Holiday memories

What Myrtle Langille remembers most about Christmas was the time she spent with her family.
Langille, who is now 98 years old, grew up in River John as the fourth daughter in a family of 13 siblings.
"There were no cars, no radios, no TV or anything like that," says Langille, a resident at Shiretown Nursing Home in Pictou.
And so she, her brothers and sisters had to find ways to amuse themselves. "I remember, I lived beside a river and it was frozen in winter time. We would skate on the river and coast down the hills in our toboggans."
On Christmas Eve, Langille says she would play the organ they had in the family room, and the entire family would gather round and sing Christmas carols. "They don't sing around the piano anymore, not like they used to years ago," she says reflecting.
She and her siblings never received more than a few gifts at Christmas time. Still, she remembers always being so excited to open her gifts.
"When I was five, I got a doll," she remembers. "When you laid her down she would close her eyes, it was beautiful. That was the best Christmas gift I ever got when I was little."
Growing up, because they had little money, many of the gifts she gave to loved ones were gifts she made herself.
"I used to knit scarves, sweaters, things like that," she says. "They were warm; warmer than anything you could get today."