From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:
Grandfather called me into his room last night. He said that this time he wanted to talk business with me. He said he had thought everything out very carefully and that he had decided that since I was earning money with my flea and bug business I am a good risk. A risk is someone you can lend money to because you are sure of getting it back. Grandfather explained it to me. He said he was going to lend me five dollars. He said that he wouldn’t give it to me because that wouldn’t be the right thing to do. I must learn about how business operates and I too must learn how to be giving. He said we must give of ourselves when we give presents, it’s more fun that way. I don’t think so. I told Grandfather that five dollars wouldn’t be nearly enough, that just a comb I wanted to give Grandmother would cost all that. He said that little girls that have only two dollars don’t have to give golden combs. He said that I could give her a plain comb to comb her hair with or a package of hairpins, something useful and necessary. I said that necessary things are not presents and I hoped he wasn’t going to give me anything I need. He said that he wasn’t going to give me anything but of course I didn’t believe him. He said that at Christmas time you shouldn’t think of things you wanted for yourself, only things that you wanted to give other people. He said that is the real meaning of Christmas and that is what Christ would want us to do. I asked him if Christ would give presents to Tante Esther and Uncle Felix and he said that Christ loved everybody and wanted all to be well and happy and he certainly would be very unhappy to see how sad Tante Esther and Uncle Felix would be when everyone else received a package and there were no packages for them. He said that he would think it over some more but I was to remember, that no presents for them, no loan.