The one Christmas I’ll never forget was in 1936. I was 7 years old. Mom had yellow jaundice, and six of us kids, including me, had scarlet fever and were quarantined.

It was 1936. I was seven years old and distresses of the Great Depression were still plaguing the populace. I remember. On Dec. 24 I tucked myself into bed. The blankets were oven-warm but the room ...