French actress Juliette Binoche's favorite Christmas memories come from the days where she and her sister would read Shakespeare aloud - because they were too poor to give gifts.

The Oscar winner admits her first Christmases as a struggling actress in Paris were hard, but she always made sure to sprinkle a little magic over the season with nightly readings.

The actress recalls, "I was living alone with my sister and we had to cook ourselves and make a living. I was just surviving and yet going to school, doing theatre and doing some painting. There'd be no extravagance, but we'd read Shakespeare out loud at Christmas with my mother, who was my first theatre teacher, because it was our way to have presents and to share something that was related to minds and the spirit. I absorbed that a lot when I was a teenager and I still appreciate those moments."

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)