Dec
Making memories
As a child I loved pop-up books. My Nanny would buy these for me at the Sally Ann.   When Emma was born I began to collect them for her.  In 2004 I purchased our favourite, Robert Sabuda’s 10th anniversary, special edition of  A Christmas Alphabet. During the Christmas season, Emma and I would spend hours lifting the flaps to reveal the beautiful pop-ups rendition of the alphabet beneath, reciting each letter beginning with……”A is for Angel”.
 As a family we purchase a lot of books. I have a stock pile in the tickle trunk, just waiting for the right moment for gifting.   Two years ago I purchased two copies of this book. One I gave to my parents to keep for my nephew Christopher. The other copy I put away for Emma.   The right moment appeared a few weeks back when Emma telephoned and  requested I bring the book with me on Christmas Eve as she missed it.  Last year was her first Christmas in their new home and in the hustle of traveling I simply forgot to bring the book.   Oddly enough, just five minutes before the telephone call I mentioned to my husband that I thought I would give Emma her copy as a Christmas Eve gift.
On Christmas Eve the conversation went like this:
“Thank you Mam, I love it.”
“Emma, now on Christmas Eve, we will always be together.  Even if we are apart, we can read the book at the same time.   When you are grown up and have little girls, you can read the book to them.”
“Because you’ll be gone, right Mam?”
“What do you mean by gone, dear.”
“You know Mam. You’ll be taking your dirt nap.”
So much for that Hallmark moment.
27Dec
That moment still brings a tear to my eyes.
27Dec
[...] Christmas was fine, we managed to see pretty much everyone and eat too much. Funny stories abound everywhere, including this touching interchange between my mom and Emma. [...]