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

proud of.
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    Then she would point to the portrait of Grandfather, which was hanging in the parlor over the fireplace. It was the picture of Grandfather in his white Cossack uniform, with the sword hanging at his side. After we were ready to listen to her, she would tell us all about our grandfather, and how brave and wonderful he was. She would tell us about something that happened many years earlier when she was younger. Some of the stories were very sad, and she would shed some tears even while telling us the ones that had happy endings, and she would always assure us that we would see some very happy times to come. When we were bedded down, there were plenty of nice things to dream about. I now realize that this was Grandmother’s way of passing on the legacy of our family, and I will forever be grateful to her for doing this.
    January 6 was our Christmas Eve. Needless to say, everyone was very excited. Outside, it was snowing hard, and all of us children were scattered throughout the house most of the day. Mama and Grandmother were in the kitchen preparing for the feast. Aunt Tonja was given the job of babysitting Ludmila—after all, she was getting married soon and would need the experience. Grandmother reminded her of that quite often. Uncle Ljonya was at the cottage playing checkers with Petrovich; Uncle Zhenya and Anatoly were in the parlor playing chess, occasionally accusing each other of cheating; and Halina and I were busy playing with our dolls and other toys. Aljoscha was everywhere in the house, or it seemed that way, since everyone was sending him to go see or bother someone else.
    None of us children knew that somewhere in the stable there was a big tree ( yolka ) waiting to be decorated and that it would become “the most beautiful tree in the world!”

14: Christmas Church Service
     
    It was Christmas morning and all of us children were wide awake, but we were forbidden to come downstairs until Mama came for us. We were lined up (still in our nightgowns) when we heard Babushka’s voice at the kitchen door. It sounded like another of Grandmother’s friendly commands, and this time it was directed at Petrovich. Grandmother said, “Petrovich, I wish very much that you would dress in your holiday attire this morning—we have all our young children here, and they must have a chance to see how Christmas is celebrated. We shall travel to the church service in the old-fashioned style.”
    “Could I at least wear my cap instead of the top hat?” Petrovich was begging.
    Soon it was settled, and Grandmother had won, as usual. Petrovich would dress up as he had done so many Christmases before all the changes started to come about.
    Mama lined us up, still in our gowns, in front of the parlor door, which was still closed. It was Grandmother who opened the door, and there, standing in the middle of the parlor, was the most beautiful, decorated Christmas tree I had ever seen. The candles on the tree were already lit, and the whole room was filled with millions of glitters and sparkles from the tree.
    Suddenly everyone was wide awake, and the sparkles from children’s eyes blended with the rest of the sparkles. Joining our hands, children and grown-ups, we walked around the tree at least three times. Then, starting with Grandmother, everyone started embracing and kissing, saying, “Happy Birthday, Christ.” After all the good wishes were exchanged, and everyone hugged and kissed, we started to look for surprises, which were hanging from the tree. There were cone-shaped bags with our names on them, but we were instructed to leave all of them on the tree until we returned from church. This kept us children very excited, as we had something to look forward to for the rest of this wonderful Christmas day.
    Fresh-fallen snow was at least knee-deep and covered everything in sight—Petrovich in his top hat and a split-tailed coat was already in his seat on the carriage and was trying to keep the horses still.