Robots, Action Man, Barbie dolls and teddy bears stand proudly on display on carefully polished shelves in Andrew and Mandy Goddard's home.
These toys should have been packed away in boxes, or strewn across the floor for little hands to play with.
But instead they form a heartbreaking shrine to the two children who should have received them – but who died in a house fire just days before Christmas.
Jade, 5, and Alex, 6, perished in the blaze on December 17, 2001, but their little brother Nathan, then 4, miraculously escaped along with his mum and dad.
Speaking about the tragedy for the first time, mum Mandy, 48, said: “One of the only things that survived the fire were the kids' Christmas presents. They were hidden away in a cupboard. We've kept them all this time.
“My one wish every year is to be able to give Jade and Alex those presents. But I know I never can.”
Remembering that night, their dad Andrew, 55, said: “Every Christmas we all lit up our houses to raise money for charity.
“Our street became known as Christmas Street. People used to travel 90 miles to see it.
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“That night, my wife and I were sitting downstairs watching TV. At about 10.20pm we heard this massive bang and the lights went out.
“Smoke was coming from the dining room.
“I shouted 'fire' and ran to the kids.
“Smoke was everywhere and it was inky dark. The smoke alarm was ringing.
“Jade was standing at the top of the stairs. I grabbed her hand and turned towards the boys' room.
“The boys were sat in bed crying. We could barely breathe. I opened the bedroom window and got out on the window sill shouting for help.
“I was still holding my daughter's hand but her hand left my grip.
“I turned to look for her when a neighbour, who had just climbed a ladder to get us, pulled me out of the room.
“We both fell about 20ft and landed on the car below.
“I tried to stand up but I collapsed.
“The house was in flames and the windows were popping.
“Mandy was screaming 'I want my babies!' while neighbours held her back from the burning house.
“I was having difficulty breathing and the back of my throat was burning. Everything was going very fast but moving in slow motion at the same time.
“It felt like I was trapped underwater. There was a man shouting in my face but I couldn't hear him.
“One man ran out of the house with his coat on fire. He was holding our youngest boy Nathan.
“Our daughter's body was later found in the bathroom. She must have been disorientated by the smoke and turned right when she left the boys room instead of heading for the stairs. Our oldest lad stayed curled up in bed tucked under his duvet.
“Only Nathan turned down the stairs.”
Andrew was taken to Barnsley hospital where he was later told that both Jade and Alex had died.
“I kept thinking I should have held Jade tighter,” Andrew said.
“It's a father's responsibility to protect his children and I wish I could have protected them that night.
“I watched every news broadcast in the hospital that week, seeing what happened to the kids. The fire was all over the news at the time. I can't explain why I needed to watch it but I did. I had to watch all these people talking about my kids.
“Nathan was in intensive care in Leed's Hospital's burns and fire unit for one week in an induced coma and on life support.
“My wife had been treated for smoke inhalation but was discharged quickly so she could be with Nathan.
Mandy said: “I still had visions of losing him too until he came out of the coma.
“I used to sit by his bed holding his hand and praying that he would be OK. I kept saying 'mummy loves you.'”
Andrew said: “The fire was a Monday and the following Sunday they took Nathan off life support.
“We all stood around his bed waiting for him to wake up. His first words were 'mumma'.
“He had blisters and scars on his hands where he had been burned.
“The trauma and stress caused his mind to blank out. He can't remember anything before the fire.
“He knew he had a brother and a sister but he couldn't remember them.
“I think it protected him.
“When he came home and saw photos of them he never asked 'who's that?'
“He knew he had a brother and sister but he just didn't know who they were.
“They're buried together. Alex was in a camouflage coffin because he loved Action Man and Jade was in a Barbie pink coffin. Everyone cried as their coffins were lowered into the ground.”
A post mortem found that Jade and Alex both died from smoke inhalation, but the pathologist said the youngsters had received such extensive burn injuries that they would have been unlikely to survive.
An inquest into the childrens' deaths heard how although it was clear that the fire started near a fibre optic Christmas tree, it was impossible to say what exactly had sparked the blaze.
