<Begin Segment 9>

DG: Let's go back now to when you were little and you had your store on Weller. And we're talking about how your father nurtured your family to be in business. Can you, could you...

MM: He let do you quite a bit of buying later on. One year when he got...

AM: Sick.

MM: Operation -- ulcer kane? He was in Swedish Hospital and he came out and then that must have been before Christmas. Aya did all the shopping, buying for Christmas, and Papa was flabbergasted at how much she bought. But she said, "We sold them all." [Laughs]

DG: Where did you go to buy?

MM: Oh, through, ano, catalog. There used to be a big wholesaler called Butler Brothers and they sold, sold everything that belong in a variety store, I think. And she's... Papa bikkuri shitatte. Takusan katta no. She says urerukara ma, she said, "See there, Dad?"

DG: Then you kept buying from then on? So were you about high school age by then?

MM: Yeah. Mo.

DG: You were here. You're talking about this store, now?

MM: Was it? Yeah, yeah.

AM: This store.

DG: So did you have to gear up for Christmas, then?

MM: It was mo, ano, the kids get excited. We get excited so we have to do the everyday things (and make room for the) Christmas things, ano, dashitari suru desho? Dakara, it meant extra work, but we enjoyed it.

DG: Did your own family celebrate Christmas?

MM: Oh yeah, what did we do on Christmas? Christmas and New Year's (when we were young)? On Christmas morning, Papa would have envelope box (by our pillow with goodies, and) bananas, so we (saw) a banana or two in there...

AM: (And) Mikan...

MM: And chocolate candy goodies, ne, is in the box and that's the one time we could eat in bed. [Laughs] Well, that was our... you know, nani, Christmas no. And Oshogatsu, of course, was very, you know how...

AM: Omochi...

MM: Nenshimawari. So all the menfolks would come nenshimawari and Mother was...

DG: Your mother helped cook then.

MM: To some extent, but my dad knew how to cook. I think he was a better cook than Mom, maybe. And he was real fast.

DG: So you started helping?

MM: So (Aya) learned to cook from Dad, too.

DG: Right.

MM: She loved to cook. She used to cook chow mein dinner and invite all the church friends. But not no more. Tsukareru.

DG: She was telling that you started cooking the Thanksgiving turkey.

AM: I did a lot of... I did a lot of cooking after we came back from camp. They all came to eat...

MM: But about that gravy?

DG: But before camp?

MM: Before camp. Well she did some, but not as much as after. Of course, (afterward) you had to because, Pop died eight days after we came back.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.