That very evening, bad news from outside reaches the group in the "Secret Annexe," and Anne describes it vividly in her diary: "When it is dark, I often see rows of good, innocent people accompanied by crying children, walking on and on, in charge of a couple of these chaps, bullied and knocked about until they almost drop." Despite the difficulties and privations of living in hiding, however, Anne realizes that she is far more fortunate than a great many of her friends: ". . . who have now been delivered into the hands of the cruelest brutes that walk the earth. And all because they are Jews!" (November 19, 1942).
The Jewish festival of lights (Hanukah) occurs almost at the same time as the Dutch Festival of Saint Nicholas Day, and the members of the little group exchange gifts and light the traditional candles of the festival, although the group keeps them alight for only ten minutes because of the shortage of candles. Their "protectors" give them presents for the Dutch Festival of Saint Nicholas Day, attaching a little poem for each person and trying their best to lighten the tedium of their caged lives. And tedium it is — rarely, but occasionally, relieved. For instance, Anne describes the lengthy, prudent process whereby Mr. Van Daan prepares sausages, and then she tells in hilarious detail how the dentist, Mr. Düssel examines the hysterically nervous Mrs. Van Daan's teeth, reminding Anne of "a picture from the Middle Ages entitled 'A Quack At Work'" (December 10, 1942). She also describes the scene which she can see in the street below the window and the joy of the group in hiding at receiving extra rations of butter for Christmas. To divert themselves, they all talk about what they will do "when the war is over" although they do not forget to feel sorry for the people outside who are taken away from their homes each day, or are unable to obtain enough food.
