The Most Precious Birthday Present Ever, Ever, Ever

Hold on to your hankies, this is going to be emotional, I’m filling up already …………

A week or so before my birthday old Berts told me that if I went into his bedroom I wasn’t to look in his “library” under his bed. He’s got one of those bunk beds with a space underneath, where he asked for shelves and display boxes so he could have a library and somewhere to display his treasures, bless him. Then he said that all he could tell me was that he’d “done” something with empty toilet rolls, that was secret!

So, when I went round for my birthday there was a box on the table which his Dad told him to give me. At this point Mum and Dad didn’t have a clue what was inside either because apart from him asking for a “big box” as he wanted to do something for Nanny, that was all they knew. He sat down beside him with his little embarrassed but very proud look on his face …….. and then, from then on, it was hard to hold back the tears ………..

All on his own he’d obviously been round his bedroom collecting things that he knew I would like/love or find useful, and it all came from his heart.  There was an envelope of loose tea and a box (that he’d cut the side off for easy access) of his very finest tea bags …….. tea is another story for next week perhaps!

The aforementioned toilet rolls were for putting a few tea bags in, if/when I was out and about …… huge sniffs here, as his tea bags are so precious to him (as I said, a story for next week), this was his “invention” …….. sniff, sniff!

As my birthday fell on the Chinese New Year and he would know, there was a wooden brick that we’d made together last year. He’s fascinated by China, goodness only knows how or why. There was also a box of chalk, he thought there was a blue one in there as well, so I could draw.  I told him that when he and Iris came round next  we could draw with them in my car parking space just to annoy the miserable man upstairs, which Iris found absolutely hilarious!

Bertie knows I LOVE a notebook but apologised as although it says 72 pages on the cover, there are only 71 as the front one had come loose.  How are you bearing up, so far?

Then, because Nanny is never without chocolate ……. there were chocolate coins and a Freddo left over from his Christmas box ………

……. and finally, from his pocketmoney box, two pound coins to buy myself something! How on earth do you keep it together at this stage? Next time we are in town together I will make sure I’ve got them with me in an envelope to let him see my excitement, in The Works most probably, choosing something that I really want to spend it on.

Bert’s is six (seven in April) with such a kind heart and old mans head, goodness only knows what he’ll be when he grows.  This is the most precious present I have ever had in my life because it’s totally innocent, unbelievably thought out and packed with love straight from his little heart …….. now,  I need to find another tissue.