Cosette loved Christmas. She loved the streets painted a perfect white with snow; she loved watching little girls gather at shop windows admiring porcelain dolls; furthermore, she loved putting coins into her daughter's shoe.
The dolls reminded her of dear Catherine, with their pale faces, beautiful and extravagant dresses, and their thickly curled hair. Catherine, the first present she could remember ever being gifted. Though she had no choice to leave the doll behind when she was just a girl, she still loved her.
Of everything, Cosette loved Christmas because she had gained a father. She never told him, but she knew that it had been he to put the gold coin in her clog. She did not tell him that she carried it with her still, and would continue to do so until she passed on. The coin was a symbol of her father – well sought after, but treasured close to her heart. It was with this coin that she had been saved from the inn at Montfermeil – that coin, and the black woollen dress set she had worn on that day.
Cosette loved Christmas more than most – more than Marius, at least. But she loved her father more.