Great Aunt Naomi was on a roll now. I was driving her and her sister Ruby up to our vacation spot in Minnesota, and Naomi was keeping me entertained (and alert) with tales of their childhood on the farm. "One Christmas our father snuck out of the house and knocked on the front door. Mother told us, 'There's Santa Claus! Go look what he brought you.' Well, I opened the door and there was a pack of playing cards lying there, and I said, 'Well, heck! That's the pack we've been playing with!'" This was the standard Christmas, except for the years when the local schoolteacher boarded with them. The extra $16 they got for rent each month enabled their parents to buy practical gifts for Naomi and her seven siblings.—mostly clothes and shoes. Read next feature >