check the bulk of potatoes. There was lots of excitement when she found the guitar, and many queer noises during the holidays while she worked diligently trying to produce something that sounded like music. With patience Dianne learned to play music that everyone enjoyed.

Blair was the one that displayed the most curiosity about Christmas. If there were presents under the tree bearing his name, he would be found shaking them until I feared that they would fall apart. One year, we decided that we would fool him, so we placed a stick of wood in the box with his gift. Blair would be outside, and I would notice him coming in and shaking the box. The box was so heavy that he nearly wore himself out, trekking into the house just to lift it once more. He finally opened it and found the stick of wood. Needless to say he was disappointed. On another occasion, Blair was doing a house search trying to find Christmas presents. This particular night Joe and I went out and Blair put on a search. Our closet was his next target and he struck it lucky. This time he found what he was looking for. We had bought him headsets for Christmas. He was so excited, and put the batteries in place and played the music. When he heard us driving in the lane, he quickly removed the batteries and returned the headsets to its hiding place. He did this every chance he had, and no one told on him.

When Christmas arrived, he pretended that the Headset was a complete surprise. If he ever astonished anyone, it was Joe and me for we were unaware as to what he had done. I did not know about it until twenty-six years later. His sisters and brothers were certainly on his side when no one let the cat out of the bag.

There were always games under the Christmas tree which kept the children entertained for hours. One year a big snow storm occurred during the holidays. Some of Gary’s fn'ends were storm stayed at our house, so they played Monopoly, Rubics Cube, Checkers and any other game available. They seemed to be exceptionally hungry, so they kept me busy cooking. All in all they really enjoyed themselves and did not mind the storm at all, in fact they said, “It was a great holiday”.

Terry remembers the year they received a Ping Pong set and net. They did not have something to place it on, so they managed to find a door up in the attic, set up the net and played table tennis on top of the kitchen table. This

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