It was 1939, and the Great Depression had made all our lives much harder. But we didn't know how poor we were until our father sat my brother and me down on the couch in our living room to have a talk.

I will always remember the sad look in Father's eyes as he stared down at his hands, rubbing them back and forth, while he searched for the words to tell us that our family wasn't going to be celebrating Christmas this year.

A month later, on Christmas Eve, I lay awake in bed late into the night, trying to talk myself out of sneaking into our living room to see if Santa had come. I gathered my courage, then tiptoed down the hallway, hoping I would see the bright sparkling lights of our Christmas tree standing proudly in the corner of our living room, like it did every year.

Instead, I was greeted by my seventeen-year-old brother, Frank, who slept on our living room couch. "Hey, little one, what are you doing up?" he whispered.

I started to cry. "There's no Christmas tree."

There would be no presents, no singing, no Christmas dinner. It felt like we were the saddest family in the world. My disappointment overwhelmed me. I looked forward to Christmas each year. It wasn't only the presents. It was that special feeling I got from seeing my family happy. We hadn't been happy in such a long time.

On Christmas morning, the sun shone into our chilly bedroom, waking me up. "Maybe Santa came! Maybe he came!" I suddenly insisted. My eyes searched the living room, but there was no Christmas tree. I broke into uncontrollable tears.

I ran to Father in tears and threw my arms around him. " We aren't going to have Christmas this year."

"Now, now, now, calm down. Go on in and see your mother. She will comfort you." Dad slowly pushed the bedroom door open, leading me into the room.

注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something different in the bedroom.

……

With my question answered, everything dawned on me.