When asked if she’d like to call her Nana to thank her for the Christmas presents, my 3 year old daughter immediately shook her head no. “Let’s Skype,” she countered. “I want to see her head.”
But Nana was not on Skype or home at all. Instead we reached Nana on her mobile phone, and we just happened to catch her at the right moment to wish my 91 year old Grandmother a Merry Christmas. The cost of this call was 2.3 cents per minute (using Skype to phones) from France.
Living 4,348 miles (7.000 km) from our family in St. Louis and 1.000 km from our family in France means that phone calls, Skype, and occasional video clips fill in the long gaps between journeys to visit family and friends.
This Christmas my Mom found another magical way to fill in the gap from the most unlikely low-tech source, Hallmark. Included in the Christmas package from Nana was the book pictured above. But this is no ordinary book. Nana’s own (recorded) voice tells the story of The Night Before Christmas as the kids follow along. The kids are amazed and absolutely love it!
If you live in the US, I can imagine you have seen plenty of tear-jerking and potentially cheesy Hallmark commercials advertising these books this holiday season. From where we sit across the pond, we may be sheltered from the ads, but the kids look for tears in my eyes each time they turn the first page as Nana explains how she loved to read this book to my brother, sister and me when we were kids.
During a couple of unusually quiet moments today, I found my daughter off on her own listening to Nana’s story. The kids marvel and wonder how she got into the magic book. I am amazed and grateful that she can now entertain/babysit them from 4,348 miles away! High-tech, low-tech, its a Christmas miracle!
Suzy Ogé is an American born business woman living in The Hague, The Netherlands. 
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Okay … was not even there, close to book, Nana’s voice or any of the ads … but there was a definite lump in my throat as I read this. Well done Nana!!
I am glad I wrote this post last night when I too was feeling the emotion, because today I am officially sick of hearing this book! Sorry Mom, I will treasure it for years to come, but enough for right now!
Don’t think the kids will lend the book out, but we’d love to hear Nana’s book. FAB!