From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:
Yesterday afternoon Alma took a pencil and a piece of paper and made a new Christmas list because mine was a little dirty and mussed up. She said that we must first see how many pretty things we can make because that will save us lots of money. And first, she said, we must think of my father’s because that has to be wrapped and posted to him in New York and that takes at least a week to travel by train to get there. I thought I would send him another pen wiper but Alma said maybe he would like something different this time, maybe the sampler I made, and anyhow I would like to make a new one for myself. Alma told me that I didn’t have the right attitude about presents, especially a Christmas present. She said that what is really important is the love we give. So I said if the present isn’t important and just the love is, why not just send the love. She said, “Hilda, there are times that I would just like to shake you.” But she didn’t. So we wrapped the sampler up carefully in pretty paper and I wrote a nice note. Alma said that if I didn’t buy Christmas cards I could save at least ten cents, so I drew a picture of some holly berries on my own paper and wrote, “To Daddy • Merry Christmas • Love and Kisses • Hilda.” The postage was fifteen cents so now I have only two dollars and seventy-nine cents left. After we posted the sampler we came home and I took all my cat-tails out of the dresser drawer to see how many pen wipers I can make. There are enough for six so that there will be enough for Uncle Milton, Uncle Albert, Louie, Ito, Sing and Helen Violet. Alma said that Helen Violet didn’t need a pen wiper but I said that she will need one some day. The felt material we need to put under the cat-tails cost ten cents. Alma said that we will have to be very careful how we cut it so we don’t waste any. Tomorrow we shall go shopping. We won’t buy anything, we just want to see how much everything costs.