The hearing in Sheffield was told there was no evidence that the electrical system at the house was overloaded or dangerous.
The Yorkshire Post reported that Coroner Chris Dorries recorded a verdict of accidental death on Alex and Jade.
He said the family had suffered a tragedy in its most terrible form adding: “What we know is that the blaze started in the corner of the dining room and we know there was electrical equipment in that corner.”Some of the electrical items, including a fibre optic tree, had melted in the blaze and could not be examined. But, other items recovered were proven not to have been the cause of the fire.
“I think from what has been said that the cause of the fire was electrical in nature, but whether it was an item or was related to the wiring I do not know.”
Walking into their fire-ravaged home after their deaths was difficult for Andrew and Mandy, but some things miraculously survived the inferno.
“Our house was gutted,” Andrew said. “You could see the sky where the roof used to be.
“But we got a few things.
“We still have their Christmas presents. They're one of the few things that survived the fire.
“And a council worker found Jade's ring in the ashes. My wife wears it around her neck now 24/7. She never takes it off.
“Everything else down to the teaspoons had to be replaced.
“People from all over the world sent us letters and donations.
“David Beckham donated a shirt for a fundraising auction, a world-champion boxer donated gloves and Frankie Dettori donated jodhpurs.
“My wife and I didn't go to the inquest, our family went and told us what happened at it.
“They said it was probably an electrical fault somewhere in the wiring. But there wasn't enough of the house left to conclusively say how the fire started.
“Originally we thought it was the lights on a Christmas tree. But they ran tests which showed that nothing had overloaded, they don't think it was the Christmas lights that sparked it but some internal wiring.
“They don't have a reason for the fire and the coroner's verdict was accidental death.”
Just days after the first year anniversary of Jade and Alex's deaths, Mandy found out she was pregnant.
Mandy said: “I found out I was pregnant on Christmas Day the following year. I had a big smile on my face when I told Andrew that the test was positive.
“But I was happy and sad at the same time. I was trying to be happy for Nathan at Christmas, I was happy to be pregnant but I was thinking about Alex and Jade all the time too.”
“We called her Ellie-Ja,” said Andrew. “We agreed that Ja, for Jade and Alex, would be part of her name.
“She looks just like her sister.
“She couldn't tell who was who when she looked at pictures of them both when she was younger.
“And she speaks exactly like her brother did.
“She never met them but from the time she could talk you could hear her talking to them at night.
“She never remembered it but we could hear her. So we know they're around.
“Ellie is 15 now. When things happen to her and people say 'you must have a Guardian Angel,' she says, 'actually I have two.'
“She's been hit by cars twice but survived.
“She feels very close to them. Every time she walks past the graveyard she leaves some coins on their headstone.”
The fire broke out at their former home on John Street, Thurnscoe, South Yorkshire, but the family has since moved to a bungalow in Goldthorpe which is easier for his wife Mandy, who has mobility issues, to manage.
Both parents have tattoos in memory of their children – their skin etched indelibly with their names and pictures of hearts.
Surviving brother Nathan, 22, has a clock with its hands pointing to the exact time the fire struck taking his siblings' lives.
The family's Christmas traditions of decorating the tree and leaving out mince pies for Santa are no more. Instead, the family will visit Alex and Jade's grave on December 25.
“I used to love Christmas,” said Mandy. “All the lights and everything. But as the kids have grown up we celebrate Christmas less and less. Last year we didn't have a tree.
Mandy and Andrew say life without Jade and Alex has been "very, very difficult".
Both parents have been plagued by depression and PTSD but they have managed to keep going thanks to Nathan and Ellie-Ja.
Mandy said: “It's been really, really hard. But you either cope or you give up. If it wasn't for Nathan I wouldn't be here today. Without your babies you have nothing to live for.
“People say that they understand what we're going through but they don't. They can't understand unless they've been through it too.”
Although the trauma could have driven them apart, their unimaginable grief has brought them closer as a couple and as a family.
Andrew added: “It's brought us closer. My wife and kids come first for me before anything else.
“My wife is a very strong person and she helped me through.
“Life goes on. You just have to take each day as it comes. Things don't get easier but you learn how to cope."
