children’s noise, the furry creatures would scatter back into the woods.
    “Not too close to the trees, Petrovich,” Grandmother would say. “We don’t want to see any wolves or wild boars.” It seemed as though she really enjoyed putting a little fear into us and seeing the looks on our faces.
    After the sun went down and everyone was getting hungry, we were ready to go back to the village. Petrovich was all tired out, and after he put the horses in the stable, covering them with blankets so they would not get chilled, he was ready to retire to his cottage. But there was plenty of day left, even though it was dark outside.
    The best times were yet to come. We would gather in the parlor by the ochag (fireplace), and Grandmother would be ready to play her favorite game, Lotto, with us. Lotto was something like Bingo, except that we pulled small barrels out of a sack, and on each barrel there were numbers, one on each side of the barrel. Someone called out the numbers, and each player would check the numbers on his or her card. Grandmother really loved to play Lotto, and the prize for the winner would be cookies or some other goodies that she had prepared before we arrived. Grandmother would end up being the biggest winner of all—then she would be sitting there with the basket full of prizes and observe the envious looks on our faces. She would finally say, “I just can’t eat all this by myself! Who wants some?” Of course, we were ready to take her up on her offer, and we would fill our bellies with all the goodies—no cookies ever tasted so good as the ones that Grandmother baked.
    By the time the Lotto game was over, the samovar had finished brewing fresh tea. Grandmother never let us drink strong tea—that was her treat. She would make some hot cocoa for us—cocoa was a delicacy in those days, but somehow, Grandmother always managed to have a can of it hidden someplace.
    Before we got tired out and fell asleep, Grandmother would play another game with us. It was the most interesting game of all, in which she would tell us about her family’s past. The rules of the game were that we had to keep these stories to ourselves and never tell anyone outside the family about things that we knew. Grandmother made us promise that we would obey her and keep the stories within us, because we loved God, our family, and our grandmother.
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SECRETS • At a time in which heritage could determine one’s fate, Grandmother made keeping family secrets into a game for her grandchildren. Through her many stories about Grandfather, Feodosija gave Nonna and her other grandchildren roots and a Russian heritage that they could be