When Christmas came around, my sister and I didn't expect much, and Mom had prepared us for the worst. Our caseworker had made arrangements to get us a free Christmas tree, Mom had made some homemade Christmas Cookies and someone had given my sister and me a used aquarium and a few tropical fish. That was pretty much it. 

 But my Dad had promised my Mom that he would bring us gifts for Christmas. When she shared this with us we became euphoric. We would have a real Christmas after all.