CHRISTMAS EVERY DAY
195
bell-shaped anvils and the crowning angel had been completely
destroyed. The marzipan figures and the cookies had fallen victim to
the rapacious grandchildren. This coming generation, too,
is
worth–
less, and if any generation was ever of any worth-which I doubt-I
am slowly coming to the belief that it was the generation of our
fathers.
Although there was no lack of cash or the necessary connections,
it took four days more before the decorations were complete. Mean–
while my aunt screamed uninterruptedly. Messages to the German
centers of the toy business, which were just then resuming operations,
were dispatched by wireless, hurried telephone conversations were
carried on, packages were delivered
in
the night by heated young
postal employees, an import license from Czechoslovakia was obtained,
by bribery, without delay.
These days will stand out in the chronicle of my uncle's family
by reason of the extraordinary consumption of coffee, cigarettes
and nervous energy. Meanwhile my aunt fell into a decline: her
round face became harsh and angular, her expression of kind–
liness changed to one of unalterable severity, she did not eat, she
did not drink, she screamed constantly, she was attended by two
nurses, and the dose of Luminal had to be increased daily.
Franz told us that the whole family was in the grip of a morbid
tension when finally, on the twelfth of February, the decoration
of the Christmas tree was at last completed. The candles were
lighted, the curtains were drawn, my aunt was brought out from her
sickroom, and in the family circle there was only the sound of
sobs and giggles. My aunt's expression relaxed at sight of the candles,
and when the heat had reached the proper
point
and the glass
gnomes began to pound like mad and finally the angel, too, whispered
"Peace, peace," a beautiful smile illuminated her face. Shortly
thereafter everyone began to sing "0 Tannenbaum." To complete
the picture, they had invited the minister, whose custom it was to
spend Christmas Eve at my Uncle Franz's; he, too, smiled, he too
was relieved and joined in the singing.
What no test, no psychological opinion, no expert search for
hidden traumas had succeeded in doing, my uncle's sympathetic
heart had accomplished. This good, kind man's Christmas-tree
therapy had Silved
tP~
sitlHl-ti9!}.
