A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote

This short, charming story is an autobiographical tale of a Christmas in Alabama in the 30's. The narrator, Buddy, and his distant, elderly cousin are best friends who plan and save every year in order to purchase and make fruit cakes for various friends, including Mrs. Roosevelt. They also spend lots of time on finding the right Christmas tree and in decorating it like "a Baptist window". I was struck by the thriftiness of the characters: almost everything they created was from scratch, they scrimped all year to even come up with $12 to buy their ingredients with, their gifts were homemade. How different life is now! I loved this story and its warmth and humor. I have a soft spot for Truman Capote and have enjoyed almost everything I've read by him. Next, I'm going to read his The Thanksgiving Visitor.