On Friday evening for the first time in my life I received something for Christmas. Kleiman, Kugler and the girls had prepared a lovely surprise again. Miep has made a lovely Christmas cake, on which was written ‘Peace 1944.’ Bep had provided a pound of sweet biscuits of pre-war quality. For Peter, Margot, and me a bottle of yoghurt, and a bottle of beer for each of the grown-ups. Everything was so nicely done up, and there were pictures stuck on the different packages. Otherwise Christmas passed by quickly for us.
Yours, Anne
Wednesday, 29 December, 1943
Dear Kitty, I was very unhappy again last evening. Granny and Hanneli came into my mind. Granny, oh, darling Granny, how little we understood of what she suffered, or how sweet she was. And besides all this, carefully kept the terrible secret of her illness to herself the whole time. How faithful and good Granny always was, she would never have let one of us down.
Whatever it was, however naughty I had been, Granny always stuck up for me.
Granny, did you love me or you didn’t understand me either? I don’t know. No one ever talked about themselves to Granny. How lonely Granny must have been, how lonely in spite of us! A person can be lonely even if he is loved by many people, because he is still not the ‘one and only’ to anyone.
And Hanneli, is she still alive? What is she doing? Oh, God, protect her and bring her back to us. Hanneli, I see in you all the time what my lot might have been, I keep seeing myself in your place. Why then should I often be unhappy over what happens here? Shouldn’t I always be glad,
