I remind myself often that going to the Mansion is not about clothes or gifts, although they are important. The best moments are when I come just by myself and with Red. Is was bitter cold today here, and I went to the Mansion late in the afternoon.

The forecast is daunting, freezing single-digit temperatures for days, even weeks.

A woman – I won’t name her – came up to me in the hallway and asked to speak with me. She took my arm and looked directly into my eyes. I could see she was frightened and uneasy.

“It’s very cold out there, isn’t it?,” she asked me gripping my arm.

“Yes,” I said, “it’s going to be even colder tomorrow.”

Seeing how alarmed she was, I tried to reassure here. “But it’s not cold in here, is it?

“No,” she said, gripping my arm. “But I have often been cold and I’m afraid of being cold like that again. I have bad dreams about being cold. Sometimes I think it’s cold her but then I wake up and it isn’t”

I knew something about her life and I understood why she was frightened.

We both sat down on the safe with me and Red came over to her and she s stroked him and began to settle. I told her she would not be cold this week, no matter how cold it got outside. The Mansion had big boilers and heaters in the basement, and back-up generators if the power went out, I told her.

We sat there in silence for five or ten minutes while she touched Red and stroked his neck. She was thinking about it.

There were people here, me included, I said, who would make sure she was not cold, and the staff would make sure she was not cold.

“Thank you,” she said.

We’re not supposed to tell people everything will be okay if we are not certain that this is true, but I was certain, and I took her hand and said “you will not be cold again. Can you trust that?”

And she seemed to, and thanked me and hugged Red and got up and resumed her walk. I don’t think she was frightened any more.